Yes it is. If I were to blame anyone right now it's Rodney Walker who appears to have decended to the level of pond life. He has just deliberately given Yorkcourt the perfect out, it's hard to smell corruption in the air.

I wasn't disputing that fact. I was disputing it was "fair enough". The cost of everything and the value of nothing. It's time business was held to account in terms of morality and what is best for society and people other than their shareholders. But certain attitudes make it inevitable. If Mr Box had the attitude of original post i'd quoted then how can anyone complain? Business and profit over community and people, right?

Well Peter Box obviously shouldn't have that attitude as he is leader of the council and therefore his remit is something other than just to make money. Of course a property developer exists solely to make money though, as long as they don't act outside the law then they're free to do as they please. They're not a charity.

My step-dad had dealings with Sir Rodders on several occasions , when they were both at WMDC, and he said exactly the same, the man only ever gets involved in things that will benefit him.
Having spoken with a certain member of the Trust, I know that they are disgusted with the way that he has acted throughout his involvement in this process so far, so we therefore have to ask the question, what is going on ??
The Trust's sole aim has been to provide a Community stadium for the people of Wakefield and the Trust members have all given numerous hours of their own time over the past umpteen years to try and achieve this, obviously at considerable cost to themselves in both time and travelling etc and none of them have ever sought to seek financial gain, (heck, one of them is even a Rhino's fan !!!) and rightly or wrongly, they brought in Sir Rodder's to try and assist in the process.
Unfortunately, it would appear that his ego took over, as usual and he then insisted on attending subsequent meetings alone with the Council and Yorkcourt (none of which appear to have been minuted) and inexplicably agreed to the Newcold development not counting towards the 60,000 sq. m trigger point for the stadium build. Now why would he do that ???
The "genuine" members of the Trust eventually got wind of this and Sir Rodder's clearly found his position un-tenable and stepped down, yet here he is, forming a new Trust and lo and behold his two previous best buddies now say that they won't deal with the existing Trust and they will only deal with him, once his new Trust has been formally ratified BY THEM !!!
I SMELL A RAT !!
I bet the genuine Trust members, along with MC, are absolutely livid at the disgusting, underhand way they have been treated by these three disgraceful, devious individuals.......BUT........ let's just assume for one nano-second that the three wise monkey's have suddenly had a change of heart and do actually build us a stadium before hell freezes over, then who can we really thank for forcing them into a corner and making them perform a U-turn ????
The genuine members of the Trust, that's who, the guys who have been so passionate about this quest from the outset, who have fought bureaucracy and stone-walling, year in, year out, from a triumvirate of despicable individuals who have now evidently turned into glory hunters, only because they have been backed into a corner and have no other options open to them.
So, TRB, SC, IA, MC and CB (and others who have undoubtedly helped along the way..Fordy, was one, I believe ??), gentlemen, take a bow, because you are the true un-sung heroes in all of this !!!!




P.S. - I know the stadium's not built yet, but things are definitely looking promising.

They're not a charity but they can't just be a money making entity to the detriment of people and communities either.
Some compromises have to be made when there is a conflict between the two, but the pendulum has swung too far one way.
Its symptomatic of the political landscape we live in as a whole.
The people WE put in power, allow it to happen, that's the problem.

Yep, Yorkcourt exist solely so as to make money for their shareholders. It's up to the council/government to ensure the community receives some kind of benefit so the failure is ultimately on them.

Without going in to too many details, remember this:

A Community Stadium - probably now likely to be 8-10k capacity with all amenities - needs to be built.
It was to be handed to the W&DCT, with the land to be retained by the developer but leased on a 'peppercorn' rent.
The Trust would then rent the whole facility on a full maintenance and repair lease to the club, with caveats relating to the use of the facility by the wider community (otherwise we would need an operating company with management etc, which the club can cover).
Any Stadium deal needs to allow the club - the anchor tennant - to generate revenues from it, through rentals, advertising, naming rights, operations, beer and catering revenues.

Without any of the above, the prospect of a successful deal is nil!

How utterly depressing is this stadium situation. Seeing the sudden interest in our club by prospective local MP's a couple of weeks ago clearly only there to gain a few extra votes. Seeing Box's sickly performance first hand at the council meeting a couple of months ago all to take the heat away from him when angry momentum was building amongst Trinity fans. Travelling to away games in recent months and being depressed about our situation whilst seeing stadiums such as Leigh, Salford & Warrington to name but a few all adding such value to their local communities and rugby league supporters.
What makes it all even more depressing is that I couldn't be happier with the way the boys are playing this season, the way the club is being run by an honest & loyal team of people, the new merchandise and rebranding and our fantastic league position.
What a bitter sweet season.

Peter Box in the Wakefield Express is very positive our stadium is on its way very soon, Michael Carter seems not positive at all about the progress being made and is waiting to see what boxy has to say on Monday in a stadium meeting. Who do we believe?? If you have been a Wakefield fan for the last ten years, it won't take you more than a millisecond to answer that!!
Who knows maybe the man nobody believes or trusts will pull a rabbit out of hat??? Or maybe someone from Wakefield will win the euro millions, which is more likely?

oh a parasitic boil on the 4r5e that we have to cuddle and feed for 50 years

hence the breakaway Rod Trust

Rod Trust......what a gloriously inappropriate title

just agree to it, we'll push em in the concrete as they're building it...

I'm probably being incredibly naive but to hear Box giving interviews like that has got to be a positive hasn't it? But with SRW & Yorkcourt attempting it seems to want to sideline the existing Trust who's intentions are transparent and honourable, just what is going on?

Perhaps the above have realised that they have to deliver something after all, whatever form it takes & wherever that might be & are trying to get SRW back in the game?

If the council and developer are really intent on delivering the stadium, there is absolutely no reason why they cannot continue to work with the original trust. As far as I can tell the only people involved in the process who have ignored requests to keep things in confidence are rodders (who ran to the wakey express with the story of the revamped bv option) and box wh o has done likewise recently without the courtesy of advising the trust of what is going on first.

Anyone who believes we have a better chance of getting what was promised and what meets the key requirements outlined earlier in this thread by TRB, from rodders new trust are imo at best naive and at worst deluded.

If there was ever a will to build it, it would have been built, but there never was and probably still isn't.
The Rod Trust is just spin to make it look like something might happen, to quell the uprising, and smoke screen to obfuscate, with that thing in the frame it'll be another 8 years to build nothing.

Should the worst happen and Box is pressured in to building the stadium, the Rod Trust is there to ensure that the cosy little scam they've got going between them all is maintained, they don't want no independent body in there asking awkward questions.....

and so it goes on

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