Redevelopment Closer Than Ever?

[BedsCobb]

- but for me just the fan based solution is unlikely and just the private investor option would repeat the current cycle of mediocrity.

The pitiful way we've been run these past 12 years has shown the type of ownership we dont need.
Any owner who is happy to work with the clubs supporters to build up the club in a sustainable manner is probably the best option.
A rich boys play thing can go wrong quickly and as we've seen being over taken by property developers and land merchants is a non starter, which thankfully is now all but gone so we dont have that to worry about that anymore as the new owners will have to build up the club to make money from playing in a higher division, bigger gates, corperate revenues and work the transfer markets to make profit.
Mithering the council for free land and loans need not apply😂

[guest2487]

Anyone gonna actually do anything about it?

[guest168]

Are going tomorrow for the friendly v Barnet?

why you want to meet up then Evers?

[guest2539]

I think the biggest flaw for fan ownership is getting the calibre of people who have the time and ability to run the club.

The current Trust board members put in a great amount of time and effort BUT to take the club into fan ownership is a massive step up!
Plus you will have the usual suspects who wll use NTFC for personal political point scoring instead of moving the Cobblers forward longterm.

Great in theory but not in reality.........unfortuneately!

[guest48]

I think the biggest flaw for fan ownership is getting the calibre of people who have the time and ability to run the club. People of the calibre of Cardoza ?

The current Trust board members put in a great amount of time and effort BUT to take the club into fan ownership is a massive step up!Do you REALLY think that the Trust board are not aware of this?
Plus you will have the usual suspects who wll use NTFC for personal political point scoring instead of moving the Cobblers forward longterm Who are these "usual suspects"?.

!

[guest168]

Totally agree Roger

It is though if you are a fan you suddenly have no ability to do anything

I have always push for the fans / Trust to take more control, for one simple reason ....... They will spend every second doing the best for the club first and foremost, as the Trust have done since it's inception.

The reason i have criticised them is that they been too reserved and IMO underestimated 1. their power 2. their ability 3, Their importance, sitting back and giving the likes of DC and KT an easy ride whilst they work solutions to gain from the land around Sixfields.

In the last 12 years we have only gone sideways or backwards until those that have 'saved us'

[guest168]

Would those in the 80% pro KT (from the survey) like to give me an update on their latest thinking. Has anything changed?

Not sure exactly how long it's been since KT was badgering NBC and their surrender but KT has said basically nothing since

Just wondered if any of you are now surprised no exciting announcements or hints at a great future, development etc etc.

[everbrite]

why you want to meet up then Evers?

Can do !

[Alfred]

If David Cardoza can run a club anybody can. Seriously though this idea that fan ownership means clipping on a tie and moving to the directors box is misguided.

Do you think Kelvin spends all his waking hours managing the Cobblers? Course not. He hires a chief exec and a manager and staff in the same way a member owned club would.

The club could tick over with Premier League solidarity payments season tickets and commercial revenue as Wycombe have shown. The need for an illusory paternalistic millionaire for a club to function is again, wide of the mark.

Fan ownership also means you unlock the expertise in the fan base, some of whom are involved with far larger companies than Kelvin with all due respect.

Remember the town planners etc trying to help Cardoza with the redevelopment? We'd not be in the position we are today if their expertise was actually utilised.

321,  you're back in the room

[tcobb]

Alfred, for god sake don't wake him up, he rambles enough without actually being in a conscious state 

[BedsCobb]

I think the biggest flaw for fan ownership is getting the calibre of people who have the time and ability to run the club.

The current Trust board members put in a great amount of time and effort BUT to take the club into fan ownership is a massive step up!
Plus you will have the usual suspects who wll use NTFC for personal political point scoring instead of moving the Cobblers forward longterm.

Great in theory but not in reality.........unfortuneately!

Any fan run inititive would not expect those giving up valuble time doing so free gratis, Im absolute certain the Cardozas took a wage and possibly Thomas and co draw a reasonable amount be it wage or expenses from the pot, so getting the very best people in to oversee our clubs growth should expect reasonable expenses for what would be overseeing the club stepping out of the shadows cast these past 12 years and  the biggest step forward in our clubs long history.
It should be demanded of Thomas to allow the trust back on the board to oversee any  inward investment or new owners he may have lined up as after all he wont be here much longer and during these past 3 years has had problems  when it comes to outside  investors.

[guest1269]

Any fan run inititive would not expect those giving up valuble time doing so free gratis, Im absolute certain the Cardozas took a wage and possibly Thomas and co draw a reasonable amount be it wage or expenses from the pot, so getting the very best people in to oversee our clubs growth should expect reasonable expenses for what would be overseeing the club stepping out of the shadows cast these past 12 years and  the biggest step forward in our clubs long history.
It should be demanded of Thomas to allow the trust back on the board to oversee any  inward investment or new owners he may have lined up as after all he wont be here much longer and during these past 3 years has had problems  when it comes to outside  investors.

Beds - the theory is great and I love the concept & as I start to near retirement with reasonable business savvy I'd go as far as to say if appropriate I would think about playing an active part - however and without wishing to rain on your parade if it was that easy, feasible or even possible why have we never got remotely close to such a set up in the 50 years I've been supporting my club - one of the reasons I really do object to the constant carping at KT's intentions by you and Random in particular is simply that none of our previous owners (even excluding a couple of crooks) never got remotely close to the concept you suggest. To blame an individual in such a vitriolic fashion for 50 plus years of hurt is unreasonable - you constantly say he has done nothing but I would argue in 3 years he has owned the club we have had one fantastic (amongst the best I have experience) and 2 Sh!te ones - prior to that my experience ration was averaging closer to 1 in 9 seasons. But probably more importantly the club appears to be relatively solvent with some development opportunities which might just make it attractive to the sort of acquisition you dream of. 

[guest168]

Cobblerwatch why do you think we will be a better investment opportunity now we have lost all the valuable land we controlled via long lease?

Most of the KT 1st season was done more to the Trust than KT. The togtherness was due to DC !

[guest170]

Would those in the 80% pro KT (from the survey) like to give me an update on their latest thinking. Has anything changed?

Not sure exactly how long it's been since KT was badgering NBC and their surrender but KT has said basically nothing since

Just wondered if any of you are now surprised no exciting announcements or hints at a great future, development etc etc.

I didn't do the survey (didn't see it) but I am pro KT. My thoughts are...
Nothing has changed as nothing has really changed with the land issue. Yes the council have agreed to sort the leases out but until it is formally and legally resolved then the issue remains. Once the legalities have been resolved then for me the clock starts on doing something with the stand.

I do however find it a bit frustrating that no plans / designs have been issued as he has stated they are ready to go so why not issue a design, that I agree with you on.

The announcement to sell the club and the comments he made in the interview from tour are disappointing as it sounds like the whole board want to step away. I fully lay the blame for that with the council though.
That's my opinion

[meccanostand]

Totally agree Roger

It is though if you are a fan you suddenly have no ability to do anything

I have always push for the fans / Trust to take more control, for one simple reason ....... They will spend every second doing the best for the club first and foremost, as the Trust have done since it's inception.

The reason i have criticised them is that they been too reserved and IMO underestimated 1. their power 2. their ability 3, Their importance, sitting back and giving the likes of DC and KT an easy ride whilst they work solutions to gain from the land around Sixfields.

In the last 12 years we have only gone sideways or backwards until those that have 'saved us'

I guess it's easy to say DC was given an easy ride in hindsight, you could also say he was given the benefit of the doubt in completing the project he had spent years mithering the council to do. Completely agree though in the fans' energy being used for the betterment of the club, that's invaluable.

We're at the stage now where either Thomas and Bower find a party who can genuinely take us to the next level (and I don't mean someone like 5USports) or they work with the Trust to deliver the club into part or whole fan ownership. The fan ownership route should have been explored more fully at the time of the last crisis. But for one reason or another we were led to believe the club was minutes away from folding when in reality (according to DC) it was traded for a pound with the loan waived by the council.

There is no profit for a private owner without access to wider land and/or with it in League 2 where we have spent the majority of our existence.

[BedsCobb]

Beds - the theory is great and I love the concept & as I start to near retirement with reasonable business savvy I'd go as far as to say if appropriate I would think about playing an active part - however and without wishing to rain on your parade if it was that easy, feasible or even possible why have we never got remotely close to such a set up in the 50 years I've been supporting my club - one of the reasons I really do object to the constant carping at KT's intentions by you and Random in particular is simply that none of our previous owners (even excluding a couple of crooks) never got remotely close to the concept you suggest. To blame an individual in such a vitriolic fashion for 50 plus years of hurt is unreasonable - you constantly say he has done nothing but I would argue in 3 years he has owned the club we have had one fantastic (amongst the best I have experience) and 2 Sh!te ones - prior to that my experience ration was averaging closer to 1 in 9 seasons. But probably more importantly the club appears to be relatively solvent with some development opportunities which might just make it attractive to the sort of acquisition you dream of. 

Firstly its not my parade but all our football club and secondly we could not possibly be carping KTs intentions for our clubs rebuilding for a better future because as far as I know he hasn't got any or none hes bothered to share with the clubs loyal suppprt base?
Again if Ive missed the grand reveal, please enlighten.
Thirdly, You take over a well established and respected football club that has, due to years of neglect and miss management fallen so far from grace it can barely match teams from much lesser towns and unable to cash in on its vast untapped catchment, a club seriously underperforming in all aspects of the professional game.
what do you do?
I would answer this with make a plan and work very closely with all supporters, the trust and most importantly involve the whole town and catchment to get interested in what the club plans to achieve and make it work over a reasonal period of time showing steady sustainable growth that can be proudly  enjoyed by all the existing and most importantly the new support attracted to a more progressive professional club.
What I wouldn't do is give it the big I am and sign autographs a pose for selfies before polishing the edges and sprinkle some glitter over the bad bits, then lay low for 3 years while the club sink back into where it has remained most these past 50 years...
Also please note that management team and players that got us promoted were cardozas recruits so we have yet to see a successful Thomas era team, but I fully expect us to progress back to league 1 next season, possibly via the playoffs, only this time lets get the infrastructure right for a league 1 campaign that allows us a chance at challenging at that level.
And that's the benchmark for Thomas/consortium/new investors/new owners/ supporters led inititive  to work for.

[Terryfenwickatemyhamster]

So a club run by the Earls Barton massive it is then 

[BedsCobb]

So a club run by the Earls Barton massive it is then 

They get my vote😉

[guest1269]

There is a kind of irony here from Random and Beds - we have had months if not years of pretty much the same message -  KT and the like are the bad guys etc etc etc & the solution lies with some sort of fan ownership program.

I’m fine with the concept so perhaps you would address the following points (failure to do so would perhaps open you to the same criticism you constantly direct to KT)

(1) a time scale when this fan’s ownership’s actual structure will be announced
(2) when it will be making a bid to purchase the club
(3) a business plan on how it will raise capital (one that a commercial bank would accept).
(4) names of the pivotal stakeholders in this organization.
(5) plans for development of the east stand and confirmation of funding details to actually execute it.

I’m sure there will be some smart arse answers to all these points but in life it’s easy to criticize as it is to make a utopian plan in theory - reality is sometimes a little tougher

[meccanostand]

So a club run by the Earls Barton massive it is then 

Not necessarily. A democratically elected board a la FC United Of Manchester is a good model. Who knows what talented people would step forward from within the fan base

Here's the FCUM structure.

http://www.fc-utd.co.uk/structure.php