New Lease

[POGGYWELL]

Does anyone have any idea who owns the Old Grove Street School land.

[animallittle3]

Does anyone have any idea who owns the Old Grove Street School land.

No idea Poggy , the council could have sold it on to a property developer when the school closed but I'd only be guessing .

The old Darton Primary school site still sits empty although the school was demolished around 20 years ago and I reckon they ma y have done the same with that site .

Probably used the money towards replacement schools .

[Jules88]

The club don't own the ground anymore , not so much as a blade of grass .

The council are the landlord calling all the shots , the club is now a tenant , 100% but protected by a 30 year lease .

Whose paying for the development ?

How will it be structured ?

The devil will be in the detail of course .

The council own John Smiths. Spent nothing, needs MILLIONS spending on it to bring up acceptable standards. Kirklees with a BIG deficit……………. Will sell to the Yank buyer.

And the same will happen here.

[Jules88]

The Crynes have still to receive £2.75 million of the purchase price for the club of £3.5 mill. Approx £3 million has been ring fenced in club accounts to cover this (includung interest) raised as part of the recent Share Issues.

Lee and Conway paid into these Shares. They need to have been involved in buying the club in order to now sell their part ownership.

It will be interesting to see how much they walk away with.

Ahmad's "Big News" is finally revealed. The Crynes have sold their 50% ownership of Oakwell and some surrounding land to Barnsley Council who now own it 100%, leasing it to Barnsley FC for at least the next 30 years.

Could the council sell its ownership? To Parekh? Or Chien? Perhaps….

[pass_and_move]

Why is this good news?

What is to stop the council in 30 years time knocking the fekker darn and building houses on the site? There's acres of land on which to do this. In 30 years time, the stands that John Dennis built in the 1990s will be overdue replacing. How is that going to be funded?

What if a new buyer came in for the football club? It's just gonna create problems if this situation occurs.

The council tax payer isn't going to be pleased when millions of pounds need to be spent on the stadium.

The club has another financial outgoing to deal with in paying their rent! Will the council kick us art if the terms of the lease aren't upheld?

What if Barnsley fc goes bust?

30 years isn't that long really is it? As I say, by that time the entire stadium will probably need to be rebuilt. It all falls into too much of a coincidence this 30 year lease. I reckon when the lease expires, there's a very good chance that the club will not be playing football on the Oakwell site.

The council are laughing all the way to the bank on this one.

[SBRed48]

An important consideration is "Is the covenant still in place which determines that the Oakwell stadium stadium and immediate surrounds can only be used for sports/ football purposes ?". There seems no reason why the Covenant should change because of a Leasehold Owner change but I would like to see it confirmed.

The Barnsley Council now fully own Oakwell as an asset, the stadium being worth around £6 million. The rent that Barnsley Football Club have paid the "old joint ownership" of 50% Crynes and 50% Council was/ is £100K per annum in the Third Division and £150K in the Championship (Source Qualified Accountant Archerfield from Club Accounts).

The Council has said the overall arrangements will be "cost neutral" to them so presumably the cost of buying out the Cryne 50% share will be recovered by increased rent over the 30 years. At present there seems no information on how much it cost to buy out the Cryne's share.

Thirty years for a lease to run does seem short to me. 99 Year or 999 Year Leases seem more usual. As Pass says 30 years is just about enough time for the remaining life of the present structure (West Stand ten years)

My conclusions--

1) A good thing that football is staying at Oakwell for the next 30 years

2) Club paying increased rent for a stadium no longer part owned by a Director

3) New rent, say £200K pa, will cover little more than general upkeep/ maintenance costs, not cover major infrastructure improvements. The Council have said they will pay the rent surplus back into cover this maintenance, minus the amount taken to gradually recover to buy out cost, so it won't come to much.


Just as an aside local to me Calderdale Council, owners of The Shay Stadium, are looking at an option of selling the stadium due to budget finance crisis following years of austerity cuts from Central Govt. Local non sport Council Tax payers (the majority) have latched onto this.

[Jules88]

Just as an aside local to me Calderdale Council, owners of The Shay Stadium, are looking at an option of selling the stadium due to budget finance crisis following years of austerity cuts from Central Govt. Local non sport Council Tax payers (the majority) have latched onto this.

Id heard from a Shayman this was happening……. As I said about the Terriers situation…it may be a trend. American owners at Town….not sure about Halifax.

[SBRed48]

Id heard from a Shayman this was happening……. As I said about the Terriers situation…it may be a trend. American owners at Town….not sure about Halifax.

Calderdale Council own the Shay. A six week consultation in process including options of selling to another leaseholder / selling on the open market with the football and rugby clubs as sitting tenants.

[SBRed48]

Id heard from a Shayman this was happening……. As I said about the Terriers situation…it may be a trend. American owners at Town….not sure about Halifax.

Calderdale Council own the Shay. A six week consultation in process including options of selling to another leaseholder / selling on the open market with the football and rugby clubs as sitting tenants. Would save £160K in Coucil Budget.

[Young_Nudger]

Are you aware Nudger that " Tramlines " one of the biggest events in the whole of South Yorkshire takes place in Hillsboro Park , it might have not have anything to do with the football club of that Parish but to make out that nothing happens there because it is a " reyt dump " is not exactly true Nudge.

When I say ‘a proper functioning town centre with all its cafes and bars.’

Are you thinking I’m describing a big lump of grass ?