A total of $541,780 has so far been ‘committed’ to Watford’s new digital equity offering since the announcement 24 hours ago.

The public can track that figure in real time on the website of Republic, the club’s partner in the scheme (www.republic.com/watford).

The website shows that the figure committed so far has come from 243 ‘reservations’ – in other words, each potential investor has committed to spend an average of $2,230 on Watford shares.

Interestingly, click on the small ‘i’ next to the figure and up pops a little box of text saying “The amount of all investments, non-binding commitments and waitlisted commitments, including $312.07K raised privately on and off Republic on the same terms”.

This appears to suggest that more than $312,000 was already lined up – who or where that may have come from is something the Watford Observer has asked the club guidance on.

The Republic website is also worth a visit for a few other reasons, even if you have no intention of investing.

Firstly, it reveals a number of apparent ‘packages’ which, for a pre-determined level of investment, you can reserve.

For instance, $319.65 gets you virtual shareholder meetings, priority access to tickets & events, a stadium tour, and “other additional perks to be confirmed”.

With Republic being an American platform and business on there done in US Dollars, it seems likely most of those investing via that site will be based across the pond – so it’ll be interesting to see how many make use of the access to tickets and the stadium tour.

For an investment of $6,393.04, you can reserve what’s listed above, the “other additional perks to be confirmed” plus:

  • Free season kit
  • Limited access to hospitality & stadium box
  • Food & beverage discount
  • Training ground tour

Take things a significant step further, and for $63,930.44 you’ll reserve everything listed so far as well as:

  • Limited access to Club’s Player’s lounge
  • Free matchday parking
  • Entrance to game via players’ entrance
  • Lunch with Players & Legends

And then, surely for only the truly high net-worth individuals, purchasing shares worth $1,022,887.10 will enable you to reserve all the perks in every other package plus:

  • Dinner with Head Coach and Club Captain
  • Hospitality in Club’s Boardroom

That last figure of more than $1m is interesting, as it shows that while the club are happy to accept invest as small as £50, they are also prepared to allow investment which – at current exchange rates – equates to £800,000.

At the share price of £12.44, that would give the purchaser more than 64,000 shares.

With yesterday’s digital equity offering of 10% of the club priced at £17.5m, and shares costing £12.44, that means roughly 1.4m shares are available.

Therefore if 1.4m shares represent 10% of the club, then there are approximately 14m Watford FC shares in total.

So, should someone decide to pay the $1,022,887.10 for that lavish package of perks, they would potentially also have purchased almost 0.5% of the club’s shares.

And that must beg the question, how many shares and what percentage of the club would a single investor need to purchase before they could actually have the right to a say in how the club is run – regardless of how small their say might actually be?

The Republic website also contains the full details of the club’s pitch to investors, including an investment summary of some of Watford’s best selling points such as 239% commercial revenue growth over five seasons and pre-tax profit of £24.1m in the 22/23 season.

Watford Observer: The Republic.com website lists key Watford selling points.The Republic.com website lists key Watford selling points. (Image: Republic.com)

It also has a quote from Chairman Scott Duxbury, who says “Our ambition is to be a permanent member of the Premier League.”

That is further underlined in the pitch document, which says: ‘Watford FC plans to continue investing across the squad and club infrastructure to attain promotion and then to sustain that success through a continued presence in the Premier League.

"Thanks to the development of new young players and planned additions to the squad, the Club believes the team has the potential to gain promotion to the Premier League during the 2024/25 season."

There is also further commitment in the pitch document to use the money raised from the digital equity release for funding new signings.

It says: “The proceeds will be used to fund initiatives to improve the performance of the club’s teams, particularly its first team. Such initiatives would include recruiting and training top players and coaching staff and developing the brand of the club.”