Clarets Trust Moves to Buy BFC Shares

By Turfmanphil
October 8 2005

The Clarets Trust has today received approval from the Directors of Burnley FC for the purchase of £5000 worth of shares in the club.

Trust Moves to Buy BFC Shares - 07/10/2005

The Clarets Trust has today received approval from the Directors of Burnley FC for the purchase of £5000 worth of shares in the club. This is to add to the one ‘symbolic’ share that the Trust already owns.

The club has expressed its ‘delight’ at this move, and has sent an encouraging message for us to ‘keep up the good work’, something which we certainly intend to do!

Our payment and formal letter of application will be with the club next week, whereupon BFC Chairman Barry Kilby will make a statement about this significant move.

We wanted, however, to release this news as soon as possible, so that anyone still wondering about whether it is worth joining the Trust, or whether the trust can make any real difference to the future of Burnley Football Club, can be under no illusions that we mean business, and we are here to stay.

Clarets Trust Chairman Peter Pike (pictured) had this to say:

“It gives me great pleasure that my first official duty as the new Chairman of the Trust is to be the bearer of such good news. We have a very dedicated team working mainly behind the scenes at the Trust, and I can assure all Burnley supporters that their interests are in very safe hands. The Trust has also set up a very cordial and businesslike dialogue with the club on a whole range of matters, and this is only the beginning. I would urge all Burnley fans to join us in helping to make the Clarets Trust one of the strongest and most effective in the footballing world.”

In fact, the decision to make this first significant purchase was made by the Trust back in the summer, but a combination of factors, including the close season and internal changes within the Trust, held up the formal process. The Trust would like to place on record its thanks to former board members Hazel Leach, Dave Roberts and Tony Scholes for the part they played at that time.

We think it is fitting at this time to remind everyone of what we are saying elsewhere on this site, about Trusts in general, and about ours in particular:

“As committed Burnley fans, it is our duty to do everything we can to ensure that future generations can enjoy that unique experience of being a Claret. Would we ever forgive ourselves if, heaven forbid, the club went under when a strong Trust could have saved it? Many fans have only understood the importance of Trusts when their clubs have been faced with a crisis. Even the takeover of the richest club in the world, Manchester United, might have been prevented if their Trust had had more shares. So, even if you can’t be convinced that continuing your support of the trust is worthwhile to you, please consider those future Clarets who, if the club is ever faced with a crisis, may think ‘if only we’d had a stronger Trust before it was too late”.

Why not join us?

The Clarets Trust

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