Skip to main content

AFC Wimbledon face new stadium funding challenge

Top South London football journalist Richard Cawley looks at the £11m shortfall facing AFC Wimbledon for the first phase of their new stadium at Plough Lane. Despite the shortfall, fans are for now resistant to offers of external investment (three individuals who would each put in £2.5m) which would change the character of the club: Plough Lane build

Nevertheless, a leading blogger at the club said: 'It’s pretty clear some of the initial reaction from a fair amount of our fans – particularly younger ones – are all for the idea of selling off to some form of outside investment.' He also argued, 'There isn’t an £11m shortfall because they’ve actually got £5-6m of that secured if the other bit was in place.'

An interesting observation with wider applicability was: 'It’s part of the wider debate in League One about clubs improving their grounds. Andy Holt at Accrington talks about this – most owners are almost discouraged from doing it because they don’t get money back from that. Whereas if you throw all your money at going up the leagues then you’re going to kind of see a quicker return.' Stadiums are expensive and underutilised and even relatively new ones cost a lot to maintain (it was one of the factors which eventually led to the end of the Nene Park stadium of Rushden and Diamonds).

I am more sceptical than many analysts about the viability of fan owned clubs because even relatively prosperous fans have difficulty in raising the amount of money involved.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more

It's no deal say Spurs insiders over Taiwanese takeover

Senior figures at Tottenham Hotspur insisted on Friday that they had not been informed of any deal to sell Daniel Levy’s stake in the club. A business group, Eight Sports Capital — which is said to include a billionaire Taiwanese financier — claimed that it had an agreement in place to buy a 24.99 per cent stake in ENIC, the club’s majority owners, from Levy, who owns 29.88 per cent. The Times has been told Ng Wing Fai and Brooklyn Earick form part of the group, having both been linked previously to potential takeovers of the Premier League club. The Taiwanese businessman, Richard Tsai, is also said to be part of the consortium. He is reportedly worth £7 billion.  Last year Earick, the former DJ and tech entrepreneur, was part of an attempted £4.5 billion takeover, which was “unequivocally rejected” by Spurs.  An ENIC spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither ENIC nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s Family Trust of its minority stake in ENIC, THFC’...
Post a Comment
Read more

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more