Second and final vote passed as Freddy Gonzalez to take over at Finn Harps
Another majority of 99% voted in-person at Jackson’s Hotel and online in favour of the takeover by Freddy Gonzalez
The second and final vote for the Finn Harps Co-operative Society received a 99% majority of votes in favour of the Special Resolution for the acquisition of the club by Freddy Gonzalez at Tuesday night’s Special General Meeting.
The meeting was held in Jackson’s Hotel with another large crowd gathering, along with a further 140+ in attendance online as the Filipino businessman was voted in.
The committee and Freddy will work together to finalise the transaction over the coming weeks, with a deal hoped to be signed by December 5.
The meeting followed on from the first Special General Meeting which was held two weeks previously, in which 396 out of 400 votes were in favour of the proposed takeover, with one person abstaining and a further three voting against. That meeting needed a majority of 75% in favour, which was overwhelmingly exceeded, while Tuesday night’s needed just a majority of 51%, again well over the quota, as Commercial and Marketing Officer Aidan Campbell confirmed a vote of 99% in favour of the takeover.
Speaking after the vote, Mr Gonzalez said: “First of all, it’s a relief, and now I'm very ecstatic because all of the work we've been doing behind the scenes since July, we can now push forward, and it’s full steam ahead now. This has been going on since May, so it’s a relief to get it done finally.
The staff that I brought in, we can start pushing on and getting things done at a faster rate.
“Short term, it’s putting a quality team on the pitch, and that’s something we’ve been discussing with all the staff since July. We have made quite a few inroads, but we can’t announce any signings until December 1, so definitely stay tuned for that, but that’s number one.
“Number two is fixing the organisational structure of the club, everything from business and commercial operations to football operations and academy operations.
“Then the third is renovating and redeveloping Finn Park, and those are the three things we are handling short-term, and everything will push on from there.
“We’re trying to do things well instead of spreading ourselves too thin.
“We’ve been doing a lot of the pre-planning work because we will have to go to planning for it, as the renovations will be a lot more extensive than we thought. So we’re doing all the environmental testing, the ground testing, topographical studies and we’re currently working on the pitch as well, upgrading the floodlights and all of these things to meet FAI requirements.
“Once it goes to planning, we’ll be starting construction with new stands and terraces. I encourage everyone to go to Finn Park now because in a few months' time it’s not going to look the same.
“There are a lot of hoops to go through and hopefully we can get it started before pre-season, but if we have to go through planning, there is going to be a lot of back and forth.”
Nothing will be signed until the board and Gonzalez are both satisfied that the agreements, listed below, are settled to the satisfaction of both parties, as they hope to come to an agreement by the beginning of December.
-All creditors confirmed and provided for
-The lease for Finn Park is put in place
-The due diligence process completed
-IIP funding position agreed with the CLG (not a Co-Op matter)
-Grant funders confirm their position on the deal, covering grants already received and those allocated but not yet drawn down
-FAI and League of Ireland approve the licence transfer