Sainsburys like football grounds

[ooh-andy-ansah]

Seems like Sainsbury's have an appetite for buying up football grounds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-12607739

Looks like they are pro-actively seeking acquisitions, I would think they have a dedicated team dealing with this side of the business so maybe they know a bit more about football clubs and the state of their finances in general than we think. Do they target hard up clubs ? I think any assumption they are our saviours is naive at best.

 

[Beefy]

I don't think anyone has ever made any assumptions about Sainsburys involvement. They are not a charity they are a huge money-making organisation.

Football grounds make attractive propositions for supermarkets because older grounds tend to be in good locations near town centres and are ripe for development. This isn't new. A lot of Clubs who have moved in the last 15 years have seen their old ground bulldozed and turned into a Sainsburys or Tesco.

 

[Eastblack]

I think there was an article about this some while ago in either the Mail or Mail on Sunday, and our situation was raised, with Ron throwing in a number of quotes.

Sadly, I can't find the article at the moment, but I will keep looking.

 

[EastStandBlue]

They're also involved with the Rotherham redevelopment.

 

[ooh-andy-ansah]

I don't think anyone has ever made any assumptions about Sainsburys involvement.

Plenty of comments have been posted on SZ using the word, saviours etc. but as you say business is business.

They would cut us off at the knees if they have to and I suspect their patience is wearing thin with Mr Martin.

 

[Beefy]

Well they are are saving us at the moment. It's their cash which is paying players and HMRC. Without them things would have come to a head long ago. But their motives aren't altruistic.

 

[The Big Shrimp]

The built a store on Morecambe's old ground.

 

[class]

Involved with Crystal Palace too...

 

[Beefy]

Supermarkets generate so much cash that as businesses they actually runs the risk of stagnating if they aren't spending, and investing and getting bigger and bigger. They're also one of the only types of businesses which are thriving in the current economy. It's no real surprise that they are so pro-active in getting involved in these types of deals.

 

[ooh-andy-ansah]

It could explain why they appear to have been so patient with us then, they obviously have extensive knowledge of the workings of the average football club.

I would love to know how they view the way we are run in a business sense (haha) compared to other clubs.

 

[Beefy]

I suspect that they are well aware of how badly run as businesses most football clubs are. I'm sure that they are sick and tired of the delays here and the Chairman's inability to run the Club without their financial support.

But bottom line is that Sainsburys haven't given the Club a penny. They've advanced some money from the purchase of Roots Hall. If they hadn't spent that cash on us they'd have had to find another way of spending it.

 

[Cricko]

Well they are are saving us at the moment. It's their cash which is paying players and HMRC. Without them things would have come to a head long ago. But their motives aren't altruistic.

I don't think they are helping at all ATM ..I think the funds from them have stopped until the CPO's are sorted on the corner shops..I think we have new borrowings covering things like wages that TB has sorted out.

 

[grassroots]

A green field surrounded by houses makes them drool (as it did our own Mr Martin) and too hard to resist. The difference being that he never had the cash to see it through, just a whole lot of front, plenty of pie in the sky schemes and spin.

 

[canveyshrimper]

I don't think they are helping at all ATM ..I think the funds from them have stopped until the CPO's are sorted on the corner shops..I think we have new borrowings covering things like wages that TB has sorted out.

I thought I read somewhere that Sainsbury's had taken over responsibility for the CPO's.

 

[Beefy]

I don't think they are helping at all ATM ..I think the funds from them have stopped until the CPO's are sorted on the corner shops..I think we have new borrowings covering things like wages that TB has sorted out.

Interesting. Could explain why season tickets have suddenly popped onto the agenda with such a short window for renewals.