Nearly five years after Bees United was first established and two years after the supporters’ trust had negotiated an opportunity with Ron Noades, the then owner of Brentford FC and Griffin Park, to buy the Club if it could raise £4.5million to refinance the Club’s bank overdraft, Friday 30th September was a big day in the history of Bees United and the Club.
The following day, before a home game against Rotherham, as the then Chairman of Bees United, I gave a short speech on the Griffin Park pitch to tell supporters that the Trust had signed a document (to exercise its option to buy the Club if it could raise sufficient money) and now had just four months to complete a detailed legal agreement and raise the remaining funds that it still needed to meet its target in order to make a £1million interest free loan to the Club.
As well as optimism about finally being able to takeover the Club, I also mentioned that two of Bees United’s funders had agreed to put in loans immediately to avoid the risk of the Club going into administration. This caused a bit of stir!
There were three unintended consequences of using the word “administration”: people had not realised that the Club’s financial position was so precarious, Martin Allen blamed me for the team’s poor showing in the first half because the crowd had been subdued, on Monday morning Bob Lampert, the Club accountant’s phone rang off the hook as the people with unpaid bills pressed to be paid. A short while later the Club was approached by a supporter who asked if he could talk to someone about how he might be able to help. Club Chairman, Eddie Rogers, called me to ask if I wanted to meet him. Of course, I said yes and we met in the Griffin Park Boardroom on 15th November, followed the next day by a one to one meeting in his then modest office in Kentish Town.
We agreed that, when Bees United tookover, he would put in a loan to the Club of £500,000 interest free and would be an independent investor with his own seat on the Board, for which he nominated his company’s Chief Executive. The investor’s name was Matthew Benham. His loan helped to complete the necessary fund raising and enable the supporters trust to takeover the Club in January 2006.
Bees United signing that document on 30 September 2005 was a huge leap forward and, together with the subsequent takeover and the initial agreement with Matthew Benham, proved to be a turning point in the history of Brentford Football Club. It was the start of the journey from a near miss with going into administration to playing in the Premier League.
Here’s the announcement from 30th September 2005.
