Town chairman David Sheepshanks last night announced a three-pronged financial plan to bring money into the club. Sheepshanks was appearing at a public meeting prior a gathering which instigated the formation of a Town Supporters Trust.

The Blues' chairman, with chief executive Derek Bowden sat alongside him, gave a 20-minute presentation to around 650 people in which he tried to outline the causes of the club's financial demise over the last year or so before taking questions from the floor. The chairman gave the same presentation earlier in the evening to shareholders.

The financial plan includes the already announced share issue, a loan stock and a debenture. Details of the share issue are yet to be formalised and existing shareholders will have to give their approval. However, Derek Bowden confirmed that the shares would give their holders voting rights.

Sheepshanks hoped that the club could bring in more than the £2 million brought in by a similar scheme at Norwich early this season. He said that ideally he would like to go ahead with this now, however this must be put off until the end of the summer due to the current negative balance sheet.

The loan stock will be offered to wealthier investors and can only be made available to under 50 people.

The debenture will offer to a limited number of supporters long-term 20-year season tickets.

Sheepshanks said he wanted to dispel a few myths and answered questions on the selling of Darren Ambrose, the building of the two new stands and several other issues.

The chairman said that the offers for Ambrose and Hermann Hreidarsson were the only bids the club received and the finance the deals brought in was essential. Sheepshanks said there was no other alternative but to accept the bids which he did with an administrator's metophorical gun to his head.

The actual extent of the debt was an issue which several fans questioned him on but the chairmam wouldn't give a precise figure again, as at the press conference to announce administration, describing it as much the same as it was in the 2001/02 accounts released in December last year.

A question was asked regarding ground sponsorship, something that the club is very keen on. Indeed Derek Bowden said that Town were close to a deal that would have made Portman Road the TXU Stadium which would have meant money in addition to the TXU Energi sponsorship. However, before this could be completed TXU went into administration.

Currently no Town directors have put any money into the club. Sheepshanks said that this would be happening in the future as part of the club's refinancing plan, presumably via the share issue or the loan stock. However, he warned supporters that he is "no Jack Walker or Jack Heywood."

The chairman felt that the decision to offer George Burley a new contract in the summer of 2001 was justified at the time given the club's position in the higher echelons of the Premiership. He also said that the club hoped to offer new cointracts to Jim Magilton, Fabian Wilnis and Richard Naylor who are all out of contract in the summer.

Exit from administration is near Sheepshanks said, with the creditors meeting likely prior to the end of the season.

The chairman reiterated that a recent report regarding a reduction in finance for the Academy was false and said that the club and the administrator were supporting it fully.

Sheepshanks said that Joe Royle was as aware as anybody of the financial situation the club was in when he joined, although subsequently it has become worse. This to an extent was due to the poor performance on the pitch in the early part of the season hitting commercial income through the reduced sale of merchandise. The club also expected to have held a share issue earlier this season but were unable to do so due to the club's perilous financial state.

Several questions were asked in different ways on a number of occasions before he wrapped his part of the evening up with a rallying call for fans to back the club, proclaiming that Town would ultimately prevail.

Some areas of the room gave him a standing ovation, although this was by no means a uniform response. Throughout the evening points made both pro and anti-Sheepshanks received applause from the floor.

The vast majority of fans stayed for the Supporters Trust meeting, more details of which will appear on the site later today.

Photo: Action Images

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