The New Stadium

[The Marksman]

Sorry if it's been answered elsewhere, I searched and couldn't find anything on the first few pages of results.

My questions are: Where is the funding for the new stadium coming from? Is it 100% from the directors, a combo of loan and directors' money, or 100% loan? And how much is it estimated to cost?

[Harry]

I gather it is being speculated to cost around 6 million, with most of the money coming from the sale of Christie Park.

[Duffman]

Did anyone see the Sky Sports news report on lower league clubs selling their grounds? They had a look at several clubs who sold the land to property developers who paid silly amounts of money but now have to ground share. One club sold the ground and land but made the developers contribute to their new ground.

I'm not sure what the situation is with out ground as the land for Westgate would surely be a similar price to what we have (in terms of location, near a main road, access to train stations and shops).

[Posh]

Did anyone see the Sky Sports news report on lower league clubs selling their grounds? They had a look at several clubs who sold the land to property developers who paid silly amounts of money but now have to ground share. One club sold the ground and land but made the developers contribute to their new ground.

I'm not sure what the situation is with out ground as the land for Westgate would surely be a similar price to what we have (in terms of location, near a main road, access to train stations and shops).

From what I understand the deal for Christie Park is sorted. The land at Westgate isn't comparable in terms of price for numerous reasons including usage, ownership etc.

[Martin]

The one outstanding quality of our board is that they tread very slowly, very carefully, but with purpose. I think they've researched thoroughly in this venture and will have planned to minimise any pitfalls. I suspect many of the clubs that have been caught out are the ones where they make an "eggs in one basket" attempt to reach their goal and subsequently come a cropper.

[Christies Child]

The business acumen of our Board is something that I believe we do not give them due credit for.

Gone are the days of the Butcher and the Newsagent. Now we have a Board made up of highly successful business people, a number in the millionaire bracket who have a love for the game and fortunately for us, a love of Morecambe Football Club.

Long may it continue.

[The Marksman]

I'm not doubting any of that, the board rule, I was just looking for some (even rough) numbers...

[thegentlegiant]

i thought the board were putting some of the cash up along side the ground sale and also i thought the local council were putting some cash into the deal!!!?

[P/T Indie]

I thought the council were going to give us the land at Westagate for very little but then changed their minds and wanted full market value which if correct would change the budget somewhat.

I am a bit concerned about the sale of CP as we haven't got outline planning permission yet and did I read we weren't going to apply for it and I think with the current slump in the house market it will surley be difficult to sell to a property developer. I hope Posh is right and a deal has already been sorted.

[shrimper]

Certain information will, quite rightly, remain confidential at this time. But, as Posh says, it appears (from the confidence the board displays) that the deal for the sale of Christie Park is secure. I get the impression that whoever they've been dealing with may be agreeing to buy it in full knowledge that it might not be the right time, just yet, to develop it for housing. But it WILL be in a few years and the land will still represent a great development opportunity then.

The board, I'd imagine, do have the resources (or access to them via financial arrangements) to pay for the new ground themselves. But they've never wanted to work like that. They HAVE invested lots of their own money but this whole deal is aimed at making the club more able to stand on its own two feet in the future and not rely so much on that kind of funding - we've all seen what happens when a 'sugar daddy' decides he's had enough. Not saying our chaps would ever ditch us but anything can happen with individuals and they want to eliminate such risks.

The sale of Christie Park will bring in one lump of cash, I'd imagine applications will be made to the Football Trust and other bodies. There is also, I suppose, some prospect of cash under regeneration budgets for that area of town.
Loans will be arranged as well (maybe from board members to the club; maybe from banks, the club borrowing against the budgeted income from the rents from, say, a new hotel and fast food outlets).

The land at Westgate isn't being given to the club, they do have to buy it but it won't be at the same price as the land at Christie. The council wants to encourage this development because it thinks it's a good idea for the town. The Christie site is a more obvious 'infill' area for residential development.

I don't think there is a definite cost of the new ground. The board has said 'multi-million'. There will be a basic price for a minimum level of facilities that they want to incorporate but when the club assesses precisely what funds are available, after it's paid out all its agency fees and plans are firmed up, it'll decide how much it can spend.