PARTICK THISTLE has been accused of treating its supporters with contempt after Colin Weir’s 55 per cent stake in the club was transferred to the PTFC Trust, an existing body that already held a 19.28 per cent shareholding in the Maryhill outfit.
The fan ownership dispute at Firhill has been contentious, to say the least. The Jags Foundation (TJF), a grassroots supporters’ organisation with over 850 members, was named as the preferred recipient of the shares in October of last year – and had been in negotiations for around two and a half years before talks broke down in August – by Three Black Cats (3BC), Weir’s company that holds the shares.
A group of five supporters – Richard Beastall, Ali Campbell, Neil Drain, Fergus Maclennan and Randle Wilson – were brought together by Stewart Macgregor, a Thistle supporter and football agent, and approached first the Trust and then 3BC to propose that the quintet replace the previous Trustees, and that the Trust should receive Weir’s stake in the club. That proposal was preferred to TJF’s by 3BC, despite the fact that the Trust had effectively been lying dormant for years. The old guard then stepped down, allowing the five fans to replace them. “We have kind of elected ourselves,” Beastall told Herald and Times Sport a month ago.
The new Trustees promised dramatic change as the PTFC Trust cannot be said to be democratic, accountable or to have meaningfully engaged with its own beneficiaries or the wider fanbase. Its own proposal to 3BC – where Thistle chairman Jacqui Low serves as one of two directors – admitted as much and in an interview with Herald and Times Sport last month, two Trustees announced their intention to hold a meeting in mid-September where they could canvas their beneficiaries to ensure the fans’ views were in line with the proposal.
“We felt it was only worth holding a public meeting when we had something to discuss – and that’s the proposal,” Beastall said at the time. No meeting has taken place, no democratic process has been followed and supporters have not been consulted in any substantial way.
Exactly who qualifies as a beneficiary is still to be explained, too. Previously, individuals who had held a season ticket for the previous two seasons, as well as the current one, were beneficiaries. The new Trustees announced their intention to reduce those conditions so that beneficiaries would only require a current season ticket in order to be automatically adopted into the Trust, but it is not clear at what point that change will be implemented.
Weir’s precise wishes for the form of fan ownership he wanted to see implemented at Firhill are only known by 3BC, who say that the Trust’s proposal was most closely aligned to what the late Euromillions winner envisaged. The Working Group, set up to facilitate the move to fan ownership back in 2019 and endorsed by 3BC, had two stated aims – the only public indication of conditions that had to be met: “to produce a model of fan ownership that will be implemented following the gifting of shares, after receiving approval from 3BC”; and “to engage with and involve fans of Partick Thistle Football Club in the process of creating the aforementioned model”. The latter condition cannot be said to have been met.
The announcements from the club and the PTFC Trust – that now owns a 74 per cent stake in Thistle but does not currently have any representation on the club board – that the share transfer had been completed were met with an overwhelmingly angry reaction on social media. A handful of comments under the posts were supportive but the majority were highly critical. Much of the anger is due to the fact that five people, with no meaningful consultation of the fanbase, have accepted what is perceived to be a diluted form of fan ownership that varies significantly from every other model in Scotland.
Mhairi Black, the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South who is a Thistle supporter, summed up the feeling of the outraged fans when speaking exclusively to Herald and Times Sport. She said: “The latest statement from Partick Thistle is contemptuous. The Jags Foundation are the only group that have consistently demonstrated professionalism, transparency and genuine fan engagement, and yet have been disregarded as unsuitable for the shares.
“Instead, the club have favoured the dormant, secretive, and unelected PTFC Trust with a backroom deal. This lack of transparency is only one of many reason fans like myself can’t help but feel something stinks.”
This statement, along with the entire process, has been utterly disgraceful. Secret deals being made between the unelected is something I have come to expect from my work, not my football club. https://t.co/4ZK6l6JyYv
— Mhairi Black MP🏳️🌈 (@MhairiBlack) September 20, 2022
Black added on Twitter: “Secret deals being made between the unelected is something I have come to expect from my work, not my football club.”
A spokesman for the PTFC Trust said: “This is just the start of fan ownership at Thistle.
“Until now we have concentrated on bringing the shares to the fans. Our focus now switches to how we will give as many supporters as possible a voice.
“This cannot be achieved overnight and will only be possible after we have broadened our membership and consulted with a cross-section of Thistle fans.
“Throughout this journey, we are committed to providing stability at a club which currently sits top of the league and in the quarter-finals of the League Cup whilst enjoying financial stability.
“We will provide answers to the common questions raised by Thistle fans later this week, and look forward to discussing this with you in more detail on Thursday [the Trust has agreed to an interview with Herald and Times Sport].”
Jacqui Low was approached for comment by Herald and Times Sport but refused to add to Tuesday’s statement from the club as Thistle chairman, nor did she offer a response in her role as a director of 3BC.
