Thatslife
"Decisions are made by those who turn up"
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 669
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Post by Thatslife on Aug 1, 2015 19:56:21 GMT
Whatever UWE's cost of building a 15000 seater could be put it together with say the £10million Rovers could get for the Mem site and surely the 21700 stadium becomes a viability . I think I can remember reading somewhere that there were other interested parties in buying the Mem but Sainsburys were their preferred choice obviously the highest bidder, I wonder if the other parties could still be interested albeit for a lower price and put this towards the UWE 's interest in building the stadium surely they'll get £20 million for the land off another supermarket that'll be 50% of the stadium cost and UWE can find the other half. Why would they dilute ownership? I think that if this is true it's a question of either Higgs finds £30m that he forgot about in his sock drawer and we go ahead with Plan A, or UWE do their own thing and we can discuss rental for the football pitch 23 times a year. With athletics the place will look super in orange when a Sainsbury's sponsored event takes place. If he did find £30m in HIS sock draw, then we would then be HIS tennants, and after what's been written about him on here, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a peppercorn rent deal
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Post by manorfarmgas on Aug 1, 2015 20:04:41 GMT
Personally I would prefer, if this is the scenario, to stay at The Mem and have our own home. And utilise Football League grants. But I don't want my millions back do I? Bingo.
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toteend
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 305
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Post by toteend on Aug 1, 2015 20:05:18 GMT
So, plan B is bankruptcy or tenancy. God help us.
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Post by CountyGroundHotel on Aug 1, 2015 20:05:21 GMT
Why indeed. Let UWE build the stadium, we can remain at the Mem for the next 5 years & then negotiate with the owners of a stadium that is sat unused for 365 days a year making no money. The only problem is how do we pay the Wonga loan of £3m+ at the end of the year, plus what if NH wants is "loan" repaid back within those 5 years? It looks like win the Appeal we get our own new ground, lose and we become tenants at the UWE. If NH had taken the £1.5m offered surely we could have at least been joint owners? Although doing it that way NH doesn't get his money back? Nope you've lost me there Topper. How does any of that help UWE fill a 15,000 seat stadium? I've scratched my head but can't make the connection, you'll have to help me out & explain it a bit more clearly .....
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aghast
David Williams
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 395
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Post by aghast on Aug 1, 2015 20:12:34 GMT
We dont even know if this is true. If it is then we dont even know if we will be asked to be tenants. But if it is true and if we are asked to be tenants then I hope somewhere in the 'watertight' contract between us and UWE that we can buy the stadium or a percentage of the stadium from selling the Memorial Stadium to someone else. Basically keep to the original plan = our stadium! The only difference is the stadium be funded by UWE and we pay them back after selling the Memorial Stadium and of course the capacity will be reduced but even that is not really an issue as 15,000 is more than enough and there could be an option to increase size. It all sounds good to me. Maybe too good to be true. Because of that, I dont believe this will happen and I will only believe it when we are playing in it. I still wouldnt believe it even when the players are on the pitch warming up. If we sold The Mem and paid off all the loans and debts how much do you reckon we would have left to give UWE if we lost this appeal? £867.50, some old sweets and an unpaid parking ticket.
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Post by Topper Gas on Aug 1, 2015 20:15:44 GMT
Surely Rovers being tenants helps them fill a stadium? The alternative is build the staduim and wait for Rovers to go.into Admin when the Wonga loan needs repaying/NH wants his money back.
How do you think Rovers can progress, even survive, at the Mem if we lose the Appeal and have to find the £3m to pay the Wonga loan off. Let alone pay off the Directors loans?
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2015 20:25:05 GMT
Run the club properly?
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Post by dickgherkin on Aug 1, 2015 20:29:53 GMT
I cannot believe how lightly some on here are taking the POTENTIAL (this is all still guesswork on our parts) loss of the Mem.
The only way i considered the club moving to Frenchay was worthwhile, was when it was going to be the catalyst for increased revenue, bigger playing budgets - a potentially 25,000 seat stadium that could take us into higher divisions and cope with bigger crowds.
IF THIS IS PLAN B (and its all guesswork on here) then it cannot be allowed to happen.
We will be selling our home, near our pubs and on our bus routes, with our Blackthorn, Dribuild and Centenary, for an all-seater stadium, on an out-of-town industrial estate, with a running track, and only a capacity of 15,000.
I honestly cannot believe that there are some on here quite happy for Team Higgs to do that to us.
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aghast
David Williams
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 395
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Post by aghast on Aug 1, 2015 20:31:57 GMT
If there's any truth in this story, it might not be so terrible.
A whole world away from where we thought we might be, but maybe better than where we are now.
UWE - why would they want to build a 15,000 seater stadium? Concerts, athletics (could be the top athletics stadium in the country) and above all else Bristol Rovers as tenants with regular crowds of 6,000 - 10,000.
BRFC - why would we go there? We'd be debt free and playing in a stadium that could double attendances - for which we'd pocket the revenue and perhaps catering. We would be set up to look a far more professional outfit and not a bunch of chancers squatting in an old hovel. Just look at what happened to Brighton, and that was before they got promoted. Maybe we could negotiate a shared ownership position as I believe Swansea have done. At the beginning the council owned 100% of the stadium and they now part-own it themselves. I can't remember the %.
Who knows if this is the legendary Plan B? If it happened, a lot of fans would be happy to be sitting in a 15,000 seater new stadium watching a debt-free club in League 1 in 4 years time.
Of course the whole story and idea might be total nonsense so I've just wasted 5 minutes typing this rubbish.
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Post by Centenary Gas on Aug 1, 2015 20:38:01 GMT
If there's any truth in this story, it might not be so terrible. A running track alone would be terrible as far as I'm concerned.
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2015 20:39:57 GMT
If there's any truth in this story, it might not be so terrible. A running track alone would be terrible as far as I'm concerned. Why, do you suffer from cramp?
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Post by chippenhamgas on Aug 1, 2015 21:12:08 GMT
I cannot believe how lightly some on here are taking the POTENTIAL (this is all still guesswork on our parts) loss of the Mem. The only way i considered the club moving to Frenchay was worthwhile, was when it was going to be the catalyst for increased revenue, bigger playing budgets - a potentially 25,000 seat stadium that could take us into higher divisions and cope with bigger crowds. IF THIS IS PLAN B (and its all guesswork on here) then it cannot be allowed to happen. We will be selling our home, near our pubs and on our bus routes, with our Blackthorn, Dribuild and Centenary, for an all-seater stadium, on an out-of-town industrial estate, with a running track, and only a capacity of 15,000. I honestly cannot believe that there are some on here quite happy for Team Higgs to do that to us. exactly, if this is the only option i'd rather stay at the mem, all we'd need to do to get up to 15k would be to build a 7000 seater stand on the dribuild side that could be funded by the football trust grants we've never used, any shortfall could be raised via a fan's share issue, and we maintain the security of ownership.
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2015 21:38:53 GMT
I cannot believe how lightly some on here are taking the POTENTIAL (this is all still guesswork on our parts) loss of the Mem. The only way i considered the club moving to Frenchay was worthwhile, was when it was going to be the catalyst for increased revenue, bigger playing budgets - a potentially 25,000 seat stadium that could take us into higher divisions and cope with bigger crowds. IF THIS IS PLAN B (and its all guesswork on here) then it cannot be allowed to happen. We will be selling our home, near our pubs and on our bus routes, with our Blackthorn, Dribuild and Centenary, for an all-seater stadium, on an out-of-town industrial estate, with a running track, and only a capacity of 15,000. I honestly cannot believe that there are some on here quite happy for Team Higgs to do that to us. exactly, if this is the only option i'd rather stay at the mem, all we'd need to do to get up to 15k would be to build a 7000 seater stand on the dribuild side that could be funded by the football trust grants we've never used, any shortfall could be raised via a fan's share issue, and we maintain the security of ownership. The grant system doesn't work like that. You are granted a percentage of the build cost not a lump sum to do as you wish. The shortfall you refer to would be huge.
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549
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Post by Bridgeman on Aug 1, 2015 22:04:06 GMT
Not sure where this 15,000 seater stadium ideal is coming from as didn't the Local Development Plan for South Glos allow for a minimum of 20,000 so not sure a smaller stadium would meet the local LDP requirements. Who are we going to sell the Mem to. We all know the current moratorium on large supermarket developments. Can you see planning permission being given to build houses at the Mem with all the various protests that would be raised and of course with the new Sports 'Commissar' for Bristol being in post maybe she might support a sports stadium remaining in North Bristol with it's sporting history built originally as a War Memorial to the rugby players of Bristol ?
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Post by Topper Gas on Aug 1, 2015 22:05:37 GMT
If there's any truth in this story, it might not be so terrible. A running track alone would be terrible as far as I'm concerned. Don't the present plans already have an athletic track of some kind anyway?
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Post by chippenhamgas on Aug 1, 2015 22:08:11 GMT
exactly, if this is the only option i'd rather stay at the mem, all we'd need to do to get up to 15k would be to build a 7000 seater stand on the dribuild side that could be funded by the football trust grants we've never used, any shortfall could be raised via a fan's share issue, and we maintain the security of ownership. The grant system doesn't work like that. You are granted a percentage of the build cost not a lump sum to do as you wish. The shortfall you refer to would be huge. But it wouldn't be 30m, would it?!
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 3,549
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Post by Bridgeman on Aug 1, 2015 22:08:46 GMT
A running track alone would be terrible as far as I'm concerned. Don't the present plans already have an athletic track of some kind anyway? Couldn't be any worse than the track around the pitch at Eastville, the Tote End was miles away behind the goal, not to mention the raised flower beds
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2015 22:10:25 GMT
The grant system doesn't work like that. You are granted a percentage of the build cost not a lump sum to do as you wish. The shortfall you refer to would be huge. But it wouldn't be 30m, would it?! No it wouldn't but the club wouldn't get the same grant for a single stand as they would for a new all seater stadium.
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Post by Topper Gas on Aug 1, 2015 22:11:07 GMT
Not sure where this 15,000 seater stadium ideal is coming from as didn't the Local Development Plan for South Glos allow for a minimum of 20,000 so not sure a smaller stadium would meet the local LDP requirements. Who are we going to sell the Mem to. We all know the current moratorium on large supermarket developments. Can you see planning permission being given to build houses at the Mem with all the various protests that would be raised and of course with the new Sports 'Commissar' for Bristol being in post maybe she might support a sports stadium remaining in North Bristol with it's sporting history built originally as a War Memorial to the rugby players of Bristol ? Can you see S Glos not altering their plans slightly in order to secure a sports stadium, after all whether it's 15,000 or 20,000 makes little difference to them? Every council is under press to build houses, apart from Carstairs can you seriously see anybody objecting to housing on the Mem? Certainly not local residents who will see it has a victory and as will Glos Rd retailers who will get more potential customers than competitors. Plus if Rovers move to the UWE it still opens up the £200m of additional investment apparently relying upon the stadium development.
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dagnogo
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 872
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Post by dagnogo on Aug 1, 2015 22:12:19 GMT
I don't think anyone WANTS us to go to a situation where we rent a ground again.
But given that the dream of owning a stadium in Frenchay is dead even if Higgs gets a miracle at the Court of Appeal, our options are:
1. Tenancy at the UWE if the university build it. Mem is sold to repay the debts built up by board incompetence, no investor is mad enough to blow money on a club with no assets so fans take over.
2. Stay at the Mem. We still own our own ground but we have some level of debt and all the current board have no incentive to continue given that their scheme to repay themselves is dead.
3. Buyer comes in. Looking unlikely.
Remember that their priority now is not BRFC. It's getting their money back. If they sold the Mem to repay themselves, most of the fanbase would swallow it, they always do.
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