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Football stadiums
Aberdeen FC have received planning approval from local councillors for their new stadium at Loirston Loch in the south of Aberdeen. Given the size of the project, the Scottish Government could have called it in for review but chose not to do so.
FC United have received a blow to their plans to move to a new stadium at Newton Heath which was where Manchester United originated. The plan to build a £3.5m 5,000 capacity stadium at Ten Acres Lane is being reviewed by Manchester City Council after severe cutbacks in government funding.
The club has raised £1.3m of the £1.5m they aim to secure through their community share offer. The City Council remain committed to find the club a new home by 2012.
The long-term financial health of Chelsea would be boosted by a move away from Stamford Bridge to a stadium with a greater capacity which would generate more gate money and corporate box revenue, enabling the club to compete with the likes of Arsenal without the help of a benefactor.
The club has long been interested in the Earls Court site where much space is wasted by the existing exhibition buildings. Plans for re-developing the site are to be unveiled next week. It will be one of the largest developments in London for the last 20 years.
Leyton Orient are threatening to seek a judicial review of the decision to allow West Ham to move to the Olympic Stadium. In a letter sent to two government departments and Boris Johnson who have to approve the deal, chairman Barry Hearn says that such a decision could result in the eventual extinction of the Brisbane Road club.
Darlington FC has been plunged into a new financial crisis and the future of the club has been placed in jeopardy. Chairman Raj Singh has said that he may walk away from the club after the holding company that owns the club’s Northern Echo Arena stadium and the surrounding land was placed into receivership. He is thought to be putting £20,000 a week into the club.
Mansfield Town look as if they are making progress in their battle to regain control of their Field Mill ground. Their legal dispute with landlord Keith Haslam has been referred by the county court to the High Court.
The judge also ruled that Haslam would not be able to attempt to repossess Field Mill until the counter-claim of current owner John Radford is resolved. The Stags will pay rent for this season and next in two £95,000 instalments into an account jointly controlled by both men.
The directors of Bristol Rovers will continue to bankroll the club and there is no risk of the Pirates going into administration even if they lose their battle against relegation to League 2. Rovers’ last set of published results which covered the 12 months to June 2009 revealed a loss of more than £1.7m and debts approaching £4m.
Leyton Orient are asking the Premier League to consider the impact on them of West Ham’s move to the Olympic Stadium which is less than half a mile from the Matchroom Stadium. Orient chairman Barry Hearn argues that the move would breach Premier League regulation I, part 6.6 which stipulates that ‘no club shall remove to another ground’ if that move ‘could adversely affect clubs (or Football League clubs) having their registered grounds in the immediate vicinty of the proposed location.’
If Spurs are to maintain their effort to be a top four club in the long run, they need to increase their matchday revenue. Chelsea earn almost twice as much as them from matchdays, Arsenal two-and-a-half times as much and Manchester United not far short of three times as much. The constraint in improving Spurs’ revenue is the stadium which sells out.
Despite somewhat harshly being described as ‘a declining club’ by the Financial Times yesterday, West Ham won the unanimous backing of the board of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OLPC) to take on the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 games. Like Manchester City, they have become the beneficiaries of a venue built for a one-off sports event.