Hull Next? (8 Viewers)

[torchomatic]

Meanwhile, in a dispute which has echoes of the one that has led to Coventry City playing in Northampton, Hull’s owner, Assem Allam, is threatening to build his own stadium in an attempt to force the council to sell him the KC, which is only 11 years old. Stadiums can be expensive to build and maintain, but not owning your ground limits revenue streams. In Italy, where stadiums are traditionally council-owned, Juventus have built their own and are reaping the benefits, with stadium earnings tripling.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...g-up--and-so-do-the-new-stadiums-8890503.html

 

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[lewys33]

Kind of just says to me football is doomed. Unfortunately Coventry City FC was the beginning of the end ...........

 

[torchomatic]

Kind of just says to me that it isn't just Coventry City FC who are having problems with a Council owned stadium. Despite the sabre rattling from folk on here the Club ideally needs to own the Ricoh.

 

[lewys33]

Nobody has ever argued that THE CLUB needs to own the Ricoh for a better future.

 

[torchomatic]

Ah, but that's the rub, isn't it? The Club will never own it. And I imagine even if SISU walked away and someone else took us over The Club still would not own the stadium.

We lost that when HR was bulldozed.

Nobody has ever argued that THE CLUB needs to own the Ricoh for a better future.

 

[lewys33]

Ah, but that's the rub, isn't it? The Club will never own it. And I imagine even if SISU walked away and someone else took us over The Club still would not own the stadium.

We lost that when HR was bulldozed.

Indeed. Couldn't agree more. So there was no need to move to Northampton then.

 

[torchomatic]

Of course not.

Indeed. Couldn't agree more. So there was no need to move to Northampton then.

 

[shy_tall_knight]

Kind of just says to me that it isn't just Coventry City FC who are having problems with a Council owned stadium. Despite the sabre rattling from folk on here the Club ideally needs to own the Ricoh.

Its an aspiration for Cov to own its own ground but not a reality, SISU haven't got the money to buy the ground at its market price. We are in this position because of the financial disaster that was our former owners, a ground was built for them because they couldn't build it themselves. Expecting it to be given over on the cheap where there are charities and local council involvement is highly unlikely. I too think we are doomed.

 

[shmmeee]

Why do we need to own it Torch? Help me understand the benefits to the club over a long term peppercorn rent.

Sounds to me like Hull are looking at our situation and seeing a precedent set. I don't think owners using their clubs for emotional blackmail in business is something any of us should be cheering to be honest.

 

[RFC]

Its an aspiration for Cov to own its own ground but not a reality, SISU haven't got the money to buy the ground at its market price. We are in this position because of the financial disaster that was our former owners, a ground was built for them because they couldn't build it themselves. Expecting it to be given over on the cheap where there are charities and local council involvement is highly unlikely. I too think we are doomed.

How do you know the 'market price'?

Paul Fletcher has eluded to the 'true' price and value on several occasions, without ever quoting it.

You may find it's a lot less than CCC may be quoting!

 

[covcity4life]

We love you hull council we do!............

 

[lewys33]

I love it when people support the Greedy Businessman/woman propoganda over the public body who put the money in to build the stadium. Long live this fantastic country. You kants!

 

[torchomatic]

Charming.

You kants.

 

[lewys33]

Charming.

I forget im typing sometimes and it looks worse than what I meant. If I put it in a cockney accent does it make it more "jokey" ..... kants!

 

[chiefdave]

don't think the Hull situation is quite as straightforward as it appears on the surface. Allam owns the leasehold (or at least the right to run the stadium) but has in the last few months been under increasing pressure due to the high charges levied against both the football and rugby team. A few months ago he was on about walking away and handing it all back to the council, this seems to be his latest tactic.

 

[hill83]

I love it when people support the Greedy Businessman/woman propoganda over the public body who put the money in to build the stadium. Long live this fantastic country. You kants!

That's a cracking edit! Ha ha

 

[Astute]

And as usual the same people make comments without knowing the facts.

Hull's ground is owned by the people of Hull. The council of course look after it. The stadium was built from proceeds from selling Kingston communications. It was sold for a lot of money. The people of hull were allowed to choose where they wanted the money to be spent. Part of it went on the stadium. It belongs to the citizens of Hull. Hull council even rent a part of the ground or at least did up to a few years ago. Now they have an owner that wants it all.....just like us.

I wonder if he will send their club to Coventry as there is a decent stadium available to rent whilst he tries to get what he wants.

 

[torchomatic]

Oh that's OK then. So, I'm not a c**t, I'm a "kant" as you're saying it in a jokey Cockernee accent.

I forget im typing sometimes and it looks worse than what I meant. If I put it in a cockney accent does it make it more "jokey" ..... kants!

 

[torchomatic]

Tssk...I know, The Independent, eh? Bloody bastards.

And as usual the same people make comments without knowing the facts.

 

[lewys33]

Oh that's OK then. So, I'm not a c**t, I'm a "kant" as you're saying it in a jokey Cockernee accent.

I am glad we are now at an understanding

 

[ajsccfc]

[video=youtube;TNHzDxi73v8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNHzDxi73v8[/video]

 

[chiefdave]

And as usual the same people make comments without knowing the facts.

I was under the impression that the freehold was owned by the council but the stadium was operated by SMC which is owned by Assem Allam (the father of Ehab Allam, the owner of Hull City). Is that no longer the setup?

 

[Astute]

I was under the impression that the freehold was owned by the council but the stadium was operated by SMC which is owned by Assem Allam (the father of Ehab Allam, the owner of Hull City). Is that no longer the setup?

Not sure of the present set up as moved away from the area 7 years ago but saw it from the planning stage through to being built. The idea was to give sports an arena to play in that belonged to the people of Hull. Of course someone would have to own the freehold. It was never built to be sold at a later date. There was a low rent to help with the upkeep of the stadium and the council rented part of it.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Not sure of the present set up as moved away from the area 7 years ago.

And as usual the same people make comments without knowing the facts.

You said it, you said it.

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

Sounds to me like Hull are looking at our situation and seeing a precedent set. I don't think owners using their clubs for emotional blackmail in business is something any of us should be cheering to be honest.

We're hardly a shining example for other clubs on how to be run a football club

 

[SkyBlue_Bear83]

We love you hull council we do!............

I wonder how many Hull fans don't want the council to sell to the club

 

[duffer]

I still don't see it. If you build a £30m stadium with say 50% on finance, you're still going to have to find an awful lot of money to pay the mortgage.

The key to a sustainable club isn't related to ownership of the ground, it's to do with making more money than you spend. If you're spending an awful lot on a mortgage, that's going to be quite hard. That's why a lot of businesses rent their premises, presumably.

I don't have access to the figures, but I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that if you look into Hull's accounts the rent they pay is a small part of their overall budget.

In terms of Juventus, it takes about ten seconds research to find out that the issue with the old stadium wasn't so much related to council ownership, as to the fact that it was crap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juventus_Stadium

New stadium cost 90m Euros btw!

 

[Chinny_Hill]

Kind of just says to me that it isn't just Coventry City FC who are having problems with a Council owned stadium. Despite the sabre rattling from folk on here the Club ideally needs to own the Ricoh.

Then the "club" shouldn't have got itself in the mess that it did. Kind of...

 

[torchomatic]

Then the "club" shouldn't have got itself in the mess that it did. Kind of...

Don't disagree.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Astute]

You said it, you said it.

I said it yes. How it was built and financed. And who it was built for and why.

I suppose you think their ground should be sold to their clubs owners for peanuts as well.

 

[Astute]

I wonder how many Hull fans don't want the council to sell to the club

Just about all of them. I wonder if this would change if they were blackmailed by moving their club away from Hull though.

 

[chiefdave]

If you build a £30m stadium with say 50% on finance, you're still going to have to find an awful lot of money to pay the mortgage.

This point seems to be missed a lot. Most, if not all, clubs that have new grounds have had to pay for them. They've not just been built by someone else and then handed over! Let's say we had built the Ricoh ourselves, chances are our mortgage would be more than £1.2m a year so would we be much better off?

 

[Sky Blue Spud]

All of this talk about leaving Highfield Road, wasn't it a case that we didn't own the freehold and the lease had expired?

 

[skybluetony176]

i don't know the inn's and out's of Hull's affairs but i cant say i'm surprised if what has happened at our club is happening at another club. after all the FL/FA have set a president by their inactions in dealing with our owners so they have opened the door for any club's owners to take the piss out of their "rules".

 

[lewys33]

LOL, this thread backfired a bit!