Trust look to buy the CG

[FreddySTFC!]

I don't like a roof on the SB because it suggests that it's not being earmarked for much-needed redevelopment. By which I mean knocking it down and starting again. It was falling apart when I was still there.

This. As Chang also alluded to, pull the thing down & start fresh.

[RobertT]

I don't like a roof on the SB because it suggests that it's not being earmarked for much-needed redevelopment. By which I mean knocking it down and starting again. It was falling apart when I was still there.

It was "re-developed" in the 90's, it's about as old as the Don Rogers stand (maybe 2 years younger?  It was completely re-laid and new barriers installed, before it was carpeted with seats.  I remember bits of the older version being exchanged with Bournemouth fans.

[Oaksey Moonraker]

It was "re-developed" in the 90's, it's about as old as the Don Rogers stand (maybe 2 years younger?  It was completely re-laid and new barriers installed, before it was carpeted with seats.  I remember bits of the older version being exchanged with Bournemouth fans.

Stratton Bank was renovated in summer 1988 and in the 88/89 season we had 19000 for the cup game with West Ham. Then Hillsborough happened and everything changed for terraces even though the Bank had modern barriers etc.

Sent from my HTC U11

[horlock07]

Update email received from the Trust yesterday...

Hope you're keeping well and that you've enjoyed the summer.

We've had another busy few weeks of discussions in September, and as we've just held our October Trust board meeting, it's a good time for a brief update.

The County Ground is obviously where the bulk of our effort is going right now, and we've had a number of positive conversations with representatives of both the Football Club and the Council. There is an appetite to move things forward as quickly as possible but certain boxes still need to be ticked and we are all working through those with some urgency.

We're very aware of the need for absolute due diligence on the proposed 50/50 ownership and to that end we are working with top quality industry professionals to continue the work done thus far.

We have specialist Tax lawyers engaged to understand the best way of forming a joint venture company with the club. This initial work will cost us around £8k but will ensure that any company we form at the end of this process to handle the stadium ownership will be tax efficient.

Initial feedback on our proposed joint venture structure is that it needs adjusting, but once the Tax lawyers have concluded their work then we will be in a position to move ahead with the legal documentation regarding the shared ownership structure (known internally as the JV deal).

For the JV deal, we have engaged our London lawyers Cooley's, who have been supporting us for a number of years. They have agreed to do this (usually expensive) work at no cost, although we are prepared to pay for their services if it doesn't get the required attention in the timescales we need.

We have also agreed to spend £3k+ with Supporters Direct to get community shares initialised, and for them to help us create a document that outlines the deal for council and supporters consideration. It will also look at future revenue generating ideas for the ground. I am meeting with James Mathie from Supporters Direct tomorrow, to start this document.

We have signed an NDA with the club and shared a number of confidential documents related to the stadium. We want complete transparency, so they now have everything that we have invested our time and money into over the past few years, and will benefit from over £30k worth of upfront professional surveys and reports that we have funded in the past.

In summary, the next steps for us are to complete our tax assessment, and directly afterwards to get the legal process surrounding the JV kicked off. In parallel to this, Supporters Direct will be working on our behalf on community shares and we will be gearing up for a fundraiser in the near future.

At the request of the club, this work we are doing will eventually spread out to include efforts from the Swindon Town Supporters Club, the Great Western Reds, and any other supporters groups. We will still lead the fundraising effort using your donations, but will be working together with all groups to make sure all Town fans are represented.

Going forward there will be a Community Shares offer, so keep that in mind and prepare yourselves to bid for your own stake in the ownership of the stadium. Start putting some money aside...

It's still a very difficult project with many people involved and many different views and politics, but rest assured we have been on this a very long time now, and we will keep going until we reach a positive outcome.

Once again I would like to thank everyone for your contributions to the Red Army Fund. As I have already mentioned, we're spending a lot of money to ensure that our side of the work is done professionally, and without your donations we would never have got this far.

We had a sizeable contribution from Nationwide last year which also helped and will go toward the Community Share fundraiser campaign when that kicks off. Every penny is accounted for and we have a very healthy bank balance as we move into this critical period.

Lots more to come, and I will keep you updated all the way.

Thanks for reading.

Steve

[McGurk's Missus]

We have signed an NDA with the club and shared a number of confidential documents related to the stadium. We want complete transparency, so they now have everything that we have invested our time and money into over the past few years, and will benefit from over £30k worth of upfront professional surveys and reports that we have funded in the past.

Hmm, so they've handed over all stadium related documents, inc. £30k+ of professional surveys....

What is stopping Lee Power at the last minute saying 'No deal' and using the freely handed over documents, to formulate his own stadium ownership plan? Seems a little naive on the part of the Trust if you ask me. Business is ruthless, Andrew Fitton learnt the hard way when thinking 'gentlemen's agreements' still stood for something.

[SuggWillSugg MBE]

Hmm, so they've handed over all stadium related documents, inc. £30k+ of professional surveys....

What is stopping Lee Power at the last minute saying 'No deal' and using the freely handed over documents, to formulate his own stadium ownership plan? Seems a little naive on the part of the Trust if you ask me. Business is ruthless, Andrew Fitton learnt the hard way when thinking 'gentlemen's agreements' still stood for something.

I initially read it that the club had handed over the stadium documents, hence the need for an NDA.

[Red Frog]

Hmm, so they've handed over all stadium related documents, inc. £30k+ of professional surveys....

What is stopping Lee Power at the last minute saying 'No deal' and using the freely handed over documents, to formulate his own stadium ownership plan? Seems a little naive on the part of the Trust if you ask me. Business is ruthless, Andrew Fitton learnt the hard way when thinking 'gentlemen's agreements' still stood for something.

You may accidentally be right, without knowing anything about it. But on balance, I'm going to trust their judgment ahead of yours.

[Batch]

I reckon the Trust may have thought of that scenario, but you can't go into these things expecting them to fail or nothing gets done.

[suttonred]

IPR is red hot, so quite shrewd really as they would be useless as a single entity proposal now.

[JanAirplaneMan]

I reckon the Trust may have thought of that scenario, but you can't go into these things expecting them to fail or nothing gets done.

In the spirit of partnership and being positive to formulate an agreed joint venture some documents the Trust have had authored on the ground have been provided to Clem and STFC post the signing of the NDA. As previously mentioned its about starting afresh and working with the club with our eyes wide open in order to forge a strategic joint venture. If you think negative then you would never do anything as previously mentioned.

[McGurk's Missus]

In the spirit of partnership and being positive to formulate an agreed joint venture some documents the Trust have had authored on the ground have been provided to Clem and STFC post the signing of the NDA. As previously mentioned its about starting afresh and working with the club with our eyes wide open in order to forge a strategic joint venture. If you think negative then you would never do anything as previously mentioned.

While that is rather endearing on the Trusts part and I'm not being negative but in business, honesty and spirit aren't exactly rife. There is nothing legally obliging to stop Lee Power, Clem Morfuni et al to not carry through a formulated JV agreement with the Trust.

Picking through the long and short...while all good intentions may be forthcoming from the Trust, it does seem to be built or hinge largely on honourable hope.

I hope it all goes as you foresee  

[Red Frog]

While that is rather endearing on the Trusts part and I'm not being negative but in business, honesty and spirit aren't exactly rife. There is nothing legally obliging to stop Lee Power, Clem Morfuni et al to not carry through a formulated JV agreement with the Trust.

Picking through the long and short...while all good intentions may be forthcoming from the Trust, it does seem to be built or hinge largely on honourable hope.

I hope it all goes as you foresee  

Not being arsey or anything, but how long have you been doing business negotiations with third parties?

It's just the stuff you say sounds like the sort of thing that people who've never done it come out with.

[JanAirplaneMan]

While that is rather endearing on the Trusts part and I'm not being negative but in business, honesty and spirit aren't exactly rife. There is nothing legally obliging to stop Lee Power, Clem Morfuni et al to not carry through a formulated JV agreement with the Trust.

Picking through the long and short...while all good intentions may be forthcoming from the Trust, it does seem to be built or hinge largely on honourable hope.

I hope it all goes as you foresee  

Unfortunately unless you are involved you won't know the details but based on confidentially it's tough to reveal all details I am afraid. All I can say is that as a board member of the trust all due diligence that could be undertaken is being undertaken in order to ensure all is legally fair and water tight .. specialist legals are working on this. Watch this space for further news on this.

[McGurk's Missus]

Unfortunately unless you are involved you won't know the details but based on confidentially it's tough to reveal all details I am afraid. All I can say is that as a board member of the trust all due diligence that could be undertaken is being undertaken in order to ensure all is legally fair and water tight .. specialist legals are working on this. Watch this space for further news on this.

Thanks for your reply. As I say, I hope all goes according to plan.

[McGurk's Missus]

Not being arsey or anything, but how long have you been doing business negotiations with third parties?

It's just the stuff you say sounds like the sort of thing that people who've never done it come out with.

This is the trouble, people instantly assume that because I'm a frog (we could be related)  and they don't know me irl that I know nothing. 

I'll ask you a similar question...Is there anything legally obliging that stops Lee Power, Clem Morfuni et al from not formulating a JV agreement with the Trust?

You see this silly frog tends to always read things and find out what isn't written in any legislation, because if it isn't there then it's certainly up for being disregarded or interpretation.

I'm all for the Trust but they must tread carefully. One would hope that they are. Unfortunately, only time will tell.