In November 2005, 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 Brian Burgess, then Chair of Bees United, to ask if he wanted to meet him. Of course, he said yes
20 years ago
To re-tell the events of 2005 we need to anchor the story much earlier in 2003, or rather 1998, when former owner of Southall, Wimbledon and Crystal palace, Ron ( “Whatever the fans want you to do, you should do the opposite” ) Noades, a property developer, became owner, for £650,000, then Chair and Manager of the Bees.
This is the background that gets us to November 2005. With Ron Noades there were highs and lows….. and lows
The 1998/99 season saw promotion to 4th tier, Division three (our place for 40 seasons) but Noades stepped down as both manager and chairman. And amidst much criticism from fans as Ian Westbrook recalled, Noades ‘posted a message on a supporters internet site saying he would not stay anywhere he was not wanted’. The reality followed after the infamous FA Cup defeat to Kingstonian 25 years ago on November 18th, 2000, Noades quit as manager.
‘Fan pressure, was to blame‘, Noades said at the time: “They have put up posters saying I am wanted for the murder of Brentford FC.”
Noades had concluded that the Club could not be financially sustainable at Griffin Park in the long term and became increasingly disinterested in running the company. Under his stewardship the Club lost over £1.5 million in the 2000-01 season in spite of making a profit of almost £1 million on player transfers. In 2002, Noades agreed to let Bees United have a seat on the Brentford FC Board, taken up by the first BU Chair John McGlashan in the summer, a position held by BU Chairs, without interruption to this day.
BU’s negotiations with Noades led, in April 2003, to Noades standing down from the Brentford FC Board and BU Board members Stephen Callen and Andrew Wainwright joined John McGlashan as Directors on that Club Board. Soon after, that in May, Noades granted BU a conditional two-year Option giving the Supporters Trust the right to buy his majority 60% shareholding in the Club. Under Noades management the Club had run up a Barclays overdraft of over £4million. Under this arrangement Barclays Bank lent money to the Club on the basis that the overdraft was guaranteed by Ron Noades via his company, Altonwood through which he owned the majority 60% shareholding in BFC. The other significant shareholder was Martin Lange with a 25% holding plus a special ‘golden share’ which allowed him powers to veto a sale of Griffin Park under certain circumstances.
The Two Year Option granted to BU was to buy Altonwood’s shareholdings in two companies, Brentford FC Ltd (BFC) and Griffin Park Stadium Ltd (GPSL) for £1 each on condition that Altonwood was relieved of its obligation to provide a guarantee to the bank. In addition to finding the £2 for the shares this gave Bees United two years to re-finance the Club’s overdraft, which crept up to almost £5million.
Although Noades still owned the Club, John McGlashan and Stephen Callen became executive directors running the day-to-day management whilst the Bees United Board focused on working with BIAS and an army of volunteers and fans to raise the necessary funds. During 2004 Bees United steadily reduced the Club’s operating losses whilst fundraising to find the £4.5 million necessary to exercise its option to take over the Club.
Exercising the option
Another very tough challenge was underway slowly at the same time but progress on the new stadium project was slow. The amazing fundraising efforts continued. Eventually BU reached the point when it became obvious there would be no further progress on a new stadium unless Bees United exercised its option and took over the Club.
Chapter 3: Bees Battles Buckets and Ballot Boxes
As the May 2005 deadline approached for the option to expire it became clear that BU needed more time to reach the funding target. Barclays Bank had agreed in principle to convert the almost £5 million overdraft into a £2 million, 15-year-term loan and a£500,000 overdraft if BU could come up with the other £2.5 million. We were also talking to the Council about a £500,000, five-year interest-bearing loan.
A meeting was arranged with Ron Noades and his finance man, David Waddington, to discuss the situation. John McGlashan, Stephen Callen and Brian Burgess went with Eddie Rogers and John Herting to see them at Altonwood’s office. After a lot of talking, a potential deal was thrashed out to agree 10 points on a sheet of A4, whereby the option would be extended by four months until the end of September and if Bees United could raise £1 million, Noades, via Altonwood, would match it with a three-year interest-free loan of £1 million to the Club. There were a number of other existing loans which were wrapped up in the deal, including one from John Herting, which he agreed to leave in the Club. The Club’s total debts had reached £7 million and BU now had a way of covering them. BU just needed to reach the £1 million target.
As September approached, the signed commitments for all the funds needed weren’t in place but the BU directors were confident enough that if the option were exercised by the end of September, the money would be in place in time to complete the deal within four months.
Brian Burgess said, ‘At the beginning of September, I received a call from David Waddington at Altonwood.
He had been talking to Barclays and said that as Altonwood would not increase their guarantee and the bank would not increase the overdraft any further, the Club would not have enough cash to pay the wages bill at the end of the month so unless Bees United came up with cash by then, the Club could risk some unpleasant options.’
Chapter 3 contd. Potential ‘investor directors’ agree to lend six figure sums to the Club before the end of September
Brian approached two of the proposed ‘investor directors’ and asked if they would lend their six figure sums to the Club before the end of September ‘rather than wait until we managed to complete the takeover.’ ‘They put in £100,000 each and we went ahead and formally exercised the option. I went on the pitch before the game against Rotherham on Saturday 1st October to announce the good news. At least I thought it was good news. But when I said that two individuals who wished to remain anonymous had put in £200,000 to avoid the Club from going into administration it caused a bit of a 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.’
20 years ago on November 15th – One discussion changed the future of BFC Matthew Benham met Brentford Football Club to discuss some help
In Brian’s own words;
‘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 took over, 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. The subsequent development of the initial relationship between Bees United, Matthew Benham and the Club has proved to be a turning point in the Club’s history. Matthew’s expertise, his innovative strategies and his financial commitment made it possible for the Club to achieve so much more than we could have dreamt when we first met him in 2005′
…..And the rest they say, is history.
January 2006
Bees United acquired the majority shareholding of Brentford FC on 20th January 2006.
On the pitch before the home game against Huddersfield the next day, new Chairman of the Club Greg Dyke was introduced which is another story that started back in early 2004 when a supporter came over to Brian Burgess one Saturday lunchtime.
Brian was in the Griffin and handed him an envelope containing an eleven-word letter, on BBC Director General headed notepaper, from Greg Dyke. (From https://www.beesunited.org.uk/news/the-month-january-2006/ )
And so all the efforts by the fans had paid off, except as Paul Stedman explained, the work had to continue. Here is an extract from Paul’s article “Bucket Collections” back in January 2006.
At the beginning of the current season it was decided to temporarily suspend the Player Fund in order to maximise fundraising for the BACK THE BEES Campaign and support the efforts to acquire the majority shareholding in the Football Club. With the historic supporters’ takeover just days away, it has been decided that the bucket collections will resort to their former 50:50 split, commencing with the Huddersfield game on 21 January.
……..
One of the Player Fund organisers, John Anderson, summed up his feelings: “Just because Bees United are taking control of the Club does not mean the fundraising stops, far from it in fact, it simply starts all over again. [We sadly lost John Anderson in the Summer of 2023] Paul Stedman’s article in full
Ron Noades
Would you like the fans real views on Ron Noades? You need go no further than this excellent piece from Jim Levack, ‘The White Haired Mercenary’ https://www.beesunited.org.uk/heritage/ron-noades-the-white-haired-mercenary/
Bees United Board and Directors of BFC 2005 and 2006
BFC Directors
2005 – Stephen Callen, Joe Bourke, John McGlashan, 2006 – Brian Burgess, Stephen Callen, Joe Bourke, David Heath, Jon Gosling
Bees United Board
Chair Brian Burgess, Secretaries, Bruce Powell and Chris Gammon, Treasurers, Stephen Callen and Trevor Inns,
David Anderson, John Anderson, Joe Bourke, Mark Chapman, Matt Dolman, Alison Franklin, Jon Gosling, Rod Gowers, David Hawes, Natasha Judge, Brian Sawyer, Chris Scott,
* BBC 21 November 2000