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Stranraer Football Club Members Agree to Loreburn Partnership (19 March 2009 For Immediate Release) Members of Stranraer Football Club have given the Board permission to enter into partnership talks with Loreburn, the Dumfries & Galloway Housing Association, with a view to creating a partnership between the two community businesses. A packed Stranraer FC members meeting heard the details of the proposal from Loreburn’s Chief Executive Officer, Ahsan Khan , along with its Committee members Councillor Robert Higgins , Iain Agnew and John McNaught , and the firm’s solicitor Mark Ewing. Our photograph above shows (from left to right) James McQuistin, Save Stranraer, Alex Thomson, Stranraer FC Board Member, Ahsan Khan , Chief Executive of Loreburn and John Taylor , ex-player and Board adviser. Following the positive vote in favour of the Board’s resolution, Loreburn and the Football Club are now working flat out to create the new partnership before the end of the season. The deal will see Stranraer FC joining Loreburn’s group structure, enabling the housing association to make loans to the Football Club. Loreburn will have ongoing involvement in the Football Club’s financial and administrative affairs, with a separate Board of Directors elected by the Members responsible for the playing side. Click on read more for more details
Stranraer FC’s spokesperson, ex-Blues favourite, and now West Sound pundit, John Taylor, explained the Club’s position, “Our financial troubles have been well documented and I’d been appointed with others to find a way to allow this great club to continue. This was quite an onerous responsibility given we’re talking about saving 140 years of history. When Loreburn heard the bleak assessment of our future they asked to meet with us. The Board unanimously agreed that we had the basis for a deal. Loreburn’s got the financial track record, vision and professionalism we need. We were particularly impressed by the fact that Loreburn has just been named in the Sunday Times List of Top 100 Employers in the UK. We want Stranraer to be first and foremost a community club, and this attracts Loreburn. We’ve also got a great and enthusiastic local young manager who is right behind this. With Loreburn restructuring the debt and helping the administration it will allow me, and the Board Members, to concentrate on bringing new investment to the Club. I must stress that we need to continue the fund-raising efforts, and we will ensure the Club is run as efficiently as possible. We’re sure we can count on our brilliant supporters to continue to give us their backing. We’ve been overwhelmed by their efforts and generosity particularly over the last few months.” Manager, Keith Knox, also welcomed the announcement, “This proposal has come in the nick of time. We’re at the stage in the year when I’ve got to be thinking about players for next season. No-one was going to want to come and play here with the threat of the Football Club going out of business any day. I’ve now been assured that the playing staff budget will be set in the next couple of weeks. This will allow us to start planning and building for next year.” Loreburn’s Chief Executive, Ahsan Khan , added, “It would be a privilege for Loreburn to be involved with Stranraer FC. As housing associations we are charged with taking a wider role in the community, beyond housing provision and management, to make the world a better place. Stranraer Football Club is a great community business. It provides employment, brings money into the area, and gives the town unrivalled free publicity. Above all it gives local people enjoyment and a sense of community pride. It would be a tragedy for this area if the football club went out of existence. As Dumfries & Galloway’s leading community business, investing around £20M annually in the local economy, it would have been a dereliction of our duty had we failed to offer to help another major community business. We will now be working closely with the Board of the Football Club and our professional partners to clear the various regulatory hurdles to try to finalise the partnership agreement by the middle of May.” For further information please contact: For further information please contact: Ahsan Khan
Chief Executive Officer
Loreburn Housing Association
www.Loreburn.co.uk John Taylor
Stranraer Football Club
www.stranraerfc.org |
