Most liked posts in thread: The future of Valley Parade

Just read it for 1/2 hour…… a very thorough appraisal of where we are and where we have been. I often wondered if we could have done something different to selling VP to Gibb, but this puts such thoughts to bed. He secured a very lucrative deal for his pension fund for sure, but that is what happens when you are between the devil and the deep blue sea.

 

Brilliant read, well written and very well researched. However, re your point, lets say Rupp does buy it back, we are still going to have to pay him rent. He's a business man (or is he a lottery winner, who knows) so he will buy it using a separate company. I'm absolutely sure if he does buy it, he isn't just going to give us £5mill and add it to the "value" of the club.

He'll use a vehicle that suits him best.

 

I think I may have spotted a minor sticking point in your plan.

 

I've just read this Karl and with respect don't think your maths are correct. I'm not in possession of my notes (archived) but in my time on the Board JR and ML had me look at what you're suggesting and I took professional advice. The financial income from filling the 'Odsal Bowl' to the level of Rooley Lane was c£10 million, let's say 12 years ago. to then build on the site would require huge foundation costs to stabilise the filled ground OR a long wait for it to consolidate. After that there is the cost of remediating the former tip land to the South which is leaking methane and would all need removing, something I know about from my working days on two such sites. The methane site would cost in my opinion, north of £15 million to remediate which explains why it has never been done.
As far as Dunn's is concerned the Council wasted £17million on a vanity project to replace it at Sedbergh with less facilities than Dunn, all because the roof leaked and was deemed a risk. At meetings with the Council in 2016 and 17 with Rahic I told them I could make Dunn first class, state of the art for half the cost of Sedbergh but they were fixated on "high class retailers" which I told them would not happen in the new economic climate. The Council CEO told me I didn't understand retail !! at which point I confirmed in my mind there was little hope for the City.
In terms of other posts on here getting the Council and Bulls involved, both are skint. Only a few weeks ago the Bulls were at the Council with their usual begging bowl and the Council are in hock to Govt. for £80 million plus interest with a further £120 million plus interest to come next year.
As to your top of town location this would present a massive issue with traffic, a small site and in my view would be an enormous cost ( £30million minimum) for a 25k stadium which would be difficult to extend.
Karl, sorry to appear negative but only a multi millionaire will even scratch the surface, just buy VP or a better deal on the next Lease and spend the savings on upgrading, better value for money.

 

I'm respectful of the past but we need to move with the times.
Valley Parade logistically, and for functionality reasons is way past it's prime.
Its in an area which doesn't lend itself to a football stadium and imo stifles the potential and benefits that a stadium in a better position, that can do more than just hold a football match every week or two could bring.
For me the land between the old mill on Cape Street should be made available for a transport hub to get out to the North of the City, whether it be cars or buses, a footbridge built across the bottom of Hamm Strasse to a new stadium on the site between Canal Road and Valley Road.
Only Halfords and a few car garages are on that land so not massive upheaval.
A 22000 seater stadium, with scope for extension , can be easily built in that space, within spitting distance of Forster Square, which is being upgraded with an extra platform next year
The site to the South where the old sorting office was is still vacant so a hub for public transport, whether again it's buses or a link to the proposed new Leeds/Bradford tram line can be built there.
The potential of something like this would be huge.
City Centre Stadium, with good transport links.
Might be far fetched to some but at least it's a vision that would benefit the City of Bradford as well as the club whilst offering a potential share from the Bulls to help them with their quest to return to Super League.
The funding the council apparently tried recently for to make Odsal into a sporting and entertainment arena will have been refused as the benefits of doing that will have been minimal as it's miles away from everything else so logistically would have need millions to get it to it's potential, outside of the stadium build.
I think if the club and council got together with the Bulls and approached the govt levelling up funding committee again with a proposal like I'm saying, then it would be very hard to turn down.

 

April 1st has passed . Talk of a new stadium in the city of Bradford is pie in the sky, especially if the Council are involved.
They are BANKRUPT, bailed out and selling the family silver.
Valley parade is fine. We need to own it and maintain it.

 

I don't see anything like that getting done nowadays without significant levels of private investment, and Bradford is dead on that front, nether club has anything to sell to help find it and with little buzz around them I just don't see where we get that from.

 

Exactly it's a game of poker between Rupp and Gibb
2 halves of a jigsaw puzzle both losing value without the other
If indeed Gibb wants to buy the club then the asking price would be inflated
If indeed Rupp wants to buy the ground then the asking price would be inflated
Stalemate !!!!

 

Handy for the Corn Dolly too

 

Odsal as a football stadium isn't viable. It wasn't back in 85/86 and it's even less so now.
The place is just as tired as VP except it would need at least the large open terrace on the side opposite the main stand seated and covered.
Transport is a nightmare. Since City were there they've built houses right up to one side of the ground (behind the main stand). There's virtually nowhere to park except RD's, which the council charge £7 for (but isn't lit, so is a lawsuit waiting to happen for night events).
With no nearby train station the only way to get there is by bus.
Odsal is non starter.

 

Robbie Williams only played a concert there as a fund raiser for PV . They owe £8m in loans to debtors and lost £3.4 at the last accounts. The multi daily, weekly use of a football stadia for 52 weeks a year pulling in big crowds to make these events viable is a myth. That’s how and why the Odsal “ project” was laughed out of town. We don’t need to be financial wizards to see it’s not financially viable. The country is skint, the government is skint, most local councils are on the way to bankrupcy , of ALL colours, we can’t even fix bloody potholes but we can somehow fund £50m stadia at the drop if a hat to be sat empty 300 days a year. A disco in the summer won’t cut it!

 

Not everyone thinks Bradford is a shit hole. It's got its flaws, well quite a few but it's my home and proud to say I'm a bradfordian

 

Me too. I hate it when the ppl who live here play it down. I know it is a defence mechanism, ie get it in first. Nevertheless, it is not all bad, and the ppl are totally unique. I am appalled at the way the politicians throughout the decades have allowed Bradford to sink whilst they are busy with their careers. This City used to be one of the liveliest in England. I grew up on a council estate, lovely ppl very conscious of their community and kept the place looking great. That has all gone now. Different priorities now.

 

They aren't.

This is a fundamental point which is one of the reasons that the 'pension fund'' was able to buy the ground in the first place. I believe that the WOAP is incorrect in this assertion, although it depends exactly what has been specified in the creation of the scheme. It seems unlikely, if not impossible, as a trustee and beneficiary for Gordon Gibb to have legal recourse against himself.

For the record, I'm a bit rusty with pensions now. However, I used to work in financial services and I held the G60 pensions qualification which allowed me to advise on pensions. That's why I keep picking up on comments about the legal duty to the beneficiaries, because it is not a company defined contribution or defined benefit pension scheme.

There is flexibility there for Mr Gibb, if he so wishes.

 

Excellent article well worth a read.

 

If when he sells the club he sells both bits together. He might keep the ground as his pension

 

Spot on !!
If Rupp buys the ground with one of his other or a new company we will be in exactly the same predicament
He will expect the rent as Gibb does
Would only work (for us) when he sells up to sell both club and ground to new owners
Can't see it happening

 

Gibb would be a fool to sell unless it was money sufficient to cover rent for the next 50 years . In his position there is no way in earth I would sell unless we had a “ready made somewhere else” to go . If we do have somewhere VP becomes worthless . As long as that place remains elusive, Gibb holds the entire deck , never mind the aces !

 

The council is skint, the Bulls and City are skint so we won’t be building a new stadium anytime soon and the idea that supporters raise the money to buy the ground off Gibb will raise about £100 K tops. At the very least the next deal needs to be a rental purchase that eventually buys the ground back. This should have been negotiated in the original deal but I imagine Rhodes was desperate to raise the cash and Gibb held the cards.