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The stadium curse
Posted on December 3, 2012
The topics of the stadium which has become separated from its club in ownership terms, and the mixed blessing that a new stadium can bring, are ones that I have covered in previous postings (see postings passim). The battle over Fratton Park is shortly to be resolved in court (1). The twisted history of Portsmouth’s […]
Posted in Assets, Investors, Ownership, Stadium, Trusts | 7 Comments »
Stadium developments (and redevelopments)
Posted on October 24, 2011
In the last couple of weeks, stadiums, both those which are newly planned and those where there has been or will be redevelopment, have being popping up on my radar screen with surprising regularity. The saga of what to do with the Olympic stadium shows no signs of reaching resolution. Sadly we seem to be […]
Posted in Assets, Stadium | 5 Comments »
Of (dream) stadiums at Plymouth and Southend
Posted on May 29, 2011
While the insolvency process has many shortcomings when it comes to football clubs, one good thing it does do is shake some of the skeletons out of the cupboard. As a Pompey fan, I’m expecting some pretty shocking data, and, who knows, even legal proceedings, to emerge as forensic accountants work on the liquidation of […]
Posted in 2018, Insolvency, Stadium | 2 Comments »
Some stadium snippets
Posted on April 22, 2011
Mainly, but not exclusively, bad news from various clubs at various levels in the pyramid: Bradford City (L2; population 294,000; nearest higher Level club Leeds United 10 miles [city centre to city centre, not stadium to stadium]) Younger readers may be forgiven for not knowing that Bradford City was home to Premier League football, albeit […]
Posted in Stadium | 4 Comments »
The Olympic stadium, the small matter of distance, and the Premier League
Posted on January 21, 2011
By the time you read this, it may well be that the post-2012 fate of the Olympic stadium has been decided, with the decision going to one contentious bid rather than the other (I won’t rehearse the pros and cons of Tottenham and West Ham, taking a detour via Crystal Palace – they have been […]
Posted in Football League, Governance, Premier League, Stadium | 38 Comments »
The joy that was, and may yet again be, the Abbey Stadium
Posted on January 18, 2011
Perhaps not the obvious stadium to refer to as a ‘joy’, but it has a special place in my personal history. My very first football-related memory is of being driven along the Newmarket Road as a child aged about 4 years and suddenly catching sight of this enticing building. Yes, it was oddly enticing. Frequent […]
Posted in Assets, Benefactors, Insolvency, Investors, Ownership, Stadium, Trusts | 6 Comments »
The trouble with new stadiums 4 (and final)
Posted on August 10, 2010
[See also The trouble with new stadiums 1, which looked at the argument that "We’re a club with ambition and we need more seats to reflect that ambition", The trouble with new stadiums 2, which looked at the argument that "We’ve got the wrong sort of stadium. We need one better suited to maximising our […]
Posted in Assets, Costs, Debts, Stadium | 13 Comments »
The trouble with new stadiums 3
Posted on July 26, 2010
[See also The trouble with new stadiums 1, which looked at the argument that "We’re a club with ambition and we need more seats to reflect that ambition", and The trouble with new stadiums 2, which looked at the argument that "We’ve got the wrong sort of stadium. We need one better suited to maximising […]
Posted in Assets, Stadium | 3 Comments »
The trouble with new stadiums 2
Posted on July 8, 2010
[See also The trouble with new stadiums 1, which looked at the argument that "We’re a club with ambition and we need more seats to reflect that ambition".] The second case put for building a new stadium is: We’ve got the wrong sort of stadium. We need one better suited to maximising our revenue streams. […]
Posted in Assets, Marketing, Merchandising, Revenues, Stadium | 2 Comments »
The trouble with new stadiums 1
Posted on June 27, 2010
You may have noticed – I am not a fan of the new stadium. At the Supporters Direct Conference I spoke briefly about ‘the myth of the new stadium’, and over a couple of postings I’ll elaborate on why I don’t, in general, rate them. Broadly, there are three lines of argument that are trotted […]
Posted in Stadium | 7 Comments »
More stadium madness
Posted on April 30, 2010
Last week I blogged on the unrealistic plans for new stadiums in Plymouth and Bristol in connection with England’s 2018 bid (Are we going stark stadium bonkers?). This approach is certainly not confined to England, and an interesting example can be found in Qatar, bidding for the 2022 World Cup (1). This particular article, citing […]
Posted in Costs, Stadium | 4 Comments »
Are we going stark stadium bonkers?
Posted on April 2, 2010
How often have clubs fallen into the ‘cargo cult’ trap of believing that a new stadium with a greater capacity is the answer to their financial problems, only to find that it has increased their financial problems and has somehow failed to deliver as ‘fan bait’? Think Darlington as the most obvious example. Think Coventry […]
Posted in 2018, Debts, Stadium | 10 Comments »
Varying the capacity of stadiums
Posted on February 9, 2010
Last week I was at the FH Kufstein University of the Applied Sciences Winter School in Austria, and, among a number of very interesting presentations from both academics and practitioners, was one given by Rainer Quenzer, Managing Director of Nüssli International AG, a Swiss company which specialises in building temporary and semi-permanent modular stadiums (see […]
Posted in Costs, Stadium | 4 Comments »
The Southend Stadium Saga continues
Posted on January 1, 2010
First of all, a very Happy New Year to all readers, although I would have to point out that to fans of most clubs I wish this more in hope than expectation. Regular readers will know that Southend has appeared in these postings before (see postings passim) and, in particular, I referred to Chairman Ron’s […]
Posted in Assets, Benefactors, Chutzpah, Debts, HMRC, Insolvency, Stadium, Trusts | Leave a Comment »
Opening a can of worms?
Posted on March 27, 2013
The varying relationship between football clubs and their local councils I have, in a previous posting, described as a postcode lottery. It is often a vital one, especially when the stadium sits at the heart of an issue. I am of course particularly aware of this as a resident of Coventry, where a protracted dispute […]
Posted in Stadium | 3 Comments »
