30-11-2022, 16:51
The freehold of Gillingham's Priestfield Stadium has been transferred to American businessman Brad Galinson.
The Florida-based property magnate has been linked with a takeover of the League Two strugglers.
A 'registration of charge' has been filed with Companies House which shows the Kent club handing over the freehold in exchange for investment.
It could spell the end of owner Paul Scally after 27 years at the club.
In August Scally said he was taking a step back from the day-to-day running of the club due to the abuse he had suffered from fans.
Paul Fisher returned to the club as chief executive.
It has been nearly a year since Scally mentioned talks with parties interested in investing in the club.
On the field Neil Harris' side have struggled for goals, scoring only six times and winning two of their 19 league games so far to leave them in the relegation zone.
Only Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson has spent more time in charge of an English Football League club than Scally, who took over in 1995.
In that time his side has has won four promotions and made three play-off finals and they spent five seasons in the Championship from 2000.
Scally out banner
A banner was flown over Priestfield on the final day of the 2021-22 campaign.
Gills were relegated from League One on the final day of last season, a day when some fans flew a banner over Priestfield bearing the slogan 'Win, Lose or Draw - Scally Out.'
'A significant step'
Analysis - BBC Radio Kent sports editor Matt Cole
This is a registration of charge - effectively the transfer of the freehold of the stadium to Brad Galinson. He is now to be the owner of Priestfield and he's been at the centre of rumours about a possible takeover of the club for the past few weeks.
There's no comment from the club, of course. It's not unusual with deals of this nature, taking over a football club is a big deal, there are a lot of Is to be dotted and Ts to be crossed. It's not generally a quick business. Quite often there are non-disclosure agreements as part of the financial negotiations.
It's hard to quantify the percentage of a club the ground or stadium is, very few investors these days look at a club and say 'we just want the business.'
Not being disrespectful to Gillingham, or what Paul Scally has built up over the years, but the club itself, just the business without a ground, does not give investors any scope for development or changes at the ground - it's very difficult for a club to operate like that, without the freehold of the ground.
This is a significant step. Without the ground you just own the business, and a League Two club without its home is a very different investment.
Gills fans have been doing their own due diligence on Galinson for the last few weeks, since his name emerged.
The search engines have been scoured. His business is real estate, he's head of a company in Florida which deals in multi-million pound properties.
Being head of a company like that leads some people to think there's an awful lot of money behind this man.
Also some cynics are saying 'he's in property, he's got the freehold of the stadium, should we be worried?' I don't think so, but we'll see that happens in the days and weeks to come.
It could still be some time. A fit and proper person's test has to be made - whether on him as an individual or on behalf of a trust. We could be looking at weeks rather than months, but I don't think we're looking at new owners being rolled out before the end of the week.
Fans are reading between the lines like we are and thinking this is good for the club, at the moment they are in a poor state in terms of league position and and this could make all the difference in January and the transfer window, if the takeover is happening.
The Florida-based property magnate has been linked with a takeover of the League Two strugglers.
A 'registration of charge' has been filed with Companies House which shows the Kent club handing over the freehold in exchange for investment.
It could spell the end of owner Paul Scally after 27 years at the club.
In August Scally said he was taking a step back from the day-to-day running of the club due to the abuse he had suffered from fans.
Paul Fisher returned to the club as chief executive.
It has been nearly a year since Scally mentioned talks with parties interested in investing in the club.
On the field Neil Harris' side have struggled for goals, scoring only six times and winning two of their 19 league games so far to leave them in the relegation zone.
Only Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson has spent more time in charge of an English Football League club than Scally, who took over in 1995.
In that time his side has has won four promotions and made three play-off finals and they spent five seasons in the Championship from 2000.
Scally out banner
A banner was flown over Priestfield on the final day of the 2021-22 campaign.
Gills were relegated from League One on the final day of last season, a day when some fans flew a banner over Priestfield bearing the slogan 'Win, Lose or Draw - Scally Out.'
'A significant step'
Analysis - BBC Radio Kent sports editor Matt Cole
This is a registration of charge - effectively the transfer of the freehold of the stadium to Brad Galinson. He is now to be the owner of Priestfield and he's been at the centre of rumours about a possible takeover of the club for the past few weeks.
There's no comment from the club, of course. It's not unusual with deals of this nature, taking over a football club is a big deal, there are a lot of Is to be dotted and Ts to be crossed. It's not generally a quick business. Quite often there are non-disclosure agreements as part of the financial negotiations.
It's hard to quantify the percentage of a club the ground or stadium is, very few investors these days look at a club and say 'we just want the business.'
Not being disrespectful to Gillingham, or what Paul Scally has built up over the years, but the club itself, just the business without a ground, does not give investors any scope for development or changes at the ground - it's very difficult for a club to operate like that, without the freehold of the ground.
This is a significant step. Without the ground you just own the business, and a League Two club without its home is a very different investment.
Gills fans have been doing their own due diligence on Galinson for the last few weeks, since his name emerged.
The search engines have been scoured. His business is real estate, he's head of a company in Florida which deals in multi-million pound properties.
Being head of a company like that leads some people to think there's an awful lot of money behind this man.
Also some cynics are saying 'he's in property, he's got the freehold of the stadium, should we be worried?' I don't think so, but we'll see that happens in the days and weeks to come.
It could still be some time. A fit and proper person's test has to be made - whether on him as an individual or on behalf of a trust. We could be looking at weeks rather than months, but I don't think we're looking at new owners being rolled out before the end of the week.
Fans are reading between the lines like we are and thinking this is good for the club, at the moment they are in a poor state in terms of league position and and this could make all the difference in January and the transfer window, if the takeover is happening.
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