Stadium plans passed subject to earlier payment phasing...

[Smiffy]

But the finance isn't in place for the main stand. We have no information yet as to

a) Who EXACTLY owns the main stand and who owns the other 3
b) What rents will be coming in via the main stand and the other 3
c) What facilities any of the stands will have

I'm sure gates will be unaffected as it means we'll just be sitting in 3 stands more cosily than spread across 4. If the team plays well we'll get more people in, simple. The gate receipts will be the same unless we draw a big team, which, if we do, will be unfortunate. But that doesn't happen often, does it?

I do think that everyone is worrying unnecessarily about the main stand. It's not our problem to solve guys, it's Ron's.

What we want to hear as fans is an absolute assurance that a) the stand will be built, and b) the club will be able to survive. He's obviously not going to be able to give those guarantees. If he did, then no-one would believe him and say that it was impossible to absolutely guarantee the main stand would be built and it was also not possible to guarantee the viability of a business so he therefore must be lying.

If he doesn't give those guarantees then he must be a lying, conniving fraud of a businessman only out to line his own pockets and doesn't care about the club.

What he has said is that he will do his best to ensure the main stand is built within five years but everyone sees that and goes "Oh my God we're going to be stuck with a three sided ground for ever which must have been his intention from day 1 the lying ******"

The bloke has given information in the past and no-one believed him. He has tried to keep everyone up to date and his words were denounced as bull and spin. He gave an indicative date for when he HOPED the development would start and it has been used as a stick to beat him with. Is anyone therefore surprised when he doesn't divulge much information anymore?

He either pumps money in or arranges for it to be pumped in on a monthly basis, just to keep us afloat, but rather than have any gratitude for this at all, people want to see us go into administration and possibly relegated 3 divisions just so that RonWorld doesn't go ahead and he isn't in charge... because obviously Southern League Premier is a phenomenal improvement on watching a Football League Two team that nearly got promoted last season and has just gone to Wembley...

Come on Guys, weigh it up on balance... we're better off with him than without him.

Exactly!....As far as I am concerned if the bloke does not have the funds himself or is clearly able to demonstrate the ability to draw on such funds, to complete the project FULLY. Then he should not be getting involved with such a development. The whole thing seems a bit far fetched and unfortunately out of his reach.

I would be over the moon if he built 4 sides, I really would. I may even begrudgingly give praise!....but until I see evidence that this is even a remote possibility. I will remain cautious and sceptical of the whole thing. I note the Council asked for such information to be presented as well. But RM failed to do so, claiming time would not allow. Come on, you either have the required finance or you don't.

This is not a personal thing. I am just concerned for the future of my club that is all.

 

[Jam_Man]

I do think that everyone is worrying unnecessarily about the main stand. It's not our problem to solve guys, it's Ron's.

And Ron seems to be unable to deliver anything without Sainsbury's help (and at moment even with their help).

That's what makes me worried.

 

[Grayson]

Pardon my ignorance on all of this, but:

Is it feasible that Ron could build the 3 sided ground, get Sainsburys onto Roots Hall (and maybe retail units running), and then exit SUFC at that stage? Would he make enough money from that to wash his hands of the other issues?

And so, the next question is, if that happened would building the 4th side be a viable investment for somebody else to take over?

 

[bluebrian]

Why don't you just wait and see what he pulls out the bag? He has got a lot further than you ever thought he would. You were wrong yesterday when you said it would be deferred and you have been wrong previously on lots of occasions about how things would end up. I get it that you hate Martin - but maybe if you put that hatred to one side and looked at things objectively you may see things a bit differently and have a bit more hope than you clearly have at the moment. TB has gone GL has gone and neither of them found a way to remove Martin. RM is the only one who can achieve our desired goals and right now I continue to believe he will come good. He will make vast amounts of money from RH and FF and I personally believe he will see it through and deliver on the main stand. UTB.

 

[bluebrian]

Sorry my post above was in response to Smithy - forgot to add his quote!!

 

[Smiffy]

Pardon my ignorance on all of this, but:

Is it feasible that Ron could build the 3 sided stand, get Sainsburys onto Roots Hall (and maybe retail units running), and then exit SUFC at that stage? Would he make enough money from that to wash his hands of the other issues?

And so, the next question is, if that happened would building the 4th side be a viable investment for somebody else to take over?

He could yes.

People are forgetting what the real money maker is for him out of all of this.....

The whole lot at FF is just a sideshow.

The real jewel is in the property development at Roots Hall.

 

[Cricko]

Why don't you just wait and see what he pulls out the bag? He has got a lot further than you ever thought he would. You were wrong yesterday when you said it would be deferred and you have been wrong previously on lots of occasions about how things would end up. I get it that you hate Martin - but maybe if you put that hatred to one side and looked at things objectively you may see things a bit differently and have a bit more hope than you clearly have at the moment. TB has gone GL has gone and neither of them found a way to remove Martin. RM is the only one who can achieve our desired goals and right now I continue to believe he will come good. He will make vast amounts of money from RH and FF and I personally believe he will see it through and deliver on the main stand. UTB.

To be fair they did consider that which I forgot to mention but as they were the one calling the shots yesterday they felt as their next meeting was not until the end of May it was up to RM to decide if he excepted their terms or not.

And to reiterate Smiffy after supporting this club for near on 45 years all I want is what is best for it and to see us and rightfully so in a 4 sided stadium.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Pardon my ignorance on all of this, but:

Is it feasible that Ron could build the 3 sided stand, get Sainsburys onto Roots Hall (and maybe retail units running), and then exit SUFC at that stage? Would he make enough money from that to wash his hands of the other issues?

And so, the next question is, if that happened would building the 4th side be a viable investment for somebody else to take over?

Personally I would have thought the hotel & conference facilities would be a pretty profitable part of the development so Ron would want to get that done, along with the fact that the corporate matchday facilities will be part of the same structure which would make running SUFC less expensive for him and more attractive to investors when he sells the club on.

 

[Smiffy]

Why don't you just wait and see what he pulls out the bag? He has got a lot further than you ever thought he would. You were wrong yesterday when you said it would be deferred and you have been wrong previously on lots of occasions about how things would end up. I get it that you hate Martin - but maybe if you put that hatred to one side and looked at things objectively you may see things a bit differently and have a bit more hope than you clearly have at the moment. TB has gone GL has gone and neither of them found a way to remove Martin. RM is the only one who can achieve our desired goals and right now I continue to believe he will come good. He will make vast amounts of money from RH and FF and I personally believe he will see it through and deliver on the main stand. UTB.

He has not got futher than I thought he would. If he gets the 4 sides built, as I mentioned earlier, then he would of.

Wrong yesterday?.....Well my apologies, I said I would expect a deferral and changes to the payment phasing, in effect that is what happened no?

Hatred?....No. Concern for my club?... Yes.

Sure, I will just sit here and see what happens. I won't raise my concerns and just bury my head and pray.

Do you think I want to be negative?

Of course not, I want to be positive. If you were around about 5 years ago you would of seen quite possibly the most positive poster on this board. I want to enjoy everything about SUFC again. But at the moment, I am struggling to see anything remotely positive on and off the pitch. Even more time out required maybe...

 

[mrsblue]

Why don't you just wait and see what he pulls out the bag? He has got a lot further than you ever thought he would. You were wrong yesterday when you said it would be deferred and you have been wrong previously on lots of occasions about how things would end up. I get it that you hate Martin - but maybe if you put that hatred to one side and looked at things objectively you may see things a bit differently and have a bit more hope than you clearly have at the moment. TB has gone GL has gone and neither of them found a way to remove Martin. RM is the only one who can achieve our desired goals and right now I continue to believe he will come good. He will make vast amounts of money from RH and FF and I personally believe he will see it through and deliver on the main stand. UTB.

You are right without Ron we would owe billions instead of millions,We could without Ron be playing on some random field but with Ron we may get the 3sided thing,Without Ron we could be playing ESL but with Ron we are back to basement football.

Ron is without any doubt the saviour of SUFC,Good old Ron.

 

[Cricko]

Personally I would have thought the hotel & conference facilities would be a pretty profitable part of the development so Ron would want to get that done, along with the fact that the corporate matchday facilities will be part of the same structure which would make running SUFC less expensive for him and more attractive to investors when he sells the club on.

How though, his business record is at an all time low, I would love to believe someone is going to come along and finance the 4th side etc , I just can't see it, it a massive development with any returns atm pie in the sky.

It is all if's and buts, if he were a multi millionaire with some credibility left maybe.I will be more than happy if he pulls some rabbit out of the hat but atm can't see it.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

How though, his business record is at an all time low, I would love to believe someone is going to come along and finance the 4th side etc , I just can't see it, it a massive development with any returns atm pie in the sky.

It is all if's and buts, if he were a multi millionaire with some credibility left maybe.I will be more than happy if he pulls some rabbit out of the hat but atm can't see it.

By getting a hotel chain to front some money, with the airport's planned expansion it will be a pretty attractive proposition and once ground is finally broken on the 3 stands I can see such a company coming forward. It is a pretty worrying house of cards though.

 

[bluebrian]

To be fair they did consider that which I forgot to mention but as they were the one calling the shots yesterday they felt as their next meeting was not until the end of May it was up to RM to decide if he excepted their terms or not.

And to reiterate Smiffy after supporting this club for near on 45 years all I want is what is best for it and to see us and rightfully so in a 4 sided stadium.

You beat me by 5 years - but I feel exactly the same. Perhaps I see things a bit differently because I am not close to anyone past or present at the club so I can only look at things from a far. I can only go on from what I have seen to date and RM is no different from any other property developer that I know. They never use their own money - developments are nearly always funded through third parties and they are all very devious people (some may say good business men). My guess is we will get the main stand but it will be very different from what was approved at planning as RM will not want to spend more than he has to on it and he will then hand over the stadium to the council or some other not for profit organisation to run and he will walk away from the club. I could be miles away from the truth but that's what I think will happen.

 

[Cricko]

By getting a hotel chain to front some money, with the airport's planned expansion it will be a pretty attractive proposition and once ground is finally broken on the 3 stands I can see such a company coming forward. It is a pretty worrying house of cards though.

These new hotel people such as premiere inn put the things up in about 10 minutes and the costs are very little compared to fronting some 25 mill 4th stand project..they will not see that as viable or a profit return unless they want to wait until we land on Jupiter.

 

[bluebrian]

He has not got futher than I thought he would. If he gets the 4 sides built, as I mentioned earlier, then he would of.

Wrong yesterday?.....Well my apologies, I said I would expect a deferral and changes to the payment phasing, in effect that is what happened no?

Hatred?....No. Concern for my club?... Yes.

Sure, I will just sit here and see what happens. I won't raise my concerns and just bury my head and pray.

Do you think I want to be negative?

Of course not, I want to be positive. If you were around about 5 years ago you would of seen quite possibly the most positive poster on this board. I want to enjoy everything about SUFC again. But at the moment, I am struggling to see anything remotely positive on and off the pitch. Even more time out required maybe...

Smithy I have been around a long time viewing this board - but I just chose not to post on it. I am fully aware that you care passionately about this club - I just think that perhaps you just go too close to some people connected with the club who ultimately had different views from RM and now that clouds your opinions in relation to moving forward and having hope. Ultimately no one other than RM knows how this will all pan out. I just think ultimately things will come good for us and we will get the main stand built - but as I said previously not the main stand that we were given planning approval for. Anyway none of my comments are really a personal dig at you. I just think its a shame that you have lost all hope.

 

[North Banker]

Would it not have made sense to build the main stand first, and add the other 3 sides on later? I mean it would look pretty stupid and would only hold 8000, but surely that would be enough whilst the building is ongoing and the revenue streams from the main stand would be operational from the start.

Am I missing something?

The only problem I can see is that we probably never need all of the other 14,000 seats and there would be no motivation for Ron to complete the whole stadium.

Obviously it's too late now and I'm sure (or at least I hope) the planners have thought the staging through in more detail, because it does seem stupid that the main stand will be left until last.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Would it not have made sense to build the main stand first, and add the other 3 sides on later? I mean it would look pretty stupid and would only hold 8000, but surely that would be enough whilst the building is ongoing and the revenue streams from the main stand would be operational from the start.

Am I missing something?

The only problem I can see is that we probably never need all of the other 14,000 seats and there would be no motivation for Ron to complete the whole stadium.

Obviously it's too late now and I'm sure (or at least I hope) the planners have thought the staging through in more detail, because it does seem stupid that the main stand will be left until last.

Sainsburys are basically paying for the 3 sides so we have a stadium aren't they? so they can build on RH, but won't pay for the main stand hence the need for outside investment for that. And why would anyone else want to help us build the other 3 sides when all they will be used for is football?

 

[TrueBlue]

Blackpool - Their main stand (West) was constructed along with the two behind the goal stands. The temporary stand you are referring to is not the main stand and has just been made bigger.

Port Vale - The main stand is constructed and operational, bar some seats. This is a re-development rather than a new ground anyway. Plus they were in Administration.

Orient - Again the main stand was constructed in tandem with the rest of the re-development.

Brighton - Their main stand was also constructed in tandem with the rest of the development.

Not the best of examples young man. So again I ask the question. Show me a club that has built a new stadium, without its main stand in tandem, or at least construction starting on it within a couple of months of the rest. You will struggle to find such a ridiculous phasing of development. By all means build 3 sides. But christ at least do an Oxford and make the empty side one of the ends, rather than the main stand.

I would actually rather have 2 stands (side stands) if it were to include the main stand and all the facilities that go with it. And build the other two (behind the goals) at a later date. I would be much more happy and feel a bit safer about our future if it was done that way.

Relying on the word of RM that he will construct it (With no firm timescale given and no security) but perhaps within 5 years is just not enough for me. 5 years?....5 frigging years?....If we survive that long without it, then we will be the luckiest club alive.

I refer to Brighton at the Withdean

 

[mrsblue]

Would it not have made sense to build the main stand first, and add the other 3 sides on later? I mean it would look pretty stupid and would only hold 8000, but surely that would be enough whilst the building is ongoing and the revenue streams from the main stand would be operational from the start.

Am I missing something?

The only problem I can see is that we probably never need all of the other 14,000 seats and there would be no motivation for Ron to complete the whole stadium.

Obviously it's too late now and I'm sure (or at least I hope) the planners have thought the staging through in more detail, because it does seem stupid that the main stand will be left until last.

Makes sense to me,Or better still let Sainsbury pay for a more modest stadium such as 4000 seat main stand with opposite seated stand holding 5000 then leave Behring both goals open terrace until such times when the club are able to afford building seated stands,This gives the club a chance of paying their way.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

These new hotel people such as premiere inn put the things up in about 10 minutes and the costs are very little compared to fronting some 25 mill 4th stand project..they will not see that as viable or a profit return unless they want to wait until we land on Jupiter.

There's pleny of hotel chains beside Premier Inn, more upmarket ones who could be interested, and besides they wouldn't necessarily have to pay for the whole thing would they? I mean once a well known chain agreed then Ron might be able to get a loan for the rest. (I know the idea of anyone giving Ron a loan sounds ridiculous but still). :smiles: