Meeting with wee Ron

[Viva_Palmeiras]

What’s Spanish for “pony up”?
Did he seriously use this phrase ? Apols if covered before but this is the first time
I heard of the use. Is it an interpretation of what he said or a direct quote?

[Baldy Foghorn]

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What’s Spanish for “pony up”?
Did he seriously use this phrase ? Apols if covered before but this is the first time
I heard of the use. Is it an interpretation of what he said or a direct quote?

Direct quote from RG

[southern hibby]

For anyone interested I Just google American meaning for the phrase Pony Up.

comes back with pay up or to settle what you owe.

Obviously there may be other meanings out there but this is the meaning that came up for
me.

GGTTH

[Lago]

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Discuss!

Ok, 51% fan ownership dead, great news! Pony up is an Americanism that I'm not reading too much into it.

[A Hi-Bee]

I have no great expectations from Hibs, no miracle’s but would hope for steady growth year on year. Keep growing the support, perhaps with a larger amount coming in from HSL (in whatever format it takes in the future) Higher league position, getting into Europe most if not every year.
Perhaps a cup win or two, better quality players as we go along. Pretty relaxed that RG is the man to do this along with time.

[madhatter]

Community club where normal people pay for the club's betterment...on top of ST, shirts, etc.

I know nothing about where this is going but the snippets coming out of meetings don't fill me with great enthusiasm. We maintained an expensive ST price when in the championship so we could come back up quickly and in a stable manner. Who gets credit? Managers, George Craig and Leeann Dempster and the teams at the club. We did get a thank you sign mind you but this is my problem... the true accolades go to the owners and the football department. Why should fans fund a new £3-4m indoor training facility when we are not the majority shareholder. That's crazy talk tbh. Feed more money into the club that Ron is majority shareholder of and who could ultimately benefit from - buy club, get fans to fund improvement, sell shares in club for more money. Great arrangement for Ron that one, especially since he got the club for relatively cheap.

Many things can be exaggerated but choice of words in small meetings need to be very careful when you haven't got your message out to the masses.

The way this is being mentioned/talked about, its almost like Ron is going to do a crowdfunding scheme. £200 ensures your name is mentioned on the wall of the new indoor training facility and will remain there as long as the building stays. £200,000 ensures one of the training pitches is named after you etc.

Hope this doesn't go the way I'm thinking it might...

[jeffers]

While it’s only one quote, I found the one about our playing budget interesting. While I’d expect him to be aware of the actual figures, what is it being “competitive” based on and competitive with who ?

[Lago]

Oh oh, the natives are getting restless, time for a L D address to the nation.

[lord bunberry]

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Oh oh, the natives are getting restless, time for a L D address to the nation.

Someone probably needs to come out and clarify things. Ron saying he needs the fans to pony up is a very strange thing to say when you’ve just bought a football club. Most fans I’d assume would be thinking that if a new owner came in he’d have the funds in place to realise his ambitions, but it seems that’s not the case. I’m hoping the pony up reference has been misinterpreted by me and he means fans turning up for games and buying merchandise.

[Pagan Hibernia]

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Community club where normal people pay for the club's betterment...on top of ST, shirts, etc.

I know nothing about where this is going but the snippets coming out of meetings don't fill me with great enthusiasm. We maintained an expensive ST price when in the championship so we could come back up quickly and in a stable manner. Who gets credit? Managers, George Craig and Leeann Dempster and the teams at the club. We did get a thank you sign mind you but this is my problem... the true accolades go to the owners and the football department. Why should fans fund a new £3-4m indoor training facility when we are not the majority shareholder. That's crazy talk tbh. Feed more money into the club that Ron is majority shareholder of and who could ultimately benefit from - buy club, get fans to fund improvement, sell shares in club for more money. Great arrangement for Ron that one, especially since he got the club for relatively cheap.

Many things can be exaggerated but choice of words in small meetings need to be very careful when you haven't got your message out to the masses.

The way this is being mentioned/talked about, its almost like Ron is going to do a crowdfunding scheme. £200 ensures your name is mentioned on the wall of the new indoor training facility and will remain there as long as the building stays. £200,000 ensures one of the training pitches is named after you etc.

Hope this doesn't go the way I'm thinking it might...

totally agree. Seems to me some want it both ways. “You had your chance and blew it HSL, get over it.... by the way HSL, these new players, academy and indoor pitch won’t buy themselves, pony up!!”

[Hibernia&Alba]

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While it’s only one quote, I found the one about our playing budget interesting. While I’d expect him to be aware of the actual figures, what is it being “competitive” based on and competitive with who ?

Fair questions.

[Weegreenman]

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Sick to death of infrastructure projects tbh..we desperately need some quality on the park as a prioirty, lets hope the budget is as competitive as we're being told.

Nothing much will change I’d say. Any hopes I had of a sugar daddy helping us compete in the transfer/wage department are fast disappearing.

[barcahibs]

Everyone's going to have a different opinion for what they want from a new owner but for me, so far, I'm totally behind everything he's saying.

No 51% fan ownership
Investment in infrastructure at East Mains
Prioritise youth development
Develop and promote the community aspects of the club
No living beyond our means (my interpretation of the 'pony up' statement.)
Player budget to make us competitive for 3rd place.

To be honest if I'd won the lottery and bought Hibs that's how I'd be prioritising my cash too.

Still need a lot more info obviously, and the guy has only been here five minutes but I like him so far.

[madhatter]

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Everyone's going to have a different opinion for what they want from a new owner but for me, so far, I'm totally behind everything he's saying.

No 51% fan ownership
Investment in infrastructure at East Mains
Prioritise youth development
Develop and promote the community aspects of the club
No living beyond our means (my interpretation of the 'pony up' statement.)
Player budget to make us competitive for 3rd place.

To be honest if I'd won the lottery and bought Hibs that's how I'd be prioritising my cash too.

Still need a lot more info obviously, and the guy has only been here five minutes but I like him so far.

Not living beyond our means makes sense but lets not forget that any 'pony up' statement by a majority shareholder in reference to fans putting more money into the club is not "prioritising my cash" as you put it, it is the club's cash which largely (beyond Ron's "investments") is generated from the fans. Maybe I should prioritise my cash and put it to good use in my own life rather than pay £400 for a ST, HSL funds, transport costs to go to games etc. and leave the 'ponying up' to the new majority shareholder. After all, I donate, he invests. He can prioritise his cash the way he likes. He cannot prioritise the money being brought into the club the way he likes...least I hope that's not the case because then we are in real trouble...if he has ability to bypass/overpower the board then we are in trouble.

I'm exaggerating above, I'm obviously going to go to the games but any initiatives to raise funds for the club are likely to be well off my radar and my HSL membership is likely to cease.

Community club which takes more money from it's community members to fund it's own infrastructure doesn't sit right with me. Hope this all gets clarified because there is some stuff going about at the moment which doesn't sound/look great.

[barcahibs]

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Not living beyond our means makes sense but lets not forget that any 'pony up' statement by a majority shareholder in reference to fans putting more money into the club is not "prioritising my cash" as you put it, it is the club's cash which largely (beyond Ron's "investments") is generated from the fans. Maybe I should prioritise my cash and put it to good use in my own life rather than pay £400 for a ST, HSL funds, transport costs to go to games etc. and leave the 'ponying up' to the new majority shareholder. After all, I donate, he invests. He can prioritise his cash the way he likes. He cannot prioritise the money being brought into the club the way he likes...least I hope that's not the case because then we are in real trouble...if he has ability to bypass/overpower the board then we are in trouble.

I'm exaggerating above, I'm obviously going to go to the games but any initiatives to raise funds for the club are likely to be well off my radar and my HSL membership is likely to cease.

Community club which takes more money from it's community members to fund it's own infrastructure doesn't sit right with me. Hope this all gets clarified because there is some stuff going about at the moment which doesn't sound/look great.

I disagree, I don't want our club to be some rich persons plaything. If we as fans want more, we as fans should pay for it. That's living within our means. Great if Ron wants to put in a bit extra now and again or front up cash for us to repay - but if we want something and can't afford it, then we just can't have it, we shouldn't expect someone else to pay for it.

There can be many ways for fans to contribute the money we need, for the majority it might just be continue to turn up to games in good numbers. For others it might be contributing extra cash via an HSL like organisation, for still others it might mean larger donations if they can afford it the Duncans and Aberdeen both get donations from wealthy fans I think?)

[madhatter]

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I disagree, I don't want our club to be some rich persons plaything. If we as fans want more, we as fans should pay for it. That's living within our means. Great if Ron wants to put in a bit extra now and again or front up cash for us to repay - but if we want something and can't afford it, then we just can't have it, we shouldn't expect someone else to pay for it.

There can be many ways for fans to contribute the money we need, for the majority it might just be continue to turn up to games in good numbers. For others it might be contributing extra cash via an HSL like organisation, for still others it might mean larger donations if they can afford it the Duncans and Aberdeen both get donations from wealthy fans I think?)

Here in lies the problem though when it goes through this crowdfunding type approach then fans don't get what they want, the club do what they want/need with the money. I don't want a £3-4million indoor training facility if we were able to raise that money. Aberdeen have been performing well in the league for years, building their club and now getting new stadium and training centre. Did Aberdeen fans fund that? Possibly, certainly not the common fans anyway. Nevertheless, whats the difference in Aberdeen being a rich Aberdeen fan's plaything and Hibs being a rich non-fan plaything?

"If we as fans want more, we as fans should pay for it." - I understand the point you were making here but is this a great slogan for a football club touting itself as a community club with "Hibernian Community Foundation" on their shirts? As I raised before, club, board, owner etc. get the plaudits when the club do something good for the community etc. but vast proportions of that money is actually coming from fans within the community. It is nice that the club are a vehicle for this but taking money from people in the community to fund the playing budget or the training centre doesn't directly help the community.

I wanted Hibs to avoid relegation and start signing better players, I was paying £385 for the ST then (I think). I wanted more, I wanted better. I got to experience relegation. Should fans pay for mismanagement? This is the problem, if fans are funding the club to a larger extent then we would need substantial representation on the board, not the current arrangement.

Personally I'm not keen to build the club using fans money so that Ron can sell it at a profit. That's not some moral fibre stuff, that's being taken for a ride. I'd rather the club were a plaything for a rich person to invest proper money in rather than it being viewed as an opportunity to make money. This stinks of a build and sell job and I'm not willing to fund that.

[barcahibs]

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Here in lies the problem though when it goes through this crowdfunding type approach then fans don't get what they want, the club do what they want/need with the money. I don't want a £3-4million indoor training facility if we were able to raise that money. Aberdeen have been performing well in the league for years, building their club and now getting new stadium and training centre. Did Aberdeen fans fund that? Possibly, certainly not the common fans anyway. Nevertheless, whats the difference in Aberdeen being a rich Aberdeen fan's plaything and Hibs being a rich non-fan plaything?

"If we as fans want more, we as fans should pay for it." - I understand the point you were making here but is this a great slogan for a football club touting itself as a community club with "Hibernian Community Foundation" on their shirts? As I raised before, club, board, owner etc. get the plaudits when the club do something good for the community etc. but vast proportions of that money is actually coming from fans within the community. It is nice that the club are a vehicle for this but taking money from people in the community to fund the playing budget or the training centre doesn't directly help the community.

I wanted Hibs to avoid relegation and start signing better players, I was paying £385 for the ST then (I think). I wanted more, I wanted better. I got to experience relegation. Should fans pay for mismanagement? This is the problem, if fans are funding the club to a larger extent then we would need substantial representation on the board, not the current arrangement.

Personally I'm not keen to build the club using fans money so that Ron can sell it at a profit. That's not some moral fibre stuff, that's being taken for a ride. I'd rather the club were a plaything for a rich person to invest proper money in rather than it being viewed as an opportunity to make money. This stinks of a build and sell job and I'm not willing to fund that.

I do understand what you're getting at and I can sympathise with the view.

But I'm happy that Ron is contributing, he's taken a risk with - so far - about £4 million of his own money. I've no idea what his goals are for that money, but even if it is build and sell, he's still taken the risk. For the vast, vast majority of 'investors' in Scottish football there is no financial return on that investment.

To be honest if he does manage to build and sell us then all credit to him. And I would imagine most fans will be pretty happy because making us attractive enough to sell at a profit suggests we'll have moved forward greatly as a club.

[madhatter]

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I do understand what you're getting at and I can sympathise with the view.

But I'm happy that Ron is contributing, he's taken a risk with - so far - about £4 million of his own money. I've no idea what his goals are for that money, but even if it is build and sell, he's still taken the risk. For the vast, vast majority of 'investors' in Scottish football there is no financial return on that investment.

To be honest if he does manage to build and sell us then all credit to him. And I would imagine most fans will be pretty happy because making us attractive enough to sell at a profit suggests we'll have moved forward greatly as a club.

I understand your point here but I think Ron got Hibs on the cheap because of the situation. You are stating £4m of his own money - virtually all of the stands at ER cost more to construct. The training centre cost more to construct. He is the majority shareholder of this, and the additional land at East Mains, ticketing office etc.

The part in bold I've highlighted as it touches on what I was saying about plaudits. You are saying all credit to him even though the current rumours is any successful build to the club will require fan involvement (likely through money). If he is due credit in a build and sell job then he is due making a few entries in the cheque book as far as I'm concerned. Credit gets thrown around to everyone but the fans but yet we are the ones that continually get asked for more money etc.

I take a risk buying my ST, I take a risk transferring money to HSL on a monthly basis, I take a risk subscribing to HibsTV. These are all riskier since the club was taken over by an unknown entity. My risk isn't as capital heavy but is emotional in nature so being frank I do not care about Ron's risk. Always found it funny that via HSL, fans were viewed as donors and that their money was donations towards playing budget. Funnier even now when a majority shareholder putting any money into the club is being viewed as investments.

[NAE NOOKIE]

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I disagree, I don't want our club to be some rich persons plaything. If we as fans want more, we as fans should pay for it. That's living within our means. Great if Ron wants to put in a bit extra now and again or front up cash for us to repay - but if we want something and can't afford it, then we just can't have it, we shouldn't expect someone else to pay for it.

There can be many ways for fans to contribute the money we need, for the majority it might just be continue to turn up to games in good numbers. For others it might be contributing extra cash via an HSL like organisation, for still others it might mean larger donations if they can afford it the Duncans and Aberdeen both get donations from wealthy fans I think?)

In deference to 'Madhatter's' post who has already addressed this.

I pay £400 for a season ticket, I go to practically every home game I cant use my ST for, I buy stuff from the food kiosks, I buy stuff from the Hibs shop. I pay £10 a month to HSL ( may it rest in peace ) and petrol costs me £10 or so for every game I attend.

When I have a commitment like that which is decades long I'm sorry mate, but if a guy buys my football club and especially when his very first action is to make it clear that he is in charge by putting a stop to the previous owners initiative that was supposed to at least give the fans some influence in the club, then I expect him to not only provide the initial cash to buy out the previous owners, but also to have a commitment to fund the club out of his own pocket to a reasonable extent .. and not as is seeming more and more likely to be the case, to expect the fans he has just sidelined / put in their place to pay for everything.

If that's the extent of his commitment to funding the club on and off the park going forward then sorry but I'm becoming less and less impressed by the minute with Mr Gordon

I said at the beginning that the jury was out for me until I saw evidence of what his ownership of the club was going to be like and so far I'm still waiting to be won over.

[barcahibs]

I say all credit to him because we still need leadership, same goes for why LD, RP Sir Tom got the credit for the good things they did/do. I believe fan ownership would be a disaster. A figurehead owner with the ability to successfully manage and grow the club is still vital. If he has the skills to do that then good on him, it'll only benefit us all in the end.

I don't think a fan 'investment' of a ST can be compared. no matter what happens you'll get everything you were promised for your ST money - access to Easter Road to watch Hibs. Ron could walk away from this in a few years time with nothing - he may as well have piled all his money up and set fire to it.

Yeah the stands may have cost much more than £4 million but they're not worth anything in pure monetary terms. Who are you going to sell them to? Same goes for the training ground, I doubt there's many buyers out there for a football training centre - except maybe hertz.

But anyway we're completely speculating on his intentions, he may be looking to build and sell, he may be looking for a return on his investment, he may just want to enjoy owning a club and see the money he spends as effectively his ST money or he may want to leave a community asset that is in a better shape than he started.

Or a million other possibilities. I just want to record some positive views among the negative, I'm extremely relaxed and positive about everything he's done so far. He has a lot of credit in his column with me - but as someone who remembers the Mercer times of course I'll always have my eyes open.

[Scott Allan Key]

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In deference to 'Madhatter's' post who has already addressed this.

I pay £400 for a season ticket, I go to practically every home game I cant use my ST for, I buy stuff from the food kiosks, I buy stuff from the Hibs shop. I pay £10 a month to HSL ( may it rest in peace ) and petrol costs me £10 or so for every game I attend.

When I have a commitment like that which is decades long I'm sorry mate, but if a guy buys my football club and especially when his very first action is to make it clear that he is in charge by putting a stop to the previous owners initiative that was supposed to at least give the fans some influence in the club, then I expect him to not only provide the initial cash to buy out the previous owners, but also to have a commitment to fund the club out of his own pocket to a reasonable extent .. and not as is seeming more and more likely to be the case, to expect the fans he has just sidelined / put in their place to pay for everything.

If that's the extent of his commitment to funding the club on and off the park going forward then sorry but I'm becoming less and less impressed by the minute with Mr Gordon

I said at the beginning that the jury was out for me until I saw evidence of what his ownership of the club was going to be like and so far I'm still waiting to be won over.

There were far too many whooping going on, including myself on the initial buyout. We need to remember he is an American Republican, so any man of the people bull**** is likely to be just that. We've just been undercut with HSL and are now expected to pay for that which he should be investing in. We've just lost out on a signing too, this may be colouring my scepticism.

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[hfc rd]

“Pony up”

Didn’t have a clue what that meant until I just googled it and it’s an American phrase - pony up means to pay what you owe or settle your debt.

Apologies, I might sound stupid here but Ron wants us to cough up the cash to pay for the £3M/£4M indoor training facility? Surely he must’ve been told how much money the fans have put into this club and regularly continue to do so on a daily basis.

[007]

Maybe something along the lines of the AberDNA scheme is what Ron had in mind.

[Greencore]

So let me get this straight.....

We are to help fund the £3M/£4M indoor training facility?

We have just lost out on a player who chose Aberdeen £££££

But we are told its exciting times to be a Hibee.... How?

[tonyrougier123]

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So let me get this straight.....

We are to help fund the £3M/£4M indoor training facility?

We have just lost out on a player who chose Aberdeen £££££

But we are told its exciting times to be a Hibee.... How?

Gathering 3-4million thru hsl would take some time naw?
When is the pitch being built??
I think we there might be some miscommunication on that one surely.?

[kaimendhibs]

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In deference to 'Madhatter's' post who has already addressed this.

I pay £400 for a season ticket, I go to practically every home game I cant use my ST for, I buy stuff from the food kiosks, I buy stuff from the Hibs shop. I pay £10 a month to HSL ( may it rest in peace ) and petrol costs me £10 or so for every game I attend.

When I have a commitment like that which is decades long I'm sorry mate, but if a guy buys my football club and especially when his very first action is to make it clear that he is in charge by putting a stop to the previous owners initiative that was supposed to at least give the fans some influence in the club, then I expect him to not only provide the initial cash to buy out the previous owners, but also to have a commitment to fund the club out of his own pocket to a reasonable extent .. and not as is seeming more and more likely to be the case, to expect the fans he has just sidelined / put in their place to pay for everything.

If that's the extent of his commitment to funding the club on and off the park going forward then sorry but I'm becoming less and less impressed by the minute with Mr Gordon

I said at the beginning that the jury was out for me until I saw evidence of what his ownership of the club was going to be like and so far I'm still waiting to be won over.

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[MagicSwirlingShip]

The dots are beginning to add up for me.

First there were whispers of an indoor facility being built, with the idea of making the facilities available to the local community.

Then we announced the Hibernian Community Foundation as our shirt sponsors, with an initiative to donate directly to the foundation to support Hibernian community projects.

Next, our new owner mentions he expects the Hibs fans to help find the community project.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see our new owner pay to fund the new facility at the outset, with Hibs fans being asked to contribute through donations to the Community Foundation.

[FilipinoHibs]

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Someone probably needs to come out and clarify things. Ron saying he needs the fans to pony up is a very strange thing to say when you’ve just bought a football club. Most fans I’d assume would be thinking that if a new owner came in he’d have the funds in place to realise his ambitions, but it seems that’s not the case. I’m hoping the pony up reference has been misinterpreted by me and he means fans turning up for games and buying merchandise.

Having spent 12 years working for two US companies, I think he means make a contribution to the cost of the indoor facility. This will reduce what Hibs need to borrow from him. He will be looking to increased merchandising, attendances and competition revenues to repay the loan. Problem here is the fans have nothing to show for it terms of shares and influence/voice on the board.

One thing about US businessmen, at first sign of failure on and off the pitch they will make changes quickly. We might be in for a bumpy ride.

[ian cruise]

It's far too early in the relationship between Hibs and RG for everyone to have all the answers so patience definitely required in the short term while everyone finds their feet in this new era. I keep seeing people fixated on the "pony up" part but I feel it's just an unfortunate turn of phrase. It doesn't mean we're being asked to put in any more than we already do, just that Ron Gordon isn't going to pay for it outright out of his own pocket. Probably good that fan expectations are tempered a bit as some were getting a bit over excited about his supposed wealth and imaginations were running wild in some quarters.

Most who were there seemed to find it positive so that can only be a good thing. His focus on us growing within the community and living off of what we bring in seems like a sensible continuation of groundwork STF put in place.

[green&left]

http://www.hibernianfc.co.uk/news/9287

"Cash balance 30th June 2018 £4.2m"

For the financial types out there does that mean we have £4.2m sat in the bank? And that's before the SJM transfer fee or add-on? Surely enough for a covered pitch at EM.

If the club have committed to an indoor pitch as a result of our commitment to Project Brave surely they'll have funding in place doesn't directly involve the fans. Admittedly getting into debt over it with no guarantees return doesn't seem the best either.