Thetownend.com

Says deal is completely done apart from the satdium side
http://www.swindontownfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10341~1180901,00.html

Didn't they say the deal with BEST was also complete back in August...

You should listen to his interview on BBC Radio Swindon if you get a chance.  The stumbling block relates to the development rights remaining with Shaw Park Developments and not the club.  In Fitton's own words, this is a 'major technicality'.

Sorry to pour cold water on your enthsiasm, but this is a compled legal issue that is highly unlikely to be resolved in a short space of time.

Perhaps the Fitton interview will be online soon!

so basically, its still not sorted

It's not going to be sorted, you might be optimistic gazza but the issue with shaw park developments is a big one and it could take months to sort out, the club will be dead by then, i'm afraid to say it does not look good at all.

No ... it's sort of sorted, just one thing that is out of sorts.

Far from it.

I dont think its going to happen either.

The update is coming from fitton himself and not the board.

It's not it's a long way from being sorted, this block will probably kill the deal unfortunately to be honest, people who have the knowledge about it will agree.

Taken from his interview on RS.

What it says on the official site is the same things that fitton said in the interview on bbc radio swindon earlier.

Its not a legal issue that needs to go to court though - if it was a def non starter then why would fitton be there still? If all parties are in agreement then presumably it should be fairly quick to sort it out...(heres hoping anyway) I can't think of a reason why people would want to hold on to the rights to develop a ground for a non-existant club......

Well don't forget that shaw park redevelopments involve other people who are not involved at this football club and if they block it then there isn't much they can do, it's a big legal issue and fair play to fitton for not giving up but if it's not sorted within the next 3-5 days i would say that the takeover is dead, i could be wrong but our time has basically ran out.

   Gazzza, this is serious shit mate.

   I like what Fitton has to say, on all issues other than this sticking point, but it does look like the deal will fail.   The chilling thing is Fitton's suggestion this may mean a club, but no ground.

  I'm uncertain how this could come about as the CG is owned by SBC, but am inclined to believe it to be true.  This may be the what Diamond Mike alluded to, when talking of taking the club down with him.....is it possible that Shaw Developments, will profit even if there is no football club.

Basically Fitton is saying he doesn't want an Oxford style takeover where Kassam still owns the ground, but the new head-scummer owns the club.

Don't blame the bloke.

Yes good on fitton but the situation just doesn't look good like reg says, legal issues can drag on and on, i dont know if there is an hmrc deadline next week but banbury obviously knows something and says we only have until next week, hmrc will not give us anymore time and i doubt the football league will either.

   Not really similar....Kassam owns the ground.....at STFC its SBC with a covenant..  the lease is up in about 10 years time I believe, can someone hazard a guess as to how SPD can get a profit from developing the site with no club?

Yeah, that's how I read the situation as well.  Does this mean that Shaw Park (which is james wills, dunwoody and St. Modwen) would benefit from a redevelopment of the CG?  That cannot be right as the council own the ground, so is AF considering building a new stadium somewhere (Ramsbury?)?  Somewhere in the legal jargon there must be a clause linking Shaw Park with ANY future development involving STFC.

I read the original statement quickly and missed out the part where he said "I WISH i could say its all done"

Did fitton not say devlopment of the COUNTY GROUND??

i must have missed the lesson on shaw park developments... what is that? who is it? and what does it mean?

I dont think they are talking about the County Ground I think it means Shaw Developments have it in their contract that any development of any site will be done/owned by them and thats the sticking point.

Thats the way I see it anyway.

The lease expires in March 2013 (as stated in the clubs accounts).

Quite why it is March I dont know as there would clearly be a problem kicking off the 2012/13 season if you couldnt be sure of a ground to play at throughout.

Effectively that means that something needs to be resolved, even if its just an extension of the existing arrangement with the council ,within the next 4 - 5 years.

I would think it is March because the Council will have wanted to do contracts based around complete financial years ..... hence the end of March.

That's what the board have always claimed - ie that they somehow have the "rights" to do any ground redevelopment although we can't verify if it's actually true. As they don't actually own any property, the council own the ground so they can't sell it/redevelop it without council partnership, it's difficult to see what they think they have.

 Thanks for that, sooner than I thought then.   May well be irrelevant, if this takeover fails though.

joint venture between STFC and st modwen...someone else will be able to explain it far better than i could.

One interesting thing to come from the takeover was that there is someone famous with links to sport and business in the area as part of his backers.

I was wondering who that may be, I dont think its James Dyson as I dont think he has any links...as yet with sport, cant think of anyone else as yet though.

I actually felt the statement sounded pretty positive, for once, even though this last hurdle is a huge one.

Heres hoping.

Overall I think it was a very enlightening interview and a real breath of fresh air compaired to the BEST debacle.

So is it that the Holding company is claiming to have bought these "rights"?

[quote="ahounsellThe lease expires in March 2013 (as stated in the clubs accounts).

Quite why it is March I dont know as there would clearly be a problem kicking off the 2012/13 season if you couldnt be sure of a ground to play at throughout.
[/quote]

we'd be alright - ground share with Rovers !

No, the claim is that the Jt Venture has the rights, but the Holding co is 50-50 on the Jt Venture with St Modwen. To clarify, there probably is a piece of paper somewhere that claims to assign such rights to the Jt Venture, what we're rather dubious about is how enforcable such a claim is.

More details in this thread. Bottom of Page 13 onwards.

http://www.thetownend.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25354&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=180

I was cautiously optimistic after hearing the interview itself, but further investigation and a few hours reflection has changed my viewpoint. What I am utterly confident of is that Mr Fitton is approaching this takeover in a very professional manner and leaving no stone unturned. Whether or not it succeeds remains very much in the balance IMO.

I just want to know how much time have we really got left to get this takeover completed.

I honestly don't think anyone REALLY knows.....

Well, Banbury is a reliable bloke and he says we only have until next week, it might be right it might be wrong, i cannot see us having longer than another 2 weeks at the most.

Again another game of chicken, but this time with HMRC. And they're not good people to play chicken with

Steve Slattery perhaps would be my guess ?

Good shout. I think he has a property developing company?

  Willie Carson

Cliff Puffett...

Rikki Hunt.

Reg don't even joke about Hunt.
So reading between the lines then Fitton / Wills have agreement over the shitty end of the stick but disagree over the sweet side. So what's been agreed so far is that we've got Fitton covering all the debts but unable to agree a way to mitigate his up front losses.
This deal is a long, long way from being done. Ad in the holding companies lawyers and St Modwens lawyers and actually agreeing something.
I live in hope but unless something gives quickly this ain't going to be sorted for a while yet.

Very good shout, an has Swindon connections under Hoddle....yeah I think thats a good guess actually, not sure how much he has in personal wealth but it has to be more than Wee Willy has!

 You're having a larf.....Carson is seriously minted, just doesn't want to part with it.

Perhaps it's a bit like intellectual property rights. At a guess SPD now own the right to develop any site (as per Oevil above) specifically for STFC. If this can't be sorted in whatever time is available instead of throwing in the towel perhaps an alternative solution can be found that circumvents SPD and allows completion very soon.

For instance, I suggested on another thread that e.g. Hungerford FC could build a new stadium for themselves and offer STFC a groundshare or lease for say 999 years or whatever. The point is the development was not for STFC. If the owner of the development also happened to be the owner or a close relative of the owner of STFC perhaps he would be happy to invest some of the profits from his development in STFC.

I have to admit to still being a bit confused by the issue. Can somebody clarify please?

SPD is 50% Dunwoody and 50% St Modwen, and that company says it owns STFC redevelopment rights.

So what exactly is the issue and how does Fitton hope to resolve it?

Is it St Modwen who will not relinquish the rights, or Dunwoody, or both?

Is he looking to resolve the  issue by 1.  paying ££, or 2. insisting there is no cash but if the deal is to go through then they have to give them up, or 3. is he looking to prove the legality of 'development' rights is  null and void?

why is it not of importance to secure ownership of the club the developement rights can be sorted out after or am i wrong.

The money Fitton will be using to pay off the debts will be re-couped in a development, so I expect it's why it's a sticking point.

Batch ... I got the impression from his interview that the lawyers were supposed to have done some work on this point before and hadn't, despite the problem being pointed out to them by "us" as AF said. Details of the rights and who will or will not relinquish them would just be guesswork right now, along with how he looks to resolve the issue. As that may take too long I think another solution for now, maybe as above, could give him enough peace of mind to close the deal and time to sort out SPD at his leisure if necessary.

Figgis ... I'd guess they could be sorted out afterwards so long as those rights did not include any and all new stadium developments that STFC might occupy in the future.

As I see it, St Modwen have several charges over what little assets can still be assigned to the club.  They are listed in their accounts as being owed £2.6m ish by Shaw Park, all of which has probably been channeled through the Holding Co.  The Holding Co, as majority shareholder in the FC, has probably signed some sort of contract to give Shaw Park Dev the rights to any future ground development.  The unknown is if it's a set period, forever, how likely they'll be to give them up etc.  It sounded like the sticking point was whether they were able to bring these rights back into the Holding Co.  It might be as simple as St Modwen saying it's ok provided the debt is still repaid.  It's trickier if they want some return or Diamandis' holding can block that???