Steve Brown Standing Down

[blueheaven]

6 hours ago, MySpazz said:

WHich bits, i think he is saying what Brown has said to him..... in the long chat, so i'd not be too dismissive of the text

It doesn't say anywhere in the piece that this is information from Geoff Brown. And besides, Geoff Brown doesn't know what's going to happen in the future after he's sold the club either.

In fairness to Jim Spence, a big part of what irked me about that piece is the headline (which wouldn't have been written by him): St Johnstone will be out of local hands for first time – and another stadium move could be on cards. "Will" should actually be "might". And yes, another stadium move "could" be on the cards. We also "could" be staying right where we are. I wouldn't exactly call it insightful. Any one of us could have come up with the same guesswork.

I've never really understood this urge people have to try to create the impression that they're somehow able to predict the future.

[blueheaven]

On 12/10/2022 at 2:00 PM, Sergei said:

I also don't think sponsoring an existing stadium really works, only when it's a new build. They're too established under their existing name that most fans would still just call it that no matter what it was officially changed to.  I'd take the money if anyone was daft enough to throw it at us.

This is exactly why I'd be fine with a naming deal for the ground. People would still call it McDiarmid Park anyway, so why not just take the money.

I'd never advocate losing the McDiarmid name, but there are pretty easy ways around that. It could become "The Ginsters Pasty Stadium @ McDiarmid Park", for example.

 

[Cagey]

13 hours ago, crieffsaintandy said:

Crieff is full of bigot glory hunters from both cheeks, most of them get as near to any games by reading the daily record or their one game when they turn up at Perth. Think I was about the only saints supporter in my year at Crieff high in the eighties, hopefully a few more these days as saints weren’t exactly setting it alight in that era, but with recent success etc.

as for McGreegor my mum worked for them and  I don’t think he had much interest in football, more a thespian and rugger guy from Morrisons Academy.

I think back in the day"long time ago" Crieff had a supporters club with a bus going to games on match days. Now Crieff is full of Rangers fans and Muthill full of Celtic fans.

[Aitchy]

9 minutes ago, Cagey said:

I think back in the day"long time ago" Crieff had a supporters club with a bus going to games on match days. Now Crieff is full of Rangers fans and Muthill full of Celtic fans.

I think there is still a bus that runs from Crieff to the Saints games. Historically Saints have always had a good support from areas outside Perth like Aberfeldy, Crieff and Auchterarder.

Whilst Spence is just making stuff up, there was definitely moves afoot a few years ago at looking at other potential sites for a new stadium. 

[crieffsaintandy]

1 hour ago, Cagey said:

I think back in the day"long time ago" Crieff had a supporters club with a bus going to games on match days. Now Crieff is full of Rangers fans and Muthill full of Celtic fans.

Yep good going venture which ran buses eighties nineties, then sold for flats when saints were in a downturn. There is a bus started again from station bar, I've moved away a few years ago but still a good hard core saints support there and a lot of people I didn't realise supported saints that I see at games ,but as Aitchy says not bad support for saints in the perthshire towns, perth itself has the same issues with people supporting the ugly sisters, suppose its a scotland problem!

Edited December 13, 2022 by crieffsaintandy

[Ginger Bakers rebel army]

44 minutes ago, crieffsaintandy said:

Yep good going venture which ran buses eighties nineties, then sold for flats when saints were in a downturn. There is a bus started again from station bar, I've moved away a few years ago but still a good hard core saints support there and a lot of people I didn't realise supported saints that I see at games ,but as Aitchy says not bad support for saints in the perthshire towns, perth itself has the same issues with people supporting the ugly sisters, suppose its a scotland problem!

Strathearn saints, they have a good flag as well.

[Cagey]

Thanks guys . Good to hear.

[Ginger Bakers rebel army]

On 12/12/2022 at 8:33 AM, blueheaven said:

Does anyone know what percentage of the club's shares the Brown family actually own? And who the owners of other significant amounts of shares are? (I know there was a share issue many years ago so there are some fans out there with small numbers of shares.)

I think Geoff’s shareholding is much higher than 75% , the second highest shareholder only has a tiny fraction of what Geoff owns, all good for prospective purchasers of Geoff’s holding and very good for the Community.

[blueheaven]

Just came across this article from a couple of years ago where Steve Brown spoke about how he'd be the last member of the Brown family to chair the club, and that he'd asked his own sons not to get involved in running Saints:

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/st-johnstone/1158212/st-johnstone-steve-brown-family/

I know a lot has been said of the gesture Geoff Brown is making in saying he'll hand over the proceeds of the sale to the community trust, but I think it must be worth mentioning that Steve Brown is giving up a helluva lot here too. That's a £10m-ish asset that would presumably have been his inheritance, and could have stayed in his family after he's gone (or, if he'd wanted to, he could have waited until ownership passed into his hands, then sold the club and trousered the money). For me, the fact that he's stepping away from that really shows how much of a strain it must have been on him at times.

On another note this would probably be a really good time for the support as a whole to consider setting up a supporters' trust, so that there's a fan-led body to step in and get involved if any element of this doesn't go to plan. I'm a member of the supporters' trust of a non-league club in England and it's proven to be of a lot of value for both the club and the fans.

[Melbourne Saint]

Not in the loop on this one... Any rumours/news on who Geoff/Steve will pass onto???

[RandomGuy]

2 hours ago, Melbourne Saint said:

Not in the loop on this one... Any rumours/news on who Geoff/Steve will pass onto???

The clubs been up for sale for years without interest, its almost certainly going to remain with the Browns until they give it away to someone, so i wouldnt be expecting any news this season.

Edited December 31, 2022 by RandomGuy

[blueheaven]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy said:

The clubs been up for sale for years without interest, its almost certainly going to remain with the Browns until they give it away to someone, so i wouldnt be expecting any news this season.

I wouldn't say that's entirely accurate. I know the Browns have always said the club is available if someone wants it, but there's a difference between saying that and actively putting the club on the market.

[Aitchy]

1 hour ago, blueheaven said:

I wouldn't say that's entirely accurate. I know the Browns have always said the club is available if someone wants it, but there's a difference between saying that and actively putting the club on the market.

It’s far from accurate…

Geoff Brown has hired an agency to actively market the club. At the recent AGM, he stated his belief that the new owners would likely be from abroad. 

[saintgscot]

On 12/13/2022 at 9:18 AM, Cagey said:

I think back in the day"long time ago" Crieff had a supporters club with a bus going to games on match days. Now Crieff is full of Rangers fans and Muthill full of Celtic fans.

The bus from Crieff still runs it’s easy 

[Cagey]

On 12/31/2022 at 4:08 PM, Aitchy said:

It’s far from accurate…

Geoff Brown has hired an agency to actively market the club. At the recent AGM, he stated his belief that the new owners would likely be from abroad. 

Does anyone think there will be interest in buying St Johnstone. There are no Geoff Browns out there now. There is no money to be made in owning Saints. There is no transfer value in the squad. There is value in the land but they would have to find an alternative ground which would not be easy or popular with the fans.

[Aitchy]

3 hours ago, Cagey said:

Does anyone think there will be interest in buying St Johnstone. There are no Geoff Browns out there now. There is no money to be made in owning Saints. There is no transfer value in the squad. There is value in the land but they would have to find an alternative ground which would not be easy or popular with the fans.

There will be people interested. As we have seen at other clubs in Scotland there will be people, likely from outwith Scotland, who think they could come in and make some sort of money. The fact we are in a good financial position, have reasonable hospitality facilities and good assets will be of interest to different parties. 

Pre covid the club were exploring different options for a new stadium due to the expensive maintenance required on McDiarmid. I believe the thought process was that a stadium with a capacity of 6/7000 would be the best option.

It’s all rumour, but the latest story I heard was that the Browns are in talks with a consortium from Singapore. Just got to hope that the Browns ensure that extensive background checks are carried out before any sale is completed. We’ve seen what damage charlatans can do to other clubs in Scotland. You then get others like Ogren at United who seemed to come in with good intentions and has invested a significant sum of money, but has quickly realised that in the main Scottish football is not profitable and nowseems to be desperate to get out of the club as soon as possible.

Interesting and nervous times ahead.

[Radford 72]

11 hours ago, Aitchy said:

Pre covid the club were exploring different options for a new stadium due to the expensive maintenance required on McDiarmid. I believe the thought process was that a stadium with a capacity of 6/7000 would be the best option.

Any idea on potential locations? I remember SC telling me (presumably through SH) that this sort of thing was being looked at what must be at least a decade go as well. I'm sure he said he'd even seen detailed drawings of a bowl-type ground located at the old market, I think. Obviously that's now covered in houses.

Memory can sometime play tricks but horrible feeling I also heard Oudenarde mooted as a possible site, which would be horrific, right up there with Aberdeen playing at Westhill!

[Radford 72]

14 hours ago, Cagey said:

There are no Geoff Browns out there now.

I'm not sure that's strictly true but a 43-year-old Geoff Brown took control of the club for a few hundred grand in 1986. You aren't getting a look in now unless you have access to several million. 

There are local(ish) businessmen in that position I'm sure but do they have any interest in football or specifically St Johnstone, a successful club but by no means a sleeping giant with a large latent support?

Foreign ownership for Saints would certainly be interesting because we are in such a different situation to most clubs. Folk look to get their hands on clubs where the current incumbents want out as you can drive the price down and that's where opportunity comes from, even if it means inheriting a debt.

Saints are so different though. £5 million in the bank (although that will certainly be heading in the wrong direction now) and huge, fully-owned land assets.

In theory, that means someone buying into Saints is in an enviable position of being able to drive the club forward from the word go but what does that mean in Scotland?

Whilst they can't dive into anything, the situation really does need resolved too. In 6/7 weeks, the board of the the football club becomes Roddy Grant and an 80-year-old. That can't continue in the long-term.

[blueheaven]

2 hours ago, Radford 72 said:

There are local(ish) businessmen in that position I'm sure but do they have any interest in football or specifically St Johnstone, a successful club but by no means a sleeping giant with a large latent support?

There's plenty of people with money in Perthshire/Tayside, but as you say I'm not sure many of them would have an interest in taking on a football club.

There's an interesting look at the local rich list here (albeit from 2019): https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/dundee/2543690/revealed-scotland-rich-list-2019-includes-eight-in-tayside-with-wealth-of-5-2bn/#:~:text=Top of the Tayside and,Bridge of Allan in Perthshire.

FWIW from what I've heard there has been some serious interest in the club, but I've no idea where from.

 

[Cagey]

38 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

There's plenty of people with money in Perthshire/Tayside, but as you say I'm not sure many of them would have an interest in taking on a football club.

There's an interesting look at the local rich list here (albeit from 2019): https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/dundee/2543690/revealed-scotland-rich-list-2019-includes-eight-in-tayside-with-wealth-of-5-2bn/#:~:text=Top of the Tayside and,Bridge of Allan in Perthshire.

FWIW I've heard there has been some serious interest in the club, but I've no idea where from.

 

Don't think there are many Perthshire based in there and even less interested in St Johnstone.

[Aitchy]

4 hours ago, Radford 72 said:

Any idea on potential locations? I remember SC telling me (presumably through SH) that this sort of thing was being looked at what must be at least a decade go as well. I'm sure he said he'd even seen detailed drawings of a bowl-type ground located at the old market, I think. Obviously that's now covered in houses.

Memory can sometime play tricks but horrible feeling I also heard Oudenarde mooted as a possible site, which would be horrific, right up there with Aberdeen playing at Westhill!

Oudenarde and a site near Broxden were the two that were mentioned to me.

[Radford 72]

42 minutes ago, Aitchy said:

Oudenarde and a site near Broxden were the two that were mentioned to me.

The first of those in particular would be absolutely chronic and would simply be a case of GS Brown using a site that it's proving a ball ache to build houses on. Would go a long way to tarnishing their legacy by plonking us out there.

[sixties saintee]

51 minutes ago, Aitchy said:

Oudenarde and a site near Broxden were the two that were mentioned to me.

Where is Oudrnarde??

[Stumpy1949]

30 minutes ago, sixties saintee said:

Where is Oudrnarde??

Abernethy side of Bridge of Earn. 

[Cagey]

2 hours ago, sixties saintee said:

Where is Oudrnarde??

Old Bridge of Earn hospital site , for all you old timers who have deserted your town.