Holy wall of text.

I got to the part where you said the rugby club are allegedly massively behind with their rent. Care to provide evidence for this? Or is it just hear say from other Town fans? Why would they know? Its not something that would ever be discussed with them is it?

Maybe we should start speculating how much Town owe the council over the past few decades.

Lets face it if this was anyone else buying the Shay then Town fans would be all over it but years of living in the shadows of the rugby club has made a lot of their fans very bitter and twisted when it comes to anything to do with the rugby club.

Posts like this are of no help to anyone.You only have to look at your
posting signature to realise how out of touch you are.

I couldn't agree more. Has this guy never heard of paragraphs?

That whole post displays his serious bias towards FCHT.

One major point - he says that he can't understand why Tony Abbott would want to buy The Shay when it only has 2 revenue streams (both non-lucrative). Surely this is the whole point. Since the East Stand was completed, to the best of my knowledge, there has been a great deal of office space available which has never been utilised because the Council has never bothered to install a structured wiring backbone and VoIP (or at least a basic telephone network). If this work was completed I am sure that the facilities could then be utilised. LBG are only a few hundred yards away and are constantly short of office space.

There is also the corner building which can be completed and provide further income. I have never understood why, until funding became available, it wasn't temporarily boxed in and used as advertising space.

Just look at Odsal, since OK took over they have Asian Wedding Fayres, Pop Concerts, Beer Festivals which all bring in further income apart from just Rugby.

If the Council can't be bothered to develop The Shay, I say hand it over to someone who can.

To finish I would like to say once again that if FCHT fans, in their desperation to stop the sale to TA, try to drag Calderdale taxpayers onside by putting it on the open market they will only succeed in handing it over to a ruthless Property Developer.

Who would pay 5 or 10 million for a site with 2 sitting tenants which could only be used as a sports stadium? As a building site however.......

One thing I cannot get my head around is why are Town not utilising the prime ground level spot next to our shop in the East Stand ? The place is an eyesore and gives a very bad impression of visitors to the place , it`s things like this where the place could be more utilised to make money and if they arn`t using it someone else should be allowed to. They are still using the old offices across the way that we had to vacate to (quite rightly )to move into the new office space.I have yet to be convinced that the people of Calderdale could care less about the Shay to be honest apart from the 3,000 or so individuals who watch town or Fax why should they. If certain people had not been so pedantic about the useage eg kids playing on the pitch etc things more than probably would have been differant . I know many many people who have an axe to grind re` the Shays useage because they pay for it out of their rates but their kids are told they are not welcome. There is even one Councilor who is still in shock because they kicked his beloved Speedway out. So the idea that ordinary ratepayers feel somewhat agreived TA wants to buy the place and pump money in is quite frankly laughable.
I would imagine TA would do the end bit up that badly needs doing and would therefore be able to utilise this for his own business .Good luck to him as far as I`m concerned I hope it comes off as the Council arn`t going to put up with that underused stadium much longer.

The Shay is a massively under-utilized asset and Calderdale Council have enough on their plate without trying to run it as a commercial operation. Basically, it's run by a bunch of commercial amateurs. What plans Tony Abbott has to turn this around is anyone's guess. I would hope that those making the decision on whether to sell or not have forwarded the plan onto professional assessors. Tony must surely be in possession of the full cost structure as it stands now and what additional strategic plans are needed to make the site a commercial success.

This is what the decision makers have to grapple with. Everything is a risk and just because Calderdale Council own something doesn't make it secure. With barely fifteen hundred attendees a week throughout the year the Shay isn't even a political hot potato. It's no more of a jewel in the crown than the Woodlesford bus stop. The people of Calderdale couldn't give a monkeys about sport. Maybe Tony Abbott can change the attitudes like David Brook did. Either way i'd expect the Council to jump at the chance to get the controversial site off their books and give the problem to someone else.

exdysonroadie has shown his hand and expressed his opinion, like forum members do from time to time
Im thinking I may be moving down the most wanted list now after my root and branch overhaul topic, has the price on my head dropped now?

Anyway, its far too long winded and not concise, im not sure what his point is, I guess he just doesn't want The Shay to be sold to anyone hes not vetted as agreeable to his personal preference.It doesn't stack up though, local authorities are continually having the squeeze put on them, and will have so for many years to come, any money they have in reserves or newly founded Icelandic banks will not be there for much longer so keeping it 'Safe' doesn't wash, neither does over scrutinising Reactiv and picking holes in his business.

Yes there are problems from time to time with private sector businesses, isn't everything associated with the private sector carrying some risk though, there are more success stories than failures in my mind, I am loathe to use Luddite but i'd be really interested to see if someone else who put in a bid not connected with RL would be scrutinised in such a negative way. As many of us have said, if any deal has sufficient clauses to ensure the turf will not be pulled from beneath the players feet and a deal can be brokered where the council are happy, I don't see why this would be construed as not in the tax payers interests, it's not just about appeasing a minority of Town fans, of which I am one, and wish for this deal to happen if at all possible. We can't not do it just in case someone else 'might' want it in a couple of months or someone 'might' run into problems.

The Olympics is over, sporting legacy ideology will last until the next credit card gets maxed out.

Firstly no need for insults, secondly even before I read Griggs post I stopped reading when I got to the stupid statement "allegedly Fax are behind with their rent"
Back that up please, having spoken previously with people I trust at the club that is simply not true.
That is a Town statement to distract attention from them selves " allegedly"

I think some people miss the point slightly. We are not privy to discussions between the council and TA. However would he be purchasing just the stadium or the land that comes with it too...??

He's a business man and a good man too from my dealings with him and in my opinion he would see The Shay as an asset and an opportunity too. If he gets the land can he redevelop any of it..??

Maybe he will sell his Elland premises too if The Shay becomes his HQ..??

Maybe The Skircoat Stand get redeveloped as a mixed use stand.. Hotel, Apartments, retail units...?? All these would give permanent additional revenue.

Could this not work for TA? I'm sure he has ideas that make it commercially viable and the net results benefit us all...??

I don't know but I certainly think there are options to make money without either club being affected...??

I'm guessing that a rename of the ground, Reactiv Shay or some such would come with the sale. instant advertising everytime there is a match at the ground, this would be worth a significant amount of money I would have thought. Regenerating the surroundings of the ground, coffee shop etc. could bring in more rent so actually saying there are only 2 money streams is not exactly to the point.
I do have some concerns over the sale but I'd have a damn sight more if it were being sold to Jim Brown who milked money out of the football club for years.

Its not easy to be impartial on this, hopefully as a tax payer, Town and Fax fan im hopefully not too blinkered.
I'd like to see progress down there and I don't see that The council will be able maximise its revenue or spend much more on it while 1500 go down once a fortnight, lots more public facilities have more visitors than The Shay and I wouldn't get hung up on how much they've spent or how much its worth to Tesco or Property developers, by a pure numbers game some of the anti Shay brigade have a point and we have a crumbling swimming baths and school playing fields being sold left right and centre, if someones willing to get it off public books and invest in it, im not going to let fear or sentiment rule over my head. Chris Smith also has a point, I don't think any of us know the ins and outs of the deals, I certainly don't see where all the fear comes from, sometimes in life risks are part of the deal, but also so is a potential greater reward for all the folks of the town i.e. more money for other stuff and 2 thriving pro sports clubs. I'll say again, lets not die wondering.

Spot on!

A quote from the latest post on then FCHT forum:

"A deal done under the table by the present bunch will be reported to West Yorkshire Police. The Economic Crime Unit is responsible for combating serious and complex money laundering cases, fraud and corruption within the public and private sectors"

What planet are these guys on?

The Anti Fax Forum is a joke and you cant take these clowns seriously. On one hand they saying to the Council dont sell The Shay and writing to Councillors etc. Then they are publically abusing the Council and Councillors like Tim Swift and co. The way they berated the Council following the state of the pitch earlier this year and always bashing the Council about The Shay and how its run. Why should The Council help them? And they have received way too much help over the years from the Council. Remember when the Council was running the club on the rates? Rememeber it well but for those not read about it here
rlhttps://books.google.de/books?id

The Council is in debt in a big way and needs to cut costs. Sadly The Shay is a massive burden and the Council really needs to properly look at things. The Shay should be sold if it cant afford to look after it. Why should Schools and Museums close, Playing fields and Librarys sold off and a massive Money drain like The Shay, be allowed to stay under the control of the Council, despite it sadly being used by less than 5% of the people of Calderdale? The Shay will one day be sold as the Council cant afford to run it as they do. The way the Football lot are acting towards the Council and The Shay is a disgrace. The Council has to make any decision based on what is good for the whole electorate and not just a handful of people who follow either club. Calderdale has a population of over 200,000 and yet less than 5000 regularly attend The Shay. Should the Council also waste hundreds of thousands of pounds each year on The Shay where few people attend? For me no it shouldnt. IF it is felt that The Shay should be sold then the Coiuncil I hope puts in details that would see both clubs never being allowed not to play at The Shay. How that can be achieved I dont know

Just a thought but one thing which I haven't heard suggested yet is that TA leases the Shay from the council but that they retain ownership in the same way that Bradford council own Odsal Stadium but the RFL own the lease.

I'd suggest that the 2 clubs lease it between them but I know that TA wants to develop and run the stadium as a business and FCHT can't even get it together to sort out their new offices and shop.