Watford’s Supporters’ Trust has urged the club to answer questions around its current financial position in the light of this week’s digital equity release, while football finance expert Kieran Maguire says he thinks the Hornets have been “disingenuous” in some of the claims made in their investment pitch.
“As such the owner will be entitled to use all finance raised however he sees fit, without any consultation with or recourse to those who have invested. “While the club showed a substantial pre-tax profit in 2022/23 which was driven by player sales, we have a number of significant questions about the rationale and timing for this appeal for cash injection,” said the Trust in their statement.
In response to the statement, Watford FC have written to the Trust and said the following: “Firstly, the club would stress – as we did in our literature to fans and media alike – this is not ‘rescue capital’. “One of the most innovative is the offer of digital equity which, if tokenised, allows investors to trade on a regulated market and receive a variety of perks surrounding matchday experience and beyond, dependent on the level of investment.
“At no stage would we ever suggest there was an obligation for supporters to invest, it is an opportunity only. Meanwhile, on his ‘The Price of Football’ podcast on Thursday morning, Maguire talked at some length about the both the £175m valuation the club has placed upon itself and also questioned another claim in the share pitch, which says Watford have achieved ‘239% commercial revenue growth over five seasons, the highest of any European football club’.