More war than Peace

By Chris Lepkowski on Nov 5, 08 08:19 AM

You will read in today's Birmingham Mail (and www.birminghammail.net) about a conflict brewing between Jeremy Peace and a group of minority shareholders.

It's going to get ugly, costly and probably end up in High Court.

It relates to the share consolidation which the Albion chairman is trying to push through, where effectively 10 shares become one new share. It means that any stakeholders who, for instance, bought one share as a token gesture of their support for the club now need to ensure they have 10 shares (at £80 per share) to ensure they retain their stake.

Described as a housekeeping exercise by Peace, it has not gone down well - to the extent that an injunction is being considered by a shareholders' group to stop the resolution from being passed.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the share consolidation there's no doubt that a dispute is not what the club needs right row.

On a different note, those wondering what the state-of-play with the shirt sponsorship is, might be interested to know that an agreement was very close to being reached with a multinational company looking to establish itself in the UK market.

The deal was set to be rubberstamped only for the company to pull the plug following the recent 'meltdown' period when the worldwide financial markets collapsed. That potential partnership is now dead and, although the club are still in talks with various other companies, it'll be blank shirts for the forseeable future.