RC To Cover All Costs For The Next 50 Years?
I just received this by email. Apparently everything is in place to cover player salaries, pitch upgrade, the legendary access road, etc. But nothing about toilets ...
- Trust shareholding reduces to 10% and Feliciana's increases to 90%
- Feliciana has subscribed for voting shares which will takes its holding up to 90%. These have been paid for by £600,000 of existing loans being converted into equity in the Club.
- Feliciana will meet all working capital needs and operating losses of the Club.
- Trust will not be called on to make cash calls in the future.
- Feliciana will fund capital expenditure to cover new pitch, the constuction of the access road and all preliminary costs associated with this and preliminary costs associated with the stadium expansion plans
- Future expansion plans include revamp of the car park, reconstruction of the home terrace, the Origin stand and refurbishment of the Frank Adams stand. The funding of these costs will be via grants and/or borrowings and the Trust and Feliciana will work jointly to procure these.
- Trust will retain two directors on the Club board.
- Enshrined rights share continues as now.
- Adams Park continues to be 100% owned by the Trust through FALL. A new 50 year lease has been signed, which will guarantee the Trust income long term and ensure the Blues can play football at Adams Park for the next 50 years.
- The outstanding Trust loan to the Club of £100k will be repaid and then donated back to the Club to be spent on agreed projects that will deliver benefits to the fans.
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Comments
I thought he'd seen sense and quietly shelved his Yellow Brick Access Road
Yet more promises
I've heard the £100k is going to be used to construct new toilets with centrally heated cubicles, walk in showers, marble topped wash basins with gold taps, luxury carpets and not forgetting, piped music!
Brilliant! At my age, the half-time toilet break is the most important part of the matchday experience, so it's good to know I'll be able to enjoy that in some comfort.
New road/stand etc disappearing from the commentary - people moan.
New road/stand etc being mentioned - people moan.
They can't win can they?
Any mention of the Chairboylift?
How long will it take for the 90% to be deemed insufficient?!
The bigger worry is when it is considered that not owning Adams Park isn't sufficient.
I'm surprised at all the negative comments on what seems to be a very positive commitment to the future of the club.
Now starting to think I may be one of the few genuine posters on here, and it's some others who are spoof or parody accounts.
It's because we've heard it all before, actions speak louder than words
Yep, ReadingMarginalista - hit the nail on the head!
I had a walk up from the ground to Wheeler End and back before the match on Saturday - living in Cambridgeshire I do miss the hills and I had time to spare after arriving in Wycombe early. Also I can pretend I am still fit.
There is a paved road - one vehicle wide - which has one end just one field away from our Upper Car Park. The road follows the valley bottom through the Dashwood Estate. A mock-up wooden church is being constructed in a quite charming site about half a mile up the valley from our quite charming Adams Park - I guess for a film set. There is a small temporary car park and construction site in the field Adams Park side of the church. I think I could see the narrow road marked as a track on the O/S map I had in my pocket.
I guess if this is part of the plan using this road would not involve major construction expenditure and the difficulties could be where it meets the public road system. The part of the road on the private estate might not present a problem being one way. that being the nature of our football traffic.
There is a waymarked trail, public footpath on the north side of the valley. The construction site / church are all fenced off and the path to the road is signed 'Private' at both ends. I wouldn't want to be the root cause of anything which instigated bad feeling between our club and the Dashwood Estate. I took some pictures. Would people like them posted? If so should I post them on this thread or on a 'Yellow Brick Road' thread?
There is no evidence of any chairlift construction although the scenery is worthy of one!
I mean there's been some promises made and then there's this....covering the costs until he's in his 120's!
On the link provided, no such promise was made.
Tongue firmly in cheek.
Agreed, there's a vague promise to not make cash calls but it didn't seem like that was forever and certainly doesn't include capital expenditure where there's an express part around looking for funding together.
It also has to be seen that the trust that couldn't be expected to match funding has just put in 1/6th what the Couhigs did on completion of the deal which is more than 10%, and sold their 15% for investment in the club but no money to themselves.
Personally I see it as a continuation of the Couhigs ownership, keeping them happy, some money incoming, both positive, but Also dilution of what the trust and my fellow trust members own, difficult still to see why it's needed or how it makes us in a much better position long term.
@mooneyman those Big Beautiful Bogs sound charming. Just one addition, hidden mood lighting to enhance the half time vibe please, pulsing gently from light to dark blue to calm frayed nerves or crazy neon strobing to some Pete inspired thrash metal if and when we are already three up.
I don't suppose we get some of that 15% back in the 'unlikely' event that the new access road never gets built?
I suppose it is up to you how you view this. The Trust model sadly wasn't sustainable and we sold out majority control. Or owners seem to have the interests of the club at heart and are ambitious for the club. The Trust continues to own the stadium which many consider important. If it is t have any role in the football club itself it doesnt feel unreasonable to me that one such role is to seek to cover some of the clubs running costs. Otherwise what is its role?
Only thing I would be concerned about is the statement about capital expenditure being funded by grants (great) or borrowings. If the latter is intended to be third party rather than from the owners themselves, that is a matter of some concern (assuming such borrowing is available which feels surprising).
This is very much an amicable thing between the Couhigs and the trust, the trust get protected from immediate needs to find cash and retain the stadium and some relevance, although the cash calls will surely be coming with any capital expenditure just in a timed, planned manner, the Couhigs get pretty much total control and a higher chunk of any sale money in return.
Grant funding does seem unlikely but I think this may hinge on the next Prem/EFL funding split and there may be something on the way. The smaller Prem clubs would much rather pay for us to build a stand than give money for their future rivals in the championship to spend on players.
Sustainability is a slightly wider concern though, the reality is the spending has gone up so much that it's difficult to see how we'd make this up in future without promotion or big sales, and while most fans probably see the Couhigs time as largely positive Rob does overpromise.
My worry has always been wether there will be mess to mop up and debt to repay when the current owners move on. Have to say there is a good chance of that with any owner though.
I think the general concern is whether the cost of a new road is the best use of the owner's money. I personally can't see how this would generate money on the capital investment.
It may well be that Couhig over-premises. I think that is the US culture. So I suggest take statements from him as aspirational rather than necessarily definitive. Believe it when you see it.
Debt to existing owners is largely irrelevant when they move on so no clearing up to be done. Debt to third parties though isn't irrelevant at all, so I think there is room for concern that the statement suggests this is in the plan (although doubtful whether it is deliverable). Other concern when owners leave is how to meet cash costs of commitments already made - the most obvious being player contracts in place but if we take grant cash and commit to infrastructure could come from part finished unfunded committed capital projects
I think there is an argument to say that an improved home end would do wonders for the atmosphere and therefore match day experience.
If the terrace acoustics could match that of the away end then the whole experience will feel more like a proper football atmosphere.
At the moment the atmospheres at home matches are about the worst I’ve seen in 25 years.
My understanding is that a new home end would come with bars/executive areas which would add a few ££ to match day takings.
Did we just pay all the Ibe money to Hayes for fun then?
This £600k that Feliciana has converted from existing loans to equity... Is this the Couhigs own external money or money they've paid themselves from the EFL Championship grant and then loaned back? If they have £600k of their own money to invest why did they need to borrow £100k from the Trust for emergency cashflow?
Reading that list of promises, every one of them (bar the toilets) stems from successfully building an access road. Feliciana has agreed to fund "preliminary" work. What preliminary work has taken place so far, other than the back-of-a-fag-packet map of possible routes, which amounts to little more than drawing random lines with a highlighter? Has Feliciana engaged a professional land planner to conduct a scoping and costing exercise? Has it entered into talks with the council, emergency services or local landowners? Has it committed to a minimum or maximum spend on a new road? Has it any sense or expectations of the timeframe building a road will take?
Or is it all just empty words and unfunded commitments in order to hoodwink the Trust into giving up 15% of the ownership so that the Couhigs can make significantly more profit when they sell the club?
My only real question is whether they will sell the club now or first try to blackmail the Trust into giving up ownership of the ground using the same demands for emergency cashflow, in order to make even more profit when they inevitably sell.
I think the difficulty of getting into, and particularly out of, Adams Park via Hillbottom Road on matchdays is a significant factor for some occasional fans as to whether to attend matches.
A new access road, with more parking spaces available, could make a difference, and maybe add another 500-1,000 to the average home gate. That would certainly justify the cost.
No it was part of the sale deal that he would be paid some of Ibe's money in lieu of the money he paid in
If Ibe had not been sold that debt would not have been repayable.
When Couhigs leave, no buyer would take on the club without those debts being written off .
Debts to owners do not threaten the clubs sustainability. Debts to third parties do
It feels extraordinarily optimistic to think that new road will all of itself increase average home fan gate by 10-20%. It would surely make no difference whatsoever to away fan gate. Certainly wouldn't support taking on a large debt to build it with expectation of repaying debt from extra crowd income.
The last line you repeat like a mantra despite people regularly pointing out all the difficulties it causes real football clubs from Southend to Blackpool.
The more owners see their expenditure as owed to them the more difficult they are to remove and the more difficult it is to find alternative or replacement funding. Losing loads of money every week just isn't massively attractive to some.
OK. Lets say that the Couhigs are owed £3m in 2026.
What do you think that debt would allow them to do in 2026 that they otherwise wouldn't be able to do.
If they wish to sell the club then, what difference do you think that debt would make to a buyer who values the club debt free at say £1.5m