Apperley Bridge

And how does that effect us as a club, if all the facilities are as good as any team around us? Leeds don’t own theirs, their fans weren’t going on about it when they were miles ahead earlier in the season. It’s irrelevant I’d rather rent good facilities, than own crap. Unless we get a rich owner, who’ll invest we won’t get much, if any better than we have now.

It’s not the only point people are making either, a few are saying they are poor.

 

Think there's maybe only 1 person saying there poor which they aren't - unless there under water.

As a club it affects it as its an asset, something we don't have. Its not going to happen as the chairmen isn't interested long term. Why would you build a rubbish training ground?

Leeds don't own it but the facilities are excellent and they are looking at building their own.

 

I think that decision may depend on what league they are in next season but you're correct it would be classed as an asset, personally I'd rather have players in my squad who could be an asset and own the ground before new training facilities.
Someone posted it's the 4th time in around 20 years, maybe we should try for a grant from the government to get better flood defences .

 

You wouldn’t build a rubbish training ground, and I didn’t say that. It’s simple, would you rather rent good ones, or own inferior ones? If it’s the first then owning them at this time is irrelevant, and only worth discussing on a hypothetical level. We could afford top notch training facilities in the premier league, just from the money you receive. People bringing Lincoln up, I’d rather not spend half our budget at this level on facilities that would need upgrading if we got to where we want to get. I’d rather wait until we get there. It’s more than achievable without owning the assets.

Whike I understand the benefits of owning our own assets, if it’s going to take funds away from the budget then it’s pointless at this stage when we could buy all the assets we want if we got to the championship or above. Rupp won’t invest in them so it’s nothing but going around in circles thinking he should.

It’s a discussion that’s come up because we’re failing as a club, but it’s not the reason we’re failing as a club.

 

And the reason Leeds don't own Thorp Arch ?

 

We aren't in a position to build our own training facility or ground, in truth we never will unless this mythical saviour appears in real life and not in a dream. Having listened to the price of football podcasts it's clear where football is heading and we ain't part of that. Same with owning Valley Parade or building a new ground, the money just isn't there in the lower leagues to justify state of the art facilities, you'll see more and more clubs in league 1 and especially league 2 go the way of renting facilities as the cost differences between the top two division becomes prohibitive to gaining promotion and consolidation after this. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see this club with their own set up rather than renting a schools facility but let's be realistic. This is Bradford, one of the poorest areas in the country, a league 2 club with a cash strapped Council and local authority.

The facilities are good enough for the aspirations we have.

 

We would need to make out a business case for that, as only residential and businesses would get priority.

 

Tbh I can’t remember why they were sold at the time, but those who made the decision probably did it thinking owning it or renting it wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference to their ambition to get to where they want to get. As it wouldn’t with us, the reality is if we built our own it wouldn’t have much if any better facilities than we have now. We’d just own an asset. And property assets in Bradford aren’t exactly high value, so I’m not convinced would add that much to the club. All they would do is make Rupp want more money for the club, which could potentially actually put suitors off.

 

Think we've just seen first hand in parts of Yorkshire that these defences don't actually work.

We won't own the ground for at least 8 years. This is about the ambition of our owner, he isn't going to put anymore money so it's not really worth further discussion.

 

From what I remember Leeds sold Thorp Arch because they were in dire straits financially,

 

I thought everything was plain sailing for clubs who owned assets, obviously not.

 

I might be wrong but that's how I remember it. A business only sells assets like for one reason, to generate funds they don't have, usually when the banks have pulled funding. If anyone hasn't listened to the price of football podcasts I suggest they do, really does open your eyes to what happens behind the scenes in the murky world of football finance. As for us? Lower league income doesn't go very far, the owning of facilities that would only get used by the football club so many days and hours of the year doesnt make any financial sense unless these facilities can utilised by other paying customers for the rest of the time.

 

They didn't own the ground until recently when the new owner with ambition came in and one of the first things they did was buy the ground back.

Also to add to this Leeds Utd are building a new training ground closer to the city centre that's why they didn't buy Thorp Arch.

 

Exactly, I would be worried that an asset would go the same way as the ground went if the club were in financial straits. If I win the lottery lol, I would buy the ground back and provide state of the arts training facilities, but I would want to put them both in trust so that no one could sell them off.

 

A bit difficult on the banks of a river

 

He bought it back in another company’s name I believe and charges rent to Leeds United, no business man wants to lose money. The club is always the one which loses out, these guys often find a way of not losing their money.

 

That's twice I've had a reply to my grant for flood defenses, obviously didn't notice the winking emoji .

 

Well they're building a new training ground as well so the club is moving forward.

 

But not as quickly as the owner would like.

 

Don't even start to think the new owner is paying for any of this at Leeds. He'll be 'lending' to the club from various parties in the hope the premiership riches can offset it. Even in the premiership most clubs make eye-watering losses. You can count on one hand the amount of owners who actually put their own money in but not guaranteeing it against the club.