The Etihad Stadium

[adrianr]

The council cant/wont sell it, the new deal we got was a result of our owners threatening to just build a new stadium where the academy is going.

Well that would have been awkward.. :S

 

[Blue Shield]

The council is not realistically allowed to make profit (which is daft) and thus cannot sell the land which the stadium is built on as this would undoubtedly make them a profit. If they sold the stadium it would be extra-vires (outside the power) and therefore illegal as its outside the councils peroggative.

Luckily i asked someone about this ,who worked in the council at the time the stadium was built and the Eastlands preject began. a few days ago.

 

[not my fault!]

This has been discussed at length before. I think the bottom line is that it just doesn't make financial sense.

Exactly this, by not buying it we save money. We also have remission to do whatever we want with it without acing o pay the council anymore.

 

[NPBlue]

I thought the reason we haven't bought the stadium is because the money would go to Sport England, and as the rent we currently pay for the ground goes to the the City Council, who use the money to provide sports facilities in East Manchester, the Sheikh thought that would be of better use to the locals than paying off the debt.

Isn't it all part of the agreement the owner signed regarding the development of the land around the stadium over the next 15 years, when we upped the annual payment to £3 million a year as a flat fee rather than have the payment based on our attendance?

I'm sure I read it somewhere.

I think I also read that once the development of the surrounding land is complete, the stadium will then be owned by the club.

I may be wrong, but I'm sure it's something along those lines.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Even if we did buy it, it would make little difference to FFP as far as I'm aware. The stadium is currently a leasehold asset in the accounts and we charge depreciation on it in the P&L account (which is an allowable expense under FFP anyway). The only change would be that it would become a freehold asset with no difference to the treatment, plus we'd save the £5m a year in expenses we pay to the council.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

How would it possibly be a way around FFPR?

Aside from that there is no way it could be used as a way around FFPR, please, please, will people stop thinking that the way to beat FFPR is to find loopholes. I'm getting so sick of this.

If you had taken your head out of your arse and read the bit where i asked a question instead of chucking your toys out of the pram with the 'I'm getting so sick of this' bollocks, you would see i don't know if or how it could affect spending. That's why i asked.
Pardon me for asking a question that you didn't like. FFS

Sorry, I have a bad tendency to overreact on forums. My fault entirely. I do wish that people would just accept that City are determined to play FFPR straight and not find a way of cheating it, though.

If there is a loophole then the folk at MCFC would have found it and it wouldn't be cheating. But spending 100m, 200m or whatever buying the stadium doesn't make a scrap of sense in terms of FFPR.

 

[The Pink Panther]

I thought the reason we haven't bought the stadium is because the money would go to Sport England, and as the rent we currently pay for the ground goes to the the City Council, who use the money to provide sports facilities in East Manchester, the Sheikh thought that would be of better use to the locals than paying off the debt.

Isn't it all part of the agreement the owner signed regarding the development of the land around the stadium over the next 15 years, when we upped the annual payment to £3 million a year as a flat fee rather than have the payment based on our attendance?

I'm sure I read it somewhere.

I think I also read that once the development of the surrounding land is complete, the stadium will then be owned by the club.

I may be wrong, but I'm sure it's something along those lines.

This question about buying the stadium has been done to death and the answer quoted above is more or less why it's not owned by the Club
Very simply put, if our owner buys the stadium the money will go to Sport England (out of Manchester) because SE majority funded the stadium
When we pay the Council "rent", the money is ring fenced for sport projects under their control in Manchester

 

[Challenger1978]

If you had taken your head out of your arse and read the bit where i asked a question instead of chucking your toys out of the pram with the 'I'm getting so sick of this' bollocks, you would see i don't know if or how it could affect spending. That's why i asked.
Pardon me for asking a question that you didn't like. FFS

Sorry, I have a bad tendency to overreact on forums. My fault entirely. I do wish that people would just accept that City are determined to play FFPR straight and not find a way of cheating it, though.

If there is a loophole then the folk at MCFC would have found it and it wouldn't be cheating. But spending 100m, 200m or whatever buying the stadium doesn't make a scrap of sense in terms of FFPR.

We could buy the stadium then secure a big fuck of loan on it for a couple of billion (from a Muslim bank with fuck all interest) that we arrange to pay of at so many million a year for the next couple of hundred years. BOOM there goes FFP in a completely legit way. Although having said that we could probably do the same trick with the Training campus.

 

[GXCity]

I thought the reason we haven't bought the stadium is because the money would go to Sport England, and as the rent we currently pay for the ground goes to the the City Council, who use the money to provide sports facilities in East Manchester, the Sheikh thought that would be of better use to the locals than paying off the debt.

Isn't it all part of the agreement the owner signed regarding the development of the land around the stadium over the next 15 years, when we upped the annual payment to £3 million a year as a flat fee rather than have the payment based on our attendance?

I'm sure I read it somewhere.

I think I also read that once the development of the surrounding land is complete, the stadium will then be owned by the club.

I may be wrong, but I'm sure it's something along those lines.

This question about buying the stadium has been done to death and the answer quoted above is more or less why it's not owned by the Club
Very simply put, if our owner buys the stadium the money will go to Sport England (out of Manchester) because SE majority funded the stadium
When we pay the Council "rent", the money is ring fenced for sport projects under their control in Manchester

This is exactly the reason. Also helps the wider Campus developments by being MCC's partner.

 

[Falastur]

Sorry, I have a bad tendency to overreact on forums. My fault entirely. I do wish that people would just accept that City are determined to play FFPR straight and not find a way of cheating it, though.

If there is a loophole then the folk at MCFC would have found it and it wouldn't be cheating. But spending 100m, 200m or whatever buying the stadium doesn't make a scrap of sense in terms of FFPR.

We could buy the stadium then secure a big fuck of loan on it for a couple of billion (from a Muslim bank with fuck all interest) that we arrange to pay of at so many million a year for the next couple of hundred years. BOOM there goes FFP in a completely legit way. Although having said that we could probably do the same trick with the Training campus.

But that would give us £2billion in debt, and one of FFPR's main targets is to penalise clubs who have bank debt. I don't think they'd look happily on us suddenly declaring that we have a 10-digit debt sum. Not to mention, I pretty much guarantee there isn't a bank in the world willing to both give us £2b in cash, and give us it at low interest. There are barely any groups with that much money around - there might be some, such as those who lend to national governments, but they keep their money locked up waiting for the national business, they can't afford us as a bit on the side - and the chances of defaulting on a 200-year repayment plan are astronomical. The banker who agreed that deal would be lynched for doing that deal.