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Post by Benny on Oct 23, 2018 15:32:20 GMT
I agree with you, apart from the outside investor. I cannot see how the millions required can be raised without new money. There must be someone in this wealthy county willing to part with a similar amount to our owners, in exchange for a share of ownership.
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Post by pwoodstone on Oct 23, 2018 15:51:00 GMT
Is the ground owned separately to the club? Or did I imagine that?
So they’d be looking at investors who’d be willing to take a share of the ground owning company?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2018 16:05:13 GMT
I,m sure to get slated for this but IMO we need to build a team that will help us build security in this league before we start to worry to much about building new stands to conform to a league level, as it will be a few seasons before we are anywhere near ready for the football league. Security in this league will help build funds plus also might encourage another investor to come in an help push the club on to the next level. Amen to that, glad I’m not the only who thinks like this The problem is, you're walking a tightrope all the time. What happens if, say, the club puts in the extra playing budget to try and build a solid mid-table side and they end up outperforming their expectations and getting us promoted. What then if we still can't afford to bring the ground up to EFL standards? Refuse to go up and accept the double-relegation? Can you see Terry in particular, wanting to do that? There is no easy solution to this. We need that cup run!
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Post by jakeyboi on Oct 23, 2018 16:06:20 GMT
I agree with you, apart from the outside investor. I cannot see how the millions required can be raised without new money. There must be someone in this wealthy county willing to part with a similar amount to our owners, in exchange for a share of ownership. I wonder if we could find someone who maybe shares there name with the actual stadium??? A long shot I know but who knows.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2018 16:09:34 GMT
Is the ground owned separately to the club? Or did I imagine that? So they’d be looking at investors who’d be willing to take a share of the ground owning company? There is a separate business that owns the ground, yes. There is one business called Maidstone United Holdings Ltd; there is also a third company called Maidstone United Ground Ltd. That is shown as having debts of over 4 million, and no assets. Presumably the Holdings company actually owns the ground as it is shown as having assets of just over 3 million (and debts of around 3 million.) I seem to remember Oliver explained to me why they did all of that some years ago, but honestly I can't remember the ins and outs of it. Probably best just trust them to know what they are doing. Presumably the idea is to protect the club itself, which is yet another, separate company, from the huge debts owed to the directors. PBB and Oliver actually set up that three-company structure in the first place, back in 2008 when the latter first got involved.
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Post by fleetphil on Oct 23, 2018 17:39:31 GMT
You could always ask our Doctor for a loan, oh hang on a minute....... UP THE FLEET.
Out of interest, what's happening with your ground? The Main Stand is built and open terrace refurbished. Is the Travelodge end going ahead? Shame they didn't put the Main Stand where the wooden stand is, then refurbish the covered terrace opposite. Alas, no one knows. The owners statement said he was going to be around for years to come. The ground was supposed to have been finished. The hotel end has been put back, put back, put back. The Theme Park gets problems after problems, this was his baby. All us fans are now playing a waiting game.
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Post by jdl on Oct 23, 2018 18:08:31 GMT
I agree with you, apart from the outside investor. I cannot see how the millions required can be raised without new money. There must be someone in this wealthy county willing to part with a similar amount to our owners, in exchange for a share of ownership. I wonder if we could find someone who maybe shares there name with the actual stadium??? A long shot I know but who knows. James Whatman?
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Post by steveh21 on Oct 23, 2018 18:15:32 GMT
Best to have the ground ready for when/if we need to go up. Spending money on the ground rather than wages more sensible as long as we do not go down. Margate model not for us.
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Post by jdl on Oct 23, 2018 18:51:15 GMT
History, context, and so forth.
We need to remember how this all started. PBB had found the site for the ground (for which we will be eternally grateful), but couldn't put the money together to build it. In fact the money had all but run out.
Oliver came along as a possible 'investor' and saw potential for the club, mainly because of the dedicated support all the years we played away (for which we will also be eternally grateful). Then Terry came on board - but O&T began to discover just what a complicated web PBB could weave, and fell out with him.
So, there they were, a club with no money, a site that hadn't been developed, a team struggling in its first season in the IP, and looking certain to go down, and an average gate of only a few hundred. That they bought the club and built any sort of ground under those circumstances was a miracle, that they built the excellent ground they did was an act of sheer faith/madness.
But, although they talked of taking Maidstone back to where they had been, in reality they were running a club about to drop into the IS and with gates they thought might get as high as 1,000, if they were lucky. The new ground had a small stand, two smallish covered ends, and a capacity of under 2,000.
Whatever they may have said and dreamed, no way did they expect to have regular gates of over 2,000, three promotions, and the need to upgrade the ground to NL standards - all in just FOUR years!
And now they are faced with doing much the same all over again to reach the next stage - plus the problem of meeting the running costs of a play-off capable NL team.
Back in 2012, this would have seemed pure fantasy - something for the distant future, and certainly not something to worry about. But when Worgs saved that penalty at Gravesend, they were catapulted into a situation where they not only couldn't afford to upgrade the stadium much further, but couldn't even afford a team that would keep us in the NL without dipping into their pockets once again.
We’ve already had several miracles from T&O, it would be rather unfair to expect another one.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2018 20:29:25 GMT
Out of interest, what's happening with your ground? The Main Stand is built and open terrace refurbished. Is the Travelodge end going ahead? Shame they didn't put the Main Stand where the wooden stand is, then refurbish the covered terrace opposite. Alas, no one knows. The owners statement said he was going to be around for years to come. The ground was supposed to have been finished. The hotel end has been put back, put back, put back. The Theme Park gets problems after problems, this was his baby. All us fans are now playing a waiting game. Your owner's company is unbelievably wealthy, as I am sure you know. The list of real estate assets they own is jaw-dropping. I struggle to believe that he could not keep bankrolling the club if he wanted to. In the grander scheme of what his company does, Ebbsfleet and the money spent on it is chicken feed. Hence the question of why the club is struggling for cashflow. Presumably despite that statement about him being there for years to come, he has decided to stop giving you what you need. If he is giving up on you, he needs to come clean.
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Post by jdl on Oct 23, 2018 20:40:33 GMT
Alas, no one knows. The owners statement said he was going to be around for years to come. The ground was supposed to have been finished. The hotel end has been put back, put back, put back. The Theme Park gets problems after problems, this was his baby. All us fans are now playing a waiting game. Your owner's company is unbelievably wealthy, as I am sure you know. The list of real estate assets they own is jaw-dropping. I struggle to believe that he could not keep bankrolling the club if he wanted to. In the grander scheme of what his company does, Ebbsfleet and the money spent on it is chicken feed. Hence the question of why the club is struggling for cashflow. Presumably despite that statement about him being there for years to come, he has decided to stop giving you what you need. If he is giving up on you, he needs to come clean. With all due respect to Phil, their owner buying/running Gravesend was always obviously a PR stunt to make it look like he cared for the locals and was 'doing something for the community' - keeping them sweet in case he needed their support for the amusement park. But now the project is clearly never going to happen, he finds himself owning a football club he's got no interest in. I suspect the only reason he hasn't tried to sell it already is that the amusement park (or whatever it was) is not yet officially dead, so he's keeping Gravesend ticking over in case he needs it after all. Once it becomes clear that he's wasting his company's time and money in North Kent, he will sell up and piss off. In the meantime, G&N must be the least important item in his company's portfolio by some way, so it's inevitable that it isn't treated with any priority - money late all the time, no communication, etc. Enjoy it while it still lasts, Fleet fans, it's not likely to get better.
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Post by daveu on Oct 23, 2018 21:11:05 GMT
Amen to that, glad I’m not the only who thinks like this The problem is, you're walking a tightrope all the time. What happens if, say, the club puts in the extra playing budget to try and build a solid mid-table side and they end up outperforming their expectations and getting us promoted. What then if we still can't afford to bring the ground up to EFL standards? Refuse to go up and accept the double-relegation? Can you see Terry in particular, wanting to do that? There is no easy solution to this. We need that cup run! The double relegation only applies to refusal to change the pitch. If the ground isn't up to EFL standard we wouldn't be eligible for promotion so would just stay where we are.
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Post by daveu on Oct 23, 2018 21:16:38 GMT
The new ground had a capacity of 2200, not under 2000. History, context, and so forth. We need to remember how this all started. PBB had found the site for the ground (for which we will be eternally grateful), but couldn't put the money together to build it. In fact the money had all but run out. Oliver came along as a possible 'investor' and saw potential for the club, mainly because of the dedicated support all the years we played away (for which we will also be eternally grateful). Then Terry came on board - but O&T began to discover just what a complicated web PBB could weave, and fell out with him. So, there they were, a club with no money, a site that hadn't been developed, a team struggling in its first season in the IP, and looking certain to go down, and an average gate of only a few hundred. That they bought the club and built any sort of ground under those circumstances was a miracle, that they built the excellent ground they did was an act of sheer faith/madness. But, although they talked of taking Maidstone back to where they had been, in reality they were running a club about to drop into the IS and with gates they thought might get as high as 1,000, if they were lucky. The new ground had a small stand, two smallish covered ends, and a capacity of under 2,000. Whatever they may have said and dreamed, no way did they expect to have regular gates of over 2,000, three promotions, and the need to upgrade the ground to NL standards - all in just FOUR years! And now they are faced with doing much the same all over again to reach the next stage - plus the problem of meeting the running costs of a play-off capable NL team. Back in 2012, this would have seemed pure fantasy - something for the distant future, and certainly not something to worry about. But when Worgs saved that penalty at Gravesend, they were catapulted into a situation where they not only couldn't afford to upgrade the stadium much further, but couldn't even afford a team that would keep us in the NL without dipping into their pockets once again. We’ve already had several miracles from T&O, it would be rather unfair to expect another one.
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Post by jdl on Oct 23, 2018 21:21:56 GMT
The new ground had a capacity of 2200, not under 2000. History, context, and so forth. We need to remember how this all started. PBB had found the site for the ground (for which we will be eternally grateful), but couldn't put the money together to build it. In fact the money had all but run out. Oliver came along as a possible 'investor' and saw potential for the club, mainly because of the dedicated support all the years we played away (for which we will also be eternally grateful). Then Terry came on board - but O&T began to discover just what a complicated web PBB could weave, and fell out with him. So, there they were, a club with no money, a site that hadn't been developed, a team struggling in its first season in the IP, and looking certain to go down, and an average gate of only a few hundred. That they bought the club and built any sort of ground under those circumstances was a miracle, that they built the excellent ground they did was an act of sheer faith/madness. But, although they talked of taking Maidstone back to where they had been, in reality they were running a club about to drop into the IS and with gates they thought might get as high as 1,000, if they were lucky. The new ground had a small stand, two smallish covered ends, and a capacity of under 2,000. Whatever they may have said and dreamed, no way did they expect to have regular gates of over 2,000, three promotions, and the need to upgrade the ground to NL standards - all in just FOUR years! And now they are faced with doing much the same all over again to reach the next stage - plus the problem of meeting the running costs of a play-off capable NL team. Back in 2012, this would have seemed pure fantasy - something for the distant future, and certainly not something to worry about. But when Worgs saved that penalty at Gravesend, they were catapulted into a situation where they not only couldn't afford to upgrade the stadium much further, but couldn't even afford a team that would keep us in the NL without dipping into their pockets once again. We’ve already had several miracles from T&O, it would be rather unfair to expect another one. I wondered about that, but I'm sure I remember it originally having a capacity of just over 1,900.
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Post by daveu on Oct 23, 2018 22:25:18 GMT
The new ground had a capacity of 2200, not under 2000. I wondered about that, but I'm sure I remember it originally having a capacity of just over 1,900. It was built to have a capacity of 3000 but we could only get a safety certificate for 2200. If there was ever a possibility that it would be less than 2000 it was certainly resolved before it opened with a sell out of 2200 against Brighton.
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