It's about a year since 10000Hours first made their plans public - and that was about 10 months after Richard Atkinson and Chris Stewart, who are spearheading the bid, were voted onto the board to allow them to investigate things properly. Despite numerous lengthy periods of silence and one source of funding falling through last year they reckon they're almost good to go.
Previously they had been looking to find £2million to buy the 52 per cent stake in the club that has been up for sale since September 2009 and planned to fund this through grants and loans, the latter being paid back through fans' subscriptions. They now say they have "been able to agree a restructure of the deal". As a result they need less cash to begin with and in return the selling consortium will receive shares in the CIC.
The basis of the model, which was changed to a co-operative towards the end of last year after the funding fell through, is that everyone pays a monthly amount to help clear the debt. Then when the debt is cleared everyone receives shares in the co-operative equivalent to what they put in - so someone who paid £20 a month will get twice as much as £10 a month. However, everyone has only one vote regardless of how that is put in.
It would seem to me the CIC folk have convinced the consortium to lower their asking price in return for being given equity. As a result they reckon they need to find £250,000 over the next two years to make it a goer - which works out at slightly more than 1,000 fans paying a tenner a month. They are also looking for 87 members to the 87 Club, which comes with extra benefits and costs £3,000 (no idea if that's a one-off fee or per year but I assume it's not per month!).
After that the takeover should be able to go ahead and fans will be able to vote people onto the CIC board who can then decide the make-up of the club's board, while there will still be a special board above the CIC board for a few years to keep the funders happy.
Got that? Probably not! If you want more information or to make a pledge visit www.10000hours.org/
Follow Mirren Mad on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/mirrenmad
Follow Mirren Mad on Twitter @mirren_mad or http://www.twitter.com/mirren_mad