|
Horsham Cobbler
|
It's a pity Sussex Cobblers, as author, isn't on £10.00 a post for this thread. If he was, he'd be well placed to complete the East Stand and choose the naming rights.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shoemaker
|
There is no connection between the two.
KT is in year 5 of "positive discussions" with the Council and you must draw your own conclusions on where they may be or not.
Outside of that work goes as best as be can be to be ready for what may lie ahead. I cannot elaborate on that.
Administration then liquidation ?? |
|
|
|
|
|
GrangeParkCobbler
|
Not the first person to post on here that something is going on that we should perhaps be worried about?
|
The Hotel End GTA Champion 2006/07, 2007/08, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2018/19 and 2023/24
|
|
|
|
guest3338
|
It's a pretty desperate measure and just about the last, I would have thought.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Melbourne Cobbler
|
I recall you saying a few months back that the club had been obtained by KT/DB under false pretences given the understanding reached with NBC in 2015 and the £4 million ring fenced etc. for the East Stand and its completion. All that has happened in the many years since demonstrates that our owners misled the Council and supporters. Either you agree with that view or not but now you seem in the midst of your other unintelligible business man speak to be moving the goalposts with your usual private enterprise mantra. What I am saying is that the business model for NTFC and others is broken. It needs to be updated and replaced. Ownership of the club needs to be placed under the control of the community, not an anonymous offshore, opaque tax haven company. It should not be allowed but the EFL is weak and hopeless. Ask Bury.
I give up on the current owners. They have disappointed us and will continue to do so. The pity is that some continue to believe that KT is the answer to a maiden’s prayer. One day that may realise that he is not. The front man for the money man Bower, KT in particular has run out of credibility and run out of road.
I am suggesting an alternative business model. I think it is the right way forward.
I am genuinely confused. My post made no commentary or assessment of the current owners? It was solely my opinion on the merits of spending vast borrowings on a league club? That has been my position from the outset? Please can you explain how that is moving any goal posts? Further to this with all due respect I don’t believe for one minute you found the commentary in my post unintelligible? If so specifically which part and I will rephrase? Look, I get you are frustrated and it’s an emotive subject but their must be a clear separation between the 2 issues. They are the opinion regarding the conduct of the current owners and the circumstances regarding any financial commitment regarding the club? The point I was trying to make was that in the unlikely event that the current owners announced they were to immediately spend millions on the East Stand and the builders turned up tomorrow, many would celebrate? Until I understood the financial implications for the club and it’s future I would do the polar opposite. |
Not a real supporter but unelected chair of the Northampton Town Honorary Supporters Club. (Please note: any opinions given may not necessarily be shared by proper supporters. In incidents of conflict the views of real supporters shall take precedence).
|
|
|
|
guest3355
|
There is no connection between the two.
I cannot elaborate on that.
Hi Kelvin. |
|
|
|
|
|
GrangeParkCobbler
|
Although some including myself believe that KT did say that there was money ringfenced, and that he hasn't kept his word on the East Stand, hasn't the time passed now when we can expect him to do anything about the stand now?
As Melbourne infers, any further splurge of cash will just be loaded onto the club, and yes we could finally have a finished stand, but at the same time we would then be in debt to the tune of £9 or £10m. He's (KT) not going to gift us anything, whatever gets spent will just appear somewhere else on the clubs creditors lists....in just the same way that the Belle-De Jour money is sitting there against the club.
That money was a direct consequence of the failed 5USports business, and the money paid out on high profile managers and players in a vain attempt to stop us being relegated from League 1 last time round.
Its pretty clear that the only way that the stand will be finished is if the council allow development of the other land, and then some of the proceeds may help finish the East. But lets be honest, there's a reason there are no plans for that stand, no sign of any work, no sign of anything at all. That's because the money which potentially could have finished the stand back in 2015/16 is now long gone.
|
The Hotel End GTA Champion 2006/07, 2007/08, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2018/19 and 2023/24
|
|
|
|
Melbourne Cobbler
|
On a separate note VC may I request that you withdraw your comment that I have said the club was obtained under false pretences? At no point have I stated this. What I did say was that it was an issue that many supporters seem to believe it was? Thank you in advance.
|
Not a real supporter but unelected chair of the Northampton Town Honorary Supporters Club. (Please note: any opinions given may not necessarily be shared by proper supporters. In incidents of conflict the views of real supporters shall take precedence).
|
|
|
|
Terryfenwickatemyhamster
|
It's refreshing to see that the vast majority are challenging, and ultimately deriding some of the ridiculous notions being aired on here.
The community model will only happen under one condition, that’s if the club is on the brink of oblivion. Hope then we would a credible business savvy group come on board, like some of the other groups we have heard mention of. At this point, that does not exist. Then it would only serve to put the club back into sensible private ownership.
At this point it is more than sensible to question a number of people’s motives. That land hasn't just turned KT and DB's heads...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deepcut Cobbler
|
|
“They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.” Laurence Binyon
The Hotelend Grand National Sweepstake Champion 2009
|
|
|
|
Vintage Cobbler
|
On a separate note VC may I request that you withdraw your comment that I have said the club was obtained under false pretences? At no point have I stated this. What I did say was that it was an issue that many supporters seem to believe it was? Thank you in advance.
MC, in which case I unreservedly withdraw that comment. On the subject of misconstruing comments let me also make clear that my own views on community ownership have been on this site for some months. When I comment that a plan needs to be ready all I am saying is that a plan needs to be in place should the need (or opportunity) arise. In my comments yesterday I referred to increasing pressure from EFL Championship clubs for more of the tv money combined with a threat by some to form a Premier B League if they don’t get their way. Should either happen the consequences for L1 & 2 clubs would be very serious. That is where I am coming from and not with any knowledge of anything adverse at NTFC. In fact, whatever my complaints may be about the current owners they have been mostly restricted to the stadium and wider redevelopment plus transparency and communication issues. On a day to day basis the bills are being paid and that side of affairs seems to be satisfactory. I accept that for many this is good enough and they just want a side to turn up and support 23 times season and if it is L2 football so be it. I agree with TFAMH that in most cases the community model will only come about in a financial crisis. That is a matter of historical fact in those cases where it has happened. It needn’t be that way and a future change in the EFL Rules could bring it about for lower division clubs or there could be a change in legislation. Again, I very much doubt that there will be any change in the law under a Tory government with its open market philosophy. However, the Labour Party was advocating community ownership in its recent manifesto and it’s a subject it may return to in the future. Where I would disagree with TFAMH’s comment is his assertion that community ownership would only be a temporary situation to be followed by putting the club back into private ownership. I know this has happened at Portsmouth where my understanding is this was always the intention and most recently at Wycombe. Again, it doesn’t need to be that way. There is no intention of ever allowing this to occur at Exeter, AFC Wimbledon or any of the Scottish clubs I mentioned. North of the border there is a growing momentum to community ownership. To those who say community ownership can’t work I would say it is working well elsewhere at clubs with a lower income than NTFC and there is no reason why it won’t work at NTFC. My strong preference is for a 50 + 1 structure with significant involvement by local businesses as minority shareholders/sponsors etc.. If that isn’t possible at the outset then rather than selling out to a private investor I would go the route I am suggesting. I have said many times that the current business model for lower division clubs is broken. Few would disagree because the financial information is there to be seen. Yet some supporters on here are still hoping the rich benefactor will arrive and NTFC will be blessed with a new era of growth and success. Our history shows this is most unlikely to happen. Therefore, another way forward is needed. |
|
|
|
|
|
Melbourne Cobbler
|
Thanks once again VC, I appreciate it.
|
Not a real supporter but unelected chair of the Northampton Town Honorary Supporters Club. (Please note: any opinions given may not necessarily be shared by proper supporters. In incidents of conflict the views of real supporters shall take precedence).
|
|
|
|
|
|
guest3359
|
Read this too last night and didnt think there was anything new in there. Council saying ground can be completed and must be before discussing anything else. Club saying doesnt make sense to do the stand without the whole development package. Still the men in suits bicker whilst the fans suffer. |
|
|
|
|
|
Gomez
|
I don't think this statement from NBC could be any clearer: "But nothing will be agreed before the stand is finished and a date for an opening party is set." And still KT trots out the same old BS! "However, Cobblers chairman Kelvin Thomas said the councillors are misinformed as talks between the council and the club are ongoing to come to an agreement." We don't believe you Kelvin. |
|
|
|
|
|
Manwork04
|
Crystal clear MR Thomas, finish the stand FIRST, just as you promised.
It looks like the council have had enough BS too.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: March 11, 2020, 09:09:25 am by Manwork04 »
|
Report Spam
Logged
|
Rule Britannia
|
|
|
|
clarkeysntfc
|
https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/20202/march/club_statement/Remarkable that people are lapping up the words of Cllr Hadland. If you cast your mind back about 10 years or so, he was one of the major players in the council when Cardoza got the Trust to organise a march on the guildhall to protest about the council's own inaction on the East Stand public loan etc* Fast forwards to the present day, we all know how it turned out, so I would take Cllr Hadland's comments with a dollop of salt. *I'm sure people will remember that day - it was when we beat Sc***horpe 2-1 with B Johnson's last minute winner to delay their promotion party
|
|
|
|
|
|
Knockingonabit
|
Every time I read "finish the east stand" I have a bit of a funny turn! Who on earth would spend their own money to finish that pile of shi*e? Yes, I do know that is what KT said he would do but so flawed is the basic design that even finished I reckon it would still be an embarrassment.
|
|
|
|
|
|
GrangeParkCobbler
|
Can anyone work out what the proposed "land swap" was? Which land is currently used by Northamptonshire County Council?
Was Kelvin looking to dump the contaminated land on the Council for some "cleaner land" which could be developed upon more easily?
|
The Hotel End GTA Champion 2006/07, 2007/08, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2018/19 and 2023/24
|
|
|
|
guest3359
|
I'd read the statement but missed the letter. I'd encourage anyone to read the letter before commenting. Surprised the council hadn't done point a prior to now but that's where we are. |
|
|
|
|
|
