Where do I say that Preston, Rotherham et al will get promoted - I don't. As to what happens once a decision has been made to buy and expand - well, you have to service the interest and capital repayments. Much more difficult if your revenue streams have been reduced significantly. As you pointed out on another thread, how can we spend a "fortune" on new players and invest up to £100m in a new stadium? These are the issues that the Board are wrangling with currently..........
How much do you think the land where County Hall will be worth when it comes up for Sale ? . and have you considered one major route feeding it ,Fabian way , traffic is bad enough at the Morfa but the bought of driving town shopping traffic along with traffic to the west of Swansea doesn't bear thinking about .For all its faults Morfa has better options regarding transportation links such as a duel lcariageway , the Bonymaen /Winch Wen by pass (which could be converted to a dual carriageway , The main line from London /Midlands which passes at Landore , the planned Hafod by pass which will be indirectly linked to High Street station . The stadium can be extended which will be a lot cheaper than building from scratch , it's down to whether the will is there + funds to see it through.
the stadium wont be extended though will it....and that's the problem, how long has the club been trying and are nowhere near now as they were on day one... there are far to many obstacles in their way...and them obstacles are never going to go away....
First obstacle is to agree a price. Next secure the agreement of all 3 parties (Council, Ospreys & Swans) Apply & obtain planning permission
I think that because of the money coming in to the Premier League teams coming up from the Championship will find it harder and harder to compete in the transfer market and will go straight back down. I can therefore see a situation where there will be no more relegation from the Premier League. If this happens I hope we are still in the Premiership and to compete we will need a bigger stadium to accommodate a larger fan base.
So tell me what do you mean by playing these teams then if we don't get relegated or they don't get promoted, you are not making any sense at all. Well the only way is it either invest money and take the risk of relegation, it's in a similar manner as you take a 25 year mortgage, you can't account for everything the next 25 years bring. Or we bring on investors who will pump money into the club, not just buy shares with little prospect of an inward investment like the last lot of yanks. The problem with that is they want a ROI and a stake in the club which will be a step to far.
Can I suggest that you read my posts again! If we get relegated, would you fill the stadium playing Rotherham in the Championship? Cardiff have closed their extension......
As with anything in life you have to spend money if you want to improve, You get to a point where you cant go much further without expanding. The liberty have served us well but we have gone as far as we can and we need to go up a level now where we should be looking to play in front of 30k + and trying to get back into Europe playing the big teams.....We need our own stadium if we want to grow and we need the fans which we have but unfortunately we cant accommodate them at the liberty and that is a fact....Now is the time to look to the future and make plans and invest in a stadium worthy of our achievements and the countless fans that cant watch the swans live....Apart from Bournemouth we have the smallest attendance in the premiership and like qpr and wigan it will hinder our progress as it has them in the long run.
I have to agree with Jager on this issue, expansion is needed ASAP, the waiting list has grown from 6000, to nearly 9000 ? that's an annual loss of some £9 Million revenue, which would pay for any expansion. Forget moving to the County hall site, as that is already spoken for by a consortium which includes Martin Morgan for a Hotel project. It seems clear to me that with the Academy development at Landore, we are staying put, and I hope we do, as I like the position of the Liberty, and as for objections from retailers regarding proposed expansion, they will not win, as planning has already been granted, it's the issue of sale that complicates things at the minute, but I'm sure we will move forward on all this, as it is imperative to the clubs progress to develop to the next level, or do you all want us to stay small?......................
No good bringing Cardiff into this though really, as there are all sorts of issues as to why they are losing 'Bums' on seats...............
Well the only way to determine that is to get relegated, it's a stupid argument to put forward as we don't really know. And going on an 'if' is not really the way forward is it? We are here, we are in the premier league, we strike while the iron is hot, if are then relegated at some point in the future the club will have to deal with that then
Phil - I am not against expansion. Nowhere in my posts have I said that. However, I would expect the Board to assess and consider various scenarios before coming to a conclusion as to how to move forward on this issue. Purchasing the Liberty plus funding the expansion would be the biggest financial investment in the history of the club - they would certainly want to ensure that the club could service the loans whatever division we would be in.
Jäger - as I said in my reply to Phil, the Board has to undertake a sensitivity analysis of a number of options to ensure that the loans are repayable come what may.
I have a few concerns regarding the assumption that if we extend the stadium we will continue to have a sell out crowd. Firstly this was not the case back in the early eighties when we had our 2 seasons in the top flight in fact attendances in the second season were abysmal, yes this is a different scenario in a different era but I still have doubts. Secondly the so called waiting list is somewhat flawed, of the few thousand that expressed a desire to buy season tickets only a very small proportion responded positively when asked to secure these seats with a £50 deposit. By extending the stadium section by section the board will be able to gauge the response and fans appetite to buy season tickets and continue the project according to demand. Thirdly there's the threat of relegation, history has shown that we have not been a well supported club in the lower leagues so can't say I relish being part of a small crowd in a 35-40000 stadium, coupled with the financial problems this will bring. I think the board are approaching this sensibly and prudently and support them fully in their endeavours.
Yes but still we are at the scenario of do we invest into the facilities of the club, that being purchasing the stadium and expansion. The only options if we go forward are to use either the money we have access to through loans and the money the club has, or to bring investors in. The club can't go on an if, we have the means to go now, of course we have to ensure we can pay loans if we get relegated, but the way this is done is on the basis of being in this league. We have also met the conditions Huw set a few years ago on the expansion of the stadium, that being selling out our allocation, I believe that has been done on every game in the premier league. There is obviously demand now, which means by not expanding the club is losing money.
I don't blame people for not paying the £50 deposit, why would you give the club the money on the conditions they put on that money? Sorry but they could have that a whole lot differently rather expecting people to part with let's face it a sizeable amount of money on something that is not even there, hasn't begun, and on the mixed responses to this from the club. Bluntly it was an Ill conceived farce
I think if building work was underway I'd be prepared to outlay the £50 notes. But seeing we still don't know what's going on, my money is staying put.
Yes I think I understand that, they are basically asking you to give money over on the chance that they will have an expansion by 2016/7 season, if you change your mind after October 2015 you lose the right of a refund. It's completely ridiculous that they hold your money for more than a year, and they have a right to extend this to the 2017/8 season, and then you have to request the money back, not automatically refunded. It sounds and smells like a scam to be honest, who the hell would hand over fifty quid for that?
Thinking out loud Matt. The council will want to offload their ivory tower, sooner rather than later, and this will be the only space made available in Swansea for decades. Agree, the traffic would be impossible.
It's no scam the club need to be absolutely sure the support is there to fill the seats before the extension work begins. People are often ready to put their names forward when there's no obligation all the club were looking for is a financial commitment from those wishing to reserve a seat in the new extension.
