AGM Minutes (5/6/2025)

Accies Supporters’ Association AGM

Wednesday, 4th June, 7pm

On stage were Brandon Coghill (BC), Andrew Soutter (AS), Colin Hamilton (CH) and David Equi (DE) with guest speakers Alan Russell (AR) from Supporters Direct and Alastair Blair (AB) from the Scottish Football Supporters Association

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BC: Fans tried to create the Supporters’ Association a few years ago, but it was a non-starter due to fans being too divided. We’re now in a situation where opinions don’t matter and we need to be united, which is why the Association has been created. Our goal will become clearer once the elected roles are put in place, but the short-term goal was and is to have representation for fans in our club, as it has been years since the fans have mattered and had their voices heard. There have been baby steps towards this from talks with club. We’re a long way from becoming fan-run, but fans have pressing matters to deal with. There will be more information on this later in the meeting, but the most pressing issue right now is for fans to be involved in the decisions of our football club. We need to ensure that Hamilton Accies never die.

Passes over to Andrew Soutter to explain logistics and legalities of Association.

AS: Been a Hamilton fan for a long time but hasn’t been involved in any supporters’ association until now. Wanted to get involved this time because he was quite upset thinking about how we’ve got into this position, so he found a way to mitigate that by getting involved. We need to get the supporters together collectively to use our anger as well as our energy. Now is the time, we may not get another chance as the energy is here right now. AS couldn’t see how the current situation could go on much longer from the fans’ perspective, as there was no trust between board and fans.

Comes from Falkirk, friends with Falkirk fans, and is intensely jealous of Falkirk as they were on their knees years ago – similarities with Accies. The jealousy comes from seeing how they’ve dramatically turned it around. Looked into how Falkirk achieved that: Falkirk called it the three-legged stool approach. Three sets of shares: fans own a third, patrons own a third and a third for original shareholders. Fans’ shares were a subscription-based, community benefit society. They managed to do it quickly as they got a 350k loan from Scottish Government interest free for 20 years. The money went into the club, which got them shares in return. They now bring in around 120k a year. This doesn’t go directly into the club, and members are brought together to decide on what they want the money to go to. They have two individuals on the board, which is the first leg of the stool. Each leg of the stool relies on the other. In the middle they have another fans group, the patrons. They’re different from supporters’ shares as they pay a bit more money – around 20 of them put in 20k each, owning a third of the club. They own shares directly, whereas the fan group own shares as a group. The government loan isn’t an option due to budget cuts.

We’re a few years behind the curve as we didn’t have a presence like this before. We need to get a good membership base with some income to get the fans involved so that we don’t feel so isolated. We don’t have the funds to buy a share of the club right now, so we need to be a collective. AS phoned a Falkirk fan the Monday after they won the league who sat there for 2 hours to talk about their supporters’ association. Other fans realise that this could easily be them. There are ways for fans to get involved, and the board have opened the door to fan engagement without buying shares. There is the possibility of a golden share held by a Supporters’ Association which would have veto rights over certain matters like changing stadium, name, colours, league. The committee had to suggest this to the board for them to regain some gravitas, but they may be open to this. It isn’t a limited company despite having Ltd at the end of it. Limited liability, not a company – difference is that with a community member society, 1 member = 1 vote. This means that you’re the same level as someone else no matter how much you’re spending. The money is a gift; you don’t make a return on it.

AR: Supporters Direct (SD) have been going in the UK for 25 years to help clubs in this exact situation. Clubs in the late 90s/early 2000s were in similar positions to where we are now. The British footballing landscape is not in the same position because, until now, clubs weren’t generally in crisis the same way. Supporters Direct’s job has been to help others in crisis or to avoid crises. AR is a Raith fan who helped set things up when Colin McGowan was involved at Raith as he put in an application to build property on Stark’s Park. Raith were part of a community buyout in 2005/2006.

Falkirk Supporters Society formed in early 2000s and asked Supporters Direct for help in 2018/2019 due to being dormant without a board or bank account. AR’s role was to get them up and running again with a legal form that protects the association. Accies fans have power due to the numbers in the room. SD are here to help us get set up and to stay working. It can get boring when you’re not in crisis, so SD have got a set of draft rules that can help Accies fans. They’d be the association’s sponsoring body with the Financial Conduct Authority. When clubs are in crisis, they’re here to help make connections. 10 fan-owned clubs in Scotland, but that doesn’t mean that it’s all plain sailing – Morton are having issues. Europe look to Scotland for best practice for fan ownership due to the number of fan-owned clubs we’ve got. 160/170 fan owned clubs around Europe with different models who we can learn from. SD are encouraged by what we’ve got as long as we keep caring about our club.

David Equi to go through nominations to positions on committee, with more positions to become available in the future.

DE: Tremendous honour to have been voted as Chair. Thanks everyone who’s put in a lot of work over the past few weeks: John Paterson, Andrew Soutter, Carolann Guthrie.

Positions:

·        Vice Chair: Brandon Coghill

·        Secretary: Lewis Gilpin who said thank you and won’t let the club die as this is the start of something

·        Communications: Ewan Summers

·        Treasurer: Colin Hamilton who said that he felt he had to help in a small way after meeting in the Bay Horse. Going to be an important role to get funds in which will make us stronger.

Alastair Blair welcomed onto stage.

AB: Accies fans are not alone in this. SFSA will have over 90,000 members by the end of this summer. They can act as a trade union, and unions will only survive if its members stay united. AB used the example of Accies fans applauding St Johnstone after they lost the league in 2007. We are all in this together. The article on SFSA’s website is their most viewed article in this calendar year – they get thousands of views every month. SFSA Chief Exec was Chair of Dundee – one of their biggest problems was a disparate fan base. We can learn from other clubs. There are people who have been through this before and can help us get what we want. AB has been talking to the provisional committee for a few weeks. There’s a lot of anger, allegations, but the most important thing tonight is to concentrate on what really matters: buying time for the club to survive. Then we will have the opportunity to go down another route. Concentrate on survival, buying time, to give board the ammunition to save the club.

Local MP, Imogen Walker invited onto stage. All candidates were invited to the AGM.

IW: So many emails angry at what’s gone on. There’s support out there, there’s advice out there. Will work with committee.

Questions/statements from fans in bold

How can you work with the board if you don’t trust them?

AS: Some can’t tell fans everything, some absolutely won’t.

Herald article on 22nd May about Fans Working Group because the SPFL get clubs to ask for approval to change ground which hasn’t happened yet. Their rules state that they ask clubs if their fans are supportive of a stadium move. The trouble began when stadium and club were separated. Club have said that they won’t speak to the board anymore and the purchase won’t go ahead anymore. Clubs need to give SPFL a lease if they don’t own the ground. Accies’ official return was wrong as they wrongly stated that they still own the ground. There has never been a lease for the stadium, so now all hell has broken loose. In the Herald article, the Working Group had written back to the SPFL to say that they were reluctantly supportive of the move. The SPFL are relying on the club to come to us and act with integrity. Committee asked if the SPFL have sought fan approval – Jock Brown insisted no, so there is a question over how this Working Group have got involved. The board said that they don’t know who the Working Group are, but Zengin later admitted that they have indeed been involved in setting up a Working Group to get the answer to Broadwood that they want to hear. There’s a petition online asking people if they want to go to Broadwood, but the petition doesn’t say if we have an alternative to Broadwood. SPFL have member clubs to look after. Article in Daily Record yesterday about SPFL deadlines, but Jock Brown has said that they have indeed met deadlines despite dates to finalise fixture dates. Why haven’t club reached out to Association to approve or disprove Broadwood?

CH: Association are the fans’ voice. Tonight we’re relaying to fans what we’ve heard from the board over the past few weeks. Fans have different views, but we are the voice of the fans, not McGowan’s, Zengin’s or Strain’s.

Can anyone remember that McGowan stated there was a 50-year lease on the stadium?

AS: No lease was ever signed. Back to question of trust, they don’t have trust/integrity. There are other bodies there who can deal with that

If we don’t go to Broadwood, we won’t have a club to go to.

DE: Ideal scenario is for the board to go.

Has a vote of no confidence been submitted to board?

DE: No.

What can MPs do?

Davy Russell: Been going to Accies for years. Spoke to Jim Logue at NLC. 4 weeks ago the board told DR that they were going to Broadwood but NLC knew nothing about it. England and Wales brought in new football governance act which states that football clubs can’t do certain things without consulting fans. Davy’s intention is to put forward a private members bill so that Scotland have parity with England and Wales in terms of the football act. The board hold all the cards, but the Association can put pressure on them. We’ve gone back to the stage where we are homeless. Speak to Colin McGowan to stay in Hamilton.

Does Scottish Government Grant still exist?

AS: No.

Is there a chance of Clyde buying the stadium?

DE: No.

Community Transfer Act exists to let community buy stadium if there’s a willing seller. Should we use that stadium to try to buy the stadium?

DE: McGowan is looking for £3.9million.

We’re not negotiating with one party, we’re negotiating with two which is why the Association need to be the conduit between the two parties. Go in with best intentions to do what’s best for the fans. Will you be adopting a collective resolution? Will you support Broadwood to buy time, or will you let the club die and reform?

DE: Circumstances could overtake us. Creditors could come in and it could be nothing to do with the Association when it comes to letting the club die. We’ve met all the parties and asked all of the questions.

We can’t hold a vote until a lease is agreed.

Will you be meeting with the club to speak for the Accies fans regarding the move to Broadwood? Or will the fans get a vote on it?

AS: It’s fundamental to the organisation that the fans get a vote. We just need to know what we are voting for. We won’t vote to go to Broadwood right now, but we need to know what will happen if we vote no. It may be a case of voting for Broadwood so that Accies can live to fight another day. There are other ways to get at the board without voting no to Broadwood – we could be voting for the club to die. They are trying to back us into a corner. Public vote may be unfair as AS doesn’t want to know if someone voted to let the club die.

BC: The club haven’t given any idea as to what would make a vote stand. Who is an Accies fan? Do we need members first of all?

Why couldn’t they have sorted the problems that prevented the purchase of the stadium?

CH: Zengin said “we have access to the money” rather than actually having the money. The deal was close, but we are led to believe that it was stopped when the due diligence was requested. Someone, or both of them, is being economical with the truth.

DE: There is an American investor, but DE questions who would go into business with Accies fans?

If we’re now properly formed as an SA, are we entitled to go to the SPFL and ask for them to reconsider/revisit their fit and proper persons test?

AS: It isn’t something that they can discuss with us. It is a self-certifying thing, like every SPFL rule, which works well if the clubs are honest. The stadium ownership is self-certified which they got wrong, so they might have done that too with the fan engagement.

Could Imogen work with group to speak to Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture of Media, Sport? There are potential funding avenues available for Association.

No planning permission for Colin McGowan’s private permission. Disputed as to whether this is the case or if it’s a Change of Use.

What is the overall outcome for the stadium and the club moving forward in general? What was the general feeling?

DE: DE only lasted half of the first meeting before walking out. The way the club have treated long term heroes like Scott Struthers is a disgrace. Gillian Cunning too.

CH: Committee tried to get into their minds to get information, especially about Broadwood. Unfortunately, committee don’t trust them. A lot of clubs do want Accies to survive because it could be them next time.

BC: Left with the same knowledge that we had going into it. Broadwood or bust, because they can’t deal with stadium owners.

AS: Met Colin McGowan who was organised whereas the board weren’t.

Why bring in Jock Brown?

AS: Gerry Strain said it’s to do with perception so that when people see Hamilton they perceive it to be credible, but AS thinks that it’s reality that counts. When the club agreed to us having two representatives on the board – which was a big step, but dependent on what fans and they make of it – they wanted to approve the members and reserve the ability to say no without giving any reason. One step forward, three steps back.

How can we say Broadwood or Bust if we haven’t even got a lease there?

DE: Good chance of going to EK, but that’s just his opinion.

Does going bust bother them?

DE: Yes, because they’ll lose a lot of money. But Jock Brown thinks that he can save the club. The SPFL asked Association to come in because they knew that the Working Group was a sham.

Can we go to the SPFL as a body to consult with?

DE: Rules are in place, but Gerry Strain doesn’t seem to be aware of this. If we were to vote against it, then the SPFL may say no, but there’s no way to measure it.

If we vote no tonight, does that allow us to go to the club to say that Broadwood is a non-starter? Can the SPFL deny self-certification?

DE: Yes.

AS: But we’d have no ground.

Do we have status with SPFL?

AS: No, because the club are the member, not the fans.

DE: First time they’ve had a meeting with fans.

How do we mitigate having a smaller support when it comes to fan ownership?

AR: There are smaller or similar sized clubs to us. Where bigger clubs have an advantage is that they have a bigger pull to bring in money for operating costs. No fan-owned club in Scotland, UK or elsewhere has ever gone bust, as far as he’s aware. Size isn’t a barrier to making it work. Where size matters is having as loud a voice as possible.

Did Colin McGowan have any intention to sell the ground in the first place?

CH: Honestly believes that McGowan was willing to sell the stadium. Showed documents, it was close, but McGowan wanted to know if the board had funds. We’ve got a voice and must stick together whether we want to go to Broadwood or not. McGowan said he wants to sell, as he’s 70 and would like to spend more time abroad.

Why is he putting money into that stand?

DE: They’ve got a lease for that stand, so whoever buys the stadium would rent it out to McGowan.

Where and when do the board see us coming back to Hamilton? £8-10million for a new stadium has been quoted, but that wouldn’t be enough. No site available, too much money. How long will we be nomads? Only way to get back into Hamilton is to do a deal with the current stadium owner.

DE: During the seven years we were away last time, the club nearly folded three times, so the danger of going bust is very real.

Have we got a Plan B for the doomsday scenario, if the club goes bust?

DE: Administration is better than liquidation.

What would happen if Gerry Strain merged us with East Kilbride?

DE: Clyde tried to merge with EK but it was thrown. Historical mergers between Scottish clubs have tended to be rejected by fans.  

We should be contradicting the stories that they have spouted.

DE: We managed to get the Herald article changed.

Story about Lewis Ferguson and Ryan One money.

BC: They said they didn’t put the stories in paper. It was mentioned to board about them taking the money and leaving, but the board said that they won’t get much money from Ferguson were he to move. One probably won’t go because Sheffield United didn’t get promoted.

Will we write to SPFL to tell them that we’re now constituted and expect to be consulted?

DE: Yes we will.

Final remarks

DE: Thanks for coming.

CH: Hope this has given you the full picture. Club and stadium are far apart. There’s one stadium in Hamilton and it’s purpose-built, so hopefully common sense prevails. Join the mailing list so that we can contact you. Very close to setting up a bank account, and once committee have that then form will be sent out to get funds in.  

DE: Committee plan to have this kind of meeting every three months. Planning to meet internally every week because this is a critical stage.

BC: Committee can guarantee that there will be quarterly meetings unlike the club. Others will be brought onto the committee. Carolann Guthrie and Ross Latimer have brilliant ideas. Accies fans have typically never been together, but we are now. We’ve got one shot at this, no better shot, so we need to make it about the fans.

AS: Egos and money are getting in the way of those in power. Both parties should go into a meeting with the supporters to hash things out.

DE: We’re all in this together. Thank you.