Just listened to the podcast available on Spotify. A good listen. The basic points being: Stadium should be up to planning in November. That’s as dictated by the council. We will more likely move out for the rebuild as so much is within the old stand like changing rooms etc. We have a plan b to add seats, create better facilities for directors and sponsors, add extra safety barriers…. This to be paid for from the 2m from the council. The plan b is for extra delays which are out of our hands. The stadium build has the rise or lowering of materials built into it so no extra cost. IMG criteria. We have been given points of 12.73 I think he said, which would mean a b and somewhere between 8th to 10th position. There is another regrade at the end of the season, so it will come down whether it’s a 11th or 12th placed finish this year. The next grading will be the one used for the 2025 season. It should be roughly the same, maybe a little worse as we are all paying off the COVID loans. We can do the extra work on plan b or the new ground and extra financing. This could give us over 15 points and a grade a licence. The 2 new buyers don’t have the club to hear and weren’t looking at anything other than making money. They’re out.2 more looking at us

Always dubious on what CEO’s or owners say. Usually what the fans wonna hear. But not always 100% fact.

RaoulDuke The 2 new buyers don’t have the club to hear and weren’t looking at anything other than making money. They’re out.2 more looking at us Not to be funny but does Ian Fulton have the club at heart? He’s a shadow that sits behind the scenes, we never hear directly from him or see anything community related which as a small club built around the community you’d expect to see a little more. He doesn’t need to be on the level of Beaumont but the difference is striking. It was pretty clear early on in the season the path we were taking and yet nothing was done. We could have probably bought our way out of a relegation fight and while it would have cost a fair bit to do so I’m sure losing the Sky money and lack of fans coming through the turnstiles would hit harder, if we end up in the Championship. I hope the stadium improvements do come to fruition as they’re long overdue, I’d have loved for us to be in a brand new stadium but clearly that was never on the cards so anything which brings our facilities up to date will be a big positive going forward.

Maturecasfan maybe, but is he lying? There’s nothing in print or on a podcast to the contrary. When you listened to it, what was your take on what he said?

Coyf cast with Mark Grattan

RaoulDuke

Matt in regards Ian Fulton, he attends and disks at the directors evening run by the supporters club. He’s there to be spoken to and asked questions of directly.

If he wants it he could sell to anyone and say goodbye but it sounded like he wants the new owner to actually take the club forward. At least that’s my taker on what was said. Apart from rumour, I’ve not heard anything.

Maturecasfan

Don’t know if he is or isn’t.
We’ll never know 100%
I’m always dubious on people high up in companies.
They says what the fans/customers want to hear.

RaoulDuke

Maturecasfan that might be true but that’s not my take on it. It was pretty factual.

RaoulDuke

Matt Ian Fulton is always at the directors evening run by the supporters club and is there to be questioned. From the podcast, Grattan goes into the 2 potential buyers and explains they didn’t think they had the club at heart and that was that. The new borders may want to buy the club or invest.

I personally thought they bought into Radford and provided him what he asked for. Which you would hope they would with any coach. It didn’t work and then they had to unpick and then go again.

The stadium improvements look to be on track, hopefully a full planning permission, if not the plan b at least gives us something.

Maturecasfan

Let’s see what October/nov bring regarding the stadium.
I won’t hold my breath.
Been holding it for over 20yrs.

pirate

WMDC will not make a decision while there is hope for their debtors at Belle Vue, they will do anything to help Wakey retain SL status because trinity will not be able to repay the 3 million they were loaned to buy back Belle Vue (AGAIN) with championship crowds
I would actually wager on trinity defaulting on their loans again and getting off with it AGAIN
WMDC are playing dirty in my opinion

CTID

RaoulDuke

pirate if their new owner comes in and wants to spend money they should be okay.

The problem they seem to have is there are doubts about it now and may not be happening. Seems to be wrangles between the owners and him.

If we are only getting 1.5m from sky and our wage bill is 3.6m and we are just coping, then with a lot less coming through the door will really suffer.

pirate

RaoulDuke
A Wakey fan and minor sponsor in scarborough (who got me in the north stand the other week) has said that there is a shortfall in the payment for the new stand and when the stand is in use, the interior dressing rooms gym etc will not be finished until paid for up front. He says the kitchen fitter who is reportedly buying them wants to know exactly what they have blown the 10 million quid on before he commits. its a typical trinity accounting saga

RaoulDuke

pirate I wonder if he’s biding his time to see what league they are going to be in before committing. Probably the same as anyone looking at us.

I can see the council buying the ground back from them to keep them afloat if they go down. If they can’t pay to finish the build, how do they pay the loan from the council to buy the ground?

FlatCapper

pirate Pirate. I pass the ground on my way to/from work every day and of late I had started to notice that interior work in the new stand seemed to be taking some time. My memory isn’t great but I thought they were talking of opening the stand before this season’s end but it looks unlikely to me.

pirate

RaoulDuke TRhe council have a 3 million quid interest in Belle vue, that is the money Trinity borrowed to buy the ground back and is nothing to do with the improvement money. they wouldnt have to buy the ground, just call in the loan and take possession. Wakefield AFC are the main tenants over the football season and they will be the ones to benefit from the rebuild.

RaoulDuke

pirate I knew about the loan to buy the ground and they are only paying interest on the 3m+. They would have to default on the payment schedule for the loan to be called in.

If they don’t complete the work in the stand then it won’t get a safety certificate for them to use and then they can’t pay money back. I can see the council lending money to them to complete the build. It would secure a return for them. But just stacking up the debt won’t help in the long term and we won’t be getting anymore from sky.

So for them, it’s all about the new rich owner. I guess they’ll see how much heart he has. And how deep his pockets are.

The football club are a fledgling team, a million miles away from making any real money. They are tenants of wakey. When the pain hits wakey they’ll be asked to pay more and more until they move out somewhere cheaper.

FlatCapper

Whatever our thoughts are about Wakey, there’s a cautionary tale in their stadium works.

I know MG stated in the podcast interview that Cas have factored in potential cost increases but very, very, rarely does a construction project come in on time and/or budget. If Cas have no leeway, we could find ourselves in the same position, should we ever start our revamp that is.

The financial side of top-flight RL remains a challenge for all who partake, with many, if not all, operating at a loss.

The recent TV deal is the worst for a long time and for me, that raises questions of those that run the game and negotiate the deals. We may not be the Premiership but how many were watching Matthew Fitzpartrick squeeze his way into the automatic picks for the Ryder Cup, at the weekend?

RaoulDuke

FlatCapper at the “meet the directors” evening in 2022, the bloke who runs GMI (or that part of it) said we will be exempt from the cost of materials rise for to it being linked to the other build at axiom. They would be building it for us and axiom and get discounted materials because of the scale of both builds. He says that we would get what we had agreed to, which was a full stadium rebuild, the price then was 12 2m to GMI, if it costs 14.2m, then we would get 14.2m to compete the build. Wakey did there 106 to get a straight 8.8m. It’s is for the build and for our part we have to chip in 2m that the clubs were given.

Wakefield, for their money, are getting a full east stand and now a ¾ North stand. They have also fitted a new pitch. If they can’t pay for the job to be completed, it’s on them.

FlatCapper

RaoulDuke Sounds good and hope it proves deliverable.

RaoulDuke

FlatCapper so do I.

if planning goes in, then it really can’t be stopped. Why would they pay the money for the works so far, the planning, the road works needed. It just would be ludicrous. These people make these decisions and actions on a regular basis and they make a lot of money.

As soon as a date is set for planning, then any issues must have been overcome and it’s merely a rubber stamp moment.

Roll on November!