On the 9th of May, HAFSWO was invited to 2 meetings, the first involving Colin McGowan, and the second involving Jock Brown, Gerry Strain and Seref Zengin. Below is a list of minutes and talking points brought up in each meeting.
The members representing HAFSWO are listed as follows:
David Equi
Lewis Gilpin (standing in for Carolann Guthrie)
Colin Hamilton
John Paterson
All Meetings were conducted face to face.
First Meeting with Colin McGowan
Time: 3:30 – 5:00pm
Location: New Douglas Park
Martin Black (Catering) reiterates that he will do what he can to help HAFSWO
1. Formal Introductions
HAFSWO: What have you made of all that has gone on recently?
CMcG: “Absolutely gutted at what has went on, the academy he has built with Ronnie McDonald, flawlessly without CCJ’s, without penalty points and with integrity.”
CMcG mentioned Jock Brown’s comments regarding integrity, states there wasn’t integrity issues before but there certainly is now.
CMcG: “I always paid suppliers promptly and on time”, states he wasn’t particularly liked while doing all this.
HAFSWO members state we are committed to helping the club stay in Hamilton in any we can.
Notified CMcG we will be meeting with the current board after this meeting.
CMcG thinks it is good we are meeting with the board, states there will be 2 sides, 1 of the sides are terrible liars and suggests people to look at the facts.
HAFSWO: “How have we gotten to this situation?” and questions about the business credentials of the current board
CMcG: “It has been heartbreaking”, Seref Zengin joined in 2017, Gerry joined in 2022 was introduced by John Brown. Seref was originally a sponsor, was great, CMcG wasn’t personal friends with him. When Gerry was introduced CMcG asked him on to the board as a director to help with the sponsorships because at the time it was him that sold everything.
Gerry Strain sold 83k worth of sponsorships within his first ten weeks at the club
HAFSWO: Did Gerry put money in?
CMcG: “He put a bit of sponsorship in” £600/800 per month.
Continues to speak about Seref, how Seref wanted to buy a football club and he helped get a meeting between Seref and Airdrie.
CMcG after Ronnie left he wanted to leave the club to a football man.
Selling the Club to Seref
CMcG stated he wanted to sell the stadium on his 70th birthday, Seref agreed to CMcG price, 6 months later Seref said he needed to buy the stadium earlier to attract investors. CMcG gave him a 600k reduction in effort to sell the stadium sooner.
After CMcG sold Seref the club Gerry Strain become Football Director
HAFSWO: “Can you explain why Ronnie left?”
CMcG: “Ronnie left because the supporters shouted abuse at Canzo”, had enough of abuse and chanting. CMcG attempted to convince Ronnie to stay and put 150k into the academy initially with a further 150k at a later date under Seref. Seref said no and that Ronnie is too much of a controller. Gerry supported Ronnie coming in.
CMcG: confirming that at point before selling the club they were up to date with HMRC and Creditors paid.
HAFSWO: When Gerry & Seref took over there was no debts? And what did they mean when they said the stadium company owed them money?
CMcG: “There has been no offer to buy the stadium or the shares” Spoke about how Seref took the 16’s to play at Thorniewood. Dismissed claims that he locked them out of the stadium and would be swayed by supporters.
Tenancy at the Stadium
HAFSWO: The board described there tenancy at NDP as unsatisfactory, in your opinion what did they mean by that?
CMcG: In his view they fell out with everyone they spoke to, they distrusted and fell out with everyone. Listed names of several people no longer at the club. CMcG oversaw all the paperwork with Scott Struthers to make sure everything was done correct and on time.
HAFSWO: Did the board interact with Scott Struthers?
CMcG: “They are terrified of Scott” treatment of Scott has been terrible, Scott loves the club more than anyone else loves the club.
CMcG produces tenancy agreements to show the committee
CMcG had to pay for all repairs regarding the stadium, Ronnie was happy to pay for it for over 20 years
CMcG then produces the document regarding the sale of the Football Club
CMcG stated Washing machine hires hadn’t been paid in over a year, electricity hadn’t been paid since September, also weren’t paying for refuse collection.
Payments
HAFSWO: What was being paid?
CMcG: They eventually were paying the wages and everything else was left.
HAFSWO: “Can Accies return, do you want Accies return?”
CMcG: “Need to wait and see what the current board are doing” Hamilton Accies are a tenant choosing to leave, sent WhatsApp turned up and came to stadium started taking things away.
HAFSWO: “Did they notify you officially that they were leaving?”
CMcG: Left the stadium in a mess, left the doors open. Repeated misinformation.
CMcG states that he was selling his shares, selling the stadium, took a 600k reduction, then finds out they are going to the palace grounds, visiting councillors with a view to build a stadium.
CMcG mentions about Seref saying that there was 200k coming in from Turkish Airlines, wanting to paint Turkish Airlines on the roof of the stadium so the pilots can see it when they are landing. Ryan Fulton was meant to be sold to a Turkish club for 400k and that Hull were going to put money in and make Accies a feeder club for their academy.
Selling the Stadium
HAFSWO: Fans don’t think you really want to sell; what would you say to them?
CMcG: “Give us the money”
HAFSWO: Why do you think fans are saying that?
CMcG: “If you put out someone was gay enough times, it would be a commonly held view they were gay” Agreed a figure with Seref, Seref stated 6 months later that he couldn’t get the necessary investment unless he owned the building. CMcG agreed to take 600k off if the deal was done within a certain timeframe. Said if the money is there why won’t they pay off their CCJ’s, Asked the board to come and pick up the Due diligence.
HAFSWO: What was the due diligence they wanted done?
CMcG: They wanted the due diligence done, for a data bank(?) then wanted it for warranties. CMcG’s side said tell us what you want to warrant and we’ll tell you. What is the offer?
HAFSWO: Who is the mystery US investor, does he exist?
CMcG: Yes
HAFSWO: Are you open to renegotiation?
CMcG: My team are open to any offer, reiterates had no offer
CMcG claims if he brought in a due diligence team, the board would owe him 600k for the mess they have made.
CMcG produces an Experian credit report of 100, money credit and low risk status while he was in charge, shows one of now with the score at 2 and high risk,
Players getting letters saying their pensions are not being paid.
CMcG close to tears after what has happened at the club, sent messages to the board regarding what has happened with certain people.
Ryan Fulton offered a contract and let down
Lack of communication with club staff
Gillian having to buy toilet paper and A4 paper
Front Office being told everything about everyone
CMcG has never met or spoken to Jock Brown
CMcG states he was advising Seref what to do while he was in Turkey
HAFSWO: When was the last time you had any contact with the board?
CMcG: The day they said I tried to put stories in the paper
Board allegedly sacking people without a letter, Asking people to do cleaning at night and not paying them, John Brown left doing everything without any help, Gillian terrified by the amount of people looking to take payments, tried to take Ice machine
Club got money off Clyde, Celtic, Martin Black, CMcG’s charity blameless, over 100k a year
CMcG paying 13k a month utility bill for the stand which the club are 80% liable for.
HAFSWO: Why would you do that? Paying utility bills?
CMcG: They kept saying they were going to pay me
People worrying about paying their mortgages
Stopped all charities getting tickets, bended to public opinion
CMcG received no replies to any of the messages sent to Seref
Board got 178k from an Insurance claim from a flood in the North Stand, which CMcG claimed had nothing to do with the club.
Club spent £1.5 million in league 1 without a sponsor
23s accounts signed by Seref acknowledging he owes £272k to the stadium company, He acknowledges he’s not paid 15 month
CMcG gave them 700k for players sold, includes the likes of Lewis Ferguson, Ryan One, etc
CMcG read out more letters sent to Seref
Could raise dilapidations against the club but probably won’t
Same Stadium that Ronnie paid all these bills for 20 years, with no problems
Serefs accountant met with CMcG, CMcG delivered budgets to show how it was done, all ignored
Telling people they’ve lost their job because CMcG has locked the stadium
CMcG believed that there was investment incoming otherwise he wouldn’t have kept the club there or kept lending the club money
CMcG saying it’s the only football club where the players are saying they’ve got too many players
HAFSWO: If the club returned is the years free rent still on the table
CMcG: I believe they have already refused that offerTrying to get access to the stadium to remove more stuff.
CMcG reiterated he’s heart broken for what they’ve done to the club
Second Meeting with Jock Brown, Gerry Strain, Seref Zengin
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Location: Active Access Office
Ben Paterson who does the clubs social media was also in attendance
JB begins the meeting by talking about the recent article in the Sun, The Sun were are planning to release an article about what is going on at Hamilton Academical on Sunday (11/05), they sent 2 questions;
1. what was their concern for businesses in Hamilton?
2. the impact on supporters travelling 15 miles for home games?
JB response was no one is more upset about leaving Hamilton than I am
At this point SZ has said that they will be putting this full statement out if they don’t publish their response
It became impossible to stay at NDP and there is no other current location available to house the club, tried to purchase company that owns stadium, funds in place and the seller refused to provide standard requirements and necessary warranties.
That meant they would have had to purchase the company without knowing what liabilities it had and without any redress if they found any.
Presented throughout with demands and threats which they have to this point ignored
The club owes the owner absolutely nothing and states that the contrary is the case
The conditions attached to the lease were unacceptable
Understand that the move to broadwood could have adverse effect on the support, looking for ways to help supporters attend
That’s what has been sent to the Sun, and a statement by the board will be posted on Monday (12/05) if not published
HAFSWO: Why have you left yourselves exposed by walking out of a lease? Will you not be held responsible for the dilapidations?
JB: We are ready to deal with that
HAFSWO: Did you do a schedule of dilapidations before you took over the club?
GS: Club was in dire of investment
JB: Club was about to be put into administration
GS: Seref retained CMcG’s management company to manage the transition
HAFSWO: You are saying the club is owed money by the stadium company, how and why?
SZ: Not something that can be discussed at the moment already with lawyers
SZ: Operating within that stadium between July 23 – Jan 24 cost the football club 731k
HAFSWO: What should it have cost the football club?
JB: 250k max
HAFSWO: Why don’t you purchase the stadium, if you’ve got £4 million in the bank?
JB: We wanted standard due diligence and warranties, and we wouldn’t be given them
HAFSWO: Spoke about 600k reduction on Stadium asking price
SZ: Offered 1.5 million more to purchase the CMcG’s stadium shares, done everything to get the deal done
HAFSWO: How was the valuation done, was it based on rental income?
SZ: That valuation was based off one of CMcG’s surveyors
HAFSWO: Why did you offer more?
SZ: Give him something to walk away from the club happy
JB: Wasn’t involved at this time
HAFSWO: Did you agree on that deal? Heads of terms?
SZ: He (CMcG) changed them everytime
JB: Spent months trying to get CMcG to make the deal
HAFSWO: Why could you not get the due diligence?
CMcG wouldn’t give them it, wouldn’t even get lawyers to contact one another.
When it looked like the board was going to pull out that’s when they started sending things over
HAFSWO: If you had a properly conducted transaction, would you still be willing to move back there?
JB: Doubt it
GS: had a deadline to declare where we were playing football by 30th of march, 6th of march continued to attempt to broker a deal with CMcG, a few days later started to look at Broadwood as a plan B, when it looked like the deal for the stadium wouldn’t happen.
The board believed we were reiterating a lot of McGowan talking points
HAFSWO: What is the deal at Broadwood
JB: 2 years with an option of a further year
HAFSWO: Has this deal been signed
JB: General deals and agreements have been signed
HAFSWO brought up the conversation that SLC had regarding Hamilton Accies moving from NDP
JB: spent 6 month trying to keep Hamilton at NDP
HAFSWO: what is the time frame regarding returning to Hamilton, made point that councillors have indicated building a new stadium will be difficult
JB: No one in the council has told them that
HAFSWO raised the point if we are not paying the money CMcG wanted for the stadium it would cost far in excess of what he wanted to build a new stadium
HAFSWO asked how many fans they thought would go to broadwood
JB: We don’t know
SZ brought up over the last 12 months CMcG has wasted his time and money, he no longer wants to do any business with CMcG as he believes he has caused reputational damage to him and his businesses, no longer trusts him.
HAFSWO brought up how the announcement was made without consultation with fans was very poor
SZ: environment was completely toxic within NDP
HAFSWO asked the board to elaborate on the comments that their tenancy being unsatisfactory
JB: Turned off the hot water for the players to shower, showers were cold regularly, tried to feed the players as well, stated it was unbelievable that the players stayed with all that was going on, claimed John Rankin was a major factor in keeping the players there.
SZ: Can’t speak as openly as he wanted to regarding their time at NDP, mentions how financially and mentally difficult it has been
SZ stated that the football club was handed over to himself for failure
Claims that the football club was heading for administration in January 2024
GS: Someone put grass in the tractors fuel tank, had to borrow a tractor from Kilmarnock to get the pitch up to scratch
JB: Bills coming in to the club for building work done in Larkhall
SZ also states that he has so much respect for how John Rankin conducted himself through all this
HAFSWO asked about the commercial income at Broadwood
JB: We will have control over hospitality
SZ: Club was not making money off hospitality at NDP, was a cost to the club
HAFSWO asked about their dealings with creditors
SZ: Every single bill regarding that stadium came to the football club, doesn’t matter if it was related to the club or not, mentioned scanners in CMcG private clinic
GS: Club had been paying bills for an ultrasound scanner for 3 years
SZ: This is what the CCJ’s are about
HAFSWO asked if we are dealing with the CCJs at the moment
SZ: With the lawyers
HAFSWO asked about the points deduction, what went wrong
JB: Can’t tell us due to the rules regarding the SFA, breaks his heart, it is a scandal what has happened.
HAFSWO asked if CMcG had any culpability in the matter
All members of board said no
HAFSWO then asked why the board did not consult Scott Struthers
SZ: Claims that he was in charge of some of the points
HAFSWO stated that Scott Struthers denied this
HAFSWO asked can there be assurances that there will not be a repeat of this going forward
JB: We have taken steps to ensure there will be no repeat
HAFSWO asked if they had enough people to do the administration
All conceded that was a fair point, SZ said it still does not excuse what happened.
HAFSWO asked how many players are currently on the books at the club
GS: 39
HAFSWO asked about the current wage bill
JB: we are in the lowest 3 for wages in the championship, in league 1 we were 2nd to Falkirk
HAFSWO raised concerns about the clubs financial viability
SZ asked how members of the committee how much we thought the club made from gate receipts, stated the club doesn’t rely on gate receipts
JB: costs at Cumbernauld are infinitely cheaper than NDP
500k to play at NDP
86k to play at Broadwood
HAFSWO then asked training facilities and for the first team and youth academy
SZ: in regards to the youth academy, working on it, first team will train at broadwood
HAFSWO stated concerns that move will kill the club, stated how our homeless years affected attendances.
JB: Done there upmost to keep the club at NDP, absolutely gutted to be moving
JB stated he initially wasn’t going to come on board unless the stadium had been bought, JB came on the board when he thought it would improve their chances of acquiring NDP, due to his background in football.
JB stated that the deal to acquire the stadium was impossible, basic information was not given, stated that CMcG wouldn’t give them anything, had to have a plan B
HAFSWO asked if JB has ever spoken to CMcG
JB: No, CMcG only ever made contact through representatives
SZ: CMcG gave them another lease agreement when the deadline was fast approaching, which Seref claims was a pile of shite and no other club would be given something like that, because he thought they were stuck
In 7 months the club paid 700k to be at NDP, without any players being paid, without security and matchday operation, these are all costs of operating out of NDP
HAFSWO if you owned the stadium or built a new stadium would the costs not be similar?
SZ: He would be getting the rents, CMcG is getting all the rents
HAFSWO stated that CMcG claimed that they were getting the rents
SZ: Got rents from Clyde, but it was costing the club more to put on Clyde games, this was a deal signed by CMcG
SZ stated him and GS paid money to keep the club going, JB confirmed this
SZ: CMcG friend’s asking him when they are going to bring in administrators, give club over to administrators
GS stated he has put money out his own pocket to keep the club alive
Board claimed CMcG is going to attempt to take the club into administration
SZ wants Accies to survive and believes that it wouldn’t have been possible if we stayed at NDP
Claims the club is dirty top to bottom, people asking Seref about money laundering, club always gets the blame
HAFSWO what assurances you can give that we will come back from Broadwood
JB: Can’t give any at the moment, have an investor who wants nothing more than the club to be at Hamilton
HAFSWO then asks what sponsors they have, as they only have 1 sponsor at the moment
HAFSWO asks that if they’ve made any contact with the council regarding a new stadium
They have made initial contact
HAFSWO stated that they made the broadwood move without consultation with fans
GS: The reason they couldn’t consult the fans was due to if the fans knew, there was a possibility of leaving NDP there was a risk of fixtures not being fulfilled, Broadwood had to be kept secret to not jeopardise club
GS: does not dislike CMcG, believed that they were being controlled by CMcG and that CMcG wanted to keep them there
GS wanted to buy the club, wasn’t possible without stadium, club needs the revenue streams
Kitman supplied the kits at a cost of 256k to the club
GS claims that everything he wanted to do to bring money into the club was hindered.
SZ stated that the club has 1 shot to clear all the “toxicity” out of the club, if they get it right, the opportunities available to the club will be unbelievable
JB was told not to get involved at Hamilton
HAFSWO asked what the next step is between the board and the fans
SZ wants to rebuild relationship with fans with the view to eventually handing over the club to the fans
Another member will be joining the board, none of them take anything from the club
JB: He’s a high calibre guy
GS: Very strong reputation
GS also stated that he had an email from the SPFL stating the club had done nothing wrong in December
GS spoke about not paying Martin Black despite having a final settlement letter with him
GS claimed someone cut the PA system at NDP
Had to get into the stadium through the kitchen door
HAFSWO asked if there are plans for the fan forum
JB: not a date but there are plans
GS: brought up the reason for the previous one being cancelled, first that they thought the were about to buy the stadium and second, they thought it was going to be infiltrated by Martin black and disrupted
Board spoke about disruption at the Queen’s park game, police informed them prior to the game not to be in the director’s box. JB had brought along a high-profile guest that had to be escorted out by police.
GS: CMcG had an administrator lined up on the 6th of January, when the club was in League 1
GS believed that there was a plan to merge Accies and Clyde
GS spoke about how his children are now Accies fans, upset that his children can’t come to the games
GS loves the club and wants it to be a success, stated that SZ was set up to fail, JB agreed with this
JB came in having never met SZ, after being told not to touch Accies and after getting involved vouched both for SZ and GS, believed they were dealt a shit deal
JB: Doing everything, we can to sort the club out and get it right
JB spoke about Christmas parties being booked and cancelled, which the club got reputational damage from
HAFSWO: Why did CMcG want the Social media accounts when the club was sold?
GS: That was Scott Struthers
SZ called him the black pox of Hamilton
SZ stated he has been there for 16/17 year and that the club has never ran as a proper football club.
SZ stated Hamilton has potential, spoke about wanting to build hotel at the stadium to attract players and international talent.
SZ spoke about the goal being self-sufficiency
SZ said in negotiations with CMcG wanted the north stand at half price rent
SZ said someone is always causing problems for them at NDP, emphasised the need to move away and called for unity
Seref summarised that as long as we stay in Hamilton all these problems continue, unless the fans want him to hand the club back to CMcG
GS: CMcG’s vision for Hamilton is a league 2 club had allocated a budget of 71k for wages
HAFSWO again raised concerns about moving to Broadwood, potentially losing another generation of supporters
GS asked the members of the committee about the flipside, we keep the nucleus of the team, attract a new base, through proper fan engagement. Looking after fans making them feel valued and heard. Build a fanbase then you are more attractive proposition for SLC to have back.
HAFSWO asked what the chances of that happening when none of this has happened with the current fans
GS: different demographic
JB: different opportunities
HAFSWO stated this should be happening with the current group of fans in regard to transparency and fan engagement, brought up Gerry’s past with the fans
GS: A lot of the problems with fans were done from inside
HAFSWO asked Gerry if it was indeed him at the Old Firm game
GS: Yes
HAFSWO then asked Gerry from an fans point of view was that the correct decision after being deducted 15 points and relegated
GS: No
SZ: There was also 7 players with him
HAFSWO stated that isn’t a great look for the club
GS: stated that he was devasted when the points deduction happened
SZ: stated that he has never felt as low, when the club was relegated, his own children blamed him, emotionally shattered.
JB: stated that fan engagement is the priority going forward
HAFSWO asked about John Rankin and Youth academy players
JB: reiterated that John Rankin throughout has been unbelievable and that if only fans knew half of what has went on.
GS: believes 3 coming through have a great chance.
GS: Job George cairns done wasn’t good enough, model was wrong, certain agents benefited from him
GS will show fans that we are an academy club
Conclusion
HAFSWO asked what the main thing we should take back to the fans
GS: We care about the fans
SZ: We have one chance at freedom, we need to stick together to make it possible, ensure everyone on the HAFSWO board is Hamilton supporters with Hamilton interests at heart.
Meeting concluded
