Here's the email that was sent to Matlock's members recently. The convicted fraudster David Hilton has gone from wanting 75% to wanting the lot, and has given them until tomorrow lunchtime to decide. The good news is that if they say no, he's prepared to write off the £200k he reckons to have put in as a donation.
Members,
We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the support that you haveall given the club over the course of an extremely difficult season.
We are all devastated to learn that a pending points deduction to be issuedimminently (as per recent press release), due to an administration error fromour club secretary in respect of the fixture away at Hyde United, has sealed analready-likely relegation.
This email has been issued to all members in order to obtain votes to determinethe direction of the club moving forward.
As most of you are aware, David Hilton came into the club in October last yearwith the club already adrift in the league table, suffering heavy defeats andwith a caretaker manager and players not of the level brought in by theprevious manager and then soon to be outgoing chairman.
All but two of these players had been issued contracts approved by the formerchairman without full knowledge of the board. As a board of directors with onlythe club's best interests at heart, we recognised the situation the club hadfound itself in and how this would have a catastrophic effect on the footballand financial position moving forward.
The board brought in Mr Hilton to assist and quickly removed the chairman fromhis position at the club.
Despite over £200,000 of investment from Mr Hilton since October to helpre-establish the club's strong financial position, and completely rebuilding aplaying squad with some excellent players, unfortunately we failed with theultimate goal of survival in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.
The large turnover of players was going to be inevitable given that we weremainly taking players on loan or out of favour with form or fitness issues.This was also due to trying to assemble a squad part way through a campaign andthen hoping they would gel quickly.
The club also has a current issue with the cricket club and the shared boundaryrequiring significant financial investment to remedy. This is to enable groundimprovements that eventually would be needed to progress the club due to groundgrading requirements.
We also have the issue of rising costs which are slowly crippling the club andwhich will negatively impact the only place that costs can be cut, the playingbudget.
We are also a board of directors that, whilst at present committed to the club,also have lives and jobs of our own and unfortunately the time it takes andcosts to all board members financially to run a football club has a massiveimpact on our day to day lives.
Moving forward we have two options to take the club forward. Mr Hilton haskindly confirmed that the significant investment he has put into the club is adonation, even if the members' decision is to proceed without him.
Option A
Due to complexities in the original agreement, along with significantunforeseen imminent costs to be met, holding back 25 per cent of the club'sshares for members is no longer on the table.
The members now need to decide whether the club has an outright owner andfinancial backer to drive the club forward, improve the facilities and dealwith all pressing matters at the club on a full time basis.
This could also mean a board and staff restructuring process. Mr Hilton hasagreed to take the club forward and continue to invest in the club and itsfacilities but only if it is what supporters want to happen. The core of theexisting playing squad, such as Liam Ravenhill, Montel Gibson, Adam Clayton,Fouad Bachirou, Josh Granite and Cameron Wilson have confirmed they will remainloyal to Mr Hilton and the club despite the level we will be at.
He has already held numerous meetings with the Cricket Board and Club toresolve the boundary issue and has offered significant investment to them, alsoto allow for our club to progress whilst improving our facility to a four-sidedground.
He has great contacts within football and business and a level of wealth thatallowed him to gift our club over £200,000 in six months without complaint.
Option A is to vote in favour of David Hilton taking full 100 per centownership of the club, moving forward with significant financial Investment andto be somebody focused full-time on Matlock Town Football Club.
Option B
The club would remain a fan-led club and its future progress will be governedby funds raised and generated by volunteers.
This will require a significant amount of time and potentially finances whenunforeseen events arise and a commitment like no other. We would need a boardrestructure, because we as the current board are in favour of the takeover(Option A).
We also have issues such as staffing, including a retiring groundsman to bereplaced and pitch works to fund and this option would mean a full squadrebuild, with all players leaving with undoubtedly a significantly lowerplaying budget for the forthcoming season.
There is new kit to purchase along with ground improvements and a suitabletraining facility to be found. This is only a fraction of what will be requiredfrom any newly-formed board of directors.
Option B is to vote in favour of the club continuing to be fan-led withoutinvestment and requiring supporters to form a new board of directors to takethe club forward.
All votes are to be sent via reply of email to this email address.
**If there are multiple members covered by the same e-mail address, pleaseensure all votes are covered on the same reply**
To reiterate - we have two options to take the club forward and Mr Hilton haskindly confirmed that the significant investment he has put into the club is adonation, even if the members' decision is to proceed without him.
All votes are to be received by 12pm on Friday 25th April.
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Burgerman, on 21 April 2025 - 09:42 AM, said:
Blue5 
Help
