Council funding for Ricoh Refurb (1 Viewer)

mr_monkey said:

Don't forget " I'm so glad they didn't sell the Ricoh to a hedge fund"

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"who would have just got loads of debt against the community asset"

steveo1987 said:

On top of the other recently published article about Wasps fans pining for our return and the clever bit bit of anti Sisu spin, brought a tear to my eye. Interesting that the redundancy article mentions a loss of £5.1m in revenue which more or less what Wasps are recieving to carry out the "refurb"

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To be fair, any 'refurb' or updating of facilities will cost money so the 'good' news for us is that although they're getting nigh on £5m, nigh on £5m won't cover their losses nor will it put a dent in the bond repayments they have to make.

Skyblueweeman said:

To be fair, any 'refurb' or updating of facilities will cost money so the 'good' news for us is that although they're getting nigh on £5m, nigh on £5m won't cover their losses nor will it put a dent in the bond repayments they have to make.

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How much more will it make the Ricoh worth for Wasps to re-finance against?

jordan210 said:

If they are cutting 20 jobs. They can’t have many Ricoh based staff left.

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I assume if Wasps sign some new players in the near future there will be the same media backlash that Arsenal are currently getting right?

Nick said:

How much more will it make the Ricoh worth for Wasps to re-finance against?

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Nick said:

How much more will it make the Ricoh worth for Wasps to re-finance against?

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Yeah, get that, but from what I can see from the planning and what I know of what they owe/their debt, it's not going to make a massive difference.

If the Ricoh was a stadium only (like St Marys) and they were bolting on the exhibition hall, casino and adding a hotel, that would be different.

Adding a glorified conservatory, lick of paint and maybe some new technology won't make that much of a difference though.

Skyblueweeman said:

Yeah, get that, but from what I can see from the planning and what I know of what they owe/their debt, it's not going to make a massive difference.

If the Ricoh was a stadium only (like St Marys) and they were bolting on the exhibition hall, casino and adding a hotel, that would be different.

Adding a glorified conservatory, lick of paint and maybe some new technology won't make that much of a difference though.

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Which makes you wonder, why are they being given over £5m for just that when they only paid just under 6 for the lot?

Nick said:

Which makes you wonder, why are they being given over £5m for just that when they only paid just under 6 for the lot?

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That is the concerning bit, right?! It does seem a lot of money for what they want to do.

Who will that money go to...ACL I assume? Or will it go into Wasps bank account and they then use it to get the work done. It would be interesting to see once it's all done, how much the work actually cost.

2020: 'Hey Wasps, here's £5m to build your conservatory and buy some new Dulux paint'.

2022: Hey Wasps, we can see that you've spend £3m on the greenhouse and Summer Sunlight Yellow/Space Black paint. Where's the other circa £2m?'

And seemingly bondholders are happier as £2m has gone on repayments.

Not saying that's going to happen but........................

You would have thought they would have had to submit a business case to receive so much funding. It would be interesting to see that and how they claim it's going to help Coventry and not just them.

Are the council likely to try and uphold it though? They weren't fussed about the training ground promises.

Good question about the business case. I assume there's an organising committee for the games, a bit like LOCOG for 2012. In Wasps defence (can't believe I've just typed that but in the interests of impartiality), they could've said 'right, we'll give you Judo etc but the facilities need to be better...we'll help submit a bid for some cash and reckon you'll need £xm to get it up to scratch'. Maybe, maybe not...who knows.

Skyblueweeman said:

Good question about the business case. I assume there's an organising committee for the games, a bit like LOCOG for 2012. In Wasps defence (can't believe I've just typed that but in the interests of impartiality), they could've said 'right, we'll give you Judo etc but the facilities need to be better...we'll help submit a bid for some cash and reckon you'll need £xm to get it up to scratch'. Maybe, maybe not...who knows.

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Surely they shouldn't have been applying if the facilities weren't up to scratch or they couldn't afford to do them up?

chiefdave said:

A lot of companies are acting like the rules suddenly don’t apply due to coronavirus. It’s blatant these positions will be required when lockdown ends.

You can be certain the hope is they don’t find another job, which let’s face It is a reasonable assumption at the moment, and will then come back when asked. Wouldn’t be a surprise if pay and conditions are worse when the ‘new’ position is offered to them.

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The argument that would probably be put forward is that having to pay them during lockdown would stress the business to such a degree that it'd go under before the end of the crisis. If it does then the positions won't be there to go back to at all. With this redundancy there's a chance they will.

What I really want to see here, is the business case. What money will come into Coventry as a result of giving Wasps this grant?

Conversely, were any other Coventry businesses invited to apply for this grant and/or could it have instead been used to improve transport, cycling or other cultural infrastructure. If so, what considerations were given to those cases and why were they rejected in favour of Wasps?

Given Wasps apparent insistence on an ‘indemnity clause’ in support of Coventry City Council, there’s a clear potential for a conflict of interest here.

It might all be above board, but without knowing the answers to these kind of questions there will always be considerable doubt.

shepardo01 said:

Here we go....

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I thought the councillors were voted in by the people and acted on behalf of the people - I very much doubt if the people of Coventry held a vote on this matter that they would agree to spend more money on a building that many of them currently would not set foot in

Skyblueweeman said:

That is the concerning bit, right?! It does seem a lot of money for what they want to do.

Who will that money go to...ACL I assume? Or will it go into Wasps bank account and they then use it to get the work done. It would be interesting to see once it's all done, how much the work actually cost.

2020: 'Hey Wasps, here's £5m to build your conservatory and buy some new Dulux paint'.

2022: Hey Wasps, we can see that you've spend £3m on the greenhouse and Summer Sunlight Yellow/Space Black paint. Where's the other circa £2m?'

And seemingly bondholders are happier as £2m has gone on repayments.

Not saying that's going to happen but........................

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But it does happen

steveo1987 said:

But it does happen

Millions spent on football club missing £10m probe - BBC News

Police are investigating a failed council loan to Northampton Town under its previous owners.

www.google.com

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And if that were the case in two years in Cov, hopefully it would be investigated in the same way with questions being asked of those in the wrong....

*Cough* Hotel *Cough*

shepardo01 said:

For lying about their book-keeping?
For lying on their planning application for training ground?
For lying in their public statements?
For lying about the indemnity?

Or is it just their finances?

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Changes at the top again. What’s this now, the third or fourth time they’ve made changes at the management / executive level to try and get them out of the shit?

covcity4life said:

This is infuriating

The only plus I can see is that more and more people are turning against wasps in this city

Their attendances coukd fall to 2-3k perhaps

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Lovely

shepardo01 said:

Although they had and still have Eastwood with Vaughan above... who was an addition about a year or so ago I think??
Wonder who it will be on their bike?
My money on Eastwood....
Who will they get to lie on camera now??

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Are you thinking of Stuart Cain? Joined Wasps as Commercial Director in Sep 2017, made Chief Exec in one of their other rounds of changes at the top in Aug 2019 and left in May.

steveo1987 said:

But it does happen

Millions spent on football club missing £10m probe - BBC News

Police are investigating a failed council loan to Northampton Town under its previous owners.

www.google.com

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Was going to mention this. Cardoza’s house still isn’t finished. No work on it for a few years now!

Monners said:

Was going to mention this. Cardoza’s house still isn’t finished. No work on it for a few years now!

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I drive by the ground regularly and it looks awful . Northampton really should be a top end league one side pushing for the chanpionship but its a rugby town. What happened to them was scandalous with most of tge money being syphoned off by various parties .

The tweet had been taken down. Was it fake news!??

shepardo01 said:

Although they had and still have Eastwood with Vaughan above... who was an addition about a year or so ago I think??
Wonder who it will be on their bike?
My money on Eastwood....
Who will they get to lie on camera now??

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Eastwood was effectively put out to grass sometime ago - following the accounts fiasco

oldfiver said:

Eastwood was effectively put out to grass sometime ago - following the accounts fiasco

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You'll hurt Mary Mungo Midge saying that. Eastwood is the bestest in the world, he knows what he's doing

fernandopartridge said:

You'll hurt Mary Mungo Midge saying that. Eastwood is the bestest in the world, he knows what he's doing

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Foorsooth my dear chap

fernandopartridge said:

You'll hurt Mary Mungo Midge saying that. Eastwood is the bestest in the world, he knows what he's doing

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Hardly a problem for him - he is not doing much !

I know this guy has a chip on shoulder and most of this is in public domain but realy. Tickets tot he Rolling Stones to apparently discuses European city of culture. rugby world cup with wasps and partners in an informal setting...........

shepardo01 said:

Lots and lots of freebies from Wasps to various members of CCC going back years.
But we knew this already didn't we!!???

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Council officials have received a decent amount of hospitality from CCFC over the years too. Obv not recently with the animosity but stories i've heard of how much club money was spent on entertaining public officials back in the day from people who saw them happen. They reckon over the course of a season we could've bought another player with the funds used to entertain these people.

Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

Council officials have received a decent amount of hospitality from CCFC over the years too. Obv not recently with the animosity but stories i've heard of how much club money was spent on entertaining public officials back in the day from people who saw them happen. They reckon over the course of a season we could've bought another player with the funds used to entertain these people.

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I guess that was before all the new rules. Now adays so much to do with anti bribery and corruption stuff you are suppose to be very careful and not really accept much.

Malta is nice at this time of the year