Quote Slugger McBatt="Slugger McBatt"From the outside looking in, it is hard not to feel that there has been a huge con-job on the rugby fans of Wakefield, and on the general public. The permission granted was obtained on the provision of a community sports stadium with the city's only professional sports team as the major tenant. For the stadium not to be built looks like a massive con-job. "Thanks for the permission. Now do one!"
I know other factors are involved that change things, but surely the position should be that if there is no stadium, the development ends. If the community stadium is provided at Belle Vue (my preference anyway), I can see how it can be justified, but with no sign of movement on that front it seems like the con-job is almost complete.
The frustrating thing is that there is no lack of will. People (and we know who they are) have put countless hours of their own time into this, and I don't know how they do it.
The answer seems simple enough: are the funds there or not to develop Belle Vue properly? If not, the permission for Newmarket should be withdrawn immediately. You never know, it might then suddenly appear. The community stadium envisaged wasn't a couple of training pitches, and the public inquiry didn't look at that meagre option.'"
This is a great post and the only answer I can give is that while I can see exactly why it might look and seem simple, it really isn't! In fact, as we have worked harder over the last few months, it has got slightly more complex and not less... however, following a lengthy and very positive meeting this week (and we have had at least one meeting or another every week for the last couple of months, sometimes two or three) then we are working out the best path to bring about the best possible resolution we can. And, we still believe that could be a new stadium at Newmarket or alternatively a substantially redeveloped Belle Vue.
As Phil says, we can't say any more at the moment, and we hope everyone understands that we can't purely because it could (and probably would) impact on the best possible deal we want to achieve. When we can tell you we will and equally, we might need help... and the timing could be everything!
Keep the faith people, the small group of people closely involved with this alongside TRB, MC, CB and I are spending a good chunck of time, on a weekly basis at the moment, trying to make this happen. BTW, I don't want your praise for this, I am doing this for lots of reasons and praise is not one of them, but I just want everyone to understand that we are all doing this because we believe we can do it... and if we don't, then we will be content within ourselves that we did everything it was possible to do!
