stadium delayed

[sparkie]

I think the credit crunch is quite a disaster for Falmer funding to be honest, despite what the official line is. That's not to say that funding won't be secured, just that it's more difficult now.

Banks are building up their balance sheets and that means ALL borrowing is more expensive and harder to secure. It is not just housing based mortgage lending. Banks are cutting back across the board in all areas. It's the worst possible time to be looking for any credit, and will be for at least the next year.

I fully expect some sort of delay in securing the funding, and because of this another year at Withdean above what's currently expected.

But we get there in the end

 

[countrygull]

Oh my god, maybe Steward really is Martin Perry!!!


From the Argus: Saturday
Albion have reassured fans they remain on track to move into their new stadium at Falmer in August 2010.

Fresh fears about the project have been raised after Liverpool announced yesterday their new stadium in Stanley Park had been further delayed by ‘global market conditions’


Albion’s chief executive Martin Perry said: “We want to reassure fans in light of the announcement by Liverpool we are still on track.

“We are very confident we will be a position to start work, as we wanted to, by the end of the year and everything is working towards that.

“The way we have structured the funding means there is strong interest from the banks. There are significant revenue streams which are secure.

“We are being advised by Price Waterhouse, who are still very confident the funding will come through when we need it. We fully recognise the difficult financial climate but we think everything is okay.”

The contest to build Falmer has been whittled down to two experienced stadium contractors, with a final decision expected by the end of next month.

 

[Ernest]

but we think everything is okay

That is the telling statement from the poodle, he is not 100% certain, he is not sure but he thinks everything will be ok.
How reassuring.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The Liverpool position appears to be unravelling quickly...

Stanley Park lease fear for Liverpool FC - Liverpool Daily Post.co.uk

“NEVER” is a big word, but it is extremely unlikely that Liverpool Football Club will build a new stadium at Stanley Park or anywhere else for many years to come.

It doesn’t take an expert at reading between the lines to interpret the club’s statement yesterday that it was “delaying” a decision about a new ground to mean that, in reality, the project is dead.

Liverpool trawled its way around every bank in the world but none of them were prepared to stump up the necessary £300m in loans needed to make the project happen.

The word is that some banks would have contributed to the construction costs if the club’s American owners were agreeable to chipping in some significant cash of their own, which they weren’t. So what’s likely to change by this time next year or even the year after? The blunt answer is nothing. Owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks will still be at loggerheads and the banks will still be very wary about who they lend money to and on what terms.

It’s the second bit of bad news about football grounds to hit Merseyside in the past few weeks. Everton has been told their Kirkby stadium planning application will be called in for a public enquiry to take place later this year.

But for both clubs, tight credit conditions and onerous planning laws may in the end serve only as handy excuses for their failure to rehouse themselves in the sort of grounds a modern Premier League team needs.

A combination of squabbling, haggling, dithering, and bureaucratic regulations mean neither will be in a position to build a new ground for at least a generation.

It has always been expensive to build football stadia, particularly a big one. Everton tried to build what would have been a fabulous new home at Kings Dock six years ago, but couldn’t raise the £30m they were required to contribute to the £160m venue. Now the club is talking about another bargain deal with Knowsley and Tesco for a new ground at Kirkby, but Everton’s share of the costs of the project is close to £80m. Where will that cash come from?

When Liverpool first started talking about a new ground at Stanley Park eight years ago, the price tag was just £80m. Since then costs, particularly steel, have risen sharply. The latest figure for the cost of building at Stanley Park ground is £350m.

The fear has to be that the window of opportunity for building any new football ground has passed. Even if Everton and Liverpool agree to share the costs of building a single shared stadium it’s questionable that they could find sufficient resources between them to complete the project.

While the clubs have hummed and hawed, redrawn their plans, haggled with public authorities over grants, the Chinese have got on with building their country, whether that be skyscrapers in Shanghai, rapid rail connections, new airports or Olympic venues. In this era of global markets, the Chinese have moved with alacrity, pushing up the price of steel and making the ambitions of our clubs unviable.

It is a pity for both teams. They needed their new venues. The revenues from larger grounds would generate the cash essential in the drive to match the spending of rivals.

Implicit in yesterday’s statement is an admission that the the search for a big brand to pay huge bucks for the Stanley Park stadium naming rights has failed. This is no surprise, given the tough economic conditions at present. And if Liverpool can’t find a naming rights sponsor, then the likelihood Everton can is also pretty thin, a fact which adds to the sense that their plans for Kirkby are unrealistic.

The only hope is that the owners of both clubs show tenacity and seek out new investors. For Liverpool, this could mean selling the club to the Dubai royal family, while for Everton, there are persistent rumours that retail entrepreneur Philip Green is lurking in the background.

With banks refusing to back football, fresh cash investment by club owners is the only way new grounds will be built.

The picture shows the current "building works" in Stanley Park.