If Morgan Swindles are the contractors then it will be nearer 8 million and the standard of work will be dire.

I guess we'll have to wait and see who Matt Ellis decides to use in order to see his take on MS.

That's not really accurate imho. It's not been a total success I agree, but "dire", come on.

Most post Brexit/Covid construction projects have struggled, and MS are no different to the rest. Please don't read anything political into my Brexit statement, but it has starved the construction industry of some of it's best and most willing workers. Whist post Covid a huge number of people seem reluctant to re-join the work force, especially in jobs like these, ones that offer no work from home options. Hence the massive rise in long term sickness due to alleged mental heath issues. The industry has lost a lot of it's skill base in the last five years and it's yet to be rectified.

Then there are the issues in the supply chain caused by the various conflicts around the globe. I know for a fact that MS struggled with the supply chain, despite them being a relatively large outfit. Items constantly failed to arrive on time, or worse, had to be substituted with inferior items or fitted at the wrong time in the process, to allow the build to remain even slightly on schedule.

You must know this to be the case, as you are primarily a businessman.

The 8 million was originally intended to do the full North Stand as well, and that's where I do think JM and MC fell down. I definitely believe that Ellis would have driven a harder bargain, and found a way to force MS into doing it all in budget. I may be wrong, but I suspect I'm not. MC and JM are accountants, Ellis is a businessman, and as you know there is a big difference.

So to answer your question, I think that whoever does it will have to do it within budget, and to the standard agreed, or they won't get paid.

That was a ballpark figure and I agree he could probably get it done for far less. Unfortunately it's easy to give cost for new builds, but not so much with existing ones, who knows what horrors they may find. Though tbf this is more of a cosmetic upgrades than structural. So I reckon you're right.

Seen the shop on Doncaster Road is now for sale. Wonder if Trinity will be making enquires.

Don’t think it would offer any sort of benefit tbh. There’s very little space there to do much with for what it may cost.

Was thinking some sort of cafe/bar/fan zone pre match.

We have those planned and having a car park between a fan zone and stadium wouldn’t be great.

We are having a new sports bar/restaraunt in south west corner this off season. Which will offer plenty of pre match space. Also there is the foyer areas which appear sufficient at the moment.

The other plans I’m sure showed some outdoor seating for a bit of an outdoor fan social area. This could be done at a fraction of what I’d imagine it would cost to buy the building and refurbish it.

For what it would cost and the size of it I can’t see it being a worthwhile investment.

I’m not sure how attractive it will be for prospective new tenants or owners, it’s now surrounded by the clubs car park and is in a strange location. If the club waits long enough the price is likely to fall and it maybe become more financially viable to aquire it.

At the very least it will offer a few more car parking spaces and give the club full control over the area

That would be an expensive 10 or so car park spaces. Money better spent elsewhere. You could probably build a multi storey section for the same price as purchase, demolisent or refurbishment.

Suppose it could be a kitchen showroom?!

Although I generally agree with you, I've just been having a look at the space it takes up & although that flat-roof showroom doesn't look that big from the road, I only noticed once we'd had our last stand taken down that they had a decent sized extension at the back that's bigger. I just measured the piece of land it sits on, it's around 450m/2 so a fairly decent-sized bit of land. If the club could get the building at the right place say 150k, it may be worth a conversation about. Tbh over the years, I've always been amazed that people have kept different businesses going there all these years. I do think though, after our takeover and improvements in that area of the ground, I bet they'd have a bit of trouble selling it. Anyway Matt has plenty of plans and ideas of what he wants to do to the bar & East Stand etc, so he'd probably got enough on his plate but you never know for the right price.

The main issue is the house that sits next to it. If we could get both and level them, that could open a few more possibilities for the club, whether that's some sort of out-of-ground area for fans, to get in some food trucks, stalls etc, a bit like Hull KR. At the very least it would certainly look so much cleaner and nicer entering or driving past because the house in particular is a bit of an eyesore, blocking everyone from seeing our lovely new stand etc . If that house that's been converted to 2 came up for sale, I wouldn't be surprised if Matt at least enquired to see what possibilities there could be. I would bet he's already thought about it tbh.

Saying all thsi and getting back to your original point, when all is said and done we'd be talking about £1/2 a million to get both and then you think what could be done inside the ground etc for that kind of money. Just for a few hundred square meters of extra land. As you say for what we get it'd be awfully expensive, unless you did it just to make the Trinity entrance and area around it so much cleaner and professional in front of the Club if you like, but I bet Matt isn't that bothered about wasting his hard earned cash that way.

Although the Aussie contingent at present live up on the new estate near Stanley ferry , would it not be a great opportunity to get this huge house if it becomes available for these young overseas players .

If your talking about purposing as a housing space for overseas.
Not when you can rent out a property for 700-1000 per month absolutely not. To rent a good quality place you’d look at £12,000 a year for 2/3 sharing. Why spend hundreds of thousands and have the hassle of upkeep.

If and I don’t think it’s efficient use of funds there was appetite to purchase and do something with the building/land. I would look to maximise earning potential or utilisation.

I’d consider as a baseline.

- Drive thru coffee and cake shop open 7 days a week (as this is on a main busy road) and could make this an earner. In fact - Doboy donuts have containers around in locations locally and you could easily introduce them a space/rental in the car park area as an earner for the club. At say £350 a week rental your talking £18,200 a year into the club. At £500 a year you’re talking £26,000. In Castleford there’s a two tier container with a DOBOY upper and a cafe lower. You could be talking £36,400 - £52,000 per year for small area/few parking spaces sacrifice.

- a training centre or classroom centre that could be utilised for training etc and rentable space for training events or educational events.

- a fitted out gymnasium/indoor training centre for player use. Would need to look and see if it’s viable.

These are what would run through my mind to generate some payback or utilisation.

Bottom line is, if it doesn’t have a payback in monetary terms or utilisation value then no point.

All these ideas need staff to run it, insurance, marketing, etc etc and all cost. And business knowhow.

I'd probably demolish but I'm going to remind myself how big it is when I go today.