Away from our struggles on the pitch I found this interesting article on TWTD about the suggestion by the Ipswich MP, Ben Gummer, that the football club should buy the 8 Acres of land that the stadium sits on from Ipswich Borough Council. This will enable the council to use the proceeds in buying up more land to develop the waterfront area of the Town. I'm not sure what the benefits would be to Marcus Evans and the football club as we have a 125 year lease on the land in Portman Road. This would make it easier for the stadium site to be sold off to a private development company if Marcus Evans decided to build a new stadium on the outskirts of the Town in the future. The only benefit to the people of Ipswich as a whole is that the council could spend the money wisely to redevelop the eyesore that is the Town Centre! To make the Town Centre more attractive to people from outside the Town who want to spend their money in decent shops and visitor attractions. What do you guys think or do you care? http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/22631/ross-ground-should-not-be-sold
Good thread JWM and it opens a very interesting debate, Personally I think every football club should own their ground. It's one of it's greatest assets and as we know we have "terrific facilities etc. etc." Like you said it probably wouldn't be a priority on ME's list of things to do but I certainly see that buying the ground would atleast give the club a bit more stability and from his business viewpoint 'a better resale potential' if he decides to sell further down the line. I'd love to see the council actually do something with the town centre and finish off the waterfront development, it really feels like it's a town that has fallen into a comatose sleep and any money injected from the club should benefit the town.
My one big concern and I probably share this with most supporters is that once ME bought the land there would be nothing to stop him from selling it off and leaving us in the ****e! If he bought the land there must be stringent safeguards in place that would prohibit him from selling the land to a private developer which then begs the question why would he buy the land in the first place? The Town center which most of us have agreed on a previous thread is in desperate need of redevelopment and currently looks 30 years out of date! There is no real incentive for people from outside the Town or indeed the county to do their shopping in Ipswich as the Town can't compete with other major metropolitan areas in East Anglia. For a town the size of Ipswich I am genuinely disgusted that little change has been made to the Town center in the 35 years that I have been living away from the Town. If the council can't or wont invest in the future infrastructure now we will begin to fall in further behind in attracting visitors to spend their money in the Town. The football club for most people outside the county is the only thing that they visit when they go to Ipswich, people like myself who have an affinity with the area but wouldn't dream of spending any real quality time browsing through the shops!
A million quid is not an awful lot. I'm sure the development value of that land would be significantly more. If Town want to pay the going rate then the council should accept but should not be held to ransome. I would hate to see the stadium move out of town. It would be of no benefit to anyone.
Having re read some of the article, I have to agree that it could certainly be construed as ME buying the land to then sell it off/develop it for his business and move us out of town... But does he have the money/inclination to spend 20m+ on building a new soulless flat pack stadium somewhere where he would ultimately have to buy the land there as well. I can't see any financial gain for him other than to be in posession of all the cards in the ITFC pack and complete the full set.
Well the rent is £111,500/year, so unless ME plans on sticking around for an awful long time I can't see there being any financial advantage for the club to buy the land (especially if £1m was "a long way off" the valuation). However, if the club decide it is an option then I'm all for it as long as it is tied to the club rather than ME. I think the council extending the waterfront is a great idea. It could be a great attraction for visiting teams as well and really help give the town a good image.
Completely agree. The Town desperately needs fresh investment for the modern infrastructure it will need to compete with other major regional centres or Ipswich will risk falling behind and not just in football terms! Ipswich is where I was born and raised but I am now just a visitor and I see absolutely no changes in the god awful appearance of the Town Centre to the one that I left 35 years ago! Suffolk University and the whole waterside developments aside the Town desperately needs a modern day facelift to attract visitor pounds from outside the county. Most people only ever go to Ipswich for the football (and that hasn't been much of a draw just lately) and if by selling the ground we can attract some extra investment into the Town then I am all for it.
Who do you trust to have the best interests of the Town (both FC and municipality) at heart IBC or ME -it's a tough call!
It depends if during the buying that the right covernants are put in place like that the football ground cannot sold for financial gain or something like that. IBC hardly had our best interests at heart when they were screwing us for backdated rent.
What if the fans bought it . something along the lines of £20 per share and then rent it back to the football club also turning it into a community stadium somewhere along the lines of what colchester have done . it could be developed for different things . council are happy and the fans have something to call their own . just a thought
For me the most important thing is to keep the stadium where it is. The town centre is in desperate need of improvement but I don't see why some people are now looking to us to help fund that by buying the land. It is not ITFCs fault that the infrastructure is outdated and not really our responsibility to change it but it would definitely be of benefit to both the council and the club if the town were spruced up a bit. The rent that we pay is cheap so I don't see much advantage in owning Marcus the land.
Warky I really cannot understand what benefit there would be in spending millions on the town centre when retail is in such severe decline? Why throw away good money after bad?
I will offer my parents as an example... (Many moons ago) They used to go and watch a handful of games each season (with me), some matches my Mum would go too, some all of us. When my Mum didn't attend the match she'd go off and do a bit of shopping in the town. With a mixture of dreadful football, rising prices, me attending on my own and the Town being a rubbish place to do any kind of shopping they simply don't go anymore. In fact they (albeit very rarely) attend local Ridgeons league matches (which stems from when I used to play there) instead of following the Town. But in short there isn't any form of draw for anyone to venture into Ipswich so instead of my Dad saying "shall we go to Ipswich? Do a bit of shopping and maybe watch the match" They instead say.. "We need to do some shopping, let's go to Bury or Norwich as Ipswich is bloody Horrible" It's a multi faceted problem that I'm sure is faced all over the country and I certainly noticed that when those Budgies got promoted there were suddenly trees sprouting up all over the city and a new bridge built over the river to improve accessibility. If we were to find ourselves back at the table with the big boys (in football terms) I'm sure the IBC would be pumping some money into redeveloping due to the increase in economy the club would bring.
Good post KOPR. With online shopping big now (and cheaper) people are venturing into the town less to spend and it certainly isn't helped when the town looks as bad as Ipswich.
Letâs say ME purchases Portman Road, he would then want to recoup his outlay. How about him developing/selling the area behind the Co-op stand. The plastic pitch is not used by the team, it is not used by the academy, to the best of my knowledge it is not used by the development team/s either (I could be wrong on that though) it is used by the community sections of the club though but this is for kids who have to pay for sessions on there. For me this whole area behind that stand is woefully under used these days. Surely one of the pitches at the Playford Road complex could be converted to accommodate any of the âCommunity" football requirements. ME could then sell/develop that area to create future revenue for his business/ITFC needs. Reading have a Casino, Naaarwich have a Hotel any number of facilities could easily be developed within that area, it would also help with the re-development of that part of Town.
I think you can trust IBC to put their own interests first and Marcus Evans to put his first. Simple as that. We have got a brand new shiny shopping centre in about a week's time, it looks amazing and very 21st century. Now the interesting thing with that is that Primark, Next, River Island, Urban Outfitters currently all occupy huge shops in the city centre, which will presumably stand idle for many years to come. There has already been a similar problem with filling thousands of new waterside apartments and we have lost Clinton's, Blockbuster and all the other retailers who have gone under or are in administration. It will be a bit exciting for a little while but I think the main people to benefit will be the construction companies and planners and project managers at the council. So, lets assume Ipswich town centre now resembles a North Korean nuclear testing site, and it sounds like it does. If it gets a makeover you may attract an Urban Outfitters or a Karen Millen but there will never be upmarket boutiques like Pretty Green, Louis Vuitton, Harvey Nichols that you have here, you will never compete with London, which is close by, in a million years, so how are you going to attract people from outside of Suffolk just to come for shopping? The best you can hope for is a Norwich and that doesn't begin to cater for anyone who is used to shopping in the big cities. I agree you could tidy the city centre up, but actually it has more to do with the shops you have in there and if there are Poundlands springing up everywhere then the reason for that is that's where Ipswich people are choosing to shop.
