Redevelopment Closer Than Ever?

[Vintage Cobbler]

According to the Trust's Facebook site the statement was provided to the BBC at the request of the BBC.  I do not read it as negative at all and the issues it mentions in that statement are going to have to be dealt with, like it or not.  

The BBC article indicates a deal is close at hand.  It provides titbits of information but that is all.  I ask and any thinking supporter should ask what are the details of the deal so that a proper assessment can be made of it.  The club's future prosperity hangs on it since that land is one of its few assets and once bought and sold that is it gone for good.  Hence all the perfectly valid questions I continually ask and I very much hope the Trust will ask and more.  That, I repeat, is the job of the Trust's directors and if that gets under KT's skin then so be it.

I very much doubt that there is any intention by either KT or NBC to disclose the information.  All that they do on anything important is shrouded in secrecy and they will fall back on "commercial confidentiality" when the deal is centred on publicly owned land and in my view should be open to public scrutiny.  This goes very much against the grain for both NBC and our owners. No doubt KT will hate the comparison but it was exactly the same under Cardozas and if that is hard on their successors I'm afraid it comes with the territory.  We have had fast approaching 5 years of opaqueness, bland statements and an unwillingness to demonstrate transparency in any financial or commercial matters.  It is hard to trust in owners when they conduct themselves in this manner.

[Coolcat]

Please, please, please let it happen so we can put the issue to beds and move on!

Plus I hope the Police FINALLY conclude their investigation (after nearly 5 years!!!) and hammer any individuals who have broken the law!

You mean that don't you! He's on the hill I think!  

[Vintage Cobbler]

I know very little personally about Andy Roberts other than that he’s a lifelong cobblers fan and I enjoyed his work when he worked at the Chron, Tom Reed has certainly come out with a few strange ideas both on here and at various notorious trust meetings - I’m sure his hearts in the right place but it’s like he’s desperate to turn us into some kind of socialist experiment. I don’t know what the timeline looks like but it seems like a lot of the poor PR and attempts at spin have been on their watch?

I know Tom Reed and what you are stating about him wanting "to turn us into some kind of socialist experiment" is utter tosh. What he is advocating (as am I) is the 50+1 ownership model run very successfully in the German Bundesliga. The last time I looked Germany was a modern capitalist country.

[Another Pedj]

The Trust is not a supporters club like Sixfields Travel and the “endorsed” Facebook Shoe Army, it is doing its job.  Too many of the posters on here are far too quick to criticise the Trust and far too slow to seek to hold our owners to account.  Many memories are short and 2014/2015 has been conveniently wiped from mental hard discs.

The club has not commented on the BBC article because it does not want to, by which I mean it does not want supporters to know any detail of what is in progress. We may get another in the KT series of “good progress” updates that tell us nothing and many of you will swallow it hook, line and sinker and think he is doing a great job.  Only a few raise valid questions and the Trust is one of that number.  KT does not like that one bit.  Something about the inconvenient truth.

The BBC article is less than clear but I am going to predict for those who seem to think the building contractors are going to be on site in a couple of months time that you are likely to be disappointed.  I know a few things about property development and a lot about the situation on the East Stand and the land behind it.  My knowledge is up to the beginning of this year plus what little I can make of the BBC article.  I have read all the disclosures made under the FOIA process and my conclusion is that our owners’ strategy is to get the Council to agree that the East Stand will only completed out of profits from the development (probably from the sale of plots) of land behind the stand and beyond.  The £4 million spoken about in 2015 for finishing the stand is a broken assurance.  No profits or the certainty of profits from plot pre-sales with planning permission and there will be no stand.  The club are indebted to our owners and their associated companies for over £5 million and rising.  Full praise to our owners astute financial management and their misguided supporters! Apart from perhaps a finished stand, completed to what standard I dread to think, the realistic prospect is that any profits from the land development will be used to settle the debt leaving the club with very little for its future prosperity.

We could be in for a long wait but yesterday’s story is perhaps a small step forward in what I venture to say will still be a long journey. It looks like the Council has still to approve whatever the deal is (no Cabinet meeting has been recorded minuting approval) and the opposition parties and some Tory councillors may have something to say about the failure of our owners to do what they said they would do when being allowed to buy the club in 2015 and then there is the matter of the Council being under a legal obligation to secure best value for the Northampton tax payers from the sale of public land.  It is not a done deal.

So why did the trust,it must have been one individual because the board members had no time to discuss, feel the need to rush out a press release that was so negative in tone?

[guest3086]

The Trust statement looks perfectly reasonable to me. After all that has gone on surely the only logical stance is 'seeing is believing'. Whether you are pro or anti either the Council or the club owners, they have hardly shared their intentions with us. I wouldn't blame the council for staying well clear of the football club altogether. If you want to change the Trust then get involved, anyone can.

[tcobb]

The Trust is beyond changing, they have an agenda and they intend to carry it out. The only way that can stop is for the Trust to cease all activities, its had its day, the majority of fans of NTFC have no interest in it whatsoever.

[Vintage Cobbler]

The Trust is beyond changing, they have an agenda and they intend to carry it out. The only way that can stop is for the Trust to cease all activities, its had its day, the majority of fans of NTFC have no interest in it whatsoever.

Unutterable balls

[Vintage Cobbler]

The Trust statement looks perfectly reasonable to me. After all that has gone on surely the only logical stance is 'seeing is believing'. Whether you are pro or anti either the Council or the club owners, they have hardly shared their intentions with us. I wouldn't blame the council for staying well clear of the football club altogether. If you want to change the Trust then get involved, anyone can.

Agree entirely.

[Shoemaker]

It’s all a little bit embarrassing

The club ownership meeting leaflet shambles (how’s that going) ?

This latest statement....

It’s irrelevant.....

The trust have 0% chance of implementing any change within the club as they have no seat on the board and thus no way of being involved in any decision making process or anymore right than the average fan.

They release statements but who cares?
The average fan has as much influence as the trust nowadays.....

If the trust do raise money from good deeds it’s clear that it won’t go to the club at the moment....(I’m surmising this as they are still moaning about what happened to the last donation)

I’m sorry but it’s just embarrassing to have a group of well meaning people voicing their opinion as if it still counts for anything or represents the fans....

How exactly is it representing the fans?

By being sidelined?
By having zero influence?
By moaning about contributions raised?
By issuing official statements that have no bearing and are no more than personal opinion?

The trust today is a million miles away from what it was set up for.
It is no longer fit for purpose

Brian lomax would be turning in his grave if he knew what it had become.

[tcobb]

Nice Vintage. The Trust has an agenda to have fan ownership of the Club, they do not care if the majority of supporters are against it. The clique of the board wants it to happen, they do not engage with the vast majority of supporters who are not their members. They haven't spoken or canvassed opinion outside their own circle, they do not represent me and alot of other supporters. For some reason Vintage you fail to understand that  and just keep persevering with your anti KT rhetoric.

[Vintage Cobbler]

Brian Lomax will be turning in his grave to read posts such as Shoemaker's last one and also would have another turn looking at the ownership structure of the club with the controlling company being in the secretive tax haven of the British Virgin Islands.  

He was a strong advocate of transparency and supporters having a say in the running of the football club.  We have none of these things.

[guest3355]

If in doubt bring it back to Brian Lomax. Nice.

You put me off the Trust. The fact you support them.

[Vintage Cobbler]

Nice Vintage. The Trust has an agenda to have fan ownership of the Club, they do not care if the majority of supporters are against it. The clique of the board wants it to happen, they do not engage with the vast majority of supporters who are not their members. They haven't spoken or canvassed opinion outside their own circle, they do not represent me and alot of other supporters. For some reason Vintage you fail to understand that  and just keep persevering with your anti KT rhetoric.

Any supporters trust that is not readying itself for community ownership in the present crisis would be deficient.  Community ownership may come about from need not choice. I have for a long time been in favour of the German 50+1 model, a club truly a part of the community and not an adjunct to it attracting gates of a woeful 2% of its population, a club run on transparency and the publication of full accounts.  It is coming like it or not.  The days of the sugar daddy owner in the lower leagues is pretty well over. 

And all this constant crap about agendas is pathetic. I have a view not an agenda. You don't have an agenda or a view other than anti-Trust rhetoric?  What makes you think for a moment you may speak for the majority? Speak for yourself as I do and tell me what you want and why you admire owners who are secretive, absent overseas for much of the time, have allowed over £5 million of debt to land on the club's balance sheet, have invested nothing in the infrastructure of the club and achieved little over 5 years.  If you think the club is blessed to have such owners let me have some of what you are on.

[memyhead]

Ever since they took over the club, KT & Co have been trying to untangle the legal mess they were left with after the Cardoza debacle, aswell as trying to build bridges with NBC (remember there was actually a trust member on the board during the illustrious reign of Cardoza yet it was James Whiting who actually blew the whistle!)

If KT & Co / NBC make a few quid from finally getting that eyesore of an East Stand finished then good luck to them.

Surely by keeping it professional and not "running it by the trust" is how business should be conducted as the trust has no place on the board now anyway.

I'm personally embarrassed to be a lifetime trust member atm as pretty much everything they report is predictably anti KT & Co with no tangible alternative suggestions.

[guest3264]

IF Kelvin pulls off a deal with the Council and the East stand (with a Conference Centre) is built, I hope some on here will be big enough to say they were wrong......................I won't hold my breath!

[Shoemaker]

Ever since they took over the club, KT & Co have been trying to untangle the legal mess they were left with after the Cardoza debacle, aswell as trying to build bridges with NBC (remember there was actually a trust member on the board during the illustrious reign of Cardoza yet it was James Whiting who actually blew the whistle!)

If KT & Co / NBC make a few quid from finally getting that eyesore of an East Stand finished then good luck to them.

Surely by keeping it professional and not "running it by the trust" is how business should be conducted as the trust has no place on the board now anyway.

I'm personally embarrassed to be a lifetime trust member atm as pretty much everything they report is predictably anti KT & Co with no tangible alternative suggestions.

This is a VERY important point

Why were the fans not informed of the impending cardoza era disaster?
The trust had access to info
They signed legal papers

But yet as memy points out the supporters/trust rep was not the whistleblower.....

Surely as a trust THAT is YOUR responsibility....

If you couldn’t inform the public  that the club was on the brink when you were aware what was going on yet failed to inform the supporters , instead leaving it to another board member , why should anyone really care about any mutterings now that you are not privy to the current information???

On past form it’s highly likely the fans would be kept in the dark even if you did know what was going on.

The trust failed the supporters at a time when it was relevant and are now releasing personal opinions at a time when they are totally irrelevant.....

I have zero faith that the trust would rock the boat if it came to the crunch , they rolled over and had their tummies tickled last time and it was left to forumites to galvanise and investigate.

There’s no chance things will be different now that the trust have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes.
Despite having a title they only find things out when the supporters do and are absolutely impotent.

[everbrite]

This is a VERY important point

Why were the fans not informed of the impending cardoza era disaster?
The trust had access to info
They signed legal papers

But yet as memy points out the supporters/trust rep was not the whistleblower.....

Surely as a trust THAT is YOUR responsibility....

If you couldn’t inform the public  that the club was on the brink when you were aware what was going on yet failed to inform the supporters , instead leaving it to another board member , why should anyone really care about any mutterings now that you are not privy to the current information???

On past form it’s highly likely the fans would be kept in the dark even if you did know what was going on.

The trust failed the supporters at a time when it was relevant and are now releasing personal opinions at a time when they are totally irrelevant.....

I have zero faith that the trust would rock the boat if it came to the crunch , they rolled over and had their tummies tickled last time and it was left to forumites to galvanise and investigate.

There’s no chance things will be different now that the trust have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes.
Despite having a title they only find things out when the supporters do and are absolutely impotent.

It is well known that you have a bone to pick with the Trust!

[Shoemaker]

Don’t start again

You wouldn’t have a clue what my feelings are.

You didn’t even remember me when you were sat at the same trust meeting as me.

First you claimed you weren’t there , then you were

Just concentrate on remembering where you’ve been 

[guest2995]

Just get the stand finished - jeez
The Trust need to reflect what supporters want

[everbrite]

Don’t start again

You wouldn’t have a clue what my feelings are.

You didn’t even remember me when you were sat at the same trust meeting as me.

First you claimed you weren’t there , then you were

Just concentrate on remembering where you’ve been 

I happened to be at a Trust Meeting and later learnt you were there. It was easy to recall you as you sat in an unusual place. Your reply such as it is makes no sense.