Posted: 09/06/2024 | Author: anthonyrussell84 | Filed under: NIHL | Tags: NIHL, raiders ihc |Leave a comment
By the time the What’s Current Stream’s off season special for May came around, the headlines had already made it into the public domain. Change was in the air in Essex. News out of the Romford Raiders has been substantial but also minimal. The rumour mill is also working overtime, because it’s silly season, and there’s a lot of confusion in the air with fans taking to Facebook groups to worry about what comes next.
The timeline
Following the Raiders’ exit from the National Division playoffs at the group stage, things went quiet. This in and of itself wasn’t a particularly unusual occurrence. The Raiders traditionally have gone a bit quiet at the end of the season so there not being immediate news was not unusual, if potentially frustrating.
On 14th May came the first real bombshell in the form of the departure of club captain, Aaron Connolly after 6 years at the club to (finally) return to the Invicta Dynamos where his hockey journey began. The piece on the Raiders website featured quotes from Sean Easton thanking the former Bison trophy winning skipper for his efforts in the gold and blue and containing all the usual pleasantries you’d expect.
Just three days later, Easton was announced as gone, announced as stepping down from “senior team coaching roles” on the 17th May. More necessary nice words appeared, which were entirely justified given the effort that the GB under 18s coach had given to the club since 2018. The end of the piece spoke of “the need for a review of the entire structure for a long term healthy and strong club” which made sense. Easton’s involvement with the Raiders was more than just coaching on a match night but almost every organisational facet of the club.
This left people asking what was going on and rumours were swirling after a post on a Raiders fan group of which the club’s social media account is the moderator on 24th May noted that coaches had not appeared for junior training and that an array of training sessions had been cancelled across the season.
The biggest bombshell was dropped the next day, the 25th May. John Scott, the man who had kept the club going for so long was announced as “stepping back from hockey operations.” In the article on the Raiders website, Scott acknowledged some of the chatter from the fans about his potential departure and discussed how he’d held off announcing due to assist with “route forwards for the club in my absence.” Scott announced his stepping back with no new owner officially in place but that he was in discussions with a group to take over the club.
On 31st May, an announcement was made on the Raiders website by Dave Leach, Paul Windebank & Alan White who all have long standing involvement with the Raiders. The three stated that they were helping the prospective new owners with aspects around completion of the deal and they hoped that this would be completed “over the next few days and a formal communication would be made.”
There was no news until the evening of 9th June when Leach, Windebank and White announced that the new ownership group had been accepted into the National League. It was also announced that junior hockey was “being worked on”, encouraged people to be patient and that there would be no further comment.
The technical bit
As it’s understood, the Raiders as a club comprises the National Division side, the South 1 side, Romford Buccaneers and the junior setup, the Romford Ice Hockey Academy that play as the Romford Junior Raiders. The Buccaneers do not exist as a legal entity on Companies House that could be found when researching but London Raiders IHC Ltd., the operating entity of the Raiders since 2014 when they were still based out of Lee Valley, and Romford Ice Hockey Academy Ltd have one listed owner, John Scott.
The additional element to this was the usage of the name Romford Raiders, the traditional name of the club that made its return on the jerseys during the 2024 playoffs. Since 30th May 2023, John Scott has been the sole director of Romford Raiders Ltd. That Scott has managed to acquire the rights to the club’s name was obvious and it would appear that having gotten the name, Scott has kept that piece of intellectual property separate of the active club itself. That is his right as the owner.
The new ownership group have not deliberately spoken out but have, albeit quietly, stepped into the light but the recent incorporation on 7th June of Raiders IHC Ltd provides an idea of who is in talks with Scott to purchase the club. A limited company is a necessary part of club ownership and that public record gives us an idea of those looking to take the club forward from Scott’s ownership. The three listed directors are Alasdair Gerrie, a long term Raiders fan and director of a finance company, Paul Davies, an accountant, and Raiders defensive stalwart, Sean Barry. The documentation for the new company lists 4 minority shareholders in David Leach who was mentioned above, as well as Alan White and Tara and Dawn O’Connor.
Entrance into the National Division for the ownership group has been confirmed today. This will have occurred at a meeting of the National League owners group which is a condition of entry.
So, what now?
Before we get into the weeds about the issues at hand, this bares saying. Without John Scott, there would be no Raiders, or Romford Raiders or whatever you wish to call them. The club could have gone under and didn’t because of what Scott put into the club, both financially and with his energy.
It is also not an unreasonable assertion that it felt that the Raiders as a club had gone stale. On the What’s Current Stream at the end of May, I’d said that it felt that the Raiders had failed to capitalise on the momentum they had from not just making the 2023 playoff final but scaring Leeds whilst they did it. They signed good players but something felt off. We got a stilted 23/24 season on the ice from the Raiders where things never really settled until towards the end of the campaign where they picked up some steam, beating Swindon twice in the playoff groups that kept things interesting for a time. However the notion that the club needed a refresh isn’t unreasonable.
There had been chatter for some time that people were looking to take over the club as early as February 2024 which has obviously now come to the point where we are now where talks are clearly at an advanced stage. It would not be a large leap of logic to see something between the lines and believe that at least one, if not both of the key departures before Scott’s annoucement, were because the club wasn’t moving in their desired direction and with no movement coming, they moved.
The news from those speaking on behalf of the club tonight is very promising but also very carefully worded. Acceptance by the National League owners group is a necessity for anyone taking over a team and would not have happened without John Scott making the owners aware that it was a serious endeavour that was in its advanced stages. The process is likely similar to what Tony Smith endured when purchasing the Sheffield Steeldogs in 2023 albeit appears to have gone much smoother.
What that message from the Raiders social media doesn’t specify is the completion of sale of the legal entity or even entities. As we saw above, there is more than one linked to the club that includes a very promising junior programme which is clearly had issues to the part that parents are speaking out.
Chatter amongst some Romford fans has voiced concerns harking back to a former owner, Phil Jinks, who did not allow the “Romford Raiders” name to be used for some time as he owned it. We can safely draw the conclusion that the name is a separately owned asset to the operations of the team, that does not feel out the realms of reasonable to say. Everyone called Raiders IHC, Romford regardless but having got the name back only to then withhold it would seem a foolish move on the part of Scott that would tarnish his legacy. The notion of licensing it out to the new owners would feel like the diet co*ke option. If John Scott is selling then he should sell all elements. He should do it in good faith and the new owners should operate in the same good faith to make sure that they are worthy to take custody of the legacy of that name.
The biggest issue here on the 9th June as I type this is time. We have two senior teams and an entire junior setup currently in limbo waiting for this to get over the line. All that happens at this point is that it crunches the ability to do anything down to the nitty gritty of who is paying for the juniors ice time for July?
The Raiders have announced zero players, though of course the players will have been kept in the loop and I understand players are committed. The issue becomes those gaps that need filling and players committing elsewhere as Romford are not in a position to sign anyone whilst this happens.
You also have the Buccaneers, a roster that has admittedly lost arguably its best two players in Brynley Capps and Ewen Hill to higher levels, will be sat there waiting on what’s happening with the National League side not knowing if there will be time to organise properly for them to be fielded into South 1.
Ice hockey in Romford is clearly at a crucial juncture tonight but one where all the parts are not quite fully into place. The longer the situation remains unresolved, the more chaos there will be at all levels down as far as under 10s.
Selling a business is complicated, especially in a world like British hockey with so many moving parts and with a club that has its name detached legally it seems from the club itself, the sale has to be done right. We can only hope that all sides of the equation can quickly, properly and fully make sure all things move on. John Scott can leave head held high and the new owners can start to enact their vision to push on hockey in the Essex/East London area.
Note: An earlier piece omitted Alan White as a minority shareholder. We apologise for the oversight.
