I really don't get why anybody would buy just the football club without the training ground and stadium. What are you actually getting for your money? A collection of footballers contracts, coaches and backroom/admin staff. What happens if the new owners need to borrow money in future, what assets do they have as security? I don't understand it and I'm not sure I buy it.
Buying the club now and getting rid of Roland, they will also be purchasing a massive amount of goodwill from the fans. Leave Roland hanging about like a bad smell and you can kiss goodbye to all that, the boycotts and aggro continue. They'd be sabotaging themselves before they even started.
The various ex-directors, understandably, have different positions and objectives and some are owed substantially more than others. The hypothesis that RD wants to raise cash from the team in order to take them out of the equation is a reasonable one - the idea they can or would be blamed for a deal not happening less so. That’s a threat that has been used by RD/KM to them before. It won’t wash, IMO.
The fundamental problem remains that RD wants more money than the club is reasonably worth and can’t get it. One reason is that he cannot easily realise such value as exists in the freehold property, which has no planning consent for any other use and no immediate or medium term likelihood of receiving any. On top of the consent issues, which are considerable,The Valley is a difficult and expensive site to redevelop because of the geography. It is not a property goldmine - that’s why others have previously sought to use it to trigger the release of higher value land on the peninsula.
Remember if Duchatelet had an easy route to profiting from developing the ground he would have taken it already. He doesn’t need to sell the club to bring that forward, he just needs to move the team (like 1985) or close it down. The likely reason he hasn’t is that it doesn’t stack up.
Any lease is only as good or bad as its terms. I’ve been directly involved in large commercial leases by local authorities and the idea that all the control lies with the landlord is naive. It’s a complex legal area but leases like any other deal need to be evaluated on their terms, not in the abstract.
Given the history we should be very wary of any separation of ownership between the football club and the ground, but unless someone finds a way to separate Duchatelet from the football club and wipe out the so-called friendly debt the risk is we will end up with neither.
The story I heard and it’s straight form the horse’s mouth is that Roland will be keeping half of the Valley with the Australian consortium buying the rest. Roland’s half roughly stretches from G and Q blocks of the west stand (as H and R blocks are fallow anyway he didn’t want them) and runs all the way along to half of the covered end (D block in the lower and J block in the upper). The Australians get the rest of the ground including the lucrative Jimmy Seed Stand – as this is where the happiest supporters in the ground usually sit, they can charge more for sitting here.
If you are buying a season ticket I would suggest buying it in the North East corner of the ground – I know for a fact that the Aussies have promised to buy attacking right sided players with any season ticket money from their side of the ground, so you will always see the best players on your side of the Valley in the second half and decent left sided defenders for the first half. Bowyer has been told to look for right footed ‘flair’ players and to ignore left wingers and to buy overlapping left backs.
100% nailed on, you heard it here first – don’t shoot the messenger
Jimmy it’s not incorrect the difference is I have no bias in what I share all I want is RD gone your source does not want to release the info that has dogged them from the start ref funds
I assure you the pup lines being told from within are not the ones I speak
May be a long way off the mark here as I'm not clued up on property law, but if only three of the ex directors went against the idea of separating club and ground, could RD just pay them off and go ahead with the consent of the other four? If it's a loan there's no way they could refuse payment of the loan, right?
‘After speaking to two people from the Australian consortium hoping to buy the club, I am happy to withdraw my request for the return of my grandfather’s bust.’
The Aussies are as we speak preparing a statement, which they plan to release tomorrow.
They are NOT about to announce that the sale has been completed. But I believe it should be positive news. I certainly bloody hope so.
Serious question. Are you lonely?
Interesting there isn’t a word that means the opposite of lonely. If there was, I’d be that.
Jimmy it’s not incorrect the difference is I have no bias in what I share all I want is RD gone your source does not want to release the info that has dogged them from the start ref funds
I assure you the pup lines being told from within are not the ones I speak
Be careful who you believe mate is all i say
Equally you need to be careful that you don’t relay what one former director is being told and take it as the full story, unless you know he is hearing it directly from both sides.
Remind me to never to stand next to some of you when the order to go over the top is given.
I would have been in the senior service but you know what I mean
I will be standing next to NLA when the order is given because like him I have never believed we have even been close to a deal being agreed upon between seller & buyer.
I'm fortunate enough to know both @nth london addick and @JamesSeed and apart from one's inability to return some keys and the others dodgy spanner connections I think they are both honest guys telling us what they've heard without any agenda.
So all I can say #teamWIOTOS and onward to 1000 pages
No we are getting back on track, my great uncle Arthur Hearne was in 13 Platoon, D Coy, Hawke Battalion, he served in Gallipoli and was invalided out after being wounded on the Somme in the Ancre Valley attack, 13 November 1916. The letters I have from him are all censored by a Lt Turnbull who was killed the same day and buried in Ancre CWGC.
They were a cracking Division who fought further notable actions at Gavrelle in April 1917, Passchendaele, The Flesquieres Pocket March 1918 and key to the Last Hundred Days of the War. Many will remember their memorial (a Lutyens Fountain) being in the Royal Naval College when we were younger, it was returned to its original location on Horse Guards (it was removed during the Blitz to Greenwich), around 2000 from memory.
They will always be immortalised by AP Herberts Poem about their tee-total Commander General Shute after he banned the rum - ration:
The General inspecting the trenches Exclaimed with a horrified shout 'I refuse to command a division Which leaves its excreta about.'
But nobody took any notice No one was prepared to refute, That the presence of shit was congenial Compared to the presence of Shute.
And certain responsible critics Made haste to reply to his words Observing that his staff advisors Consisted entirely of turds.
For shit may be shot at odd corners And paper supplied there to suit, But a shit would be shot without mourners If somebody shot that shit Shute
If anything guarantees 1000 pages on this thread then its 'mentioning the war' to me, and bringing poetry back to the table, good plan @Henry Irving !
Separating the ownership of the ground from the club would be an unmitigated disaster - especially with Duchatelet as our landlord. We tried that before and it wasn’t terribly successful.
Much better for the Aussies to pull out and to let Duchatelet bleed unless or until he comes to his senses and agrees a realistic price with them or another buyer. A few huge protests may encourage him to come to his senses.
I fear that we are in for a war of attrition and will have to suffer for a little longer.
Good point. The Navy had to help the army out as usual : - )
I should have mentioned that I would have bravely volunteered to defend Ottawa (mostly because Alice Springs would have been too hot and dry for me)....
With regards to separating The Valley from CAFC, I would just say look at Coventry City!! They have one final year at the Ricoh and that only after virtually begging to play there this coming season. Season 19/20 they haven't a clue where they will be.
Comments
ROLAND OUT
Buying the club now and getting rid of Roland, they will also be purchasing a massive amount of goodwill from the fans. Leave Roland hanging about like a bad smell and you can kiss goodbye to all that, the boycotts and aggro continue. They'd be sabotaging themselves before they even started.
The fundamental problem remains that RD wants more money than the club is reasonably worth and can’t get it. One reason is that he cannot easily realise such value as exists in the freehold property, which has no planning consent for any other use and no immediate or medium term likelihood of receiving any. On top of the consent issues, which are considerable,The Valley is a difficult and expensive site to redevelop because of the geography. It is not a property goldmine - that’s why others have previously sought to use it to trigger the release of higher value land on the peninsula.
Remember if Duchatelet had an easy route to profiting from developing the ground he would have taken it already. He doesn’t need to sell the club to bring that forward, he just needs to move the team (like 1985) or close it down. The likely reason he hasn’t is that it doesn’t stack up.
Any lease is only as good or bad as its terms. I’ve been directly involved in large commercial leases by local authorities and the idea that all the control lies with the landlord is naive. It’s a complex legal area but leases like any other deal need to be evaluated on their terms, not in the abstract.
Given the history we should be very wary of any separation of ownership between the football club and the ground, but unless someone finds a way to separate Duchatelet from the football club and wipe out the so-called friendly debt the risk is we will end up with neither.
The story I heard and it’s straight form the horse’s mouth is that Roland will be keeping half of the Valley with the Australian consortium buying the rest. Roland’s half roughly stretches from G and Q blocks of the west stand (as H and R blocks are fallow anyway he didn’t want them) and runs all the way along to half of the covered end (D block in the lower and J block in the upper). The Australians get the rest of the ground including the lucrative Jimmy Seed Stand – as this is where the happiest supporters in the ground usually sit, they can charge more for sitting here.
If you are buying a season ticket I would suggest buying it in the North East corner of the ground – I know for a fact that the Aussies have promised to buy attacking right sided players with any season ticket money from their side of the ground, so you will always see the best players on your side of the Valley in the second half and decent left sided defenders for the first half. Bowyer has been told to look for right footed ‘flair’ players and to ignore left wingers and to buy overlapping left backs.
100% nailed on, you heard it here first – don’t shoot the messenger
I assure you the pup lines being told from within are not the ones I speak
Be careful who you believe mate is all i say
'Last one out the building leave the lights on as rolands paying the bill'
So all I can say #teamWIOTOS and onward to 1000 pages
They were a cracking Division who fought further notable actions at Gavrelle in April 1917, Passchendaele, The Flesquieres Pocket March 1918 and key to the Last Hundred Days of the War. Many will remember their memorial (a Lutyens Fountain) being in the Royal Naval College when we were younger, it was returned to its original location on Horse Guards (it was removed during the Blitz to Greenwich), around 2000 from memory.
They will always be immortalised by AP Herberts Poem about their tee-total Commander General Shute after he banned the rum - ration:
The General inspecting the trenches
Exclaimed with a horrified shout
'I refuse to command a division
Which leaves its excreta about.'
But nobody took any notice
No one was prepared to refute,
That the presence of shit was congenial
Compared to the presence of Shute.
And certain responsible critics
Made haste to reply to his words
Observing that his staff advisors
Consisted entirely of turds.
For shit may be shot at odd corners
And paper supplied there to suit,
But a shit would be shot without mourners
If somebody shot that shit Shute
If anything guarantees 1000 pages on this thread then its 'mentioning the war' to me, and bringing poetry back to the table,
good plan @Henry Irving !
Much better for the Aussies to pull out and to let Duchatelet bleed unless or until he comes to his senses and agrees a realistic price with them or another buyer. A few huge protests may encourage him to come to his senses.
I fear that we are in for a war of attrition and will have to suffer for a little longer.