Joy Seppala?

[Fuller]

We haven’t got much of a clue at this time to see where all this will end up.
The club has been ran by directors for the last 100 years or so, who are really just local supporters like me and all of you, and that’s how we’ve always accepted the way the club is run.
Talk of hedge fund owners from overseas who are willing to invest/take over will be a seismic shift in the way we view our club. Many foreign owners tend to move on within a few years anyway, and that often seems for the best.
Tread very carefully is all I’ll say.

[TheTownClub]

This is concerning news. SISU is a venture capital investment that wanted a return on its investment at any price. Their general model is to buy into distressed businesses then aggressively block restructuring until they secure a larger return at the expense of other creditors.

For Coventry, when promotion to the Premier League failed to happen, that motivation to gain a return included not paying contractually agreed rent to the owners of the RICHO (Coventry City Council and a charity managing stadium ownership) to force a re-negotiation, regardless of the impact on the council, supporters, and playing staff forced to trek to Northampton or Birmingham or break with watching the club.

Don't be dazzled by talk of investment. This would not be a continuation of our current benign form of ownership.

[Jerry St Clair]

. Either way, it's up to the current owners who they sell to, assuming they pass the fit & proper persons balls. But I fully trust that they, and their advisors/the board have the clubs best interests at heart.

I don’t doubt that for one second. Our Board are a good bunch with good hearts.

A word of caution though. John Madejski is a good man with a good heart. He spent 10 years building Reading into a model, well-run, sustainable, successful football club. Then he was charmed by a Russian who had been to school in Berkshire and said he loved the club. It’s a long story but now they are the antithesis of a well run football club.

We must be sceptical, ask tough questions about their motives and tread very, very carefully.

[Ihearye]

If they take the training ground and ground where does that leave us?

Take our ground for what???? From who???? Training ground for what. You would have to believe that an international hedge fund is interested in building a handfull of houses on whaddon road. I believe this would not be allowed on the training ground(?)
I don't know, but do find it slightly implausibe

Just up the road from the training ground building companies are preparing to build the largest housing estate seen around Cheltenham for years. Multi million pounds of public money is being spent on Junction 10 and Tewkesbury Road. With a Government committed to building on every green space possible the training ground is a prime target for building in the next tranche of permissions.. It is a valuable asset. If the bank has lent a lot of money with a charge on the lease and land it is clear from the accounts that we have assets to cover the loan. We are an attractive club for investors.

You may well be right. I eas basing my thoughts on it being mentioned here on a different topic, that we could not develop housing etc on the training ground, as it was a clause on the sale. Or something like that

[London Exile]

Interesting to know what JS has presented to our board to catch their attention and put herself in pole position to takeover?

Coventry City - SISU looks as if it was a horrible, fractious relationship from start to finish. Fortunately Coventry were a big enough club with a supporter base to fight owners that took the club out of their city several times and was at constant at loggerheads with the council. In the same situation, I’m not so sure the same could be said at Cheltenham

[Sky blue infiltrator]

Hi all, Cov fan in peace.

Heard joy was interested in your club so I joined to give a bit of info.
Please don’t see this as anything other than an absolute disaster and do everything you can to keep SISU away from your club.

I’ll give a not so brief account of the disaster that was SISU.

First: when she took over, it was made out that there was no option other than the liquidation of the club. In reality there were several offers, but she’d done a deal with our previous slimy owner and he proceeded to push the narrative that they were the only option.

It started OK. Ray Ranson was brought in as chairman and hatched a plan to buy up young players with high potential, sell for a profit and reinvest in more young talent. We had a few great successes (Scott Dann, Danny fox, Aron Gunarsson) and a few less so, but ultimately we made some decent money and then the profits weren’t reinvested. Ranson made it clear that he had been shafted, jumped ship and tried (unsuccessfully) to launch a takeover with other interested parties.

Meanwhile an argument was brewing over the rent of the stadium. We had previously sold all shares in the stadium to pay our bills rather than go into administration and screw over the people we owed money to like was the fashion at the time, so we were not earning any of the income from stadium events or even match day income aside from ticket sales.

Rather than have sensible discussions and reach a mutually beneficial arrangement, SISU just stopped paying rent and said the stadium needed us more than we needed the stadium. There was a fund in place of around £1m that the club had paid which was being used to cover the rent whilst the argument was going on, and whilst I think nobody involved covered themselves in glory ultimately the whole thing was SISU’s doing. The fund ran out and the argument came to a head.

Ray Ranson and his band of merry men were back and hatched a plan to try and force SISU out by colliding with the stadium owners to push for administration on the rent owed, then buy the club out of administration and reunite club and stadium. SISU played their UNO reverse card and put themselves into administration so they could choose the administrator - then promptly bought themselves out of administration under a new company - therefore negating any existing contracts - such as the one for stadium rental (but arguably more importantly an option to re-purchase a 50% share in the stadium for £6m was now null and void). SISU expected the stadium to beg for a new deal but they sent us packing when SISU essentially asked for too much. SISU then asked around for a ground share expecting the stadium to go bankrupt - we ended up in Northampton and suddenly the stadium was being sold to wasps rugby.

On the pitch it was getting worse. Investment in the squad was non-existent, with reliance on free transfers, loans and the academy. Luckily the academy was producing the likes of James Maddison and Calum Wilson but as soon as they were worth a few quid they were sold. We were getting worse and worse until ultimately our fate was sealed and we were destined for the drop to league 2.

Luckily Mark Robins came in and we qualified for your check-a-trade trophy final at Wembley - our first trip there in about 40 years. We got relegated, but won the cup and started dragging ourselves back up the league in spite of players being sold every year - somehow robins and his team kept finding better ones on a shoestring.

I’ve not even mentioned the board member on the bench next to the manager and wanting to get fans to text in their choice for substitutions, or ridiculous law suits against everyone imaginable trying to get their own way.

There’s way more I could write on the subject, but ultimately we almost died as a club due to mis-management from the owners, and were I in your shoes now I would do everything I could to prevent that parasite from getting anywhere near your club.

One more thing - we were charged a 6/7 figure “administration fee” every year for the pleasure of their ownership, not to mention a higher than bank rate of interest on all money “invested”. On paper SISU lost money from us in writing of some debt, but in reality I don’t believe that to be the case.

Sorry for the rant, just thought you needed to know how bad Joy Seppsla/SISU were.

[Ralph]

. Either way, it's up to the current owners who they sell to, assuming they pass the fit & proper persons balls. But I fully trust that they, and their advisors/the board have the clubs best interests at heart.

I don’t doubt that for one second. Our Board are a good bunch with good hearts.

A word of caution though. John Madejski is a good man with a good heart. He spent 10 years building Reading into a model, well-run, sustainable, successful football club. Then he was charmed by a Russian who had been to school in Berkshire and said he loved the club. It’s a long story but now they are the antithesis of a well run football club.

We must be sceptical, ask tough questions about their motives and tread very, very carefully.

Don't forget the current Chinese owner also

[Ralph]

Hi all, Cov fan in peace.

Heard joy was interested in your club so I joined to give a bit of info.
Please don’t see this as anything other than an absolute disaster and do everything you can to keep SISU away from your club.

I’ll give a not so brief account of the disaster that was SISU.

First: when she took over, it was made out that there was no option other than the liquidation of the club. In reality there were several offers, but she’d done a deal with our previous slimy owner and he proceeded to push the narrative that they were the only option.

It started OK. Ray Ranson was brought in as chairman and hatched a plan to buy up young players with high potential, sell for a profit and reinvest in more young talent. We had a few great successes (Scott Dann, Danny fox, Aron Gunarsson) and a few less so, but ultimately we made some decent money and then the profits weren’t reinvested. Ranson made it clear that he had been shafted, jumped ship and tried (unsuccessfully) to launch a takeover with other interested parties.

Meanwhile an argument was brewing over the rent of the stadium. We had previously sold all shares in the stadium to pay our bills rather than go into administration and screw over the people we owed money to like was the fashion at the time, so we were not earning any of the income from stadium events or even match day income aside from ticket sales.

Rather than have sensible discussions and reach a mutually beneficial arrangement, SISU just stopped paying rent and said the stadium needed us more than we needed the stadium. There was a fund in place of around £1m that the club had paid which was being used to cover the rent whilst the argument was going on, and whilst I think nobody involved covered themselves in glory ultimately the whole thing was SISU’s doing. The fund ran out and the argument came to a head.

Ray Ranson and his band of merry men were back and hatched a plan to try and force SISU out by colliding with the stadium owners to push for administration on the rent owed, then buy the club out of administration and reunite club and stadium. SISU played their UNO reverse card and put themselves into administration so they could choose the administrator - then promptly bought themselves out of administration under a new company - therefore negating any existing contracts - such as the one for stadium rental (but arguably more importantly an option to re-purchase a 50% share in the stadium for £6m was now null and void). SISU expected the stadium to beg for a new deal but they sent us packing when SISU essentially asked for too much. SISU then asked around for a ground share expecting the stadium to go bankrupt - we ended up in Northampton and suddenly the stadium was being sold to wasps rugby.

On the pitch it was getting worse. Investment in the squad was non-existent, with reliance on free transfers, loans and the academy. Luckily the academy was producing the likes of James Maddison and Calum Wilson but as soon as they were worth a few quid they were sold. We were getting worse and worse until ultimately our fate was sealed and we were destined for the drop to league 2.

Luckily Mark Robins came in and we qualified for your check-a-trade trophy final at Wembley - our first trip there in about 40 years. We got relegated, but won the cup and started dragging ourselves back up the league in spite of players being sold every year - somehow robins and his team kept finding better ones on a shoestring.

I’ve not even mentioned the board member on the bench next to the manager and wanting to get fans to text in their choice for substitutions, or ridiculous law suits against everyone imaginable trying to get their own way.

There’s way more I could write on the subject, but ultimately we almost died as a club due to mis-management from the owners, and were I in your shoes now I would do everything I could to prevent that parasite from getting anywhere near your club.

One more thing - we were charged a 6/7 figure “administration fee” every year for the pleasure of their ownership, not to mention a higher than bank rate of interest on all money “invested”. On paper SISU lost money from us in writing of some debt, but in reality I don’t believe that to be the case.

Sorry for the rant, just thought you needed to know how bad Joy Seppsla/SISU were.

Thanks for coming over with the CFC fan perspective. Yep, alarm bells were ringing as soon as I saw the name "SISU". Ray Ranson, didn't he do the nasty on Swindon too as owner or chairman? We need to tread very carefully..

[Ihearye]

Hi all, Cov fan in peace.

Heard joy was interested in your club so I joined to give a bit of info.
Please don’t see this as anything other than an absolute disaster and do everything you can to keep SISU away from your club.

I’ll give a not so brief account of the disaster that was SISU.

First: when she took over, it was made out that there was no option other than the liquidation of the club. In reality there were several offers, but she’d done a deal with our previous slimy owner and he proceeded to push the narrative that they were the only option.

It started OK. Ray Ranson was brought in as chairman and hatched a plan to buy up young players with high potential, sell for a profit and reinvest in more young talent. We had a few great successes (Scott Dann, Danny fox, Aron Gunarsson) and a few less so, but ultimately we made some decent money and then the profits weren’t reinvested. Ranson made it clear that he had been shafted, jumped ship and tried (unsuccessfully) to launch a takeover with other interested parties.

Meanwhile an argument was brewing over the rent of the stadium. We had previously sold all shares in the stadium to pay our bills rather than go into administration and screw over the people we owed money to like was the fashion at the time, so we were not earning any of the income from stadium events or even match day income aside from ticket sales.

Rather than have sensible discussions and reach a mutually beneficial arrangement, SISU just stopped paying rent and said the stadium needed us more than we needed the stadium. There was a fund in place of around £1m that the club had paid which was being used to cover the rent whilst the argument was going on, and whilst I think nobody involved covered themselves in glory ultimately the whole thing was SISU’s doing. The fund ran out and the argument came to a head.

Ray Ranson and his band of merry men were back and hatched a plan to try and force SISU out by colliding with the stadium owners to push for administration on the rent owed, then buy the club out of administration and reunite club and stadium. SISU played their UNO reverse card and put themselves into administration so they could choose the administrator - then promptly bought themselves out of administration under a new company - therefore negating any existing contracts - such as the one for stadium rental (but arguably more importantly an option to re-purchase a 50% share in the stadium for £6m was now null and void). SISU expected the stadium to beg for a new deal but they sent us packing when SISU essentially asked for too much. SISU then asked around for a ground share expecting the stadium to go bankrupt - we ended up in Northampton and suddenly the stadium was being sold to wasps rugby.

On the pitch it was getting worse. Investment in the squad was non-existent, with reliance on free transfers, loans and the academy. Luckily the academy was producing the likes of James Maddison and Calum Wilson but as soon as they were worth a few quid they were sold. We were getting worse and worse until ultimately our fate was sealed and we were destined for the drop to league 2.

Luckily Mark Robins came in and we qualified for your check-a-trade trophy final at Wembley - our first trip there in about 40 years. We got relegated, but won the cup and started dragging ourselves back up the league in spite of players being sold every year - somehow robins and his team kept finding better ones on a shoestring.

I’ve not even mentioned the board member on the bench next to the manager and wanting to get fans to text in their choice for substitutions, or ridiculous law suits against everyone imaginable trying to get their own way.

There’s way more I could write on the subject, but ultimately we almost died as a club due to mis-management from the owners, and were I in your shoes now I would do everything I could to prevent that parasite from getting anywhere near your club.

One more thing - we were charged a 6/7 figure “administration fee” every year for the pleasure of their ownership, not to mention a higher than bank rate of interest on all money “invested”. On paper SISU lost money from us in writing of some debt, but in reality I don’t believe that to be the case.

Sorry for the rant, just thought you needed to know how bad Joy Seppsla/SISU were.

Thanks for coming over with the CFC fan perspective. Yep, alarm bells were ringing as soon as I saw the name "SISU". Ray Ranson, didn't he do the nasty on Swindon too as owner or chairman? We need to tread very carefully..

I would be confident that the board and shareholders are aware of any previois situations. The only similarity i can see between Cov and us is the fact we depend on selling players. We dont own the ground and dont believe the council have ever given the indication they would sell (?). We do take matchday revenue, we are not in financil difficulties.
I have always failed to see why any investor would pump money into us , other than liking the club , town, area. But what do i know ,zero most probably. Am sure there are other league teams who could provide better returns if you were after the family jewels?
I doubt we are in such a position that we have to take the first offer we get. Do the stakeholders want out that badly??

[andgarod]

Will we still be talking to SISU or any Yanks this time next week
Perhaps the God President and President Musk will stop all over seas investment
Do we have any mineral rights

We want investments on our terms I dont think that will happen

[Robin]

Reading the Coventry fan input we should not be entertaining this potential offer without good reason. The only thing I could see that appeals is we have a model for developing our own players but we certainly can't pay an administration fee for their ownership even in return for the much needed new stand. As for the council I could see them selling SISU the ground and cakebridge place in exchange for building the new stand.

[Horteng]

Reading the Coventry fan input we should not be entertaining this potential offer without good reason. The only thing I could see that appeals is we have a model for developing our own players but we certainly can't pay an administration fee for their ownership even in return for the much needed new stand. As for the council I could see them selling SISU the ground and cakebridge place in exchange for building the new stand.

Yeah. Lets listen to one so called Coventry fan and base our opinion on that. Makes sense

[asl]

You got an alternate view, Horteng? Since we know nothing about SISU, we should happily listen to all the information there is.

[asl]

And, btw, that's now two Coventry fans on this thread offering their personal insight into what happened at their club. The correct response should probably start with "Thank you..."

[Si Robin]

Two Coventry fans on here, 10s of Coventry fans on X, even more Coventry fans on other forums.

She is despised by them and, based on what I've read, with good reasons.

But she's rich so she must be great or something....

[Robin]

Two Coventry fans on here, 10s of Coventry fans on X, even more Coventry fans on other forums.

She is despised by them and, based on what I've read, with good reasons.

But she's rich so she must be great or something....

It really does beg the question as to why we are considering this, I'm sure the owners cannot comment as everything will be under NDA but something looks off from an outsider perspective. The only positive is we know that this is not the only group interested in taking over.

[Si Robin]

This is the point - we are still at very early stages (apparently) so there's nothing to suggest that Saturday was anything more than a preliminary look on her part.

One Coventry fan I've spoken to can't believe she'd want to get back into football after what happened at Coventry. She's apparently not a football person and just delegated the club running to other people - I think it was Tim Fisher at Coventry.

[Ihearye]

Reading the Coventry fan input we should not be entertaining this potential offer without good reason. The only thing I could see that appeals is we have a model for developing our own players but we certainly can't pay an administration fee for their ownership even in return for the much needed new stand. As for the council I could see them selling SISU the ground and cakebridge place in exchange for building the new stand.

Even more confused now. What would the councils interest be in getting us a new stand. They have shown scant interest in the clubs development as far as i can see

[Robin]

The council will get a lump sum payment for selling the land and we will bring in new non-match day facilities so new business coming to the town. Not to much increased crowds with more people spending in local bars and restaurants before and after the game.

[everyman]

This is concerning news. SISU is a venture capital investment that wanted a return on its investment at any price. Their general model is to buy into distressed businesses then aggressively block restructuring until they secure a larger return at the expense of other creditors.

For Coventry, when promotion to the Premier League failed to happen, that motivation to gain a return included not paying contractually agreed rent to the owners of the RICHO (Coventry City Council and a charity managing stadium ownership) to force a re-negotiation, regardless of the impact on the council, supporters, and playing staff forced to trek to Northampton or Birmingham or break with watching the club.

Don't be dazzled by talk of investment. This would not be a continuation of our current benign form of ownership.

I don`t think "SISU" Own the pancake shop in Clarence Parade,but you never know "batter the devil you know" ?

[Jerry St Clair]

Two Coventry fans on here, 10s of Coventry fans on X, even more Coventry fans on other forums.

She is despised by them and, based on what I've read, with good reasons.

But she's rich so she must be great or something....

....plus the Cov fan I work with who has SISU OUT as his laptop screensaver.

[Ihearye]

The council will get a lump sum payment for selling the land and we will bring in new non-match day facilities so new business coming to the town. Not to much increased crowds with more people spending in local bars and restaurants before and after the game.

I take it then, that the council have offered to sell us the stadium in the past? Admit I don't know. I can see how you could extrapolate the best scenarios and get to your outcomes. But ........

[Ihearye]

Two Coventry fans on here, 10s of Coventry fans on X, even more Coventry fans on other forums.

She is despised by them and, based on what I've read, with good reasons.

But she's rich so she must be great or something....

....plus the Cov fan I work with who has SISU OUT as his laptop screensaver.

Well that has won me over !! Think we are picking up the Gold Cup before we have even seen a horse in the flesh

[Si Robin]

The council will get a lump sum payment for selling the land and we will bring in new non-match day facilities so new business coming to the town. Not to much increased crowds with more people spending in local bars and restaurants before and after the game.

I take it then, that the council have offered to sell us the stadium in the past? Admit I don't know. I can see how you could extrapolate the best scenarios and get to your outcomes. But ........

I'm not aware that they have, but if someone comes in offering to buy it off them I'm not convinced they'd say no.

To be honest, I think council ownership of the ground is another level of security for us. We have something like 90 years or so left on the lease and we pay them a peppercorn rent. I'm not aware of them ever standing in the way of our attempts to modernise or upgrade the ground, nor do I think they would stand in the way if we wanted to build a new stand with the requisite facilities, etc...

[asl]

We've definitely tried to buy it in the past (PB era) but the offer was turned down in favour of a long-term lease. I don't think I'm wrong in saying it wasn't that the offer was too low - they simply didn't entertain selling it. Obviously, the financial situation of the entire World has changed in the last 20 years, so it may be a different answer, now.

Don't forget there's a covenant that prevents it being used for anything else but a community sports facility, or whatever the wording is. While obviously not impossible to remove, they're really not straightforward to do so.

[art vandalay]

I’m sure someone connected with the club told me that this covenant thing is not proven; that it was reported once and then re-reported, but that an actual document is not known to exist.

I’m with Si in thinking that the council ownership & long lease is a good situation to be in. Any sale of the ground would have to involve the council selling the freehold and CTFC selling or surrendering the lease. The council aren’t going to sell the freehold to CTFC for peanuts so that CTFC can then make a killing on it further down the road. Unless, of course, allowing CTFC to buy, sell and move would free up some land for their housing quotas to be met and the CTFC move to a new site was linked to some kind of development that benefits the wider community.

Historically, we had an agreement with a developer in the mid-late 90s, which proves that the council was prepared to sell in the right circumstances, and probably also suggests there isn’t a covenant, but after we’d upgraded the ground to FL standard the provision of a new ground was going to be more costly and the figures no longer worked.

And then about a dozen years ago there were talks about a move to the racecourse, presumably swapping a long lease at WR for one at the racecourse, and with the council buying the lease off the club so that CTFC could re-invest this money at the racecourse. I suspect this fell through because selling the lease wasn’t going to provide enough money to build a new ground, even with the racecourse chipping in and helping to finance some joint facilities.

[Robin]

The thing with any new ground is that there is no realistic sites where to place it with the infrastructure nearby and the cost of building it will be huge - certainly tens of millions. At the moment this feels like exactly the sort of ownership we need to steer clear of as there is no realistic happy ending where we progress and they make money.

If the sale pitch of SISU is that they will build us a new ground our first level of due diligence should be to ask why do we need a new ground, where would you build it and why spend say £40million for a new 10,000 seater ground when you could build a new 4000 main stand with corporate facilities for a quarter of that cost.

I could understand a new ground if we had serious Championship aspirations but getting there will cost serious money.

[andgarod]

There is always the M5 J13
We could ground share
Who has bought Glos airport
or out towards J10 or somewhere in Bishop Cheltenham
Evesham united could do with a nice new stadium Pittville park would do
Prince of Wales stadium knock it down - wouldnt take long or the allotments and the Folly
You just need to think outside the box Robin
4000 stand would be so limiting

My main problem is that apart for PG none of the board hold many shares
This cuts 2 ways at least they will not get money back but then they will sell for the good of the club hmm

[Sky blue infiltrator]

Reading the Coventry fan input we should not be entertaining this potential offer without good reason. The only thing I could see that appeals is we have a model for developing our own players but we certainly can't pay an administration fee for their ownership even in return for the much needed new stand. As for the council I could see them selling SISU the ground and cakebridge place in exchange for building the new stand.

Yeah. Lets listen to one so called Coventry fan and base our opinion on that. Makes sense

Don’t take my word for it - there are plenty of posts on our forums/twitter/facebook etc. check out Simon Gilbert’s articles in the Coventry telegraph - he also wrote a book about it I believe.

[Robin]

There is always the M5 J13
We could ground share
Who has bought Glos airport
or out towards J10 or somewhere in Bishop Cheltenham
Evesham united could do with a nice new stadium Pittville park would do
Prince of Wales stadium knock it down - wouldnt take long or the allotments and the Folly
You just need to think outside the box Robin
4000 stand would be so limiting

My main problem is that apart for PG none of the board hold many shares
This cuts 2 ways at least they will not get money back but then they will sell for the good of the club hmm

I've been very direct with my criticism of the board but it's worth remembering they have little to no say who takes over, it's a decision that rests entirely with the main shareholders so that's Simon Keswick, Charles Jennings, the Trust and Paul Baker.

[TheTownClub]

I’m sure someone connected with the club told me that this covenant thing is not proven; that it was reported once and then re-reported, but that an actual document is not known to exist.

The ground was originally owned by the Cheltenham Original Brewery, with the club as tenants from 1931 onwards. At the end of World War II, the brewery presented the land to the council as a "victory gift" to the people of Cheltenham. The brewery's managing director stated: "We give it to the Corporation [Council], free of any restriction, barring the proviso that it shall be kept as sports ground." However, the council minutes record that "No conditions were attached to the gift", though it was "desired" it be kept for the football and bowling clubs.

Obviously, that's all 80 years ago, so I don't know what the formal legal standing is in regard to use of the land. But it is interesting that Coventry didn't own their ground either.

[Artemis]

As ihearye rightly says, unless buying into the club for philanthropic reasons, any investor will want to see a return on that investment in some form over some time frame.

The more aggressive the investor (and SISU as capital managers would fit into that category) will want to see a decent return over a shorter time frame. I very much doubt this is a long term investment. They will also have clear exit strategies, including when to cut their losses if it comes to that.

There will therefore be something about the club that makes them think that that high return is possible, whether that's an asset, our debt free status or the possibility of spectacular growth in revenue and therefore value of the club.

Lets be clear - if SISU don't get what they want out of their investment, they won't give a two hoots about the future of our club. That makes having capital managers involved very high risk for supporters.

[Artemis]

There is always the M5 J13
We could ground share
Who has bought Glos airport
or out towards J10 or somewhere in Bishop Cheltenham
Evesham united could do with a nice new stadium Pittville park would do
Prince of Wales stadium knock it down - wouldnt take long or the allotments and the Folly
You just need to think outside the box Robin
4000 stand would be so limiting

My main problem is that apart for PG none of the board hold many shares
This cuts 2 ways at least they will not get money back but then they will sell for the good of the club hmm

I've been very direct with my criticism of the board but it's worth remembering they have little to no say who takes over, it's a decision that rests entirely with the main shareholders so that's Simon Keswick, Charles Jennings, the Trust and Paul Baker.

Don't Keswick and Jennings have majority control between them so its up to them really.

[Robin]

There is always the M5 J13
We could ground share
Who has bought Glos airport
or out towards J10 or somewhere in Bishop Cheltenham
Evesham united could do with a nice new stadium Pittville park would do
Prince of Wales stadium knock it down - wouldnt take long or the allotments and the Folly
You just need to think outside the box Robin
4000 stand would be so limiting

My main problem is that apart for PG none of the board hold many shares
This cuts 2 ways at least they will not get money back but then they will sell for the good of the club hmm

I've been very direct with my criticism of the board but it's worth remembering they have little to no say who takes over, it's a decision that rests entirely with the main shareholders so that's Simon Keswick, Charles Jennings, the Trust and Paul Baker.

Don't Keswick and Jennings have majority control between them so its up to them really.

Yes that's correct although if one sells and Baker/Trust also agree I believe that would be enough for majority ownership. Purely my view but I not believe Paul Baker or the Trust would sell their shares to someone like Seppalla, I cannot speak for the other two but my instinct is that Simon Keswick is not looking to make his money back more to find a good custodian in his absence.

[art vandalay]

I’m sure someone connected with the club told me that this covenant thing is not proven; that it was reported once and then re-reported, but that an actual document is not known to exist.

The ground was originally owned by the Cheltenham Original Brewery, with the club as tenants from 1931 onwards. At the end of World War II, the brewery presented the land to the council as a "victory gift" to the people of Cheltenham. The brewery's managing director stated: "We give it to the Corporation [Council], free of any restriction, barring the proviso that it shall be kept as sports ground." However, the council minutes record that "No conditions were attached to the gift", though it was "desired" it be kept for the football and bowling clubs.

Obviously, that's all 80 years ago, so I don't know what the formal legal standing is in regard to use of the land. But it is interesting that Coventry didn't own their ground either.

Legally, I think that means there’s no covenant. There appears to be no actual filed document, plus I’m pretty sure that recorded council minutes will be regarded as a more accurate representation than something an MD is quoted as saying in the press.