Richardson (3 Viewers)

[fernandopartridge]

What's going on:

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/former-coventry-city-fc-supremo-10989495

One thing is for sure, GR is / was a very powerful man with great influence. I don't think Richardson was party to any confidentiality agreements or was he?

 

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[chiefdave]

“Nobody has thought of the club, nobody has thought of the supporters, people have just wrecked the club, it’s an absolute tragedy."

He's not wrong there.

 

[torchomatic]

Twat .

 

[Nick]

So this bit:

I sold that 30-acre piece of land at the time for £66.5million, well I don’t know where that money went after I’d gone. Somehow or other the stadium was no longer our

I assume was for the club and not himself? So did tesco give the club 66.5 million?

What was it somebody else said about the council doing something and being in on the deal / stealing the deal or something?

At the top it says:

Mr Richardson was also criticised the former Ricoh Arena operators during an exclusive interview with the Telegraph

But I can't see where he does?

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

With the torch on this total twat met him once he was a slimy fu@"er

 

[Nick]

He reminds me of Chubby Brown.

 

[chiefdave]

I assume was for the club and not himself? So did tesco give the club 66.5 million?

Richardson has always maintained that he did the deal directly with Tesco and that the £66.5m generated should therefore be considered to be an investment from CCFC.

What was it somebody else said about the council doing something and being in on the deal / stealing the deal or something?

When it went tits up the original plan was for the club and the council to each own 50% of the freehold. The council then, very late in the day, said either they got 100% of the freehold or the whole thing was off.

 

[Grendel]

What's going on:

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/former-coventry-city-fc-supremo-10989495

One thing is for sure, GR is / was a very powerful man with great influence. I don't think Richardson was party to any confidentiality agreements or was he?

I believe he was as part of the terms of his departure

 

[Rodders1]

Arena 2000 looked awesome.

Remember thinking how great this new stadium would be. How wrong could I be.

 

[Nick]

Richardson has always maintained that he did the deal directly with Tesco and that the £66.5m generated should therefore be considered to be an investment from CCFC.



When it went tits up the original plan was for the club and the council to each own 50% of the freehold. The council then, very late in the day, said either they got 100% of the freehold or the whole thing was off.

How did it go from the land being owned by CCFC to freehold to Council? Where did the 66 million go?

 

[chiefdave]

How did it go from the land being owned by CCFC to freehold to Council? Where did the 66 million go?

£59.4m went towards the Ricoh according to the completion report. No idea what happened to the rest.

 

[Nick]

£59.4m went towards the Ricoh according to the completion report. No idea what happened to the rest.

So the club effectively paid half towards the build?

 

[fernandopartridge]

The council used the income to fund the building of the stadium. The question is who owned the land prior to Tesco purchasing it. I don't think CCFC did but it isn't clear.

 

[Nick]

The council used the income to fund the building of the stadium. The question is who owned the land prior to Tesco purchasing it. I don't think CCFC did but it isn't clear.

Unless he did the deal on behalf of the council? Which is strange.

Things like that should be asked in interviews like this.

 

[Warwickhunt]

What's going on:

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/former-coventry-city-fc-supremo-10989495

One thing is for sure, GR is / was a very powerful man with great influence. I don't think Richardson was party to any confidentiality agreements or was he?

trouble is he will take the truth to the grave, we would all be pig sick if we knew the truth! as Jack Nicholson once said "you can't handle the Truth!"

 

[chiefdave]

So the club effectively paid half towards the build?

That's always been Richardson's stance. He has maintained that should be classed as investment by CCFC in contrast to £10m put in by the council.

 

[Nick]

That's always been Richardson's stance. He has maintained that should be classed as investment by CCFC in contrast to £10m put in by the council.

Who was it who said about a deal with the council and then coming in at the last minute and taking over? Was that Fletcher or Robinson?

Surely if somebody like OSB dug up the accounts, he would see 60 odd million coming in? Unless it was a "private consortium"

 

[oldskyblue58]

2002 accounts for CCFC say that the option to purchase the site had lapsed in the year. So CCFC Group never actually owned it. So who did he sell it for?

The club overdraft bank account went to £7.7m 2002 but then you add in another £10m of bank loans - so they owed the bank nearly £18m

In May 2001 before he left in January 2002 the club had total liabilities in the audited accounts of £60m

Selective memory and "not my fault guv" is the impression I get from this but that's just my opinion.

Not sure why the CT keep dragging up these characters who all contributed to the mess we are now in.

 

[Nick]

2002 accounts for CCFC say that the option to purchase the site had lapsed in the year. So CCFC Group never actually owned it. So who did he sell it for?

The club overdraft bank account went to £7.7m 2002 but then you add in another £10m of bank loans - so they owed the bank nearly £18m

In May 2001 before he left in January 2002 the club had total liabilities in the audited accounts of £60m

Selective memory and "not my fault guv" is the impression I get from this but that's just my opinion.

Not sure why the CT keep dragging up these characters who all contributed to the mess we are now in.

So do you think it would have been a "private" sale?

It would have in the accounts if they had bought it in the first place wouldn't it?

Do council's publish accounts like normal companies to see if it was done on behalf of the council?

 

[oldskyblue58]

The build costs that CCFC had were matched by the borrowings relating to it. When joint venture with CCC started the club transferred the build costs and the liabilities to the joint venture as their investment. Overall the net cost to CCFC was something like £300k

 

[oldskyblue58]

this has been covered so many times - the facts do not change even if peoples memories doi........... it is time to be looking at now and the future imo not dragging out characters who basically blame everyone else

 

[chiefdave]

From what I remember CCFC had an agreement to buy the site of British Gas but didn't purchase at that point, presumably to get planning permission, funding for build etc in place first.

Richardson then agreed the deal with Tesco to lease part of the site to them upon its completion.

Not entirely sure of the timeline here but at some point after HR had been sold and before the Ricoh build had started CCC stepped in and purchased the land from British Gas.

Richardson's standpoint is as he did all the work on lining up the Tesco deal on behalf of CCFC that should be considered an investment on behalf o CCFC and not CCC.

The point at which CCC stepped in and took over it was supposed to be a joint venture company between CCFC and CCC. At some point that changed and CCC took sole ownership. CCFC were then given 50% of ACL instead. Of course that meant rather than owing a debt free asset (the freehold) they owed a asset in debt (ACL) who had to pay the freeholder for a lease.

 

[chiefdave]

Not sure why the CT keep dragging up these characters who all contributed to the mess we are now in.

They seem to be keen to present a narrative showing a tenancy at the Ricoh as a viable option. The question is have they formed this view independently or has it been presented to them by either Wasps or the football club?

 

[tisza]

the option to buy back the land lapsed under Richardson's tenure.
Doesn't matter who found Tesco's the land didn't belong to the club at the time of sale.
Richardson set up the original situation which separated the football club from the stadium company in the first place. "didn't want the club to have to finance the stadium through player sales etc".
also the net costs the football club had invested in the project prior to development were used as their share of the investment into the formation of ACL. (i think it was around 5million)


"in May 2001 before he left in January 2002 the club had total liabilities in the audited accounts of £60m" - so almost the same figure that was converted into equity last year????

 

[oldskyblue58]

They seem to be keen to present a narrative showing a tenancy at the Ricoh as a viable option. The question is have they formed this view independently or has it been presented to them by either Wasps or the football club?

or have they read it here for years

 

[Captain Dart]

Lies, damned lies and PR.

PS at one point the land was owned by the Dutch company HBG Construction that pulled out of the stadium project and they sold the land back to (I think) CCC.
http://www.skybluetrust.co.uk/index...57-ricoh-arena-timeline?showall=1&limitstart=

 

[tisza]

They seem to be keen to present a narrative showing a tenancy at the Ricoh as a viable option. The question is have they formed this view independently or has it been presented to them by either Wasps or the football club?

scg notes out today seem again to show it isn't the owners' point of view.

 

[oldskyblue58]

if the club only ever owned the option to purchase the site whose hare brained idea was it to commit millions in costs to it. surely first priority is to secure the site then commit build costs

 

[chiefdave]

if the club only ever owned the option to purchase the site whose hare brained idea was it to commit millions in costs to it. surely first priority is to secure the site then commit build costs

There's a lot of hair brained people to pick from!

I can see not buying a site like that, with no planning permission, contamination etc, until you knew it would be of use but then someone should have spotted the option was ending and either purchase or extend the option.

 

[tisza]

or have they read it here for years

OSB - joy still seems to be insisting that SISU have invested over 60 million. i've been following the accounts for years and still don't get close to this figure they keep insisting on.
interviews in the press from various sisu figures a couple of years ago had the figure of around 40 million (think it was from TF and again from the "supersub" Dulieu).

 

[ccfctommy]

Why give this arsehole time of day?

 

[steveecov]

Hell of a finders fee, methinks. I'm going up with my metal detector. Maybe I'll find some Roman gold ; about as likely as a foreign billionaire.

Pity the telegraph didn't push more about GR and cronies.

 

[tisza]

if the club only ever owned the option to purchase the site whose hare brained idea was it to commit millions in costs to it. surely first priority is to secure the site then commit build costs

"hare-brained" hmm - retractable pitches, underground car parking were a few other suggestions the former chairman came up with.

 

[Haigha]

Historic newspaper reports are always interesting...

"When Richardson first mooted the idea of a new ground in 1997 his vision was to replicate Vitesse Arnhem's state-of-the-art arena in Holland, including - at considerable cost - a sliding pitch. Although he bought 80 acres of land from British Gas for £2m - 30 acres of which were later sold to Tesco for £65.5m - the Arena 2000 project failed to get off the ground."

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/aug/20/newsstory.coventry

 

[Nick]

Historic newspaper reports are always interesting...

"When Richardson first mooted the idea of a new ground in 1997 his vision was to replicate Vitesse Arnhem's state-of-the-art arena in Holland, including - at considerable cost - a sliding pitch. Although he bought 80 acres of land from British Gas for £2m - 30 acres of which were later sold to Tesco for £65.5m - the Arena 2000 project failed to get off the ground."

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/aug/20/newsstory.coventry

That says "He" though