Mark Lawns comments in T and A today

It wouldn’t though.

We run cheap tickets to try to full capacity and don’t.

We could do with a 15k stadium or even a12k one and operate at normal price costs.

 

Emotionally, you mean?

 

Possibly financially as well due to the costs attached to building a new stadium. Would be a lot more expensive than buying back VP, and if borrowing the money probably more expensive than the current rent

 

So a club that has successfully operated above a 12k and 15k capacity for a number of yearwis going to build a stadium that potentially only holds 12k?

Great stuff.

 

We have only managed that because of the cheap season tickets.

 

And? We currently average over 15,000 after a price increase.
Give me something to work with on your argument Fordy, you keep saying youre an intelligent fella.

 

Most likely. But look at it from a business perspective:

Spend 10m to buy a £4m asset that’s old and in need of investment.
Spend 30m on an asset that’s brand new, could add all sorts of additional revenue capabilities, and may very be worth £50m as an asset.

The numbers are arbitrary, but the principle holds.

Rupp has the wealth and certainly the capital security to allow for borrowing of that nature. Might not immediately, or even quickly improve the clubs cashflow position, but creates a more secure longer term position. A proper investment opportunity that he’d probably be able to relate much more capably to, than what it takes to build a football team.

 

Is this Fordy who constantly bleats about lack of ambition?, what a joke. 12,000 in L1 never mind Championship, at least you get first prize for laugh of the week.

 

Excluding site acquisition costs, fees and other add on you are looking at approx £30 mil for a 30k capacity stadium. Fair enough we don't need that size now but Championship we could get close. In my view we don't need any bigger as there is competition which slices up potential support, i.e. Leeds, Huddersfield.
Unless there was big money from elsewhere then it's a no go, even Leeds have gone quiet on a new stadium and others have quietly abandoned plans even for small grounds, for example Scunny at 10k.

 

If we are making numbers up.

Spend £5m to buy a £m asset that is in need of investment
Spend £35m+ on an asset that is brand new and is probably not worth anywhere near that as an asset as the sell on value is zero, unless selling to another sports team based in Bradford.

 

The man claims the club need more ambition, then wants to shut half our fan base which has grown ten fold in the last 40 years. In the championship we were averaging around 15k at high prices, football is more popular than then and it proves it that we can get them sort of gates 2 leagues below regardless of price. When I started going in the mid 90’s we got around 5k home support, even if we made season tickets far cheaper we wouldn’t have got the gates we do now and we were league 1 then not 2. We’d easily get gates of around 20k in the championship when you consider away support, even with higher prices. Premier league is a tourist league and you are pretty much certain to sell your tickets our regardless. So much for an ambitious person, if we got a stadium that small we’d be accepting we will never be above league 1 again. Some of us still want higher…

 

Agreed and Adams!

 

They haven’t made a penny , that’s where the ignorance lies. It’s a PENSION FUND, for all the employees of FlamingoLand, past, present and future

Someone correct me if I’m wrong please?

 

Not sure if it is the Pension Fund for all staff. My memory is a bit fuzzy but I thought it was a pension fund for very few top staff, maybe even just him and his family

 

Why would it be worth zero as a new asset? Is there a football club in the country that doesn't place a value on its owned assets, on the clubs balance sheet?

 

There is a difference between what it is listed on the balance sheet and its resale value. If we paid £10m for the ground the value listed on the balance sheet would be the purchase priced so are you using balance sheet values or actual?

 

I’m glad you mentioned it was only himself who thought that

 

I don't mind Fordy but I'm finding lately there are some opinions on here that just don't make any logical sense.

 

Just need £50 million for that shiny new stadium......