Breaking News Latest from Prospects College

[pringlejon]

thats very harsh and you know it. why should CPO be used for a retail developement?? the council are exceeding their powers, and mcnasty doesnt know him and neither do you. also who uses the echo for his own benefit?? none other than ronald martin , when he wants to a do a deal

Are you Mr Bates by any chance...?

 

[McNasty]

thats very harsh and you know it. why should CPO be used for a retail developement?? the council are exceeding their powers, and mcnasty doesnt know him and neither do you. also who uses the echo for his own benefit?? none other than ronald martin , when he wants to a do a deal

Please advise me how I don't know MisterBates. For all you know I could even be him.

 

[OldBlueLady]

thats very harsh and you know it. why should CPO be used for a retail developement?? the council are exceeding their powers, and mcnasty doesnt know him and neither do you. also who uses the echo for his own benefit?? none other than ronald martin , when he wants to a do a deal

It's not at all harsh, what is harsh is pretending you're hard done by when that's not exactly the case. The deal was in hand and Bates wasn't prepared to extend the deadline for a few days, so he's the one who is holding not just the 4,000 or so football fans as you say, but really the whole town to ransom with his greed. This is a deal that the town needs to happen, it's wrong that one man can be holding up this development when he was offered and accepted what was a very fair price. Like I said, your dad only knows the public front Bates puts on, speak to anyone at the club and they'll tell you a very different story.

 

[tottenham541]

It's not at all harsh, what is harsh is pretending you're hard done by when that's not exactly the case. The deal was in hand and Bates wasn't prepared to extend the deadline for a few days, so he's the one who is holding not just the 4,000 or so football fans as you say, but really the whole town to ransom with his greed. This is a deal that the town needs to happen, it's wrong that one man can be holding up this development when he was offered and accepted what was a very fair price. Like I said, your dad only knows the public front Bates puts on, speak to anyone at the club and they'll tell you a very different story.

well said OBL agree with both of your posts.

 

[shallowshrimper]

Extreme perspicacity in one so young tilly. Tell me does your dad have a birds eye view of the activities of Mr Bates?

Perspicacity what a brilliant word, never heard it before, googled it, and will now use it whenever possible. As one what was learned good English from the old Furtherwick Park school I assume your schooling must have been done off the Island:winking:

Now what were we talking about again...........................

 

[canveyshrimper]

Perspicacity what a brilliant word, never heard it before, googled it, and will now use it whenever possible. As one what was learned good English from the old Furtherwick Park school I assume your schooling must have been done off the Island:winking:

Now what were we talking about again...........................

:hilarious: Indeed it was.

 

[tommy tucker]

I have noticed that a removal firm is useing the prospects ground for all there lorrys .Is this an agreement that prospect has got going with a possable buyer .Should this creep be allowed to hold the club Sainsburys and the folk of southend to ransom .:thumbdown:

 

[Wise Head]

I've no doubt that Mr Bates, Mr Martin & Sainsburys all deserve each other. All parties have used the Echo to state their case & it's somewhat confusing as to where the actual truth lies. As a fan I want the sale of Prospects to go ahead so FF can be started. However I think that a CPO would be unlikely to succeed as the site is vacant and the owner is very keen to sell. The only issue to be resolved would be the price and this has been agreed a number of times by Mr Martin as a purchaser and most lately by Sainsburys who had an agreed price with nearly a year to complete yet failed to do so. The likely reason for the Prospects site & the remaining shops not being purchased is that Sainsburys are waiting for the final planning permissions & finance to be in place before going ahead with any further purchases. I think attempts by any of the parties to get the fans on their side should be ignored.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Please advise me how I don't know MisterBates. For all you know I could even be him.

Nah, you're Seaman Staines. :smile:

 

[Mick]

I have noticed that a removal firm is useing the prospects ground for all there lorrys .Is this an agreement that prospect has got going with a possable buyer .Should this creep be allowed to hold the club Sainsburys and the folk of southend to ransom .:thumbdown:

Because Sainsburys reneged on a deal that was in place, Mr Bates is a creep ? Strange logic there.

This "dreadful" Mr Bates agreed a price that all parties were happy with, but the buyer didn't complete - out of choice. It's not as if Sainsburys had a cash flow problem.

Because it conflicts with the interests of our football team he is supposed to throw all normal sound business practice out of the window ? Hardly holding the folk of Southend to ransom; remind me again which party did not complete the deal.

 

[Murkey_Mouse]

The guy like WickfordTilly could be Captain Birdbrain who I know! Lincoln City lost 3-1 today, if they lose to Braintree, he might need to cuddle up his daddy soon!

 

[Cricko]

It's not at all harsh, what is harsh is pretending you're hard done by when that's not exactly the case. The deal was in hand and Bates wasn't prepared to extend the deadline for a few days, so he's the one who is holding not just the 4,000 or so football fans as you say, but really the whole town to ransom with his greed. This is a deal that the town needs to happen, it's wrong that one man can be holding up this development when he was offered and accepted what was a very fair price. Like I said, your dad only knows the public front Bates puts on, speak to anyone at the club and they'll tell you a very different story.

In no way am I on Bates side but you can understand the reasons he might be a bit miffed here. It is not as if it is the first time the club have let him down, I think this is the 5th but I may be wrong. It WAS Sainsbury's who were the party to renegade on the deal and pull out/ask for more time not Bates..It can hardly be described as a few days when here we are a month or so later and still nothing is completed...I can understand that Sainsbury's need more time to finalise certain criteria with the council but that is hardly Bates fault...If a person had promised to buy your house/business premises and let you down time after time I am sure you would be a little more than upset with the buyer.

Bates is holding nothing up Sainsbury's are to suit their plans.

 

[Firestorm]

Bates is holding nothing up Sainsbury's are to suit their plans.

It could even be said that Bates is trying to hurry it along, in that mentioning other buyers he is trying to get Sainsbury to get their fingers out.

Sainsbury don't need the site at the moment, so are probably thinking that they don't want to tie the money up for the time being.
Prospects would rather have the money now as the site is more than likely actually costing them money. It may be of interest to another buyer (a bit like that small strip of land at FF which RM tried to get cheap 10 years ago ) and another owner may well hold Sainsbury / RHL to ransom when the prospects site is actually needed (a bit like that small strip of land someone at FF someone else bought 10 years ago).

Strikes me that this is all fairly standard practice really....

 

[londonblue]

Because Sainsburys reneged on a deal that was in place, Mr Bates is a creep ? Strange logic there.

This "dreadful" Mr Bates agreed a price that all parties were happy with, but the buyer didn't complete - out of choice. It's not as if Sainsburys had a cash flow problem.

Because it conflicts with the interests of our football team he is supposed to throw all normal sound business practice out of the window ? Hardly holding the folk of Southend to ransom; remind me again which party did not complete the deal.

But if all sides have agreed, and one is late paying, does that give him the right to throw the deal in the bin? I know he's been let down a number of times, but he surely should be able to understand the reasons, i.e. that Sainsbury's are still tying up loose ends elsewhere. A more reasonable man would have been prepared to wait.

 

[Cricko]

The hold up seems to because the council are yet to ratify the new extension on the build programme that I think is due to be go before their committee very soon?

With the old build date running out you can see why Sainsbury's did not want to complete as it would not be good business to buy a building where planning was maybe in the balance. We know the council will rubber stamp the new build time but the supermarket bosses need it in Black and White before they proceed. This should of maybe been pointed out to Bates before their deal with him fell through and maybe they could of sorted this,or was he fully aware?

I find it hard to believe Sainsbury's are willing to throw away their 200k deposit so easily. (if that is indeed the case here)

The actual facts from both parties are a bit cloudy to say the least.

 

[ooh-andy-ansah]

But with land prices so low it would be a sound investment for Sainsbury anyway, buying future development sites at present is the way to go for cash rich companies, even if the rest of the plan was scrapped that site will be worth a mint in 10 yrs tim, shame old Ronald can't take advantage of the current economic climate, I feel for him........... NOT :smile:

 

[Homer]

Sainsburys seems to doing eveything by the book so as its a property deal with huge financial and commercial sensitivites, im sure sainburys are bound legally and cannot give any statements with regards to Prospects College.

If this is the case surely Mr Bates has done himself no favours by mouthing off to the press with regards to deal going belly up and he is going to keep Sainsburys deposit

 

[ElstreeBlue]

Funny how some people are looking to try to blame one man for exercising his contract rights when the contract fell through because the other party didn't honour the agreed terms.

Holding the club to ransom? Don't make me laugh. He was willing to agree (he was signed up to a deal that wasn't honoured by the other party) and his (rare) trips to the press have been out of frustration about not having a willing seller despite the discussions, negotiations and agreements that have gone on for ages now. Speaking to the press seem to me to be a tactic to escalate things to get the deal done because nothing else is getting this concluded. That's a bit different from trying to slow things down and hold the club to ransom. From everything I've read, he's wanted out asap and ideally has wanted to sell out to Sainsbury's/SUFC but he feels he has kept being messed around.

Taking your subjective heads and hearts away for a second, what would you do if you were in his position and meant to be acting in Prospects' best interests? Looks to me like he's bent over backwards to accommodate the club, its owners and Sainsbury's when there's been a really frustrating on-off deal. Gone beyond what he maybe should have done? Perhaps should have found another buyer earlier? If anything, we should be grateful that he still wants to talk despite everything.

It wasn't so long ago (actually I think it was about 2 years ago now) when another individual or two were being blamed as the reason for getting in the way of the club's ambitions to move to Fossetts Farm.

Whatever happened to Pizza Man?

Is Prospects really the reason holding the move to FF up and was it really Prospects' fault that the move hasn't happened yet? Or maybe there are other reasons?

Would be really interesting to get a statement from Sainsbury's as to what's going on - not just with Prospects, but across FF and RH and the whole deal.

 

[Beefy]

I don't think anyone is blaming Prospects for us not being in FF yet. It does have the potential to be a problem though if an agreement isn't reached and I think people are concerned about that.

Sainsburys didn't complete because they don't want to complete until FF is guaranteed to happen and we can vacate Roots Hall. That's not this guy's fault.

 

[SUFCFANS]

I can't believe all this chat about Prospects holdings things up. Sainsbury's have a CPO, this means they can buy the site whenever they want, regardless of what Prospects say... End of!