Kent Online says GFC are preparing a bid to buy back the ground from the parent holding company for just over 1 million pound!!! Perhaps someone has won the lottery!
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011-1/july/12/gills_to_snap_up_priestfield.aspx Bloody hell maybe he won the euro millions?
I have a feeling this is just Scally moving finances around... I don't know why but maybe it's to help out with tax?! Who knows but I don't think it's got anything to do with the euro millions lol
I simply don't understand it. Forgive me if I'm being dumb but Scally owns Priestfield Developments? So he's paying himself £1m for the ground? Is that correct?
My suggestion would be this: Scally owns Pristfield Developments yes, therefore any financial move by that company would mean that he would gain a significant pay off for brokering the deal. Essentially buying the ground for £1m is a good deal for the club as they will then have substantial collateral, therefore the bank would be willing to loan the club £1m, in order to sanction a move for the ground as if the club cannot meet the repayments, the ground is the banks. This is an issue for me, it would suggest to me that Scally wants money quickly, hence the low figure, and he cannot borrow money through the club without the club having something to back repayments against, ie. Priestfield. Our problem now is that if we are in a lot of debt, then we lose our ground as we own it, rather then Scally losing it, as we had a lease with him. Given that the Bank is lending the money for the purchase of the ground, it would then value the ground at £1m, therefore that is all we would get in the event of us being in financial trouble. I don't like the sound of it if im honest, if it was making money and Scally was happy to keep it on his personal books, then why sell for so cheap, 90% less then what you paid 4 years ago, property valus have not dropped that much! Scally does care about Gillingham yes, but he is also a businessman and can smell when something isn't making money and has little ability too, im a bit concerned if im honest.
http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10416~2390299,00.html note how they are not releasing the accounts due to an attempt to save costs (even though they can publish them to shareholders) Something strange is going on I think Mr Scally...
Hello big-silv, I'm not pretending to understand all this stuff, although with everything that has been going on is this not good news? Maybe someone financially astute, could give us a sensible take on all this. ps. sorry Gills man Ant Dog - I missed your comment, when I posted this.
a big part of this...as i see it , is down to the fact that after 3 years from when we sold it, the agreement was that we were due to start paying rent now...hence our debts and interest we would of payed out would of been sky high before! now though we are in a position to buy it back rather than pay rent, and have a stadium as a big asset again!
I really don't like the sound of this at all. Why sell quickly @ £1m and why not put it on the open market? Is the Bank now applying a great deal of pressure on the Club to reduce the debt in light of all of the signings that have been made. I have mentioned in previous posts why some of the money that we have used for signings has not gone to reduce the debt. Perhaps the debt has been reduced by other means that are unknown to me. This just pure speculation but the whole thing does not make any sense at all. It needs the Chairman to tell the supporters what exactly is going on and tell us how much in debt is the Club and what does the immediate future hold. The fans do have a right to know as it their money that makes the turnstyles move.
A slightly different angle on this, and purely a long shot but maybe there is an investor or buyer interested but only if we own our own ground? Like i say just a long shot
i reckon its more likey that the other comapny that scally owns is in a bit of trouble and therefore needs capital fast, plus as scally owns both businesses he knows that if the other company goes under they'd take the ground with them meaning the gills would either have to buy it back at a lot more than 1 mil or move to another ground. this works in favour of all parties, gills make 9 mil profit from selling and buying back the ground, the other company get a nice little cash boost and the fans are happy that we own the ground again. lets be honest we would never put it on the open market cos anyone could just buy it and kick the club out and then we'd have to ground share with dartford pls note this is speculation on my part and is very likely to be complete and utter rubbish
Why are people demanding to know why? It is probably just Mr. Scally moving some money round. All we know is the club have made 9 million of it, so why not just be happy with it?
