Mike Ashley Takeover …Ready and Waiting (16 Viewers)

[SW-Sky Blues]

That's a feeble reason. He is a businessman who took a lot of shit from entitled Newcastle fans. If I was him I'd steer clear. The stadium is the value, not the club (except possibly as a way of reducing tax paid). Most on here want club and stadium combined, King wants it too, but there is no strategic imperative on Ashley's part to combine the two.

I can't see a situation where Ashley would combine us and the arena. Only if he were selling us.

But under an Ashley ownership, we wouldn't be combined. Mike Ashley is a million percent not going to gift us a stadium. I can't believe any of our fans would actually believe this.

All it would be is Mike Ashley owning both of us and us renting off of Mike Ashley.

 

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[Gynnsthetonic]

I think a lot of us overlooked Simon Jordans comments, especially the ones he made yesterday.

The council has other plans for the land, the council were very keen for Ashley to buy the arena...

For Ashley buying the arena has essentially cost him nothing. Because instantly it becomes an asset so whilst it costs him 17 million, the value of the arena has been added to the books.

I'd not be surprised if he knocked it down and build a warehouse or a retail park. That's the buisness he is in. Not football club/arena ownership.

Well where's the football club going to play then?

 

[Liquid Gold]

IF Ashley buys us, we would just be renting the stadium off of him and as he would own both, he would have free reign to charge us whatever rent he wanted. This is Mike Ashley. He isn't going to let us play there for free, even if he owned us. He isn't going to let us keep commercial revenue and all of that. This is Mike Ashley.

So the owners of a football club is going to charge the club an unsustainable rent because he hates the football club?

Dumb.

EDIT - new member, never mind.

 

[SW-Sky Blues]

Well where's the football club going to play then?

That wouldn't be a concern of Mike Ashley.

Just like he isn't concerned about 80% of his workers being on zero hour contracts.

 

[skyblu3sk]

I don't get how it's such a leap to him being interested in buying CCFC, if he had never owned a club before and not bid for Derby and had no interest in football I'd get it but he has... essentially he could see it as a hobby over a money making exercise. The reality is not many people know if he will or won't so those saying 100% he will or won't are chatting shite. I do think the King move was to try and nick the arena unite the two and offer to MA. I also think if King goes ahead it is to bolster the coffers so MA can't offer shitty deals. It gets rid of the outstanding debt, pretty sure that will have been on a pence in the £ deal. And with Sisu retaining 15% they still get their own money back but on a better offering because the debt has gone. If MA doesn't buy we are in a slightly better position than we were as at least we have some liquidity.

 

[Senior Vick from Alicante]

Personally, I think he’d be a disaster. Think Peter Reid “instant success” type disaster.

Why? Are you just believing what a load of unhappy Geordies are saying because he would not spend 150 million a year on players? You build a club and they never liked HIS appointments at HIS football club. More sour grapes than hard facts.

 

[SW-Sky Blues]

Why? Are you just believing what a load of unhappy Geordies are saying because he would not spend 150 million a year on players? You build a club and they never liked HIS appointments at HIS football club. More sour grapes than hard facts.

I know we are desperate for new ownership but are we that desperate that we actually want Mike Ashley? He did a decent job at Newcastle but he put so many noses out of joint along the way.

 

[shmmeee]

Why? Are you just believing what a load of unhappy Geordies are saying because he would not spend 150 million a year on players? You build a club and they never liked HIS appointments at HIS football club. More sour grapes than hard facts.

Well the HIS club is kinda what worries me. I don’t like a chairman/owner who thinks he knows better than the manager and that seemed to happen at Newcastle. My worry would be Ashley takes over, sacks Robins and brings in a “name” and ruins the feel around the club that’s been so great the last few years.

All I want is Robins to be backed enough to continue his project, and the owner to stay out of his way. I’d worry about that under Ashley.

Outside of that, the link I posted before showing the Newcastle finances doesn’t fill me with confidence. They are a bunch of moaning Geordies, but that doesn’t mean everything they say is wrong as the data shows. Low spending compared to the rest of the league, selling club land and pocketing the cash, mental decisions that affect what happens on the pitch, managers quitting because of interference. 7 year contracts for Alan Pardew. Not really things I’d like to see here.

The buzz seems to be “he’s rich so well spend loads” and “I’m sure he’s learned from his mistakes”. Colour me unconvinced.

 

[SW-Sky Blues]

So the owners of a football club is going to charge the club an unsustainable rent because he hates the football club?

Dumb.

EDIT - new member, never mind.

Where did I say he hates us?

What I'm saying is it won't be our stadium even if he owned us both. We would just share an owner. He would be free to pay himself whatever rent his wishes to. I'm not saying he's going to charge us 10 million a year. But what is a certainty is he's not going to let us play there for free.

This is a guy that refused to pay his debts unless he recieved a 20% discount.

 

[shmmeee]

Where did I say he hates us?

What I'm saying is it won't be our stadium even if he owned us both. We would just share an owner. He would be free to pay himself whatever rent his wishes to. I'm not saying he's going to charge us 10 million a year. But what is a certainty is he's not going to let us play there for free.

This is a guy that refused to pay his debts unless he recieved a 20% discount.

That would be the case whoever owns us/the ground. It’s one reason why I never saw the clamour for it.

 

[SBT]

The league is a lot more levelled now and clubs can challenge on relatively low wages. It’s not a huge leap to combine then try and achieve promotion in a 3 year timescale then sell the lot

Is it more levelled? The common complaint is that parachute payments make it harder than ever for teams like us to achieve promotion. And I’m not sure what you mean by “relatively low wages” - who was the last team to go up on a “relatively low” wage bill?

 

[SW-Sky Blues]

That would be the case whoever owns us/the ground. It’s one reason why I never saw the clamour for it.

We are in a real mess.

Even if SISU would have purchased it, we would have just been renting it off of them at whatever rent they would have wanted, same with King.

I've never believed the bs about SISU building us a new stadium and even if they did, we'd still just be renting off of them. My question is, why would anyone gift us the commercial revenues from their stadium?

This is the mess we are in. We are at the mercy of stadium owners. We either basically pay what they want and agree to what they want, or we go on the road again.

As a club we somehow need to purchase our own stadium in our own name. However it's very unlikely we will be in a financial position anytime soon to do that.

 

[Brylowes]

Yeah I should have edited that bit out in fairness. But is a Championship football club really that much of a good investment?

If you believe you can turn said Championship club into a Premiership club relatively quickly, then yeah.

For anyone looking at us with such intentions, you would have to think we’d be a very attractive proposition, despite all the disruption and angst going on behind the scenes, the football side things could hardly be better, brilliant young manager and team, enthusiastic and growing fan base.

Keep hold of our better players in January, add a few quality players to compliment what we already have, and it really wouldn’t be that surprising if we made it up this season, or at least run it very close.

 

[SW-Sky Blues]

If you believe you can turn said Championship club into a Premiership club relatively quickly, then yeah.

For anyone looking at us with such intentions, you would have to think we’d be a very attractive proposition, despite all the disruption and angst going on behind the scenes, the football side things could hardly be better, brilliant young manager and team, enthusiastic and growing fan base.

Keep hold of our better players in January, add a few quality players to compliment what we already have, and it really wouldn’t be that surprising if we made it up this season, or at least run it very close.

One problem with this...

Most premier league clubs lose money.

Yes clubs may get 150 million or whatever for getting there, but then you have to spend that to try and compete. Look at Forest etc.

 

[shmmeee]

We are in a real mess.

Even if SISU would have purchased it, we would have just been renting it off of them at whatever rent they would have wanted, same with King.

I've never believed the bs about SISU building us a new stadium and even if they did, we'd still just be renting off of them. My question is, why would anyone gift us the commercial revenues from their stadium?

This is the mess we are in. We are at the mercy of stadium owners. We either basically pay what they want and agree to what they want, or we go on the road again.

As a club we somehow need to purchase our own stadium in our own name. However it's very unlikely we will be in a financial position anytime soon to do that.

Not quite. Lease terms exist. A landlord can’t just “charge what they want” especially when they have precisely one possible tenant. Wasps didn’t and they hated us. Yet we seem to be paying less than ever.

 

[Grendel]

Is it more levelled? The common complaint is that parachute payments make it harder than ever for teams like us to achieve promotion. And I’m not sure what you mean by “relatively low wages” - who was the last team to go up on a “relatively low” wage bill?

Two of the teams with parachute payments aren’t setting the league on fire and 8 points separate 6th to 19th

I think Sheffield United had a wage bill not dissimilar to ours did they?

Preston QPR millwall are within 2 points of two of the parachute teams and West Brom failed last season

 

[Gynnsthetonic]

I know we are desperate for new ownership but are we that desperate that we actually want Mike Ashley? He did a decent job at Newcastle but he put so many noses out of joint along the way.

Most owners do

 

[SW-Sky Blues]

Not quite. Lease terms exist. A landlord can’t just “charge what they want” especially when they have precisely one possible tenant. Wasps didn’t and they hated us. Yet we seem to be paying less than ever.

Wasps needed us.

Mike Ashley doesn't need us.

Mike Ashley could flatten the arena tomorrow and make a profit on whatever he builds there. He doesn't need us, especially if we are paying a small sum to play there.

We don't know what the terms of the lease are. I'd be extremely surprised if there wasn't break clauses in the event of administration for either parties.

 

[the rumpo kid]

Can't understand all the negativity about Mike Ashley ? I personally hope he gets to buy the club. He is investing heavily in the Coventry area, and it looks like he wants this to be a major hub for his operations.
So why can't he be involved in the local communities football club? He really could make himself a hero in these parts, may be he wants a statue outside the ground , maybe he wants to be remembered for more than just being a good business man.
I think if he backed us and mark robins we could do almost anything.

 

[shmmeee]

Wasps needed us.

Mike Ashley doesn't need us.

Mike Ashley could flatten the arena tomorrow and make a profit on whatever he builds there. He doesn't need us, especially if we are paying a small sum to play there.

We don't know what the terms of the lease are. I'd be extremely surprised if there wasn't break clauses in the event of administration for either parties.

He could not flatten the arena tomorrow.

 

[SBT]

Two of the teams with parachute payments aren’t setting the league on fire and 8 points separate 6th to 19th

I think Sheffield United had a wage bill not dissimilar to ours did they?

Preston QPR millwall are within 2 points of two of the parachute teams and West Brom failed last season

Well looking at their squad that year I’m not sure Sheffield United didn’t have a bigger wage bill than ours, but OK sure, that’s one promoted team in the last three years you can think of? I really don’t think if you were a sports investor looking for a more level playing field (as you suggest) that the Championship is the first league that would spring to mind. If Preston, QPR or Millwall go up this season you’ll have a stronger argument - I’m not counting on it though.

 

[chiefdave]

not sure I'm buying in to the knocking the stadium down idea. I mean anything is possible but surely there's enough land available to build if he wanted to without knocking down a football stadium.

 

[shmmeee]

Most freeholders don’t allow their tenants to just knock down the building in my experience. Frasers have said they want the club there. The club have said they want to be there. The council have said their priority as freeholders was us being there. This is just conspiratorial bollocks I’m sorry.

 

[MusicDating]

He could not flatten the arena tomorrow.

It's a bizarre theory seemingly popular with new members.

I mean if I was a massive Sky Blue fan, I'd definitely wait until the team didn't have a game for a month to sign up to their fans forum to just talk about how bad someone is who doesn't have anything to do with the club...

 

[rexo87]

Wasps needed us.

Mike Ashley doesn't need us.

Mike Ashley could flatten the arena tomorrow and make a profit on whatever he builds there. He doesn't need us, especially if we are paying a small sum to play there.

We don't know what the terms of the lease are. I'd be extremely surprised if there wasn't break clauses in the event of administration for either parties.

I know he's a big bloke but flattening the arena seems a stretch

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[shmmeee]

It's a bizarre theory seemingly popular with new members.

I mean if I was a massive Sky Blue fan, I'd definitely wait until the team didn't have a game for a month to sign up to their fans forum to just talk about how bad someone is who doesn't have anything to do with the club...

I think it’s just Twitter bleed, they all seem a bit mental over there.

 

[oldskyblue58]

I think we need to wait for the administrators to file their first report to understand what is actually going on.

Has House of Fraser just bought the lease (is that the lease plus extension? )
What happened to the fixtures fittings etc?
What about the inventory?
what did the £15.8m actually buy?
Or did they buy the three companies?, if so then there is some scheme of arrangement being put in place to discount the liabilities but the assets will change in value too
If bought the companies the sub leases to CCFC, the casino etc will not have changed, or will new leases need to be negotiated
or is it a new co that will go forward

all a bit confused at the moment and we wont have an idea what is actually going on until we see that first report

 

[shmmeee]

I think we need to wait for the administrators to file their first report to understand what is actually going on.

Has House of Fraser just bought the lease (is that the lease plus extension? )
What happened to the fixtures fittings etc?
What about the inventory?
what did the £15.8m actually buy?
Or did they buy the three companies?, if so then there is some scheme of arrangement being put in place to discount the liabilities but the assets will change in value too
If bought the companies the sub leases to CCFC, the casino etc will not have changed, or will new leases need to be negotiated
or is it a new co that will go forward

all a bit confused at the moment and we wont have an idea what is actually going on until we see that first report

AFAIK he bought the three companies. Obviously what happens to take them out of admin is another question.

 

[AOM]

But it wouldn't be joined. We would just share owners.

We need to accept that we are never going to own that arena.

What does a typical football club owning its stadium look like? A club owning it and operating it for the benefit of the club.

IF Ashley buys us, we would just be renting the stadium off of him and as he would own both, he would have free reign to charge us whatever rent he wanted. This is Mike Ashley. He isn't going to let us play there for free, even if he owned us. He isn't going to let us keep commercial revenue and all of that. This is Mike Ashley.

We need to be realistic about this.

I agree we're unlikely to ever own the arena now, especially with yesterdays result.

Not sure why Mike Ashley would charge us anymore than Wasps or any other owner would though.
Surely we're the main attraction to that ground and pushing us out again wouldn't be very smart

I'm just not sure what other options we have now. Can't see anyone else coming in for the club without a stadium, and we're not building our own ground so it looks like the options are Sisu or Mike Ashley?
Obviously Doug King is now in the picture, but the jury is still out...

 

[oldskyblue58]

As for Ashley not needing CCFC ....... the club creates well in excess of £1m turnover at the stadium, HoF are not going to turn their noses up at that. What they are not going to do is bend over backwards to accommodate CCFC, it wont get cheaper for us to be there. But if the current lease or licence is active, we do not know it isnt, then nothing much changes

 

[oldskyblue58]

AFAIK he bought the three companies. Obviously what happens to take them out of admin is another question.

in which case the tenants are secure for now on the current terms unless they do not pay the rent

 

[fernandopartridge]

Two of the teams with parachute payments aren’t setting the league on fire and 8 points separate 6th to 19th

I think Sheffield United had a wage bill not dissimilar to ours did they?

Preston QPR millwall are within 2 points of two of the parachute teams and West Brom failed last season

Sheff United total wage bill was £49m as at June 2021 (after their relegation), it was £21m less than the year before i.e. their first of the two seasons in the Prem. I'm not sure if they'd have cut it by more than 50% again to be honest.

 

[SW-Sky Blues]

As for Ashley not needing CCFC ....... the club creates well in excess of £1m turnover at the stadium, HoF are not going to turn their noses up at that. What they are not going to do is bend over backwards to accommodate CCFC, it wont get cheaper for us to be there. But if the current lease or licence is active, we do not know it isnt, then nothing much changes

But that turnover isn't profit right?

How long does it take for him to get his investment back? Especially with the rumoured 15 million of works that need to be done. That's 15 years straight off the bat. That's not Mike Ashleys way.

 

[Deleted member 5849]

But that turnover isn't profit right?

How long does it take for him to get his investment back? Especially with the rumoured 15 million of works that need to be done. That's 15 years straight off the bat. That's not Mike Ashleys way.

Do the works need to be done, or are they to restore it to an as-new condition?

 

[Nick]

Why is he going to piss about knocking the stadium down when he can just build it on land at Ansty?