Quote: wrencat1873 "No, what I'm saying that, The Club should be keeping fans "in the loop" and if there are a number of options, then perhaps it would be wise for The Club to seek an opinion from the fans that pay to watch, rather than inform us that we have served notice to quit a ground that has been "home" for 135 years.
Under the current regime there have been many changes and most of these have happened without any consultation with fans and whist I appreciate that MC and Co have a business to run, the number of fans that have been "lost" over the past couple of years is a major concern and it must be hitting the clubs income extremely hard.
From day one, it's been very much "take it or leave it" and whilst NOBODY can criticise the effort and commitment of MC an Co, the scale and speed at which the support base has shrunk is truly frightening and it will be nigh on impossible to grow our support if the club moves to a new town.'"
Come on wrencat, the club and MC have been talking about this for months. He said, multiple times, that the rent is too high and do you know what, he is right! The fundamental issue that you cannot ignore is that the current rent arrangement is not fair and it is only worth what someone is willing to pay. The only someone would appear to be WTW! The club have made a very fair and reasonable offer to O'Hara and the BOI, they are not taking the mickey, just making a fair offer based on current and future business projections. They came to point where they had to make a choice, because a revised offer had not yet been accepted and the break clause in the lease was about to expire and there is only once choice to be made, hand in the notice.
The reality is that it is highly likely that a new lease deal for Belle Vue will be reached between all parties, but do you know what, if it isn't and they cannot get a substantial rent reduction then they are more than likely buggered anyway, and without doubt if the worst happens and next year is Championship Rugby then it would be the end.
So lets be clear, there were only two choices, and they took the one that carried the least risk! This is called making a good business decision and I am not sure why the club has to justify making decision that are clearly in the best interests of the club and fans as a whole, to anyone?