At the time of the last set of accounts, there were 8.9m shares.
Once Swann had more than 75% of them, which he achieved by converting loans into shares, he cancelled AGMs, as he was allowed to do. He could have forced all shareholders to sell up (as the Glazers did at Man U) once he had 90%+.
Any small shareholding will only ever be symbolic, however meaningful to the individuals and groups holding them, if the major shareholders aren’t willing to engage.
I hold a small number of shares, and am well aware of their worthlessness in reality unless there was a desire amongst major investors to take the club into private ownership (which even Swann avoided, despite his initial hope that every shareholder would donate their shares to him, to “make it easier to dispose of the company” – my first inkling he didn’t necessarily have the club’s interests at heart).
