The Allam's line on this was they would buy the stadium, but want a contribution from the Council for the whole development. Because the Council has no spare cash at the moment, the Allam's suggest the Council pays back part of the stadium valuation into the project.
Basically, he told the council 'you put in £30m and I'll sort the other £90m', while suggesting their £30m could be given as part of the value of the stadium. The councillor responded with 'the stadium is mine and you can't have it nahnahnah, and I'm really like the Ull Fair init, Ull FC is good and all that and anyway you is a foreigner'.
What annoys me most is he's got half the population of the city to think Allam is a dodgy foreigner and that it'd be better to keep the stadium with the council. They've got the local media reporting it as though it's some kind of tricky debate, when in fact it's really bloody obvious what the best outcome would be!
not a problem if that day ever arrives. well if brady and geraghty dont grant a referendum then we all get to choose at the next local elections. whilst labour is in power hull will never improve. all they can do is increase debt. already over 6 million in debt and rising just wait until the next lot of council tax increases are made. it could only happen in hull. thank god that i fall under east riding council.
first of all the hull arena is in need of being replaced. the ice plant is shot. so putting in a new ice rink within the sporting vilage is a no brainer. if you look at the allams original plans it was all in there. the council could then sell the land that currently has the hull arena - odean cinama - chicos and even kingston retail park and relocate it all. that area of land would be worth millions to the council and would more than cover the cost of the kc stadium. it needs adam pearson and a third party to get all parties around the table. maybe mr allaam will wait for the next local elections to take place first. he might get a better response from say a liberal council. this whole topic could be what decides the next local elections. imo.
The Allams approached the Liberals last time and they did what Liberals do so well and sat on the fence. It's counter-productive to try and make this into a political debate.
i agree with you. the whole situation is now so childish its crazy. adam pearson has spoken common sence on burnsies show yesterday. but mr allaam has left us all in no doubt that his dealings with this labour council are over.
hasnt Mr Allam heard of negotiating ? he is a businessman , surely he doesnt get it all his own way everytime. Publicly throwing ur hands up in the air in a hope the general public will take up his fight for him is a little iffy TBH. This has been played out in public far too much
Mr Geraghty has been a labour councillor for donkeys years on and off, but he was a member of the town councils most fruitless years, in fact if memory serves me right he may have been in charge. We lost many proposed investment actions due to the council not having business accumen and so it continues.
The way I see it, Allams proposed a sports village worth 120m. they wanted 30m from council (in the form of the stadium) and then the Allams would borrow against that and the future sports village for the other 90m. Now assuming a new company was set up for this and the council had 25% of it and the Allams the other 75% (due to amount put it at start). Then the council have just turned a 30m asset into a share of a company with a 90m debt. Now thats risky business!! Now I'm not saying its it wrong, but purely on those numbers you would need a solid business plan in place for the sports village so you could guarantee some sort of income and return on capital. If those business plans included an ice arena, swimming pool etc you have to then factor in the loss of earnings from other areas. Maybe the numbers just didn't add up. Personally, I would love to see them develop the Melton plot. Why do you actually need a stadium in a sports village? Make it a huge academy area and with the catchment area we could have a wolrd class development centre for all sports in the area (swimming, basketball, football, ice hockey, tennis, golf). The swimming pools are needed in that area, Haltemprice (brings back memories) but just aint up to scratch. We become the North of Englands Development Centre for Sports! Hotel would be easier access to all areas then and dare I say it a casino wouldn't cause too much disturbance. The plans for the KC, Hull City and Hull FC remain the same and they continue to rent from the council. The council then promise (as I think has always been the case) to expand the stadium when it is required. Lets get a stable team in the Premier League then worry about expanding... walk before we can run here guys! Anyways, just a thought!
The stadium isn't really an asset at all, it generates no income and it's useless to anyone but a football/rugby team(both of whom are already in it, for next to nothing, for another 42 years). The deal was that they gifted the stadium(or part of the value of it) to the Allam's, who would then put in another £90m to build the sports village, the council wouldn't be involved. So rather than losing an asset and gaining a debt, they be losing something that's almost worthless to them, while gaining a massive boost to the facilities in the city, along with creating hundreds of new jobs and going part way to changing a misguided image of of our city from outside. It was, and still is, a no-brainer.
So something that is valued at 30m, is gifted to the Allams on the promise that they will invest a further 90m to develop the city? The Allams gift to the city is 90m and the coucils gift to the Allams is 30m..... seems fair enough to me! I'd like to see guarantees that Hull companies where used in the development as much as possible though. However, was there not something about the stadium being used to raise a loan? I might be wrong, if not though, Hull City would have gone from having a very cheap rental agreement for the next 42 years, to an extremely high loan repayment for the next x number of years. I don't know the ins and outs of the deals OLM which is why I'm trying to figure it out, as my initial thoughts were that it was a no brainer, but there has to be some reason?? I still think the Melton site should be developed though, Hull City could benefit massively!
I think you have it all correct there and I do believe the plan was to re-mortgage the KC to raise part of the money. It's the only argument against the development that I've heard, that I think holds any merit at all, as it does add an element of risk for the club. To balance it, I don't believe for second that the Allam's haven't costed all aspects of the development to make sure that the numbers stack up. It seems the Allam's won't build a sports village without a flagship stadium at it's heart and I don't think they seriously plan to move the club to Melton, so I think it more likely that they'll bide their time until there's someone else in office at Hull City Council(I think all their comments from now will be aimed at bringing that about).
Yeah, I'd tend to agree, just read the Yorkshire Post article you posted on the other thread. it seems the Post would like them out too
Am i not wrong in believe that Sports England have also waved their wand and promised some money towards the 90M..... Not saying that as gospel but i have heard that on numerous occasions from people far more in the know than me.
I Wouldn't!! 20 years ago the Ruscador shipyard went out of business with Mr Allam at the helm. I know because i worked there. The council are definately right to treat him with caution and to protect a 40 million plus public asset.
