Dick Knight/Tony Bloom

[Hotchilidog]

No, you're not doing that at all. Let me remind you:





So you took issue with my point which was that Liverpool have been ready to move since 2002 (and are waiting on funding) whereas it took us TEN years even to get to that point, and we'd still be f***ed if not for Bloom's dough.

We all know that getting permission is not straight forward, it's just that some of us will take issue with the idea that having to wait ten years to get to that stage somehow represents a job well done.

But ultimately it is a job well done. The main reasons behind the delay were outside of the Albion's control. I really cannot see what else the club could have done. LDC were prepared to do whatever was neccessary to drag the process out as long as possible and the law allowed them to do so.

The real kick in the teeth delay came after Prescott's office screwed up their granting of permission letter which allowed LDC to press on for a couple more years! Again there was nothing the club could do about this.

As for the funding question El Pres sums it up nicely.

However here we are with a fully funded fabulous stadium going up before our very eyes, so I would say it is job well done.

I stand to be corrected but I would imagine the Bloom money was always in the background as an emergency Plan B, so all the pissing and moaning about DK and MP seems irrelevant.

DK and MP had to do all the dirty work in getting permission for the stadium to be built in the first place. They succeeded against an appalling abuse of the planning process, all the while delivering two championships and three seasons of championship football on the pitch, I really cannot see what there is to criticise.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I've heard on the grape vine that DK will be hiring the Pope mobile and will be driving around Falmer on opening day. Has anyone else heard this rumour?

 

[Easy 10]

Speak to any Blackpool fan they f***ing hate him! Basically McAlpines agreed to build a new ground for Blackpool, all seater, out of town, cinema multiplex type thing. Perry was the front man for McAlpines and promised the club the world. The then chairman of Blackpool Oyston (I think) got sent down so McAlpines decided to walk away from the project and Martin Perry was never seen again by the Blackpool fans.

Hilarious.

So Perry, in his capacity of frontman for McAlpines, "promised Blackpool the world" (an odd thing to do for the construction companys frontman as opposed to the clubs chairman, I don't recall hearing from anyone at Buckingham Group, but lets humour you). The Blackpool chairman then gets banged up for rape and (surpise surprise) McAlpines subsequently walk away. What exactly would you EXPECT a stadium developer to do if the person they are doing business with gets locked up ?

What if 2 years ago, Tony Bloom bludgeoned a Falmer villager to death with a frozen marrow and got sent down for 10 years - would Buckingham Groups frontman come out and say "don't worry Brighton fans, we'll still carry on and build the stadium" ? Or would the project perhaps be fatally compromised by the owner/chairman serving time at her majestys ?

Go figure.

 

[Gwylan]

2 years ago, Tony Bloom bludgeoned a Falmer villager to death with a frozen marrow and got sent down for 10 years

Nah, he released a stream of vampire BATS into the village

 

[El Presidente]

I really don't know, I'm no expert. But if I was paying a project manager with experience in the field, I'd expect him to know.

To be honest Keiran, I'm finding myself playing devils advocate a bit. I just feel I don't want to be hoodwinked into believing the board did a fantastic job getting the stadium built when the fact is it took ten years to jump through the hoops AND we'd still not have a stadium without Mr Bloom anyhow.

Given the nature of the objections, the delaying tactics, the (mis)use of public funds to oppose Falmer, the fact that we have been haemmoraging cash every year since DK took over I would have thought many people would have walked away from trying to get the stadium built. If it weren't for the fact that DK is a fan, I think he would have buggered off to his retirement home in Spain many years ago.

Was Falmer a vanity project by DK and MP? I don't know, but I find myself constantly defending him because of some of the sneering comments from his detractors. For example, to criticise him for attending REMF functions purely because of his ego, seems very harsh.

If I was to assess what they have done, I would give them a B+ at least.

None of us know what really went on behind the scenes, do we, but we would all like to know.

 

[Simster]

Given the nature of the objections, the delaying tactics, the (mis)use of public funds to oppose Falmer, the fact that we have been haemmoraging cash every year since DK took over I would have thought many people would have walked away from trying to get the stadium built. If it weren't for the fact that DK is a fan, I think he would have buggered off to his retirement home in Spain many years ago.

Was Falmer a vanity project by DK and MP? I don't know, but I find myself constantly defending him because of some of the sneering comments from his detractors. For example, to criticise him for attending REMF functions purely because of his ego, seems very harsh.

If I was to assess what they have done, I would give them a B+ at least.

None of us know what really went on behind the scenes, do we, but we would all like to know.

I can't disagree with any of that, tbh.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

As I've already said, Knight didn't want to sell. He was still living in his dream world that the money fairies would turn up £20m then £40m then £60m and then it got a bit much hence the rope Bloom was feeding him so he had to back down.

If you really think Bloom, an acomplished businessman, would have sat there thinking "I want to be Chairman but I'll let DK hang himself and then step in" while the costs for the stadium rose then you're more stupid than your posts in this thread suggest.

 

[El Presidente]

Maybe? Although if my staff don't deliver what I've promised to my seniors it's going to be me who gets it in the neck! Likewise it was Perry who continually told us not to worry about the funding so it's on his head in my eyes.

Ahh.........I didn't realise that you consider yourself to by senior to Martin Perry. Apologies.

 

[beorhthelm]

That's more by luck than judgment though!

its hardly "luck" to have a director waiting in the wings with £93million.

at the end of the day, it is true there were alot of questions around how the funding would be found and as the recession came in this became more intriguing. Knight and Perry were always confident and assured us the funding would be available, and the fact of the matter is when it was needed it was available.

 

[El Presidente]

its hardly "luck" to have a director waiting in the wings with £93million.

Perhaps TB has a very big sofa?

 

[Buzzer]

And as beorhthelm points out, who's to say that the plan all along was to have TB fund a good part of the stadium but for commercial or other reasons, this couldn't have been revealed.

Because it's absolute face-saving bullshit. From what I have heard and seen the business plan can at best be described as very optimistic. The banking crisis made this plan unbackable and DK became increasingly desperate to assuage us, the fans but it became clear that the project was in danger of falling apart.

If TB was always plan B then quite simply, DK would still be chairman. Does anyone genuinely think he would willingly step down as chairman a year before Falmer opened.

There never was a plan B.

 

[Scotty Mac]

Because it's absolute face-saving bullshit. From what I have heard and seen the business plan can at best be described as very optimistic. The banking crisis made this plan unbackable and DK became increasingly desperate to assuage us, the fans but it became clear that the project was in danger of falling apart.

If TB was always plan B then quite simply, DK would still be chairman. Does anyone genuinely think he would willingly step down as chairman a year before Falmer opened.

There never was a plan B.

this.

 

[El Presidente]

Because it's absolute face-saving bullshit. From what I have heard and seen the business plan can at best be described as very optimistic. The banking crisis made this plan unbackable and DK became increasingly desperate to assuage us, the fans but it became clear that the project was in danger of falling apart.

If TB was always plan B then quite simply, DK would still be chairman. Does anyone genuinely think he would willingly step down as chairman a year before Falmer opened.

There never was a plan B.

What I don't get is why B&H council, the contractors, and the public inquiry didn't question the business plan in greater detail. If I can do it in five minutes on Excel, why couldn't they?

 

[El Presidente]

There never was a plan B.

Wanna bet?

 

[Hotchilidog]

Because it's absolute face-saving bullshit. From what I have heard and seen the business plan can at best be described as very optimistic. The banking crisis made this plan unbackable and DK became increasingly desperate to assuage us, the fans but it became clear that the project was in danger of falling apart.

If TB was always plan B then quite simply, DK would still be chairman. Does anyone genuinely think he would willingly step down as chairman a year before Falmer opened.

There never was a plan B.

Can't say I agree with this at all. We were always told that money was in place and that the stadium would be funded, and that is true.

What will have changed over time is the source of that funding. Back in the good old days of a decent economy, a quiescent council and general all round sunshine it would have been from the mix of loans and grants that were initially mentioned.

However once LDC had got their claws into us and started to drag the process out for another 8 years the circumstances would have changed. By the time permission was finally granted the economy and nature of the project had changed dramatically. Given those circumstances it is not unreasonable for the funding package to change over that period of time.

I do not doubt that without Bloom's money we would have found it nigh on impossible to proceed due to the banks reticence to lend, but the fact of the matter is that TB's funding was secured by those people charged with delivering the stadium. I fail to see what people's problem with this is.

Once permission for the stadium was granted, the money did turn out to be in place after-all, just not from where most people assumed it would be.

 

[Buzzer]

We were told that funding was in place but it wasn't. It really wasn't.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Does it MATTER?

 

[Easy 10]

Can't say I agree with this at all. We were always told that money was in place and that the stadium would be funded, and that is true.

What will have changed over time is the source of that funding. Back in the good old days of a decent economy, a quiescent council and general all round sunshine it would have been from the mix of loans and grants that were initially mentioned.

However once LDC had got their claws into us and started to drag the process out for another 8 years the circumstances would have changed. By the time permission was finally granted the economy and nature of the project had changed dramatically. Given those circumstances it is not unreasonable for the funding package to change over that period of time.

I do not doubt that without Bloom's money we would have found it nigh on impossible to proceed due to the banks reticence to lend, but the fact of the matter is that TB's funding was secured by those people charged with delivering the stadium. I fail to see what people's problem with this is.

Once permission for the stadium was granted, the money did turn out to be in place after-all, just not from where most people assumed it would be.

Exactly.

Its not like Tony Bloom suddenly and randomly appeared out of nowhere to rescue the whole project. He and his family have been on the board for GENERATIONS. He's clearly ended up having to dig a hell of a lot deeper than he thought he'd have to following the credit crunch, but he was always there in the background to underwrite the thing.

We were assured all the way along that the finance would be there as and when required - AND IT WAS.

Whats the problem ?

 

[Hotchilidog]

We were told that funding was in place but it wasn't. It really wasn't.

But ultimately the funding was in place. I agree that the original source of funding disappeared as the economy headed down the drain, but an alternative source of funding was found pretty quickly.

Don't get me wrong, without Bloom's input I cannot see where we would have got the cash from, but seeing as Falmer is rising from the earth before our very eyes, this point is surely now moot.

Unless of course you are suggesting that there was never any serious funding package on the table at any stage.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Does it MATTER?

Only to those that want to constantly look backwards rather than driving up the A27 and viewing our brand spanking new stadium.

Me .... I couldn't give a toss how we got it but the board promised and delivered in my book.