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Thursday 27 September 2018

A Man Without A Team: Week Five/Tramadrama

I don't think that anyone's remotely surprised at the news that the EGM has been postponed.

The reason given is that 'shareholders requested it'. Now I know some of the shareholders, and I'm not sure they actually did request a delay. What is certain is that the EGM would have needed an agenda and the latest accounts to be sent out to the shareholders in advance, in order to be legal.

I'm not sure any of that info was sent out, and I'm not sure that the EGM was announced with the legal amount of notice either. Fourteen days is the minimum, unless a majority of shareholders agree to quorum quicker than that. Given that there's a huge question mark over exactly who the majority shareholders are, I doubt that happened either.

So here we are again. On the pitch, they won 1-0 at the weekend. The amount of people that care is dwindling even further. Yes, stray/lone voices do still say 'Support the lads on the pitch', and I completely understand why they call for this. I mean, nobody wants to fucking know about what shenanigans happen off the pitch. I didn't sign up for Bangor City Financial News Weekly did I. I haven't spent thousands of hours of my life cheering as the income and outgoings are balanced by an accountant. I haven't got excited when the secretary has bought a new pen. I've not bought a beanie hat with a picture of an agreed overdraft against future European earnings on it.

I mean. We all want to support the lads on the pitch. The biggest tragedy of it all is that the link - traditionally stronger than most - between the players and the fans has been broken. That isn't easy to do, but it has happened here. Ask the supporters of FC United. Of Liverpool AFC. Of St. Pauli. Even, at one stage, of Swansea City (not anymore though, sadly). Brighton. Blackpool. Darlington. Hyde United. Newcastle. The once-mighty Altrincham, Ask them why they have built their own edifices if they could. Ask them why and when and how their hearts were broken by Manchester United, Liverpool, whoever.

They just wanted to support lads on the pitch too. But the off-pitch financial nonsense killed it for them. From the Glazers and their debts to the UAE Human Rights Champions, from the Russian mobsters to the money-launderers, the shit sportswear wankers and the downright gangsters, there have been some pretty unsavoury characters involved with the cash business of football. Ask them why they got involved. Before you do, make sure you say goodbye to your loved ones, and get them the antidote for Novichock on ice.

The other day, on my way to Morrisons to look for marked-down bread rolls, I passed the back of a slightly gnarly pub. It's good too: they have regular Elvis appearances, and memorably once me and my mate half-crashed a party at which first Specials then Sham 69 then the Oppressed blasted out over the jukebox. In the alleyway near it, you do sometimes see a couple of characters who seem to be lending each other money in return for... well. You never see what's passed between them. You can guess.

This time, though, the 7.30pm bite of the crashing night had kicked in; it had been a gorgeous autumn day of sun and sharp breezes. Out the corner of my eye I spotted something on the floor, something shiny and plasticky and flat. I picked it up. It was clearly medication of some kind. I looked closer and saw the legend: TRAMADOL.

The pack was empty.

I threw it in the recycling and went on my way, wondering what might have become of me had it had any pills left in the blister pack.

UPDATE: A few hours after this was first posted, someone connected to the club claimed on Facebook that the postponement of the EGM was requested by the BCFCSA's (former) chairman. The veracity of this is unclear. But the fact remains that the EGM wasn't announced in the correct time period anyway, and the status of the 2017 accounts remains unclear too. Back to square one, then. The usual half-truths, misdirections and ineptitude mixed with bubbling latent aggression seems to rule these days.

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