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Author Topic: Trust look to buy the CG  (Read 382078 times)
Reg Smeeton
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« Reply #555 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 16:01:47 »

I just think the Trust are missing their opportunity (personal views on whether it is my personal choice aside). To me this is the calm before the storm, you have to assume at some point the club will release their own vision if for no other reason than to put people off giving the Trust their money. I would have thought the Trust would be doing all they can to get people on board whilst they can before the club really enter the mix.

Can we get away from the use of the term "the club" buying the ground..... it's Power and whoever he's fronting for.
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The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey

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« Reply #556 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 16:02:37 »

Well, Power isn’t doing any better re the mythical training ground. Must be 2 years now since he bought the golf course. Get a few vague noises that ‘things’ are in hand, but I’m not holding my breath on this one.
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Mightymyte
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« Reply #557 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 16:04:48 »

Mytte - to summarise - it is not volume or regularity of Comms, it is who to and content.  It is not that we think you are not working hard, it is in-fact that you haven't been able to articulate a business plan.  It is not that nobody knows who you are - it is that they do not know who the funding is coming from and whether you like it or not, that is a problem for you.

To take the issue 10 years ago, and yes it was much more compelling, it worked because it was simple.  A) we do not want this guy, b) we'd like this guy, c) we are happy with this other guy just sell

At the moment we have put a detailed 30 page proposal into the Council. There are elements of it that are subject to the NDA, so we can't share the whole thing  - but instead we have tried to get some of these messages out in a way that every supporter can understand, via the newsletters, articles and AGMs etc. In terms of the matched funding - it was a LOT of work to secure the £1m, and we are not in a position to give any further details at the moment - that's just a fact.

It would be great to give all of the background, but in fact it's not necessary. It's important to note (and we stressed this at the AGM many times) - the Trust is just a vehicle for the supporters to buy the stadium (THE SUPPORTERS to buy the stadium) - the fact we have secured matched funding and some other significant pledges from some of our more wealthy supporters should not matter - it's not a loan and doesn't give anyone any greater power than anyone else. We want every single supporter to own an EQUAL SHARE in the stadium, that's how it works with community shares, regardless of how much you invest - it's a truly democratic process that secures the stadium future.

It's likely that we'll get many £50 pledges into our crowdfunder (if we get the nod to go ahead), and we also know we'll get many more wealthier people stepping up. Look at other examples, you will see the bulk of the money comes from a relative few, but we want to include EVERYONE which is why we have taken on board feedback and floated a figure of £50 as a minimum share price.

This is not a "Trust" thing, it's a "Supporter" thing - we are just trying to facilitate matters.

The Trust board will be there to provide that management and administrative layer, and in future - we hope to have the stadium and a full-time team to do this. It's also important to point out that the Trust board will change over time, so there will be other people writing into this forum, and other people chairing and guiding the work. This is not a lifetime gig for me, and others will indeed move on in-time. It sounds like you were involved at some point in the past.

Regarding a business plan, we cannot factor in anything other than stadium rental costs at the moment and not any proposed developments which are all second phase / future projects - they in themselves will have a business plan.

The new Town End would be a unique one, first in the UK, a showcase for other stadiums, more than seats and a roof. The company behind this have been down to see the County Ground and meet us, they are well respected and Independently funded, and they have Swindon as first choice. Can't say much more as we have signed an NDA, but as a Town fan I am very excited about the prospect, and I hope it comes off regardless of the outcome in this saga.

It's very much on the back burner at the moment, needs a lot more looking into (devil is in the detail) and we need the stadium ownership to be resolved, one way or another. Even after that, getting these things introduced into Swindon won't be easy, there are planning hurdles and councillor approvals etc to consider, but it's definitely got potential.  We are nowhere near that stage at the moment. If we don't own the stadium, we will never get there.The discussions with the company in question suggest a potential 10 year payback period to cover their costs which will be covered by 24/7 use of the stand, after which the Club/Trust/Council (whoever owns) would be given the majority profits from the stand going forward in time.

We have released the basic information about the stand to let fellow supporters know, but it mustn't confuse the overall discussion about who should own the County Ground - this is the only proposal on the Council table at the moment.
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Reg Smeeton
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« Reply #558 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 16:23:57 »

Well I say all Power to your elbow, and all the others who are working hard to try and secure the future of our club. No doubt we're in for difficult times ahead...
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pauld
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« Reply #559 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 16:37:56 »

The new Town End would be a unique one, first in the UK, a showcase for other stadiums, more than seats and a roof. The company behind this have been down to see the County Ground and meet us, they are well respected and Independently funded, and they have Swindon as first choice. Can't say much more as we have signed an NDA, but as a Town fan I am very excited about the prospect, and I hope it comes off regardless of the outcome in this saga.
OK, so I understand you can't go into too much detail perhaps but this is one aspect that has been questioned - why is the redevelopment of the Town End proposed to cost £15m which seems to be considerably more expensive than other stand redevelopments? And how are you proposing this should be paid for? That's both in terms of the initial costs and then, presumably, that money would need to be paid back to whoever fronts it up?
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horlock07

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« Reply #560 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 16:43:55 »

OK, so I understand you can't go into too much detail perhaps but this is one aspect that has been questioned - why is the redevelopment of the Town End proposed to cost £15m which seems to be considerably more expensive than other stand redevelopments? And how are you proposing this should be paid for? That's both in terms of the initial costs and then, presumably, that money would need to be paid back to whoever fronts it up?

I read the post as saying that the developer gets the returns for 10 years to cover costs at which stage it reverts back to stadium owner?
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Flashheart

« Reply #561 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:05:54 »

How many bums on seats would be needed to pay that back? What would the capacity of the stand need to be? How many people would they expect to be in the stand regardless of its capacity? Would there not be a conflict between the club and the 'owner' of the stand, what with both wanting revenue from tickets? Why would the club/power agree to having a bulk of ticket revenue going to a 3rd party for 10 years or whatever?
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pauld
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« Reply #562 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:10:42 »

I read the post as saying that the developer gets the returns for 10 years to cover costs at which stage it reverts back to stadium owner?
Fair enough. So why so much more expensive than other similar stand builds? (Presumably because of whatever is being built into it to generate a revenue of £1.5m pa?)

Would there not be a conflict between the club and the 'owner' of the stand, what with both wanting revenue from tickets? Why would the club/power agree to having a bulk of ticket revenue going to a 3rd party for 10 years or whatever?
Presumably it would be the revenue from the mystery extra thing that would go to the developer for 10 years not the ticket revenue? But it's a reasonable question
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Flashheart

« Reply #563 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:14:08 »

Fair enough. So why so much more expensive than other similar stand builds? (Presumably because of whatever is being built into it to generate a revenue of £1.5m pa?)
Presumably it would be the revenue from the mystery extra thing that would go to the developer for 10 years not the ticket revenue? But it's a reasonable question

Ah. They must be expecting that mystery extra thing to be jolly well profitable, then.
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pauld
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« Reply #564 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:22:37 »

Ah. They must be expecting that mystery extra thing to be jolly well profitable, then.
Town End Knocking Shop and Casino for players. Just recycle their wages before they even leave the building
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Bob's Orange
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« Reply #565 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:22:59 »

I reckon it’ll have a gym, a bowling alley and a Ferris wheel.
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Bob's Orange
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« Reply #566 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:23:43 »

Also welcome Steve and thanks for answering questions from us.
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The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey

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« Reply #567 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:28:23 »

I think Bristol Rovers fans are having a similar discussion about any new proposed stadium. The problem they have is that there is already a charge on The Mem so I presume the % rate being charged is substantially higher than the norm

Ticket money is the club’s, other income is the developers - or a percentage -  usually for a set period of time.
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Flashheart

« Reply #568 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:33:33 »

If you were risking 15m on an investment, you wouldn't want 15m back. You'd want 15m and then some more. Rather a lot more...
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horlock07

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« Reply #569 on: Friday, March 23, 2018, 17:36:05 »

I reckon it’ll have a gym, a bowling alley and a Ferris wheel.

I'm going for a Weatherspoons, a Greggs and a Poundland....

Actually is this any different to Power forking out to redevelop part of the ground and then pocketing the proceeds for the first 10 years - where does this stand with the oft repeated view that no one should profit from the club?
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