Am so pleased IA has posted; once again a sensible and informative post at a time when few of us know little.

However what is for sure is that MC will have a plan B.

If this means that this is likely to be our last season at Belle Vue, does anyone know how the middle 8 fixtures work so that we'd know when our last game at Belle Vue would be?

They have not been forced as such Snowie, but they have made a business decision, that had to be made, if they were to remain in a longer term financially viable position both is SL or the Championship. Michael and Chris were having to service a lease they did not agree (as it was signed under previous ownership) and that lease is clearly way above a fair commercial value and and that is a problem irrespective. When you also couple that with the reality of not been 100% certain of staying in Super League then that becomes an even bigger business issue.

The BOI and O'Hara are just trying to get as much money for their business and shareholders as they can and of course they are being paid what someone agreed to pay them. The new owners don't want to continue to pay that, because it is not fair and sustainable and have made them both what I would agree is a fair offer. They have not responded and today was the day that the club had to give notice if it was not to get committed into continuing to have to pay an overinflated rent.

The BOI are not trying to force anyone out, they are just playing the game! I think they will come back to the table now, because the club are serious, but if you were the bank a fair rent has to be better than losing say £5k a month on rates and 24 hour security!

I think it does not mean that and therefore, again, there is no point on speculating on something that is unlikely to happen... it might and will if the rent is not reduced... but if that is the outcome then we can talk about this in a couple of months time!

Well i hope you are correct as the club moving out of Wakefield would kill it stone dead. But i have a feeling that bank will now actively pursue a sale rather than accept a lower rent and that will be that. Sad day.

I doubt MC will be going into this without a plan B, which he may be keeping quiet for now to tempt more support from the council for our new stadium?

Paying £120k a year in the Championship will kill it stone dead too mate, so you are stuck between a rock and a hard-place! As for the sale then the site is not worth what you think it is, trust me on that, and also who will they sell it to?

I have no idea what it is worth and neither do i particularly care. Given it has planning permission for housing then i would guess that sector might have an interest.

They have plans B, C and possibly even D and E!

Plan A is to remain at Belle Vue, until Newmarket is built, but paying a fair rent for the current stadium set-up and not the current unfair over-inflated rent.

Plans B, C etc are paying a fair rent at another stadium, to suit the current league status of the club, until Newmarket is built.

All the other options are not viable unless you have a few £m burning a hole in your pocket?



It is that simple really!

Not until you build a stadium at Newmarket you don't.... planning condition 38!

That's my take on it.

IA, you and I both know conditions can be got around. Yorkcourt certainly know they can.

If Trinity actively pursue an alternative how does that affect any conditions safe guarding BV until a suitable option has been sought?

Problem is now we have served notice to leave with a willingness to move out of the area. So when the planning permission becomes up for renewal (soon i believe?) then it strengthens the case to have it removed. And the council are oh so helpful aren't they, especially with a new stadium for Cas on its way ten minutes down the road from Newmarket? Then you get your sale. Can just see it coming.

Indeed they can but it would take time and money and would not happen overnight! So, the bank are not only now having to shell out £5k a month in rates and 24hr security, they have to pay a nice tidy sum to get the planning condition lifted... it has failed once and they didn't appeal because they would have lost and they know it! The land is not worth what you might think, as we found out, so actually you are better off taking some rent and then selling the site a couple of years down the line because that is the option that costs the BOI the least money!

Have some very happy memories of BV, usually when we've beaten you back in the day (sorry). Also had some great times in the hospitality there. Be very sad to see it go.

This could of course be your chairman playing hardball and trying to get a better deal, although the word on Station Lane is that you'll be playing in WF7 next year, should you actually leave BV.

If you do leave, I hope the club announce it before the last game, I'd certainly like to say goodbye to the old girl.

I appreciate that this might be partly brinksmanship, but of course one potential outcome is that this is our last year at Belle Vue. It was a genuine enquiry about the middle 8's. Although it might not turn out to be the end of Belle Vue as a rugby stadium (and as you have alluded to, the decision behind the serving of six months notice is sound) if it is, two months will be too late for people who might find it difficult to get to Belle Vue on the last fixture but would make an extra effort for the "last game". Or even might want to spend longer there on the last day.

So let's say that one of the scenarios is that we leave Belle Vue in six months time, does anyone know when the last game would be, knowing how the middle 8's work? Would hate to be turning up at the Rams stadium next year, for example, because the six months notice had expired and realising that the game against whoever had been the last one at Belle Vue and I'd just mooched out without a second glance.

I don't think there is a willingness to move out of the area, far from it, the club want to stay at Belle Vue but they also just want to pay a fair market rent. We all know that the current rent is massively over-inflated and is killing the club anyway! So you are running the club, and you wake-up this morning knowing that you have made what you consider to be a fair offer on a new lease and they have not responded, you also know that unless you serve notice today then you are stuck paying that same over-inflated rent next year irrespective, or you are in breach of your lease. Also, lets not forget you could have a massively reduce income next year and at this time, you don't know for certain, but it is very possible!

So what do you do?

Genuine question!

Fair point, get it now! And I don't know the answer exactly but will it not be mid-September to early October?

Although it is a gamble, the decision seems right. The club is saying to the bank "stop ripping us off or we're leaving" and to the council "because we're being ripped off, we're leaving, so you better pull your finger out and sort out Newmarket".

The likely outcomes seem to be:
1. Stay at Belle Vue with a reduced rent, making the club more viable, with Newmarket still a possibility.
2. The council take action in relation to Newmarket, so we stay at Belle Vue in the short term, high rent or not.
3. Same as 2, but playing elsewhere in the interim.
4. The bank accepting notice, the council doing little, and we play elsewhere permanently. Until we fold.
5. Withdraw the notice and pay the same rent as we are, with the council doing nothing about Newmarket. Until we fold.

Given that, in my rather simplistic analysis, outcomes 4 and 5 are likely to be the same, it's a sensible gamble.

More likely mid-September for the end of the 8's, but not sure how the home-away ratio works. Our potential last home game, for example, could be before the end of the 8's.

Depends how confident i was of staying up and how confident i was of Newmarket happening.
Moving away = dead.
Staying at BV in championship = dead.
Staying at BV in Superleague = a pulse.
Personally i roll the dice for SL survival and stay as the BV housing planning renewal will have gone through during that time and as we were still there the condition would likely remain in place. And one way or the other we will probably know whether Newmarket will ever happen. But then i ain't an accountant.

We won't know until after the last round of the regular fixtures at the end of next month.

I think we are on the same page!

Well, I understand that the club has made two offers, one is based on being in SL next year and is higher but fair and sustainable, to reflect the higher income, the second is lower but of course based on the lower income, while still being fair and sustainable!

So, lets do your bullet points again!

Stay at Belle Vue in SL paying and over-inflated rent - a very faint pulse, possibly leading to death!
Stay at Belle Vue in Championship paying same over-inflated rent- dead!
Stay at Belle Vue in SL paying a fair sustainable rent - alive!
Stay at Belle Vue in Championship paying a fair sustainable rent - alive!
Move away from Belle Vue but paying a fair rent, based on the league status - a pulse but with the possibility of a full recovery at a later date due to someone building you a new hospital! You might die before they build it, but it is still a chance.

It is not ideal but I think making any other choice than the one the club has made would carry a much higher risk... they have chosen the fair and least risky option... but when all you have all risky choices, you have to make one!

Well I've read all the way through this post and while no body has yet said it it looks like a who blinks first situation.

As regards the last game I would love it to be Cas, Worst possible scenario would be Hull in the last game at B V. It would be a disaster.