I think the difference is that the council would have a fairly objective process to consider and validate a proposal, whereas what’s happened here seems to be “we like the plans but don’t trust the owner to deliver them”.
I remember a lot of talk about the Trust doing “due diligence” into Clem when he took over from Lee Power. Did that due diligence stretch to his expertise in property development?
The due diligence at the time was a sham as it was done by James Spencer and co and they believed everything Morfuni said. They completely ignored his failing U.K. business and other red flags.
Back on point, Oxford are another good example. They’ve now got wealthy owners despite the ground being owned by Kassam who is almost impossible to deal with. Yes they’ve given up on the Kassam now but it didn’t stop them buying the club to begin with.