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More problems for Truro City


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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/45786065

 

It appears they may not be in a position to contribute their share of the finance to build the new Stadium For Cornwall. It seems from the article that the company who now own the site of their old ground are not stumping up the cash that was promised after it`s sale by the previous owners.

@Eddie Hitler, any news from down your way?

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6 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/45786065

 

It appears they may not be in a position to contribute their share of the finance to build the new Stadium For Cornwall. It seems from the article that the company who now own the site of their old ground are not stumping up the cash that was promised after it`s sale by the previous owners.

@Eddie Hitler, any news from down your way?

I heard Pete Masters (Chairman) speaking about it and the official line is pretty much as that article said.

Whilst they've vacated the ground for a Lidl to be built on it there is looking like a big delay before construction starts and the £2m has to be paid. It looks like they could have carried on playing there this season.

If the £2m won't be paid for another year (or more) this then drives a coach and horses through the timetable for building the stadium as they had started on the ground survey works back in August.

However....

My contact within the supporters club was saying back in July that the payment was being made into the club rather than into any kind of trust or escrow for the new stadium and that the club had approximately £2m of debts owing to the two funders who have been covering losses of £250k a year since rescuing it from administration.  So these new owners may well decide that as they are being given the option to have all their money refunded and not lose a penny then they may well just do that and then sell their little adventure.

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7 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

I heard Pete Masters (Chairman) speaking about it and the official line is pretty much as that article said.

Whilst they've vacated the ground for a Lidl to be built on it there is looking like a big delay before construction starts and the £2m has to be paid. It looks like they could have carried on playing there this season.

If the £2m won't be paid for another year (or more) this then drives a coach and horses through the timetable for building the stadium as they had started on the ground survey works back in August.

However....

My contact within the supporters club was saying back in July that the payment was being made into the club rather than into any kind of trust or escrow for the new stadium and that the club had approximately £2m of debts owing to the two funders who have been covering losses of £250k a year since rescuing it from administration.  So these new owners may well decide that as they are being given the option to have all their money refunded and not lose a penny then they may well just do that and then sell their little adventure.

So it seems that the football club will end up being tenants of the rugby club/council as they will have paid for the stadium?

Still, the important thing is that this setback isn`t allowed to derail the project -  a fact which appears to have been recognized by the Pirates & CC and is to their credit.

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13 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

So it seems that the football club will end up being tenants of the rugby club/council as they will have paid for the stadium?

Still, the important thing is that this setback isn`t allowed to derail the project -  a fact which appears to have been recognized by the Pirates & CC and is to their credit.

Yep, that looks to be about the size of it.

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1 minute ago, devoncider said:

Interesting that River Allen has decided to rejoin Truro after doing well at Tiverton in the league below. I wonder if it's a case of more money or the long commute?

The commute had a lot to do with it I imagine, a lot easier to get over to Torquay than down to Truro and fed up with getting picked up at the services for away games. He`s a Plymouth lad so could well still live there. 

Still, Truro need all the help they can get at the moment so fair play to him.

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3 minutes ago, myol'man said:

Imagine if they ever got into the EFL?

Carlisle on a Tuesday night............!

They already have some pretty horrible ones, places like Eastbourne, Billericay, Thurrock, Dartford and Chelmsford - on a Saturday they can take all day! It is offset though by the likes of Chippenham, Gloucester, WSM, Bath and the most local of local derbies this season, Torquay!

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To update on this.

It now looks like the developer owners of the Treyew Road ground, Helical Bar, may have lost their buyer - LIDL - in a similar way to Rovers losing Sainsbury's.

The £2m payment to Truro City only happens when development starts and as it's required imminently to fund the SFC then Truro City don't have it to put in.

Cornwall Pirates, rugby, say they will make up this £2m shortfall for the stadium to go ahead which will leave Truro City as rent paying tenants rather than part owners as intended.

As the developers now have no takers for the Treyew Road ground and no demolition work has been done then it is very possible that Truro City could leave Torquay and return to playing at Treyew this season and maybe even stay there until the SFC is built, or just stay at Treyew if still no takers as it's cheaper.

They have also been given the option of buying Treyew back for £3.5m.

It's all very big numbers for a club with home gates in the region of 200.

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3 hours ago, Eddie Hitler said:

To update on this.

It now looks like the developer owners of the Treyew Road ground, Helical Bar, may have lost their buyer - LIDL - in a similar way to Rovers losing Sainsbury's.

The £2m payment to Truro City only happens when development starts and as it's required imminently to fund the SFC then Truro City don't have it to put in.

Cornwall Pirates, rugby, say they will make up this £2m shortfall for the stadium to go ahead which will leave Truro City as rent paying tenants rather than part owners as intended.

As the developers now have no takers for the Treyew Road ground and no demolition work has been done then it is very possible that Truro City could leave Torquay and return to playing at Treyew this season and maybe even stay there until the SFC is built, or just stay at Treyew if still no takers as it's cheaper.

They have also been given the option of buying Treyew back for £3.5m.

It's all very big numbers for a club with home gates in the region of 200.

I saw this yesterday and wasn`t sure whether it was good news or not TBH. It would be a good idea I think if they went back to Treyew Road - I imagine they would have to pay rent to someone but it could well be less than they pay Torquay (although them leaving Plainmoor has a knock on for Torquay`s finances of course).

I would worry if Truro were rent paying tenants at the new Stadium For Cornwall though - even subsidised that won`t be cheap and they won`t be able to sustain it for long unless they get to the Conference in the next couple of years I think.

The big question though is, where`s the money gone?  I know nothing about Helical Bar - are they a long established company or one set up to buy the ground?

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1 hour ago, Red Right Hand said:

I saw this yesterday and wasn`t sure whether it was good news or not TBH. It would be a good idea I think if they went back to Treyew Road - I imagine they would have to pay rent to someone but it could well be less than they pay Torquay (although them leaving Plainmoor has a knock on for Torquay`s finances of course).

I would worry if Truro were rent paying tenants at the new Stadium For Cornwall though - even subsidised that won`t be cheap and they won`t be able to sustain it for long unless they get to the Conference in the next couple of years I think.

The big question though is, where`s the money gone?  I know nothing about Helical Bar - are they a long established company or one set up to buy the ground?

Where's the money gone? I read it they never had any but sold the ground to HB with the agreement that it would be paid when LIDL started work...... Therefore HB should have it still as you say but probably all gone in consult fees lawyers fees etc , and probably plundered thinking they would get it from LIDL in due course...........if only they'd had a watertight contract with the supermarket

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4 minutes ago, CodeRed said:

Where's the money gone? I read it they never had any but sold the ground to HB with the agreement that it would be paid when LIDL started work...... Therefore HB should have it still as you say but probably all gone in consult fees lawyers fees etc , and probably plundered thinking they would get it from LIDL in due course...........if only they'd had a watertight contract with the supermarket

The spanner in the works could well be that the ground was, I believe, sold by the previous owners not the current ones.

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40 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

The spanner in the works could well be that the ground was, I believe, sold by the previous owners not the current ones.

Oh yes it was Heaney that sold it to Helical Bar (some random developer AFAIK, there are loads about) on the quiet and used the money to fund their huge rise through the divisions and a FA Vase win. The fans should have asked from where the money was coming rather than just assuming that he was pouring his own in.

Masters & Perryman came in to Save it from liquidation and have been stumping up £250k a year in losses ever since.

I don't think the club knows what it is. Ten years' ago it was a small town non-league club playing other towns in Devon and Cornwall and not even a particularly good one.

For all the egos of the owners and fans this is still what it is IMO.  A club is its fans and if you remember how many season tickets they offered to refund when the move to Torquay was announced this underlined that: seventeen season tickets sold.

Put £250k a year into Bristol Manor Farm and they'll make the Conference; pre the Al Qadis the Rovers were "only" losing £600k a year in Div 3.

I think the £2m was the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow for the current owners; even if it had gone to the SFC they would have had a Conference South team playing in a brand new stadium they part owned and then could sell it (they've both been talking about "new investors coming in").

Without that they have a small town club with a tiny crowd in a rented ground with the only real thing differentiating them from Bodmin, Falmouth or Newquay being the £250k a year pumped in to maintain an artificially high league position.

I think that for Truro City the great adventure is over but the owners and fans haven't realised it yet.

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50 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

I think that for Truro City the great adventure is over but the owners and fans haven't realised it yet.

I think you`re right. For Truro City read Rushden & Diamonds, Boston United, Maidstone, Scarborough and going back a good few years now, Colne Dynamos all of who were touted as the next big thing until the owners lost interest, the cash dried up and they dropped like stones. The same thing will happen no doubt to the likes of Salford City, Billericay Town and the other newly minted clubs around at the moment.

You just hope that Truro can survive it in the long term.

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1 minute ago, Red Right Hand said:

I think you`re right. For Truro City read Rushden & Diamonds, Boston United, Maidstone, Scarborough and going back a good few years now, Colne Dynamos all of who were touted as the next big thing until the owners lost interest, the cash dried up and they dropped like stones. The same thing will happen no doubt to the likes of Salford City, Billericay Town and the other newly minted clubs around at the moment.

You just hope that Truro can survive it in the long term.

I don't think they need to; if it folds tomorrow a new team will be started and get a berth in the SWPL.  Truro will still have its football team whatever happens.

The only reason they're not in the SWPL now is because they sold their ground to fund their rise and that sale came with a staged payment of £2m on development starting which has underpinned the £250k a year injection.

It's had ?ten years as a toy of rich men and absolutely the fans have enjoyed the ride but it's all been through selling the ground and you can only sell it once.

Rovers with the £10m charge on their ground against £12m of debt have effectively done the same in a few short years after decades of careful management.

It's rank mismanagement on both counts and it's only because your average football fan cheers the victories whilst ignoring the accounts that clubs get bankrupted in plain sight.

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2 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

I don't think they need to; if it folds tomorrow a new team will be started and get a berth in the SWPL.  Truro will still have its football team whatever happens.

The only reason they're not in the SWPL now is because they sold their ground to fund their rise and that sale came with a staged payment of £2m on development starting which has underpinned the £250k a year injection.

It's had ?ten years as a toy of rich men and absolutely the fans have enjoyed the ride but it's all been through selling the ground and you can only sell it once.

Rovers with the £10m charge on their ground against £12m of debt have effectively done the same in a few short years after decades of careful management.

It's rank mismanagement on both counts and it's only because your average football fan cheers the victories whilst ignoring the accounts that clubs get bankrupted in plain sight.

Which is why we have to get behind SL and the way he wants our club to be run. The alternative is unsustainable as cases like this show only too well, albeit at a much lower level but the principle is still the same.

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47 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

 The same thing will happen no doubt to the likes of Salford City, Billericay Town and the other newly minted clubs around at the moment.

You just hope that Truro can survive it in the long term.

Not quite sure why you have included Salford in this? I think they actually have quite a decent chance of establishing themselves as a league club. Salford as a city could easily sustain a league two club imo.

They are actually in pretty good hands with the class of 92 as they have huge reputations to protect.

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1 minute ago, Up The City! said:

Not quite sure why you have included Salford in this? I think they actually have quite a decent chance of establishing themselves as a league club. Salford as a city could easily sustain a league two club imo.

They are actually in pretty good hands with the class of 92 as they have huge reputations to protect.

True, I was probably being a bit pessimistic in their case but the principle still stands - if the former players lose interest then it could well go badly wrong. Salford`s biggest hurdle would be attracting new fans I guess given what`s around them and they are governed by FFP/SCMP like everyone else. There is talk that Gaffney who they signed from the s*gs doubled his wages on going there. I really couldn`t see them progressing much beyond a League 1/League 2 yo-yo club though. Mind you, look at Accrington Stanley and what they`re achieving on tiny gates and low wages and Salford must be in better shape financially than they are.

Am I right in thinking they have a billionaire (a genuine one!) who owns 50% of the club?

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52 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

Which is why we have to get behind SL and the way he wants our club to be run. The alternative is unsustainable as cases like this show only too well, albeit at a much lower level but the principle is still the same.

I agree.

Fans of other clubs, and I'm thinking of one prowed one in particular, are failing to see the difference between losing £600k a year and losing £2m a year.

The former you can tolerate with some wealthy local businessmen putting their hands in their pockets; the latter is a fast track to forfeiting your ground.

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28 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

True, I was probably being a bit pessimistic in their case but the principle still stands - if the former players lose interest then it could well go badly wrong. Salford`s biggest hurdle would be attracting new fans I guess given what`s around them and they are governed by FFP/SCMP like everyone else. There is talk that Gaffney who they signed from the s*gs doubled his wages on going there. I really couldn`t see them progressing much beyond a League 1/League 2 yo-yo club though. Mind you, look at Accrington Stanley and what they`re achieving on tiny gates and low wages and Salford must be in better shape financially than they are.

Am I right in thinking they have a billionaire (a genuine one!) who owns 50% of the club?

Peter Lim? I think he owns Valencia as well ( hence G Neville connection)

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On 09/10/2018 at 08:46, devoncider said:

Interesting that River Allen has decided to rejoin Truro after doing well at Tiverton in the league below. I wonder if it's a case of more money or the long commute?

A few Truro players went to Taunton. I’ve heard from the horses mouth that some at Taunton are on £1200 a month plus goal bonuses etc.

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17 hours ago, Eddie Hitler said:

That's just £14k a year; I expect every person on this board who has a job earns more than that.

I expect most people on this board aren’t earning that for playing football on top of a full time salary though....

doesnt surprise me, that’s about £300 a week? Chippenham we’re paying some players upto £500 a week in the Southern Prem

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36 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

I expect most people on this board aren’t earning that for playing football on top of a full time salary though....

doesnt surprise me, that’s about £300 a week? Chippenham we’re paying some players upto £500 a week in the Southern Prem

You must be on a grand a week at Westbury Marcus ??

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19 hours ago, Portland Bill said:

A few Truro players went to Taunton. I’ve heard from the horses mouth that some at Taunton are on £1200 a month plus goal bonuses etc.

How bizarre, didn't the Taunton management team go to Truro? Did the players go to Taunton prior to or after the management team going the other way?

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On 13/10/2018 at 18:11, Red Right Hand said:

I think you`re right. For Truro City read Rushden & Diamonds, Boston United, Maidstone, Scarborough and going back a good few years now, Colne Dynamos all of who were touted as the next big thing until the owners lost interest, the cash dried up and they dropped like stones. The same thing will happen no doubt to the likes of Salford City, Billericay Town and the other newly minted clubs around at the moment.

You just hope that Truro can survive it in the long term.

I doubt that will happen to Salford City - aside from the ex - Man Utd players, the bloke that owns Valencia is in the mix as major shareholder.

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