Diehard Si
New Member
I've been giving the City situation some serious though recently, and we really are stuck between a rock and a hard place. One side is SISU, the other side is the Council. We all know the SISU issues, its been repeated often so I won't repeat this again. I want to look at it from the other side, the Council
This weekend they have said they will not decrease the rent, they will not sell their share, they MIGHT be convinced to sell the 50% share that the Higgs charity holds ( but not to SISU ).
This is unaccaptable for anyone who would have the slightest interest in buying the club. The club MUST come with 100% of the stadium, no IF's and no BUTS. It would be much better for the club to own the stadium and pay a mortgage on it frankly. At least then the payments are a loan repayment, rather than a pure 'loss'. Ok there is the interest element, but the club would have the asset sat on it's balance sheet, being slowly written off.
I've not even mentioned the additional income the club would get ( again this is pretty obvious and discussed to death previously ). I'll leave it at saying that income could obviously reduce the clubs losses, but we know this.
If the worst happens, SISU go bust, plan to go into admin or worse liquidation, I think the position with the Council currently makes any potential bidders run for the hills. SISU are stuck as well, with this crippling rent and not able to do anything about it ( not defending them by the way, I aree they've ruined the club, although I don't believe they should shoulder ALL of the blame, the previous regime has to take a lot of stick as well ).
I can't see any way out of this, I don't actually think I believe SISU will try anything other than liquidation now. I hope I'm wrong.
It would need a business man a lot of capital to come in, give SISU a small amout to get rid of them, write off their losses, then buy out the whole stadium. Thats before even starting with the team, training ground etc... this just won't happen. GH doesn't have the money for this, if he did this would of been over earlier in the season, time to forget him.
Unless..
you turn it on it's head. If City go bust the clubs doors shut. Who will play at the Ricoh then? Who will pay the rent then? Instead of looking at the club buying the stadium, what if the stadium owners bought the club? It would at least protect their investment.
I'm not sure if ethically this can happen, a public body owning a club. I know it happens in Spain, but I'd guess not likely here. But a workaround perhaps, an agreement with ACL to pay off/loan from the 'Council', make it legally sound.
I'm not fooled here into thinking this could work long term, clearly ACL doesn't have the capital to fund a promotion push back to the championship. I'm more thinking of keeping the club in existence! Stabilise it, steady the ship, rebuild the squad. Operate on a shoestring like we have, invest in some quality youth players coming through maybe that we can nurture and sell to support the club. We will only generate more money with more fans turning up, the fans will only turn up when they see positive action on and off the pitch. Sod it, give 10,000 school kids tickets each game if it helps get an atmosphere, until the crowds start to increase with paying fans.
There are dark days ahead, it's going to get WORSE before it gets better, but this club needs the stadium, no doubt. We have to get out of this rut we are in and this is the only clear way. We need the Councils help here, but we also need SISU out of the picture.
This weekend they have said they will not decrease the rent, they will not sell their share, they MIGHT be convinced to sell the 50% share that the Higgs charity holds ( but not to SISU ).
This is unaccaptable for anyone who would have the slightest interest in buying the club. The club MUST come with 100% of the stadium, no IF's and no BUTS. It would be much better for the club to own the stadium and pay a mortgage on it frankly. At least then the payments are a loan repayment, rather than a pure 'loss'. Ok there is the interest element, but the club would have the asset sat on it's balance sheet, being slowly written off.
I've not even mentioned the additional income the club would get ( again this is pretty obvious and discussed to death previously ). I'll leave it at saying that income could obviously reduce the clubs losses, but we know this.
If the worst happens, SISU go bust, plan to go into admin or worse liquidation, I think the position with the Council currently makes any potential bidders run for the hills. SISU are stuck as well, with this crippling rent and not able to do anything about it ( not defending them by the way, I aree they've ruined the club, although I don't believe they should shoulder ALL of the blame, the previous regime has to take a lot of stick as well ).
I can't see any way out of this, I don't actually think I believe SISU will try anything other than liquidation now. I hope I'm wrong.
It would need a business man a lot of capital to come in, give SISU a small amout to get rid of them, write off their losses, then buy out the whole stadium. Thats before even starting with the team, training ground etc... this just won't happen. GH doesn't have the money for this, if he did this would of been over earlier in the season, time to forget him.
Unless..
you turn it on it's head. If City go bust the clubs doors shut. Who will play at the Ricoh then? Who will pay the rent then? Instead of looking at the club buying the stadium, what if the stadium owners bought the club? It would at least protect their investment.
I'm not sure if ethically this can happen, a public body owning a club. I know it happens in Spain, but I'd guess not likely here. But a workaround perhaps, an agreement with ACL to pay off/loan from the 'Council', make it legally sound.
I'm not fooled here into thinking this could work long term, clearly ACL doesn't have the capital to fund a promotion push back to the championship. I'm more thinking of keeping the club in existence! Stabilise it, steady the ship, rebuild the squad. Operate on a shoestring like we have, invest in some quality youth players coming through maybe that we can nurture and sell to support the club. We will only generate more money with more fans turning up, the fans will only turn up when they see positive action on and off the pitch. Sod it, give 10,000 school kids tickets each game if it helps get an atmosphere, until the crowds start to increase with paying fans.
There are dark days ahead, it's going to get WORSE before it gets better, but this club needs the stadium, no doubt. We have to get out of this rut we are in and this is the only clear way. We need the Councils help here, but we also need SISU out of the picture.