Shrimps Trust column: Keeping an eye on takeover talk amid League One battle

As a quick introduction, the Trust was set up in a period of uncertainty over the club’s ownership in December 2016, during the infamous Diego Lemos and Joseph Cala sagas.

Like any supporters’ trust, the Shrimps Trust has a primary goal of helping to safeguard the future of the club.

This was at the forefront of most people’s minds during those chaotic months, when players went unpaid and would-be owners had a little sleep in the stadium boardroom.

Thankfully, the ship has somewhat steadied in recent years with the club taking a giant leap forward following promotion to League One under the management of Derek Adams.

It’s meant that, by and large, we’ve been able to focus on more community-based projects such as the Christmas toy appeal and helping to raise funds for the memorial garden.

This has also included events such as our quiz night in February and our upcoming race night on Good Friday following the Plymouth Argyle game – keep an eye on our social media pages for more details.

We’ve been looking at ways to engage with fans more as well, with the ShrimpNet podcast giving a platform for fans to hear from directors, as well as management, players and staff from around the club.

However, recent months have seen the pressing matter of a club sale become the centre of attention for the Trust, as this particular saga continues to rumble on.

The club is currently subject to interest from Sarb Capital, a holding company owned by Sarbjot Johal, who also owns soft drink brands Vitanic and Lovely Drinks.

Some concerns have been raised regarding the funding behind this bid to buy the club, such as a lack of visible financial weight on Companies House.

Members of the Trust were able to meet with representatives from Sarb Capital to discuss these.

We greatly appreciated being able to go through our concerns, and though verbal assurances were given over an improved financial position, no concrete proof was provided to show this.

This impression appears to have been echoed by the EFL, who released a statement on February 17, clarifying their need for information “evidencing the source and sufficiency of any funding”.

They also clarified that this information had been requested several months ago and that, while some of it had been received, they still required more details.

The EFL hasn’t had a great reputation over this kind of thing recently, but we appreciate their strong stance and assurances that due diligence will be done. Hopefully the optimum conclusion for the club can be reached soon.

In the meantime, there’s a relegation battle to consider.

It must be very difficult for Derek, his staff and the players to keep focused on their jobs at the moment and, so far, they’ve been doing a magnificent job to keep us well in the fight for survival.

As fans, let’s keep getting behind them and do our bit to ensure the best chance for survival in League One.

Anyone interested in the Trust and what we do can find out more by visiting shrimpstrust.co.uk