Why Did The Council Sell To Wasps? (1 Viewer)

[duffer]

Who says they were in a 'rush'? After years of being harangued and harassed by SISU, I think they simply had just had enough! The only other opportunity in town was WASPS, and they struck a deal.....something which SISU could have done had they wished. As far as it being 'on the cheap', SISU didn't think it was 'on the cheap' else they would have bid on it a long time ago. So cheap it was, they valued it at next to nothing and tried to get it for that price through litigious means. No, they said it wasn't a good deal to spend over 5.7 million AND assume a 14 million loan......didn't they? They put in a tongue-in-cheek bid for ACL after the event, even after stating for the umpteenth time they were not interested in buying the Ricoh, that the ONLY solution was to build their own stadium. This will mean something in the order of 14 to 20 million to build.....just to get their hands on 'additional revenue streams' (and I'm not convinced how much additional revenue this would give them). Yet for the same money, they could have had the Ricoh and kept a larger fanbase as a result! I am so glad that none of my investments are handled by SISU Capital, as I would be royally pissed off at their incompetence with my money. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Clearly the council were 'in a rush', and despite saying they were going to build trust with the club before discussing ownership they had already done a deal with Wasps. They forced that deal through under a cloak of secrecy, within a matter of weeks. Just like the bail-out of ACL.

Presumably this was because they'd found out something that they spent £14.4m to bail-out, wasn't as profitable as was claimed. Strangely, ultimately the recovery of that bail-out is now dependent on the fortunes of two unprofitable businesses, rather than one. Further, the council no longer has a commercial interest in ACL which was one of the central planks to justify the bail-out in the first JR.

It's entirely fair to point out that the club have shown little real appetite in negotiating for ACL since the original deal failed, but then it's also fairly reasonable to point out that this offer (£5.7m, 250-year-lease) was never even proposed to them. How much heat would SISU be under to negotiate now, if the council had actually made the club a similar offer publically on the clubs return? Instead CCC decided to lie about their intent to sell.

I think it's entirely possible to be pissed off with the behaviour of both the Council and SISU here. I can't see how the new stadium adds up financially either, but now the Council have sold to Wasps it's either that or stay as tenants. It's worth noting that the latest stuff from the council implies that Wasps can get by on gates of less than ten thousand, and without CCFC as a tenant. That might be good for Wasps, but I can't see that scenario as great for the club or the city.

 

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