MSP Kenny MacAskill has urged his fellow Hibs supporters to seize the moment and take the club into fan ownership.
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ERIC MCCOWAT
MSP Kenny McAskill is behind fan ownership of Hibs
The Easter Road support yesterday moved a step closer to becoming majority shareholders after it was announced that Hibernian Supporters Limited had been created.
Chaired by MacAskill, HSL will be used by the supporters to try to gain a 51 per cent controlling stake in the club.
The Hibs board announced plans to hand the club over to their fans last month.
Fundraising to buy the allocated £2.5million worth of shares, which will go directly to the football budget, will begin on February 2.
Annual contributions will be set at a minimum of £225, or £18.75 – the year the cub was founded – per month.
MacAskill insists the chance to take the club into fan ownership is too good to turn down.
Speaking the day after Hibs posted losses of £800,000, MacAskill said: “There is no sugar daddy out there, but there are a lot of sharks.
“This is about moving towards fan ownership, doing it at a realistic pace, taking into account the situation we are in, having to keep the show on the road and realising that there are financial challenges for every club in Scottish football.
“The more the fans contribute, the quicker they buy in and the greater the influence.
“At the same time, we keep the ship sailing along with stability, which is not easy in the current climate.”
With Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster, The Proclaimers singer Charlie Reid, Hibs legend Jackie McNamara senior, former club director Stephen Dunn and businessmen James Adie and Gordon Smith as his fellow founding directors, MacAskill added: “There is an appetite for this because this is not just about the club, it’s about the community.
“Those who pay their season ticket money wish to see the club be successful.
“We can give them the assurance that the money they put in will fuel that ambition.
Newspaper Review - Wednesday 14 January
“Equally, this is an opportunity because many of them have been deeply frustrated over recent years.
“This offers a win-win situation. Fans are assured they get a greater say and they are also assured the money they put in funds one subject only – fan ownership.
“It’s not buying anybody out, it’s buying in and increasing their share. The money goes to supporting the club on the park and the ambitions the club has in a wider capacity.”
Reid threw his weight behind the failed bid to oust chairman Rod Petrie during the summer in the wake of the Hibs’ relegation from the Premiership, but insists this is now a chance to make a real difference.
He said: “I did take some persuading to get involved but I feel that there comes a point where if you are going to stand on the sidelines and complain about what’s going on – and I’ve done more complaining than almost anybody else – and the opportunity arises to become more involved, it would be perverse not to take it.
“This is what I’ve wanted for the last 20 years – community involvement and fan ownership of the club.
“My ideal would be that the entire club is run by supporters. That isn’t on offer at the moment, but there is clearly a change under way.
“For the first time in a quarter of a century, Hibs is opening up.”
Dempster added: “It is an opportunity to take a majority ownership position in the club.
“We have got collectively a good group of people and the reality is that the proposition is a strong one. I am very hopeful it will be successful.”
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