Skip to main content

Blues owner challenges Government on stadium plans

The US owner of Birmingham City football club has said the UK can unlock a wave of inbound investment “incredibly quickly” if the government makes tangible progress on its pledge to speed up planning approvals. Tom Wagner, co-founder of Knighthead Capital, told the Financial Times that Britain’s record of under-investment and slow growth could be turned around if Labour made good on its vow to remove obstacles to development.

 “There are lots of projects that we are looking at in the UK that we’d love to pursue if the process can be made easier,” he said. “And we’re not the only ones. If things change by just a small amount, there’ll be a lot of capital inflow and a lot of excess growth.”

Knighthead has acquired more than 60 acres of land around Birmingham City’s stadium since taking control of the League One team in 2023. The New York-based hedge fund plans to build a new 60,000-seat venue as part of a large £3bn regeneration project involving housing, retail and entertainment space in one of the UK’s poorest neighbourhoods.

The firm manages about $9bn and has yet to submit formal planning applications for the project, which hinges on local authorities agreeing to set up new transport links. A proposed extension of Birmingham’s tram network through the area has been repeatedly delayed over several years.

Wagner, a former Goldman Sachs distressed debt trader, said Birmingham city council’s financial woes — it was declared bankrupt last year and forced to make drastic cuts to spending — had “very little” impact on Knighthead’s plans so far, and the firm was continuing to buy up land in an area just over a mile away from the city centre. “We’re hearing all the right things in our conversations. What we need to see now is a bit more action,” he told the Pink ‘Un, adding that he wanted to see real progress this calendar year on the potential extension of the city’s Metro tramline to the site of the proposed new stadium.

The team are still getting average attendances at home games of more than 26,000, higher than several Premier League sides, while former NFL star Tom Brady is now an adviser and shareholder at the club. Wagner said the goal was to take Birmingham City back to the Premier League and stay there for a “long period of time”, and in the process rekindle the fierce local rivalry with Aston Villa. “It’s an incredibly ambitious and probably a bit cocky thing to say, but, why bother if that’s not the objective?”

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

Spurs to sell minority stake

Tottenham Hotspur is in talks to sell a minority stake in a deal that could value it at up to £3.75 billion and pave the way for Joe Lewis and his family to sever ties with the Premier League football club. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is seeking an investment that values the club at between £3.5 billion and £3.75 billion, including debt. While the terms of any deal have not been finalised, City sources expect Spurs to sell about 10 per cent. The club is being advised by bankers from Rothschild on the sale. Tottenham wants to raise fresh capital for new player signings and to help fund the development of an academy for its women’s team, as well as a 30-storey hotel next to its north London stadium. The financier Amanda Staveley, who brokered the deal for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take over Newcastle United, is understood to be among the parties to have expressed an interest in Tottenham. Staveley’s fund, PCP Capital Partners, has raised about £500 million to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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