Pompey Takeover Saga

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[TD]Comment From Trev

After months of prevaricating and putting obstacles in the way, why do you think Chainrai ended up going so quietly and meekly? Seems most uncharacteristic for my liking![/TD]

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[TD]Jordan:

I think it was a high-stakes game of poker Trev that was always going to go the distance. The one thing I do know is people genuinely had no idea which way it was going to go right to the eve of the April 10.[/TD]

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[TD]Jordan:

That's when the talks started and continued through the next day[/TD]

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[rallyboy]

We knew that the fresh debts would require security but it's a bit daunting to see in black and white that the council and a finance company now have full control of everything that pompey own.

They just need to miss a payment and we're back to square one.

 

Presumably the dream scenario for the property developing finance company is to go without a payment and to take the lard-riddled ground off them.

It's like life insurance, it's always dangerous to be in the position where your partners are better off without you.

 

So my business tip to pompey would be, don't fall out with Robinson or his backers.

[saint si]

The "finance company" is just Stuart Robinson's vehicle for loaning money to the trust.

[Winchester Red]

Simple as that.....

 

Best take a read up on Rushden and Diamonds

[stevegrant]

The "finance company" is just Stuart Robinson's vehicle for loaning money to the trust.

Just like Portpin was just Balram Chainrai's vehicle for loaning money to the football club?

[trousers]

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/interviews/it-took-only-10-minutes-to-do-chelsea-deal-with-roman-abramovich-but-i-had-to-google-him-first--i-wasnt-sure-if-jeremy-beadle-was-going-to-jump-out-8596796.html

 

The insolvency specialist’s latest work has been at Portsmouth where as the administrator he did the deal that makes Pompey the country’s biggest fan-owned club.

Portsmouth fans have every reason to celebrate that, by rescuing their club, they demonstrated that the game has not completely sold its soul to Mammon. But Birch warns that other clubs face liquidation unless the Football League changes the rules.

Speaking for the first time since Pompey were saved from extinction two weeks ago, Birch says: “There needs to be an urgent rule change from the Football League to say that, without their permission, no club can mortgage the property to any lender. At Portsmouth, a lender was able to take a mortgage on Fratton Park which could have prevented the club from being sold.”

The £20m mortgage on Fratton Park was with Portpin, a company run by former Portsmouth owner, Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai. “Even as late as April 10 I felt the club might have to be liquidated. But then, on the steps of the court, Chainrai agreed to negotiate with us.

“If we had liquidated, nothing would have stopped Chainrai building houses or whatever at Fratton Park. There’s no other land to build a stadium on and 20,000 people would have lost a football club, the life blood of a community. There was no certainty that, after liquidation, Portsmouth would have reappeared.”

Birch wrestled with this problem from the moment he took over as administrator in February 2012.

“The club could have gone into liquidation from day one. We didn’t have enough money to pay the players and we couldn’t get them to agree to defer their wages. Portpin were not getting Football League approval to buy and the Supporters’ Trust weren’t up to speed. Right up to the court case [in April], if we’d have failed, there was a chance of liquidation.”

In this macabre dance with extinction, the darkest moment came last Christmas. By then, Birch had negotiated a deal which had seen 18 players such as defender Tal Ben Haim, on £2m a year, leave.

It was still a precarious existence with the League allowing the club to sign players only on a month’s contract and relegation to League Two looming with 10 points deducted for going into administration.

However, Birch says: “Just before Christmas, the fans got their act together and we were going to court.

 

Then, one of the funders of the Trust, the property developer [stuart Robinson], said, ‘I want to change the goalposts’. He was buying the land and also buying the stadium but he wanted longer to complete the deal. So it wasn’t appropriate for us to go into court and I didn’t think there was any way back.”

 

The club did find a way back with both Robinson and the council each investing £1.5m and ordinary fans pledging a £1,000. It meant that, after five foreign owners in four years, Portsmouth were again locally owned. So why had a club, who had won the FA Cup in 2008, not attracted local businessmen?

“The problem is that fewer and fewer local people want to be involved in football because of the attention it attracts,” he says. “When I was chief executive at Leeds, there was a property developer who was quite keen. But he said, ‘Trevor, I couldn’t put the family through it. I couldn’t walk down the street with somebody attacking me saying, ‘You’re not investing enough money. Or my kids being abused on Facebook or Twitter.’ Social media is so invasive, it frightens away an awful lot of domestic buyers.”

 

So, does Robinson own the whole of Fratton Park (and surrounding land) or does he just have a charge on it? #confused

Edited 30 April, 2013 by trousers

[rallyboy]

that looks to me like he bottled the ground-ownership gig and decided to be a money lender instead.

 

He owns next door so he controls all future development - the same tool the child-maimer used to control the club's plans.

 

So I believe the Trust owns the ground, but it was financed by large loans from Robinson and the council - thus making pompey fully fan-owned, as technically the fans borrowed the money.

 

I'm just not quite sure where the debt-free claim came from, as that is plainly fantasy and spin.

 

If my understanding is correct then they have gone from being in debt to a man who lends money when others won't, to being in debt to a man who lends money when others won't, and the council.

[Guided Missile]

We knew that the fresh debts would require security but it's a bit daunting to see in black and white that the council and a finance company now have full control of everything that pompey own.

They just need to miss a payment and we're back to square one.

 

Presumably the dream scenario for the property developing finance company is to go without a payment and to take the lard-riddled ground off them.

It's like life insurance, it's always dangerous to be in the position where your partners are better off without you.

 

So my business tip to pompey would be, don't fall out with Robinson or his backers.

I understand that this thread is an opportunity to have a lighthearted swipe at Pompey and their fans, but I really think this thread has served it's purpose and the entertainment value has worn thin. Why? Well for one thing, the fans and their backers have achieved the near impossible and saved the club from liquidation. Not much entertainment value there, if your a Saints fan, just grudging admiration. This post just shows the desperation for trying to find some flaw in the structure of the deal. To be honest, it isn't hard, but that said, we are talking about football, which is not a real business, anyway.

For them to have any sort of structure is enough for them, rightly, to be proud of and this cr @p about them being in a vulnerable position if they don't meet their obligations to their backers just confounds me. I would rather have had the position they are in, than ours when the sh !ts at Barclays started getting anxious and then pulled the plug.

Jesus, just wish them well and shut the thread down. We are really starting to sound pathetic....

[qwertySFC]

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

 

Clever wording from the spin machine as in relation to who owns Pompey ?

 

Yes the "fans" own Pompey as in a team of staff, entrance to league football and the golden share - but the ground is a totally different question - I think PCCF can easily pass off any question as in who owns Pompey but the question should be , Who actually owns Fatpipes - different question completely, mind you I guess they can easily be suckered into believing that Pompey includes Fatpipes ...

[Torres]

this cr @p about them being in a vulnerable position if they don't meet their obligations to their backers just confounds me.

 

Except we can all see that unless they get a pretty hefty windfall in the next 4 years they're not going to be able to meet their obligations even if they don't run up any more debts in the meantime. They might be cash-rich at the moment, but they're projected to burn through that pile pretty quickly paying back Robinson and the Council - and then they'll be expected to pay the football creditors. Well, what with?

[hutch]

Not quite rallyboy. As I see it it's the club that owns the ground, not the Trust. Don't fall for the media spin that they are one and the same, they aren't.

[Guided Missile]

Except we can all see that unless they get a pretty hefty windfall in the next 4 years they're not going to be able to meet their obligations even if they don't run up any more debts in the meantime. They might be cash-rich at the moment, but they're projected to burn through that pile pretty quickly paying back Robinson and the Council - and then they'll be expected to pay the football creditors. Well, what with?

I wasn't saying they weren't in a vulnerable position. Just no more vulnerable than the majority of other football clubs and less vulnerable than us when we banked at Barclays.

 

Wish them well and move on. Making sh !t up and exaggerating potential future problems makes us look pathetic. We are lucky with our owners. That should be enough.

 

The takeover is over. End of thread...

[Wes Tender]

I understand that this thread is an opportunity to have a lighthearted swipe at Pompey and their fans, but I really think this thread has served it's purpose and the entertainment value has worn thin. Why? Well for one thing, the fans and their backers have achieved the near impossible and saved the club from liquidation. Not much entertainment value there, if your a Saints fan, just grudging admiration. This post just shows the desperation for trying to find some flaw in the structure of the deal. To be honest, it isn't hard, but that said, we are talking about football, which is not a real business, anyway.

For them to have any sort of structure is enough for them, rightly, to be proud of and this cr @p about them being in a vulnerable position if they don't meet their obligations to their backers just confounds me. I would rather have had the position they are in, than ours when the sh !ts at Barclays started getting anxious and then pulled the plug.

Jesus, just wish them well and shut the thread down. We are really starting to sound pathetic....

 

Well, you don't have to keep up with any further developments on this thread if you're no longer interested, do you? Many posters when asked whether they would prefer the Skates to be liquidated, or to struggle on owned by the fans, expressed the preference that they be owned by the fans because that would provide much longer term merriment.

 

And as for you rather having the position that they are in than ours when Barclay pulled the plug, well, I find that bizarre. Many on here were confident that we would find a buyer, as we didn't have a lot of debt and had a very good stadium, training ground and other assets.

 

Because of the structure of their ownership, there will be plenty of fun to come because of the potential for disharmony caused by the egos of the various protagonists that run them.

[mack rill]

I understand that this thread is an opportunity to have a lighthearted swipe at Pompey and their fans, but I really think this thread has served it's purpose and the entertainment value has worn thin. Why? Well for one thing, the fans and their backers have achieved the near impossible and saved the club from liquidation. Not much entertainment value there, if your a Saints fan, just grudging admiration. This post just shows the desperation for trying to find some flaw in the structure of the deal. To be honest, it isn't hard, but that said, we are talking about football, which is not a real business, anyway.

For them to have any sort of structure is enough for them, rightly, to be proud of and this cr @p about them being in a vulnerable position if they don't meet their obligations to their backers just confounds me. I would rather have had the position they are in, than ours when the sh !ts at Barclays started getting anxious and then pulled the plug.

Jesus, just wish them well and shut the thread down. We are really starting to sound pathetic....

 

Oi GM i pay 5 buck's a feckin year to find out what's happening at my club, so feck off back to the main board if your not happy!

[warsash saint]

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/interviews/it-took-only-10-minutes-to-do-chelsea-deal-with-roman-abramovich-but-i-had-to-google-him-first--i-wasnt-sure-if-jeremy-beadle-was-going-to-jump-out-8596796.html

 

The £20m mortgage on Fratton Park was with Portpin, a company run by former Portsmouth owner, Hong Kong-based businessman Balram Chainrai. “Even as late as April 10 I felt the club might have to be liquidated. But then, on the steps of the court, Chainrai agreed to negotiate with us.

“If we had liquidated, nothing would have stopped Chainrai building houses or whatever at Fratton Park. There’s no other land to build a stadium on and 20,000 people would have lost a football club, the life blood of a community. There was no certainty that, after liquidation, Portsmouth would have reappeared.”

 

So why did Chainrai walk away? Does not make sense

[View From The Top]

Well, you don't have to keep up with any further developments on this thread if you're no longer interested, do you? Many posters when asked whether they would prefer the Skates to be liquidated, or to struggle on owned by the fans, expressed the preference that they be owned by the fans because that would provide much longer term merriment.

 

And as for you rather having the position that they are in than ours when Barclay pulled the plug, well, I find that bizarre. Many on here were confident that we would find a buyer, as we didn't have a lot of debt and had a very good stadium, training ground and other assets.

 

Because of the structure of their ownership, there will be plenty of fun to come because of the potential for disharmony caused by the egos of the various protagonists that run them.

 

Word.

[trousers]

I understand that this thread is an opportunity to have a lighthearted swipe at Pompey and their fans, but I really think this thread has served it's purpose and the entertainment value has worn thin. Why? Well for one thing, the fans and their backers have achieved the near impossible and saved the club from liquidation. Not much entertainment value there, if your a Saints fan, just grudging admiration. This post just shows the desperation for trying to find some flaw in the structure of the deal. To be honest, it isn't hard, but that said, we are talking about football, which is not a real business, anyway.

For them to have any sort of structure is enough for them, rightly, to be proud of and this cr @p about them being in a vulnerable position if they don't meet their obligations to their backers just confounds me. I would rather have had the position they are in, than ours when the sh !ts at Barclays started getting anxious and then pulled the plug.

Jesus, just wish them well and shut the thread down. We are really starting to sound pathetic....

 

I've been doing my utmost to sound pathetic since page 58 and quite frankly i'm insulted its taken you this long to notice...

[trousers]

So why did Chainrai walk away? Does not make sense

 

Indeed it doesn't. Birch seems to be saying if Chainrai had hung in there another 24 hours then PFC would've been toast and Chainrai would've walked away with acres of prime development land.

 

Unless Birch is simply bigging up his 'victory' when in fact Chainrai stood to gain far less from liquidation...?

 

Something doesn't quite add up (in my pathetically obsessed mind)...

[saint si]

Just like Portpin was just Balram Chainrai's vehicle for loaning money to the football club?

 

Yeah but Stuart Robinson's a good ol' brit, not some money-grabbing loan-shark foreigner, so he'll know all about their history and passion! So it's totally different you see!

[Guided Missile]

I've been doing my utmost to sound pathetic since page 58 and quite frankly i'm insulted its taken you this long to notice...

It's taken me this long to be be slightly annoyed about it. There is a reason schadenfreude is before sh !t and syphilis in the dictionary...[h=1][/h]

[trousers]

It's taken me this long to be be slightly annoyed about it. There is a reason schadenfreude is before sh !t and syphilis in the dictionary...[h=1][/h]

 

Fret ye not sire. Pompey fans aren't as obsessed with us as we, on here , are with them, so they'll never get to know just how pathetic we are coz they'll never get to read our dross in the first place...

[The9]

Bradley Saunders! ‏@BradSaundersPfc

Are you ****ing joking #pompey nike, Adidas, Puma, Umbro and Fila all came in to make our shirts next year but we chose Sondico #poor

 

Probably the only mob prepared to give them any credit, Might I suggest the fool from Sondico who negotiated the deal start working on his CV

 

I wouldn't give much credibility to the comments of someone who think "Umbro" are currently in a position to offer any professional football clubs NEW kit deals at this point. He is clearly talking out of his arse, and in League 2 you just get whichever teamwear kit you're given from any of the bigger manufacturers, anyway.

[Doctoroncall]

It's a fans owned club and as a football fan I wish them well.

 

As do I, but I still want a laugh now and again. I'm sure if they stick to a prudent fiscal policy the club will thrive and this thread will die.

[Ken Tone]

Oi GM i pay 5 buck's a feckin year to find out what's happening at my club, so feck off back to the main board if your not happy!

 

Are you sure you don't want to change clubs Mack? You deserve better.

[holepuncture]

acres of prime development land.

 

 

A breakdown of who owns which slice of the pie would be interesting..

[Ken Tone]

 

A breakdown of who owns which slice of the pie would be interesting..

 

surely Robinson owns 2 to 6, and he and the council have a charge on 1, now owned by the club?

[badgerx16]

 

The takeover is over. End of thread...

 

Well actually it's the 4th, ( or is it the 5th ? ) takeover since the thread started, so who knows if this really is 'the one' ?

[Matthew Le God]

The takeover is over. End of thread...

 

Have you forgotten this thread has seen numerous takeovers?

 

The lunatics are now running the asylum, plenty more left in this yet....

 

[CB Saint]

GM this thread has now morphed into all things portsmouth. I would rather have one über thread to put all the **** take and gossip about our fishy friends, than multiple threads on the main board.

 

If you don't like the thread, don't read it.

[St Chalet]

Maybe a re-brand?

 

The Portsmouth Ownership Saga

[dubai_phil]

Maybe a re-brand?

 

The Portsmouth Ownership Saga

 

Could also be the Law Suits connected to the PTS saga thread.

 

There'll be more to come of that there is no doubt.

 

Company Directors? there is a lot of them. What are their Compensation Packages, their Expenses Policy? The Directors Box (not taking any money out of course)

[The9]

If I can interject a little personal note here, I am absolutely desperate for my hometown team to win the Conference Playoff Final on Sunday to get themselves back into the Football League; firstly because it would cap the 25 year absence of Newport from the Football League (24 years after they went bankrupt in the Conference).

 

Secondly because I remember Portsmouth playing Newport in Division 4 in the late 1970s and I can't wait for the trip to Fratton, thirdly because Newport is the embodiment of a fans' club (albeit one who now have a multi-millionaire local lottery winner on the board, not that he puts money in), and finally because it really does illustrate how the Skate fookers have fallen to be playing them again.

 

When the Skates were defrauding the taxman and businesses of £90m and cheating their way to an FA Cup in 2008, Newport were beating Llanelli in the FAW Premier Cup Final and rattling around in Conference South. 5 years ago there were five divisions between the teams. On Sunday, the Cheats will be 90 minutes from a League fixture next season with a club which DID get wound up for it's debts and has taken 25 years to get to the brink of making it back, doing things the RIGHT way.

 

Or Wrexham might win.

Edited 30 April, 2013 by The9

[Chez]

I'm sure Mr Hall is on the case...

 

Might be wise to bring the guy into the fold and then old super slueth might forget to do any sluething of the latest set of owners. Oh. Engagement manager must have been too good an offer to turn down. How many wedding receptions do they have in the Victory Suit by the way?

[trousers]

@alex_crook: Sounds like financial chaos at #aldershot players not paid their April salaries. So sad after how hard they worked to rise from the ashes

[Doctoroncall]

Where is St Chalet to scrub the last few posts not on topic?

[dellboypete]

If I can interject a little personal note here, I am absolutely desperate for my hometown team to win the Conference Playoff Final on Sunday to get themselves back into the Football League; firstly because it would cap the 25 year absence of Newport from the Football League (24 years after they went bankrupt in the Conference).

 

Secondly because I remember Portsmouth playing Newport in Division 4 in the late 1970s and I can't wait for the trip to Fratton, thirdly because Newport is the embodiment of a fans' club (albeit one who now have a multi-millionaire local lottery winner on the board, not that he puts money in), and finally because it really does illustrate how the Skate fookers have fallen to be playing them again.

 

When the Skates were defrauding the taxman and businesses of £90m and cheating their way to an FA Cup in 2008, Newport were beating Llanelli in the FAW Premier Cup Final and rattling around in Conference South. 5 years ago there were five divisions between the teams. On Sunday, the Cheats will be 90 minutes from a League fixture next season with a club which DID get wound up for it's debts and has taken 25 years to get to the brink of making it back, doing things the RIGHT way.

 

Or Wrexham might win.

 

Good luck - although I'm pretty neutral on this one (do Newport even play in Newport anymore - or was that a temporary thing? - can't be bothered to do a search.) Went to the old Somerton Park to see Saints in a cup replay - I was still at school so must have been in the late 60's - probably the most ramshackle league ground I've ever been too!

[Weston Saint]

I enjoy Guided Missiles posts almost as much as I enjoy Rallyboys. This thread is not dead! It has just turned a corner

[holepuncture]

GM and WT need to get a room, the sexual tension between them is too much for this threads bellyaches.

 

 

A breakdown of who owns which slice of the pie would be interesting..

 

surely Robinson owns 2 to 6, and he and the council have a charge on 1, now owned by the club?

 

I wonder what the 'leisure covenants' are on parts 2 to 6? In order to bulldoze fatpipes, some sort of sporting or leisure facility is required to blow off the councils restrictions, not that Birch though Chinny would have any problems with that according to his recent mouthpiece...

 

...but do they apply to the spurs fans land?

 

I imagine 3,4,5 and 6 are ripe for property, SR could even build millwall-esque cage walk throughs on his new estates so that the few can access the pipes from all angles.

[rallyboy]

I'm just chuffed with my promotion from Nutjob to pathetic Nutjob!

 

I was starting to worry that this thread had a glass ceiling and that there was no career path, but with this latest step up the ladder into middle-management I can now dream about joining the bitter and twisted Nutjobs on the top floor.

I hear that they get their own parking spaces and exclusive use of the thread toilet.

[Torres]

exclusive use of the thread toilet.

 

Can the Thread Board of Directors please revisit this policy? It was only yesterday I was forced to take a dump in the corner of lift #1.

[Saint Lindford]

There’s no other land to build a stadium on and 20,000 people would have lost a football club, the life blood of a community.

 

Can't be talking about the skates here, since when did they get 20,000 in Fatpipes Park?

[Lazlo78]

From his vantage point*, GM makes some fair observations (and a completely uninteresting personal attack). It is true that the PST should be praised for their hard work - and numerous times on this thread they have been praised for exactly that. They truly seem to have the best intentions for their club and they are not afraid to work hard to achieve their goals.

 

This thread serves to ask some of the more difficult questions that the PST, the local media and the fans do not seem to raise themselves, while at the same time serving as a reminder of the recent history of PFC. Generally, the Pompey fans try their hardest to point towards the cup win as a measurement of how unfair the whole situation has been, yet at the same time they are very reluctant to acknowledge their responsiblity towards the creditors and the taxman they could not pay. The complete lack of any public budget for the club also demands some attention - even if they are not deliberately hiding anything it would be very interesting to see how they make ends meet.

 

So yes, they should be praised for making an effort, but there are reasons to keep the thread going. If Guy's plea from the 27th about running the club responsibly is honoured, I'd say they could start receiving real praise. He does say all the right things while showing some sensibility and fingerspitzgefühl when balancing between past failures and future visions.

 

 

* Vantage point:

 

[Big Bad Bob]

 

A breakdown of who owns which slice of the pie would be interesting..

 

See, this is where I am very confused, part of the spiel about funding was that the PDT would do a land swap with Robinson and get some money out of it.

 

But according to that picture all the land around the Fortress was owned by Gaydamak and he sold that to Robinson. The only thing PCFC had a say in was that they guaranteed the mortgage for the Head Office!!

 

So what land do they actually own that they can swap with Robinson to get more money??

[Kingsbridge Saint]

If I can interject a little personal note here, I am absolutely desperate for my hometown team to win the Conference Playoff Final on Sunday to get themselves back into the Football League; firstly because it would cap the 25 year absence of Newport from the Football League (24 years after they went bankrupt in the Conference).

 

Secondly because I remember Portsmouth playing Newport in Division 4 in the late 1970s and I can't wait for the trip to Fratton, thirdly because Newport is the embodiment of a fans' club (albeit one who now have a multi-millionaire local lottery winner on the board, not that he puts money in), and finally because it really does illustrate how the Skate fookers have fallen to be playing them again.

 

When the Skates were defrauding the taxman and businesses of £90m and cheating their way to an FA Cup in 2008, Newport were beating Llanelli in the FAW Premier Cup Final and rattling around in Conference South. 5 years ago there were five divisions between the teams. On Sunday, the Cheats will be 90 minutes from a League fixture next season with a club which DID get wound up for it's debts and has taken 25 years to get to the brink of making it back, doing things the RIGHT way.

 

Or Wrexham might win.

 

£300,000 Newport went to the wall for. Mind you, that was a fair bit back then when a Bovril and Pie up the Cromwell Road end was about 25p. With you Sunday......

[Doctoroncall]

See, this is where I am very confused, part of the spiel about funding was that the PDT would do a land swap with Robinson and get some money out of it.

 

But according to that picture all the land around the Fortress was owned by Gaydamak and he sold that to Robinson. The only thing PCFC had a say in was that they guaranteed the mortgage for the Head Office!!

 

So what land do they actually own that they can swap with Robinson to get more money??

 

None, the PDT own fat pipes but have to pay the mortgage set by Robinson AND Portsmouth City Council which, as we have been informed is at a nominal rate, but have no evidence to back it up. This is why the PP are being used to pay the mortgage before the players and why they want the fans to buy more shares so they can meet the schedule in the coming years while setting a health wage of £1.1m per annum. Also if less than 12k fans turn up, their income projections need adjusting.

 

Guy needs a good start to life in league 2... The pressure is on!

[Ken Tone]

Can the Thread Board of Directors please revisit this policy? It was only yesterday I was forced to take a dump in the corner of lift #1.

 

Ah, but was that the executive lift that goes direct to the top floor?

 

Rallyboy, I think you're overlooking several other categories. As well as 'pathetic nutjobs' it appears we have some sympathetic nutjobs, and maybe even some empathetic nutjobs.

[Gemmel]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/17/tesco-uk-plans-fresh-easy-profits

 

Tescos scrap plans for anymore new megastores/ supermarkets

 

Around 110 schemes where Tesco has invested in land will not go ahead, including 16 that will cost the company around £300m to exit. Around 40 plots of land next to existing stores which bosses had hoped to expand in to will be sold.

 

 

Probably best to scratch them of the list of 100 million pound developers at fat pipes.

Edited 1 May, 2013 by Gemmel

[The9]

Good luck - although I'm pretty neutral on this one (do Newport even play in Newport anymore - or was that a temporary thing? - can't be bothered to do a search.) Went to the old Somerton Park to see Saints in a cup replay - I was still at school so must have been in the late 60's - probably the most ramshackle league ground I've ever been too!

 

Newport AFC played in Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire in their first season (1989/90 - I saw one away match in Stroud) due to the refusal of Newport council to let them play in the town due to the debts of the previous club. Moreton is 80 miles from Newport.

 

The club returned to Newport after the first season and played at Somerton Park for 2 years ('90-'92) before the FAW threw their toys out of the pram and refused to let them play in Wales due to the formation of the League of Wales

 

"The Exiles" went into Exile again '92-'94, at Gloucester City's Meadow Park (a mere 50 miles from Newport), before nailing the FAW to the wall over "restraint of trade" under the conditions of freedom of movement in the Maastricht Agreement that underpinned the EU, and earning the legal right to play football in Wales whilst still in the English pyramid.

 

Newport AFC returned to Newport for the second time in 1994/5, playing at the newly-built Newport Stadium (aka "Spytty Park"), then renamed to become "Newport County AFC" in 1999.

 

Due to the stink of bankruptcy and stigma of not paying local businesses attached to the club (Skates take note), many Newport fans were reluctant to give up the "AFC" name, but the poll offered Newport County AFC as a compromise and that won the vote.

 

Gradual progress up the Leagues saw "promotion" to the Conference South when non-League reorganised, and legitimate Championship of Conference South 2 years ago. So in 2011, Newport County got back to the Division they were bottom of whilst folding in 1989.

 

In 2011/12 the team nearly got relegated from the Conference with the Spytty pitch falling to pieces, ruining their natural passing game and causing a backlog, so with feelers out for possible new locations, the astonishing "not in my lifetime" prospect of the football club sharing with the rugby came to fruition for 2012/13 as the County took up residence at Newport RFC/Newport Gwent Dragons' Rodney Parade.

 

To give some idea of how strange this is to me, I lived in Newport for over 30 years, was born there, my grandad is an Honorary Life Member of the Athletic Club which until recently owned the rugby club site, I played sport regularly at the Athletic Club, and I have NEVER seen a match of any sort at "the rugby ground". The last visit even to the stands for me was an early 1980s fireworks show. The idea of groundsharing the 7-11,000 capacity ground was just not considered and the idea polarised the football and rugby communities for years.

 

Rodney Parade was built in 1877, and my grandad has had to live to 91 (92 in July!) to see the football team play there. Ironically enough due to a postponement at Christmas, I still haven't, yet.

Edited 1 May, 2013 by The9

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/17/tesco-uk-plans-fresh-easy-profits

 

Tescos scrap plans for anymore new megastores/ supermarkets

 

Around 110 schemes where Tesco has invested in land will not go ahead, including 16 that will cost the company around £300m to exit. Around 40 plots of land next to existing stores which bosses had hoped to expand in to will be sold.

 

 

Probably best to scratch them of the list of 100 million pound developers at fat pipes.

 

Have always been sceptical of this idea that Tesco wanted to spunk £20m odd on the land to build a new store. If you include Fareham and Havant the area is already saturated with Tescos, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons.

[The9]

£300,000 Newport went to the wall for. Mind you, that was a fair bit back then when a Bovril and Pie up the Cromwell Road end was about 25p. With you Sunday......

 

Yeah, and with a 17-year old Darren Peacock, later transferred for £2m to Newcastle, on the books.

 

I did labour under the misapprehension that it was only £40k for about 15 years until that Jerry Sherman interview footage turned up on the internet, I think the £40k was the bit they couldn't avoid paying though. I remember all the gate-locking and "can they play at Llanwern" stuff in the dying days, though Rochdale home in the FL was my last "old club" match and I've still never seen them play in the Conference.

 

Pff, Cromwell Road end, I was a "terrace next to the 'grand'stand at that end" kid, I don't even know if it had a name. Never played on the pitch though, fantastic cambered pitch and massive thick oval goalposts, surrounded by two sheds, a stand and a lot of fences.

 

Was gutted when they stuck houses on it nevertheless, as with the Dell.