Trust condemns AGM farce

By A WFC Trust press release
December 19 2003

The Walsall Supporters' Trust has condemned the annual farce that is the Walsall FC Annual General Meeting.

 The Trust raised questions which
focused upon the funding of the proposed new stand at Bescot Stadium,
and the Board's plans for turning around the £1 million debt.
Unfortunately the Board of Directors gave only cursory and unconvincing
answers.

Trust Chair Richard Hall had hoped that the issues raised would be seen
by the club in a positive light. He noted that "The news of the debt was
a shock to many supporters and its management is of major interest to
them. The answers that we received today gave us very little
reassurance. We are particularly concerned that there was no risk
assessment implemented at the time of the ITV Digital contract being
signed, despite the club's protestations at the time that the fall-out
from that deal was unlikely to affect the club.

"At the time of the ITV Digital collapse, Mr Bonser stated that 'Any
well-run business will always have contingency plans in hand, just in
case a major sponsor pulls out or it hits a difficult trading situation'
and yet today we found out that there was no risk assessment. In today's
business environment we would simply like to know exactly how the Club
are ensuring that this will not happen again. We are also concerned that
the Board did not state how they would fund repayments for the new
stand, or what security would be put up for any concomitant loans."

The Trust will be raising these issues with the Board, but will be
asking the Directors for a more open and transparent approach to dealing
with the supporters and shareholders.

The Trust's questions can be found in the News section of their web
site:

http://www.walsallfctrust.co.uk