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Clearly the council were 'in a rush', and despite saying they were going to build trust with the club before discussing ownership they had already done a deal with Wasps. They forced that deal through under a cloak of secrecy, within a matter of weeks. Just like the bail-out of ACL...

Not really much to add to what ChiefDave's said to all this. As an article it's a cheap piece of PR without an awkward question in there. Three questions: Why were we (and the club) told that time was needed to rebuild trust with the club with regard to buying the ground, when the deal to...

I keep saying to myself I'll keep quiet about this, but I hate with a vengance the rubbish that some people use to excuse the move. Wasps are a franchise who came here purely for financial reasons - not because of some love of the city. Just because they moved out to Wycombe after spending...

Absolutely. I made that very argument myself a number of times. I always thought it made much more sense to invest £20m into getting hold of ACL than it did to spunk it on a new, crappier, smaller stadium elsewhere. It looks like that hypothesis might yet be tested.

Good question. I think the CRFC crowd are probably well established now and have seen more bad times than good. I don't think crowds there will change overmuch if promotion fades away, but then you're only looking at 1,200 - 1,500 typically. For Wasps I'd contend that the opposite probably...

A well-reasoned analysis as ever, OSB. However until (or unless) we get some light shone on it I'll always have serious doubts regarding how the council have played this. You'll remember I'm sure to what lengths I've defended them in the past, so you know I'm not coming at this with some kind...

Funnily enough I had a huge win on the Russian state lottery just the other day, but currency controls mean that I can't get the money out of the country. If you could just send me your bank details... :)

I think you nailed it Nick, in essence this by definition is someone who isn't thinking straight. I know footballers can be arseholes, but I don't think CC was considering how he might make someone else's life worse - in fact I'd say that if you've got to this point what you're often thinking...

Noggin, if you'd be willing to put money into the Wasps/ACL deal then I'd say you'd got a bigger appetite for risk than you realise. ;) I'm talking equity here, Noggin, equity! A rising tide lifts all boats etc. - I'll stick our pitch on YouTube for you. :)

Noggin, I accept that you'd be prepared to take that risk, even though I'm not convinced you've thought it through properly. I know a little software company you can invest in that will (probably) bring you much better returns, PM me for further details. :) The point I'm making is that the...

tisza mate, that's a pretty balanced response. I doubt we'll ever agree on all of this, but what you're saying here is fair enough. I suspect the Wasps JR might actually be a slightly stronger case than the first one (perhaps in part because the council no longer has a direct financial...

Just to come back on this - if at any time you can't realise the amount of the loan by selling what it is secured against, then that loan is not properly secured. (Yorkshire Bank pointed this out to ACL incidentally, way back when they were holding the mortgage). This isn't about state aid...

MMM, there's a fair point there I'd accept about taking things in isolation, but it cuts both ways! And when Lucas was talking about Wasps bringing £6 million per game into the local economy I'm afraid she was talking rubbish. That's arithmetically illiterate any which way you look at it...

Sorry Steve, I see your point but when you're talking about risking money 'what-ifs' are critical. You can't confidently make the right decision without those analyses. It's why I used to work in a bank in an area called Credit Risk (it wasn't as exciting as it sounds).

I can't see why you don't get it, I honestly can't. The enquiry into the Council's possible wrongdoing around ACL is entirely separate to the actions of the club. SISU undoubtedly put pressure on ACL through tactics that were probably legal, but morally wrong. That doesn't entitle the council...

That bit there - gates of sub-10k, surely that points to another stretch of the truth from Lucas et al - that we should do the deal so that Wasps could bring millions to the city's economy. Clearly they knew that that was rubbish even when they were saying it.

Appreciate the reply - I get the sense that some are ducking the question here when claiming that this is a great deal for the council, Ann Lucas included. I agree that the lease will revert to the council, but then what happens. What if there's no one else to buy it? Also, if this is a...

Absolutely not - there's no logic to that anywhere that I can see. This is solely about the actions of the council and whether or not they were proper. Would you suggest that investigation into any of SISU's alleged financial wrongdoing should drag the council in, as they could claim that "it...

Straight question: What happens to the loan if Wasps subsequently goes bust? The council said that they wouldn't risk taxpayers' money by making loans to loss making operations, but as it turns out they did in both the original deal to ACL, and seemingly now again in this refinancing. Maybe...

Apologies for not coming back on this point by point, but an enquiry into the council's actions would have nothing to do with the owners of the club, in much the same way that an investigation of the club by (say) the SFO or FL would have nothing to do with the council. The second JR regarding...