D-Day looms for Lewes Women: Will Rooks’ fan owners accept or reject offer of £5m to buy into club?

Opinions among those who have a stake in the club is divided, with strong arguments being put forward both in favour and against the proposed deal.

Here we air both sides of the debate, first hearing thr proposal to accept, then from a group of fans who do not want to see it happen, fearing its implications.

Scenario to accept the investment proposal from Mercury 13 – written by the Lewes FC Board of Directors

“The Lewes Football Club owners are being asked to vote specifically on whether to accept an investment of approximately £5m, from a newly created Women’s focused Investment Group known as Mercury 13. In return for the investment,

Mercury 13 would gain up to a 51% stake in Lewes Football Club Women’s Limited, with Lewes Football Club Limited retaining a minimum of 49%. This investment would not alter or change the existing community ownership model of our TopCo, Lewes Community Football Club Limited.

If the club decided to proceed with the proposed investment by Mercury 13, there would be an initial immediate uplift to playing and operational budgets, to be followed by further tranches of funding over a three-year period. This would allow us to enhance the physical infrastructure of the Club, both the Dripping Pan itself and the 3G, which would in turn deliver benefits not only to the senior teams, but also to those others such as the Development Squads, Pathway teams and Community teams such as our Vets, Football Therapy and Lewes Juniors sides who use the 3G.

Other facilities such as those used on matchdays by fans and during community or club events would also see benefit. There are plans for the Rook Inn itself to be redeveloped so it can become a more appealing and viable venue for hire). The Club’s digital infrastructure would also be further developed, including enhancements to our website, Owners app and streaming output.

While staffing at the Club has increased in recent years, this is unsustainable on our current revenues, and is reliant on centralised sponsorship and broadcast revenues as well as workforce investment funding from the FA (due to our status within the Barclay's Women's Championship).

The Mercury 13 investment would bring not only consolidation of our existing staffing, but also enable us to backfill vacant positions. These vacancies would be even more attractive to skilled staff as the facilities, infrastructure and club opportunities develop. Mercury 13 will also bring additional resources and expertise that would work in tandem with our club leadership team; from supporting on advancing the performance of our club strategy, through to player recruitment.

On the playing side - specific expertise within Mercury 13, as well as the funding itself would lead to improvements in footballing data analysis and performance development, as well as nutrition, for both senior squads. As the women’s playing budgets increased, the men’s playing budgets would see an uplift from funds no longer needed for areas provided through the new investment. Beyond the senior squads, the pathway programmes could be extended and enriched.

Owners will continue to be fundamental to the club. As well as increased improvements of the app and user journey, continued development of the Owner experience and growth of our Ownership would be targeted with new initiatives. Similarly, the newly resourced Club would have the capacity to increase and enhance our existing community programme commitments.

This scenario is presented as a recommendation from the Board of Directors, based on several years’ exploration, the pursuit of multiple options and years of collective experience in financial growth strategies. Of these options, none have come as far as the solid proposal now before us.

From these experiences and extensive modelling of different possibilities, we cannot with any confidence, or in all conscience, present any other options to a vote. We unanimously believe this is the only option available at this stage, which will enable the club to grow with the long-term stability and security necessary for success."

Miranda Kemp, representing a group of fans opposing the proposed investment, says this…

Lewes CFC is a 100% fan-owned club based at the Dripping Pan ground in Mountfield Road, Lewes. Around 2,500 owners are being asked to accept ‘investment’ from Mercury 13, an investment corporation led by the sports entrepreneur Victoire Cogevina Reynal, who wish to buy a controlling stake in the club’s women’s team for £5.1m.

Mercury 13 plans to spend $100m acquiring women’s football clubs in Europe and Latin America. Their sights are set on Lewes CFC’s women’s team, who currently play in the English Championship, the second tier of women’s football.

A recent survey of fans by the Lewes CFC Supporters’ Club found 47% of supporters were against the investment. It is believed that support against the sale is growing, and a group of fans against the proposal, which includes a number of former club directors and members of the original supporter’s trust at the club, are adamant the club should remain community owned.

Representative of this group of fans, Miranda Kemp, said: “We want the club to remain a 100% supporter-owned club and return to its community-owned roots. It does not have to sell to a private equity fund, which openly admits that one way it could make money on the deal is by selling on its shares. Refusing the sale would undoubtedly have downsides. The club’s assessment that playing budgets and other investments would need to be reduced are almost certainly true,”

However, the group say, that is not the disaster scenario the club portrays. “The disaster scenario is the women’s team ends up in the hands of a hostile unknown quantity - if Mercury 13 decides to sell its stake in three, five or ten-years’ time. Granted, we will have the option to buy back the shares – but is it a realistic possibility that we would be able to find the millions of pounds required? Or worse still, Mercury 13 could walk away leaving the club with a huge amount of debt.

“It is time to take our club back, not sell it off. We want to redouble efforts to get the community fully engaged in the running of the club, the funding of the club and the decision-making. We want to operate at a sustainable level again.

“We want our current fan-owners to think very carefully before abandoning the fan-owned principle for potential short-term gain. Once it is gone, it’s almost certainly gone for good.”

The club’s fan owners will vote on the proposed investment between October 24 and 31.