Stadium update (7 Viewers)

CovRes said:

Frasers got the preferred bidder status with the administrators by paying to keep the place open, which will have been a fair amount. Wasn't that on top of the £17/18m they paid for the place?

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You might be right there, do you know how long of a period they had to pay for? I wonder if that was included in that 13m figure in terms of what Frasers needed to pay in costs just to bring everything up to standard.

If it's even more in addition to that 31m of costs (18m acquisition + 13m necessary improvements) then the fee is likely to be higher by at least that amount and then some. There's no way they've sold the CBS to us at a loss, so that's at least 31m before any potential profit for Frasers is taken into account.

Skyblueweeman said:

Media outlets wouldn't keep choosing him if he was wrong all the time.

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Most on here seem to think the same as me.

He can say what he likes - the Swiss Rambler guy is far better

How would he know what the stadium cost to purchase when it’s not even public data?

biggymania said:

You might be right there, do you know how long of a period they had to pay for? I wonder if that was included in that 13m figure in terms of what Frasers needed to pay in costs just to bring everything up to standard.

If it's even more in addition to that 31m of costs (18m acquisition + 13m necessary improvements) then the fee is likely to be higher by at least that amount and then some. There's no way they've sold the CBS to us at a loss, so that's at least 31m before any potential profit for Frasers is taken into account.

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This press release is dated 17 November, which is only a few weeks after Wasps went under.

I'd imagine certain suppliers were asking for cash in advance during that period.

I’m not so much interested in the revenue streams as I am apprehensive about how much it costs to run and maintain.

Kieran Maguire was in the right place at the right time. He has surface level knowledge so is good for a cameo on TalkSport/SSN etc. If you have a very-basic understanding of accounts you could know as much as him.

Saying that, I like his podcast - which again - isn't forensic, but a good round up around the leagues.

Cally Fedora said:

I’m not so much interested in the revenue streams as I am apprehensive about how much it costs to run and maintain.

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it will all depend on how it is marketed. The additional revenues will look good against the PSR rules though thats for sure

Grendel said:

Most on here seem to think the same as me.

He can say what he likes - the Swiss Rambler guy is far better

How would he know what the stadium cost to purchase when it’s not even public data?

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Even Swiss Ramble gets bits wrong but if you compare his content to Maguire it genuinely is chalk and cheese in terms of depth of knowledge.

Maguire is competent at marketing himself and found a niche in the media where he is able to apply rudimentary financial analyses to an industry whose finances are becoming increasingly spotlighted. Credit to him, he's probably paid well for doing so.

Grendel said:

Most on here seem to think the same as me.

He can say what he likes - the Swiss Rambler guy is far better

How would he know what the stadium cost to purchase when it’s not even public data?

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I love our little family on here but we're often wrong on a lot of things.

Look, I don't really care on him per se, but to say he's hardly knowledgeable is tosh.

Various media outlets (not just TalkSport...) wouldn't ask someone who's hardly knowledgeable to keep coming on.

Skyblueweeman said:

I love our little family on here but we're often wrong on a lot of things.

Look, I don't really care on him per se, but to say he's hardly knowledgeable is tosh.

Various media outlets (not just TalkSport...) wouldn't ask someone who's hardly knowledgeable to keep coming on.

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The point is he's fine at giving very broad analyses of club finances - arguably more in the PL - but that's probably where it ends. The chap that heads up my accountant's firm is exactly the same, not one for detail at all.

He's clearly very qualified, but he's far from being the football financial guru he's marketed as.

Grendel said:

Most on here seem to think the same as me.

He can say what he likes - the Swiss Rambler guy is far better

How would he know what the stadium cost to purchase when it’s not even public data?

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He's always been open about how the Swiss Rambler is better and more detailed.

Maguire does his job well, talking the basics to people who don't have a clue.

He's never gonna go into detail, there's too many clubs.

Skyblueweeman said:

Media outlets wouldn't keep choosing him if he was wrong all the time.

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Unless he has inside information on the deal, he can make educated guesses on what was paid but no more. Frasers have spent around £30 million to acquire and repair the place, maybe more on top to cover losses. The assumption even then is that they were happy to just break even on what they spent.

Brighton Sky Blue said:

Unless he has inside information on the deal, he can make educated guesses on what was paid but no more. Frasers have spent around £30 million to acquire and repair the place, maybe more on top to cover losses. The assumption even then is that they were happy to just break even on what they spent.

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He was referring to somthing that he'd read, wasn't he. Personally, I think he's in the right ball park, I speculated on £40m+ upthread so maybe that's why!

Speedie's Head said:

He was referring to somthing that he'd read, wasn't he. Personally, I think he's in the right ball park, I speculated on £40m+ upthread so maybe that's why!

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He could have looked through accounts to determine the total that Frasers have spent on it and assumed that King offered them the equivalent. The deal was kept very under wraps though, so I doubt Maguire has been told the amount.

Brighton Sky Blue said:

He could have looked through accounts to determine the total that Frasers have spent on it and assumed that King offered them the equivalent. The deal was kept very under wraps though, so I doubt Maguire has been told the amount.

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The accounts weren't published in May (as 2024) for the Arena, I don't know why not. I don't think anybody knows but he's not far wrong that's for sure.

Sky Blue Goblin said:

Just listening to this. Apparently we bought the arena for forty million.

No idea where his source is on that but is widely respected in the football finance

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Same bloke often got things wrong with our finance stories.

KenilworthSkyBlue said:

Even Swiss Ramble gets bits wrong but if you compare his content to Maguire it genuinely is chalk and cheese in terms of depth of knowledge.

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Balli001 said:

it will all depend on how it is marketed. The additional revenues will look good against the PSR rules though thats for sure

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Point taken. But the costs will be in the other side of the ledger.

Been doing a bit of digging through frasers plc annual accounts.

In the 2023 accounts, which run to Apr-23, the following is disclosed in relation to the ‘Coventry Arena’ (a reminder that this was acquired on 17 Nov 2022 for £15.8m with additional transaction costs of £2.2m):

For a theoretical year ending Apr-23:
Revenue: £13.4m
Operating loss: £7.0m
Loss before tax: £7.0m

For the period from Frasers’ acquisition date of 17 Nov-22 to Apr-23:
Revenue: £6.7m
Operating loss: £3.5m
Loss before tax: £4.4m

The same level of information is not disclosed in the FY24 Frasers plc accounts since Coventry Arena is disclosed within the ‘Property’ segmental results.

I am reading through the various financial statements of the subsidiaries owned by Frasers that are in place to run the Coventry Arena - the main one being Coventry Arena Retail Limited (now owned by Covcityco Ltd, yipee). To my understanding this company is akin to ACL (Arena Coventry Limited).

One thing of note is that £3.5m of property plant and equipment was capitalised in the 2024 accounts of Coventry Arena Retail Limited. I think there was £500k capitalised in the 2023 accounts based on analysing a few of the different notes included within the accounts. This is investment that is allowed to be capitalised under accounting rules and not directly expensed to the P&L (hence it does not impact the operating loss figures quoted above, albeit the depreciation of property plant and equipment will be included in the op loss figure). There will also have been revenue expenditure that is not allowed to capitalised and hence this expenditure will be in the P&L and op loss figure above (although you can’t directly see how much is due to revenue expenditure). This is important since it means you can’t work out the amount that Frasers have invested in the Arena from the financial statements alone.

Key to note the above is to Apr-2024 only. I’ll continue to read through the annual accounts to get more info.

Also worth noting that if you want to see the results of the Coventry Arena pre 2023, you can look at the accounts of Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) on Companies House (you can see Wasps involvement starting from the 2014 accounts, boo).

What we can say with some certainty is Ashley has been the only person to profit from the Arena since it was built!

Speedie's Head said:

What we can say with some certainty is Ashley has been the only person to profit from the Arena since it was built!

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Sky Blue Goblin said:

Just listening to this. Apparently we bought the arena for forty million.

No idea where his source is on that but is widely respected in the football finance

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Yeah that's the guy Kieran McGuire, talking about Doug King buying the CBS and then goes on to say Leicester could get a double points deduction from the Premier League and the EFL.

I don’t know much about Maguire apart from when he looked into us and got everything spectacularly wrong.

Liquid Gold said:

I don’t know much about Maguire apart from when he looked into us and got everything spectacularly wrong.

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I think he plays up to fanbases and what they want to hear sometimes, he did with us.

A charge has been filed this morning on Companies House between Coventry Arena Propco Limited and FRS Estates Limited dated 23 August 2025.

Coventry Arena Propco was purchased by Covcityco Limited on 23rd Aug, with Doug King as the sole director. This company is set up to manage the lease of the arena. In essence, it doesn’t really seem to do much other than hold the lease and is set up as part of a complex group structure. Based on the charge filed on companies house, Propco is the proprietor (owner/holder) of the head lease of the arena and the footbridge over the A444.

The fact a charge is in place between Propco and FRS Estates implies to me that there is a financial obligation between Propco and Frasers (presumably a loan) which is then secured against the lease and so provides Frasers with a security in case of default by the club. So this implies to me that Propco has borrowed money from FRS Estates to fund the acquisition of the Arena, although I could be wrong on this. Again there is no information on how much or what is attached to this borrowing other than the assets which the financial obligation is secured against.

Interestingly no charges filed for Coventry Arena Opco Limited (now also owned by Covcityco Limited) which is the proprietor of the land at Phoenix Way, the advertising screen at Phoenix way, part of the leisure and exhibition areas of the arena, and part of the bridge again. Maybe this will be filed shortly, this would be my expectation I think based on what has gone on for Propco.

Nick said:

I think he plays up to fanbases and what they want to hear sometimes, he did with us.

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and then got the hump with anyone who pointed out his basic mistakes

He definitely had an axe to grind and worked with those in the trust. Same with David Conn.

Thank fuck we’re out of that era.

CrawleySkyBlue said:

A charge has been filed this morning on Companies House between Coventry Arena Propco Limited and FRS Estates Limited dated 23 August 2025.

Coventry Arena Propco was purchased by Covcityco Limited on 23rd Aug, with Doug King as the sole director. This company is set up to manage the lease of the arena. In essence, it doesn’t really seem to do much other than hold the lease and is set up as part of a complex group structure. Based on the charge filed on companies house, Propco is the proprietor (owner/holder) of the head lease of the arena and the footbridge over the A444.

The fact a charge is in place between Propco and FRS Estates implies to me that there is a financial obligation between Propco and Frasers (presumably a loan) which is then secured against the lease and so provides Frasers with a security in case of default by the club. So this implies to me that Propco has borrowed money from FRS Estates to fund the acquisition of the Arena, although I could be wrong on this. Again there is no information on how much or what is attached to this borrowing other than the assets which the financial obligation is secured against.

Interestingly no charges filed for Coventry Arena Opco Limited (now also owned by Covcityco Limited) which is the proprietor of the land at Phoenix Way, the advertising screen at Phoenix way, part of the leisure and exhibition areas of the arena, and part of the bridge again. Maybe this will be filed shortly, this would be my expectation I think based on what has gone on for Propco.

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Could the charge be related to a further payment obligation on promotion, rather than a loan?

Liquid Gold said:

He definitely had an axe to grind and worked with those in the trust. Same with David Conn.

Thank fuck we’re out of that era.

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It was when he would strangely say stuff to imply about SISU taking all the money but when questioned for more info he wouldn't like it. If I remember it was that he didn't mention the difference between interest accrued and interest actually being paid.

I'm not a financial wiz by any means so all the accounts and interest and companies house is a bit beyond me and I have to go by trust in what I hope are experts or at least people more au fait with this kind of thing but one thing still needs to be answered.

Who do I contact to request the bird shit on the ledge in front of my seat is cleaned? It's been there fucking ages.

ajsccfc said:

I'm not a financial wiz by any means so all the accounts and interest and companies house is a bit beyond me and I have to go by trust in what I hope are experts or at least people more au fait with this kind of thing but one thing still needs to be answered.

Who do I contact to request the bird shit on the ledge in front of my seat is cleaned? It's been there fucking ages.

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How about bringing in a couple of wet wipes and doing it yourself?

NortonSkyBlue said:

How about bringing in a couple of wet wipes and doing it yourself?

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Theres plenty of those around anyway say some

Anyway back to renaming the Anecdote... My suggestion is The Robins Arms

SkyB said:

Anyway back to renaming the Anecdote... My suggestion is The Robins Arms

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Kings Head