Wimbledon Stadium: Some Important News

[racers and royals]

From today`s Racing Post website-if the stocks are out -then surely speedway would go with it.

 

 

Derby would stay at Plough Lane: Feltham

 

 

 

By Jim Cremin 3:35PM 18 JAN 2014

 

 

 

WITH the vital hearing into the future of Wimbledon taking place next week, GRA managing director Clive Feltham ­on Friday said the Derby will stay at Plough Lane should ­Galliard Homes be rebuffed, and that his group would effectively give up the rights to the Classic if Paschal Taggart’s greyhound plan ­prevails.

 

Feltham, who will not be attending the planning ­inspector’s hearing, said. “Obviously we’ll keep a watching brief, but it is really a matter for Galliard, who own the site. We are just the tenants, and have a three-year lease agreed last summer to promote greyhound racing there.

 

“Crowds remain good, and it’s quite possible that things will drag on, and we’ll stay in place for longer – but our long-term interest is Belle Vue, Hall Green and Perry Barr. We wish Paschal well and hope he is successful – why wouldn’t we? It would be good for greyhound racing, which is our business. London deserves a greyhound track, and Wimbledon is the home of the Derby. That will stay there if Paschal succeeds.”

 

We Want Wimbledon campaigner Diane McLean reiterated that the local residents do not want a football stadium, citing the Wimbledon Park Residents Association website which, ahead of the Government two-day planning hearing (starts at Merton’s Morden Town Hall at 10am on Wednesday), carries strident criticism.

 

On it, Iain Simpson, chairman of the Association, says: “There are two developers who have made proposals. Paschal Taggart, a well-known personality in Irish greyhound circles, who wishes to build a new greyhound stadium which would accommodate a maximum of 4,500 spectators, 400 residential units and a supermarket. They have indicated that they would no longer have stock car racing.

 

“On the other hand, AFC Wimbledon and GRA Ltd propose to build a 20,000-seater football stadium for AFC Wimbledon, 600 residential units, 6-10 stories high, and a retail space.

 

“We do not regard the building of a stadium with such a large capacity to be consistent with the very restricted public transport and we consider that the building of a large number of residential units is not compatible with the flood risk.

 

“While we do not have any fundamental objection to AFC Wimbledon aspiring to a new ground in the borough we do not think the greyhound stadium is a suitable site.

 

“The impact of large crowds, 10,000-20,000, which is the number planned, would be very considerable and has the potential to blight Wimbledon Park Ward, which has two main transport hubs: Wimbledon Park Tube station and Haydons Road Railway station.”

 

McLean added: “The flood plain is an issue, and you need to allow/keep land to help deal with it. Our plan does, Galliard’s doesn’t.

 

“We will increase the development footprint by just 12.5 per cent. The Galliard plan works out at 155 per cent.”

 

The Wimbledon hearing, which is open to the public, is expected to run Wednesday 22nd and Thursday 23rd January at Morden Town Hall (across road from Morden Underground), starting 10am.

[salty]

Thanks for posting this.

I see Mr Feltham says that Galliard own the site. Maybe I missed something, but I thought GRA owned it who were in turn owned by RCP?

Does anyone know (I'm thinking Arthur Cross) whatlinks there are between Galliard and RCP?

 

Not entirely surprised to hear Mr Taggart now appears not keen on the stocks. I guess he needs the residents on side more than he needs the motor sport community.

Edited January 20, 2014 by salty

[Ray Stadia]

Thanks for posting this.

I see Mr Feltham says that Galliard own the site. Maybe I missed something, but I thought GRA owned it who were in turn owned by RCP?

Does anyone know (I'm thinking Arthur Cross) whatlinks there are between Galliard and RCP?

 

Not entirely surprised to hear Mr Taggart now appears not keen on the stocks. I guess he needs the residents on side more than he needs the motor sport community.

I am confused too at what Clive Feltham said. I thought similar to you salty!

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Me too.

Seems that Galliard the house builders apparently now own the site - if that's so that's a potentially devastating blow to the survival of the Stadium though Planning Consent for change of use does, of course, remain the key.. I certainly missed the story of that transaction with RCP selling... Or is this a misquote in the article..?

Talking of quotes in this piece, interesting comments by Mr. Simpson of the Wimbledon Park Residents Association..

He's either very ill-informed or a huge optimist if he thinks AFC Wimbledon would ever attract football crowds of 20k..! Also I find his comment about the stations odd...: surely Earlsfield is nearer or at least as near as the stations he mentions & Tooting Broadway also not far, so there ARE stations aplenty to cope with people attending big sports events here.

 

Regarding no stock cars which it's said Taggart has indeed ruled out, Ian Perkin has responded on the Wimbledon Fans Forum as follows,

"Just because Stock Car Racing is not in the new proposals it would be premature to assume the door is closed to speedway. The Stock's may have other reasons for not wanting to race at a newly developed stadium in Plough Lane as currently proposed.

 

The chances of speedway returning to Plough Lane are remote to say the least, but I am still of the view that it is only the Taggart proposals that currently offer any chance at all of a return to Plough Lane for us and that it is why we are keeping in touch with his organisation and continue to support his plans and would urge other speedway fans to do the same.

 

A new track for speedway that did not have the problems of sharing with Stock Cars would be a huge advantage for us over the arrangements that we had in place during 2002/05, when considerable additional costs were incurred from having to lift the shale from the straights for many weeks of the season, not to mention the problems of removing and replacing the fence each week.

 

I think if anything this bit of news makes our chances of a return slightly stronger, so lets hope the greyhound stadium re-build gets approved and see where we go then"

 

So there remains hope...

[arthur cross]

Thanks for posting this.

I see Mr Feltham says that Galliard own the site. Maybe I missed something, but I thought GRA owned it who were in turn owned by RCP?

Does anyone know (I'm thinking Arthur Cross) whatlinks there are between Galliard and RCP?

As you might expect, it's not so much a case of "who owns what" but a tangled mess of "who's really got the biggest clout in sorting out what happens next" ... however (especially upon salty's request !!), here goes with my overall view and I think it'll help to explain a few historical details that will give the current situation a much better context.

 

The Greyhound Racing Association being caught up in a property development saga is nothing new because that was one of their own prime strategies towards running their business in the 1960's and '70s that began well but actually stuck them into a heap of trouble from which they've never fully recovered !!

 

That was the era in which the GRA cottoned-on to the much increased temptation for the general public to "stay at home watching TV" rather than going for a night out to any sporting or social venue so the GRA did its best to snap up not just the most profitable dog tracks at the time but also the dog tracks they reckoned had the best housing-redevelopment value as a useful insurance in case this "stay at home" momentum was permanent.

 

Initially, it looked a shrewd move if you were a GRA shareholder but a callous one if you worked at one of the less development-attractive tracks which were now almost guaranteed to be wound down the moment they weren't profitable rather than be given any chance of reinvestment for a revival.

 

But it became a dreadful situation for the GRA in the mid-1970's when a worldwide oil-based recession triggered a property-price crash that left the GRA committed to paying back hefty debts on the tracks it had snapped up (including Wimbledon) but which now weren't worth anywhere near enough to justify having undertaken those debts in the first place.

 

The eventual closure in 1984 for the sale & redevelopment of the traditional home of the Greyhound Derby, White City (a stone's throw from QPR's Loftus Road and the recently-closed BBC TV-Centre) was the biggest aspect of the GRA's battle to stay afloat amid this particular financial crisis ... that's why the Greyhound Derby's been at Wimbledon from 1985 onwards because that sport's major races each belong to their respective track promoters rather than being scheduled/staged collectively by a governing body so it was only the GRA who had any say in re-locating the Derby to another of their tracks (and why Clive Feltham's quote that the GRA would allow anyone else staging greyhound racing at Wimbledon to host the Derby is a truly landmark quote that might not be so obvious to speedway folk).

 

The GRA as a stand-alone company was swallowed up financially by Wembley Stadium in the late 1980's at a time when greyhound racing still took place a couple of times a week around the old "Twin Towers" football pitch but also a time when Wembley's own future was under huge debate linked in with any more-Midlands-based new National Football Stadium or an Olympic bid from any of London, Birmingham or Manchester.

 

It was decided to retain the GRA as a brand-name for the dog tracks but the parent company was named Wembley plc and it's that company which Risk Capital Partners (fronted by entrepreneur Luke Johnson) bought around a decade ago although by that stage, Wembley plc had long since lost any grip it had on the building of the new arch-dominated Wembley Stadium so effectively Risk Capital were buying the GRA.

 

Clive Feltham (as either a key figure at Wimbledon or as the GRA's Managing Director) is a constant figure going back to the Wembley plc days and is very much the ultimate "toe the party line" man even if doing so has sometimes made himself look clueless or ridiculous.

 

The GRA has always appeared to be the only sports-dominated activity within Risk Captial's general portfolio of either retail/service-based industries or redevelopment ventures ... put the GRA's own 1960's/70's redevelopment strategy in with the latter of those Risk Capital themes and it's easy to understand why greyhound fans have been sceptical about Risk Capital all along.

 

The first murky aspect of this is whether Galliard Homes's involvement with the GRA, especially at Wimbledon, dates back to them being linked directly to the GRA's own property strategy half a century ago or to them being good friends with Risk Capital.

 

Secondly, although the exact figures (either the initial amount or the current position) have never come to light, it's clear (as myself and others have already explained in detail on this thread) that Irish banks propped up Risk/Galliard's involvement with multi-million-pound loans a few years before the 2008 worldwide financial crash dumped even more havoc on the Irish banks that it did upon their British counterparts ... that's where Nama join in this saga as Ireland's National Asset Management Agency representing those Irish banks who are still searching for the least-bad way of getting back some of those millions they've loaned to Risk/Galliard.

 

Ultimately, it looks as if the GRA are now helplessly caught up in a 21st-century property speculation saga that's eerily similar to their own good-looking but ill-fated strategy in the 1960's/70's !!

 

Thanks for reading through all of that background info which I hope makes it easier to understand the current circumstances which, in my view, can be summed up as follows ...

 

The GRA, led by Clive Feltham, still run the day-to-day operations at their 4 remaining stadiums at Wimbledon, Belle Vue and the Birmingham pair of Perry Barr and Hall Green ... however, with the exception of their historic tradition of staging the Derby and several other big races, they've fallen way behind other groups in greyhound racing (where 2 main angles now dominate - either the bookie-owned tracks at Hove, Romford, Crayford, Monmore, Newcastle and Sunderland or the few other venues who've seriously invested in their spectator facilities like Sheffield, Nottingham and Peterborough) ... while the GRA tracks are making a day-to-day profit, it's at best keeping up with the interest demands from the Irish banks and certainly not making a fast-enough dent in the Irish loans.

 

Galliard appear to have become the dominant player between themselves and Risk Capital in terms of who officially owns the GRA dog tracks (that's full ownership of Wimbledon, Belle Vue and Hall Green plus the operating rights at Perry Barr in an overall partnership with Birmingham City Council) ... hence why Clive Feltham's still referring to Galliard as being the owners of Wimbledon Stadium although his latest quotes about the GRA having a 3-year-lease to run Wimbledon have raised eyebrows because it was reported a few months ago that it was a 5-year-lease at Wimbledon alongside 15-year-leases at each of the other tracks.

 

But the biggest shadow over all of this is the clearly-increasing pressure from Nama for Risk/Gslliard to speed-up repaying the Irish banks ... that's why the Racing Post have regarded Nama as the effective owners of Wimbledon Stadium for several months because Galliard have seemed to be taking some fairly desperate measures lately to stump up some immediate money from their involvement with the GRA.

 

There was their vague and unsuccessful attempt in the autumn to individually sell-off Belle Vue or Hall Green ... and then their spectacularly-failed attempt to get planning permission for housing at Oxford Stadium which they're going to appeal against despite an Oxford councillor confirming that application was thrown out on 8 counts when just 2-or-3 such failings would usually render any appeal hopeless.

 

As I see it, we're at a stalemate where Galliard are the nearest thing to the official private owners of Wimbledon Stadium and therefore can carry on the existing use of the site without Merton Council having any say because it's the continuation of a private business.

 

Probably because they can't afford any outlay, Galliard don't want to put any further investment into that existing use but they're under increasing pressure from Nama to do some sort of development at that site because letting the existing business drift along is no good to Nama even if it continues to buy time for Galliard as well as being their cheapest option.

 

At the moment, despite their on-going frustrations with Galliard's struggle to repay the multi-millions, Nama still appear to prefer to align themselves with any Galliard plan rather than expecting a better solution to emerge from elsewhere.

 

Greyhound fans/entrepreneurs, football fans, speedway fans, existing local residents, potential new local residents, Merton Council and the Mayor of London (and his colleagues) can all put forward what they'd like to happen ... but ultimately, none of those can really make progress until Galliard and Nama make progress just between themselves on where they stand over the multi-millions still owed regarding the existing use of Wimbledon Stadium ... and all hell breaks loose if Nama decide to turn on Galliard, especially if Nama align themselves instead with any of the various interested parties I've just mentioned.

 

Any further questions, salty ? !!

Edited January 21, 2014 by arthur cross

[salty]

Thanks for your answer Arthur.

Though I note you are unable to shed any light on the exact relationship between Galliard and RCP. Don't suppose it really matters in terms of the future because, as you mention, the big players now seem to be NAMA.

 

Parsloes, I reckon that Mr Simpson of the WPRA was talking about the geography purely from the merton side of the stadium. I can't really see anybody travelling to Plough Lane using Wimbledon Park tube, but I would say Haydons Road is the closest station to the track. Anybody using Earlsfield or Tooting Broadway would probably still be using a bus along Garratt Lane to complete their journey.

[arthur cross]

If you're hooked up to Sky or Freesat, you're likely to hear plenty about Wimbledon Stadium during tonight's edition of Racing Post Greyhound TV on the Information TV channel (Sky-212, Freesat-401).

 

The guest pundit is Irish greyhounds' most famous administrator Paschal Taggart who's now the figurehead for the possible 21st-century revamp of Wimbledon's existing dog track ... he'll be rounding off his day that's begun with attending the first of the 2-day-hearing at Merton Council into their Sites & Policies Plan where any future use of the Wimbledon Stadium site is high up the agenda.

 

The programme runs from 7.15pm until 11.00pm featuring 12-race cards from both Peterborough and Romford and while that means a live race roughly every 8 minutes, there should still be a couple of minutes between most races for any questions to Mr Taggart (or viewers' e-mails & tweets) ... also, the last live race is the Romford 10.26 which leaves the whole final half-hour available for more discussion about Wimbledon's future.

[Catabracadabra]

Having being at the public hearing yesterday I believe it's still up in the air. Robert yuile wasn't there to say yes or no to either idea or make judgement. But just to see if, from a planners view either has merit. The big problem with the football option is the transport and infrusture within the area, no way could it accom 20,000 fans. But I'm sure the football club will find a way round that. But could they really fill a 20,000 stadium I do not think so. This saga is far from over, at the end of the day Nama have control over site 37 (Merton councils listing number for Wimbledon stadium site) it's got to be used for sporting use i think that has been made plainly obvious. It will be who pays the most for the site. Who buys it is out of the control of the council. The council are not saying yes or no to either, AFC have got the numbers (fans) behind them, it's a shame Pascal Taggart isn't being backed more by the greyhound people, the speedway people need to shout a bit louder along with the greyhounds. On behalf of the greyhounds. Once a football stadium plants itself there that is it, final! Speedway did co-exist for years with them. Even if the speedway does not ever return there, at least there will be variety in entertainment in the area with having the greyhounds. It's a great night out and it would be a crying shame that another greyhound stadium would serum to the history books. Do we really need another football stadium in London, really?

[Guest]

Having being at the public hearing yesterday I believe it's still up in the air. Robert yuile wasn't there to say yes or no to either idea or make judgement. But just to see if, from a planners view either has merit. The big problem with the football option is the transport and infrusture within the area, no way could it accom 20,000 fans. But I'm sure the football club will find a way round that. But could they really fill a 20,000 stadium I do not think so. This saga is far from over, at the end of the day Nama have control over site 37 (Merton councils listing number for Wimbledon stadium site) it's got to be used for sporting use i think that has been made plainly obvious. It will be who pays the most for the site. Who buys it is out of the control of the council. The council are not saying yes or no to either, AFC have got the numbers (fans) behind them, it's a shame Pascal Taggart isn't being backed more by the greyhound people, the speedway people need to shout a bit louder along with the greyhounds. On behalf of the greyhounds. Once a football stadium plants itself there that is it, final! Speedway did co-exist for years with them. Even if the speedway does not ever return there, at least there will be variety in entertainment in the area with having the greyhounds. It's a great night out and it would be a crying shame that another greyhound stadium would serum to the history books. Do we really need another football stadium in London, really?

 

Thanks for the update. It looks like goodbye to stock cars after 50 continuous seasons then?

[arthur cross]

This was how the Racing Post reported Wednesday's opening day of the 2-day Merton Council hearing in Thursday's paper ... understandably, the paper's been keen to emphasise any positive angles throughout this whole saga which makes this particular headline and article all the more downbeat ...

 

http://www.racingpost.com/news/greyhounds/disappointed-taggart-reflects-on-disastrous-meeting/1596969/top/

 

Paschal Taggart was in an equally gloomy mood on RPG-TV later on Wednesday evening ... within just a couple of minutes of being introduced on the show, he went as far as fearing this May's Greyhound Derby will be the last ever to be staged at Wimbledon as well as describing Merton Council as "clearly biased".

 

Everything in either the above newspaper article or Mr Taggart's appearance on RPG-TV totally seems to back up my earlier explanations on this thread that while Nama still remain keen to do business with Galliard as the best way of getting at least some of the Irish banks' multi-millions back, it's hard to see how anyone else like Mr Taggart can make a breakthrough regarding the future use of the site unless being prepared to bale out Galliard's Irish debts.

 

In any case, from speedway's point of view, I've yet to see any greyhound proposals make a serious inclusion of speedway in their plans despite other uses of the site beyond just the dog-racing getting a mention ... remember, Mr Taggart's plans (loudly supported by Diane McLean's We Want Wimbledon campaign) do mention the continuation of the current few squash courts within some sort of fitness centre in their overall plan but don't mention speedway in the slightest.

[michaelcroucher]

speedway people need to shout a bit louder along with the greyhounds.

 

why should we shout a bit louder, it was the greyhounds who didnt got rid of speedway at Wimbledon. Then when it came back it was fine, for a while but the GRA wanted more money and the speedway didnt have the money so they went again. All the time Greyhounds are there they wont want speedway. The best thing for speedway to return is to shout a bit louder i agree and get speedway back at Wimbledon but i really dont know on how it will come back. Instead of speaking to Merton council i think a few letters to the NAMA would help , because at the end of the day if they want money back and they can get a bit from the speedway fans then we have a better way of getting it back at Wimbledon. I know they still want Greyhounds at Wimbledon but with a business head Wimbledon fans should try everything. We dont have the money in the sport to buy the stadium and pay NAMA the money back, so what ever goes there Speedway will always be 2nd best this is why we need to show to the investors why speedway should be there with another sport.

 

I know this is about Wimbledon but with oxford i think we have a really good chance of getting speedway back. I haven't been to Oxford for a little while, but i do know that they still have Karting and a dance company there so if speedway could also do a deal with them to have Karting, Dance and Speedway that way the money would be split and NAMA would be getting some of thier money back. I know they dont own the site and that Gillards do but im sure if there wasnt going to be anything happening there then with the site then NAMA will want their money. Gillards needs to wake up. THey could lose more than they think. I know they have or are appealing about what Oxford council have said but i hope they stand by what they say. I think a News report and a few banners with Speedway fans shouting a bit louder there will give us a great chance of what speedway can do. With this in mind then we can prove that by showing that speedway is a great sport then we might have more of a chance to get speedway back at Wimbledon.

 

[arthur cross]

Nice idea from "michaelcroucher" for speedway fans to get directly in touch with Nama to show how Nama can get some of their money back from speedway.

 

But the brutal truth is that the entire turnover of the Wimbledon Dons a few years ago in the Conference League was probably around £100,000 a year while it's very likely Nama are still trying to get back at least £10-million for their Irish banks and maybe even £20-million-plus.

 

It was reported that £50-million was the price-tag when Risk Capital bought Wembley-plc about a decade ago which has effectively proved to be Risk/Galliard buying the GRA (see my earlier lengthy explanation on this thread about how Wembley-plc swallowed up the GRA from the late-1980's to the mid-2000's) ... it's also clear that a hefty chunk of that purchase-price has ended up being funded by the Irish bank loans to Risk/Galliard that are now being chased by Nama but we don't know exactly how hefty a chunk (hence my estimate above of anything from £10-million to £20-million-plus).

 

Speedway's potential to clear up Nama's debt-collecting from Galliard is tiny, bordering on nothing.

 

The only reason there's more hope for speedway at Oxford is that the gap between that stadium's greyhound turnover and speedway turnover isn't so wide as would be the case at Wmbledon, therefore speedway offers a bigger percentage chunk within the overall turnover of any revival of Oxford Stadium ... however, the smaller size and lower land-values of the Oxford site make it a very small part of the overall GRA picture dominated by the larger size and higher land-values of the Wimbledon site

 

It still seems some folk on this forum simply don't understand (or can't get their head round) just how deep the financial mess is regarding the existing (mostly greyhound) use of Wimbledon Stadium ... mind you, many greyhound folk are just as much in denial over this matter while the Racing Post's "let be as optimistic wherever possible" editorial attitiude has just about reached the level of barrel-scraping.

 

In my view, it's clear that Nama, for all their frustrations with Galliard's repayment delays over recent years, still accept teaming-up with Galliard for any future development of the site is the best (or least-bad) way forward, mailny because no other outside bidder has yet come up with enough funding to pay off Nama as well as buying the site off Galliard,

 

I reckon Paschal Taggart has known he's been on the losing side since about last October, let alone his gloomy outlook this week.

 

He was the ideal man for British greyhound racing to cling onto as the figurehead with a good reputation for Wimbledon's future but I think he's realised for some time he's out of his depth for several reasons with this project compared to his impressively successful revamp of Dublin's Shelbourne Park where he had so much more political support automatically in his favour (the Irish President often presents the trophies on their Derby final night) and so much more groundswell support from the general public for overhauling a key part of that country's sporting heritage (the national TV-broadcaster RTE shows an hour-long, 3-race live show from 9pm-10pm on the Saturday of the Irish Derby final each September).

 

Can you imagine any royalty or David Cameron handing out the trophies at Wimbledon as part of live tv-coverage that's always able to bump Casualty off the schedule once a year ? !! ... even the one time a vital World Cup football qualifier for the Republic of Ireland was going to clash with the dogs' final a few years ago, RTE willingly cleared their Friday-night schedule to fit the greyhound coverage there instead !!

 

Perhaps most importantly of all, Mr Taggart had no need to worry about a rival proposal from a football team because the seriously out-of-date Landsdowne Road stadium was only 5-minutes' walk from Shelbourne and was always going to be eventually revamped itself into what's now the 50,000-seater Aviva Stadium on that same site.

[Beckford Boy]

I'm thinking back to 1969 when the GRA were the saviours of Wimbledon Stadium when they bought it and thwarted the plans of a certain Mr.Arnold Harris who wanted to redevelop the site.What an irony that they under the guise of RCP/Galliard have now switched sides and want to administer the last rites to the stadium.

Even if Mr.Taggart's bid were to win the day I seriously wonder if speedway did become part of his project whether anyone could possibly afford to lay a new track and stage Elite League speedway which would surely have to be the operating level.Bearing in mind the horrendous financial losses at several current Elite venues any prospective promoters would need very deep pockets.

It is looking as if NAMA are not interested in Mr.Taggart's bird in the hand but are being seduced by their rival's two in the bush.

Abandon hope not all ye,miracles do sometimes happen,let's hope that one is lined up to visit London SW17 pretty darn quick.

[michaelcroucher]

I think that Arthur Cross is right some people dont know how much they are in dept with NAMA. But at the under of the day if the Greyhounds are not paying back or cant pay the dept back then NAMA will have to take action. I can see that they still might have Greyhounds there as the Irish do like the dog racing but if NAMA thinks its not worth it having dogs at Wimbledon then I think they will probably sell the ground. If it was for money then I can see AFC buying it. What speedway fans might have to do is be one step ahead. We really dont know what happens behind closed doors. If NAMA wants their money back and dont want to have greyhounds there then we need a plan to get speedway at Wimbledon if that means going in with someone else. What ever happens it will take years before speedway returns. Nothing will happen this year as Risk Capital wants to pay the money back. I really dont think that Gillards are a problem as I really cant see any houses being built there, and if they do try then Merton Council will have a problem on there hands. With something like this it will take time and I hope people understand that if there is going to be speedway at Wimbledon or Oxford then dont think it will happen this year or next, but time will tell.

[arthur cross]

You're still not getting it, are you Michael ? !! ... speedway's got virtually no hope of influencing Nama's thoughts on what happens in the future at Wimbledon.

 

Nama are getting increasingly impatient about reclaiming multi-millions either directly from Galliard's own development or another company buying out Galliard ... you say "we need a plan to get speedway at Wimbledon if that means going in with someone else" but even an Elite League speedway club is unilkely to want (or be able to afford) to pay more than about £100,000 of stadium-rent a year so good luck waving that amount of money on speedway's behalf with any impact when it's going to be a tiny drop in helping out another bidder trying to cobble together the multi-millions needed for the whole project !!

 

Maybe it was easier a decade ago to get Irish banks rather than British banks to loan the multi-millions for a British greyhound operation because of the better general knowledge of greyhound racing among the Irish ... but after the worldwide 2008 financial crash (which hit the Irish banks even more than the British banks), that better knowledge of greyhound racing among the Irish is now largely irrelevant to the more important matter for those Irish banks (via Nama) to get back as much of those multi-millions as possible (and preferably, as quickly as possible).

 

Yes, Nama is an Irish organization but all the current indications (thanks to it still seeming to back Galliard's future plan despite the current debt) are that it won't prioritize showing any sentimental sympathy to a popular Irish sport when it comes to recovering any money trapped at Wimbledon.

 

Like any potential speedway team, AFC Wimbledon can't afford to buy the site on their own (even if it wasn't currently affected by the existing debt) ... but as sporting tenants, they're probably the best fit financially .

 

Just a football pitch or just a 300-metre speedway track would take up roughly the same size of floor-space and spectator-space (therefore leaving roughly the same amount of housing space) ... but the football club's turnover (probably between £2-million and £5-million a year) would enable them to afford a much bigger rent than even an Elite League speedway club (probably turning over between £500,000 and £1-million a season).

 

Alternatively, if speedway fitted its track inside a new dog track, then the problem is that the oval shape of a 400-metre dog track uses a lot more floor-space and therefore reduces the housing space which is key to the whole project, not only for generating plenty of millions straight away from the house-buyers but also for generating lots of council tax for Merton Council (who while they have to appear open-minded to any interested bidders at the moment, surely also must be doing their sums about what each bidder's plans mean for their future council tax revenue !!).

 

AFC Wimbledon's new ground appears to suit Galliard and Nama best at the moment ... it involves around 600 houses which would generate roughly £1-million a year in council tax.

 

Paschal Taggart's greyhound-revamp features only around 400-to-450 houses, immediately knocking at least £250,000 a year off the future council tax revenue (and the Taggart-plan has never seemed to have factored-in solving the existing multi-millions of debt as part of purchasing the site) ... judging by every recent indication, Nama's number-crunchers definitely don't regard the Taggart-plan to be as helpful to them as the AFC-plan while Merton Council's number-crunchers seem to be desperately biting their lip that they also reckon the AFC-plan suits them better because we're still at the stage where they're supposed to be impartial.

 

To give you an idea of the relative financial clout of greyhounds and speedway, I know of one long-established joint-stadium of both sports where the annual rent paid by the speedway club is usually about the same as just a fortnight's worth of that track's income from the tv-fees it gets from the nation's betting-shops !! ... it's a battle for speedway to get heard at all amid that heavily-imbalanced situation, never mind getting anything to go in speedway's favour.

[michaelcroucher]

I fully understand Arthur but there might be someone out there that has the answer or that can help. If wimbledon is not going to happen then whats the point on this forum. We might as well just say thats it never talk about it. You are right about the council rates but wasnt it said at the meeting that no plans for housing it has to be a sporting event only. I dont thnk speedway can buy the gound its to big and unless someone has lots of money then speedway and just speedway will never be there. In my mind we need to keep it going as you said i think we need to shout about it and thats all i want.

[arthur cross]

I'm certainly not of the opinion that we should "never talk about it" ... all I'm trying to point out is just how massively uphill a battle speedway faces to get itself heard in any useful way regarding the dreadful current financial mess at Wimbledon.

 

Therefore, while it would be great to see speedway return to one of its most famous London venues, there surely needs to be a realistic view about the small chance of this happening, if only so that valuable time, energy and money among London speedway fans is directed towards any other projects that might benefit better from being pursued instead of nostalgically hoping for anything at Wimbledon.

[salty]

I fully understand Arthur but there might be someone out there that has the answer or that can help. If wimbledon is not going to happen then whats the point on this forum. We might as well just say thats it never talk about it. You are right about the council rates but wasnt it said at the meeting that no plans for housing it has to be a sporting event only. I dont thnk speedway can buy the gound its to big and unless someone has lots of money then speedway and just speedway will never be there. In my mind we need to keep it going as you said i think we need to shout about it and thats all i want.

Both plans involve housing as that is what pays for the stadium development.

Greyhound racing are organising the following..

http://www.racingpost.com/news/greyhounds/wimbledon-show-of-passion-next-month/1597766/top/

[Guest]

I think a News report and a few banners with Speedway fans shouting a bit louder there will give us a great chance of what speedway can do. With this in mind then we can prove that by showing that speedway is a great sport then we might have more of a chance to get speedway back at Wimbledon.

 

 

 

 

It seems stock cars don't fit in with current plans for Wimbledon Stadium. Much as I would love to see it happen why should those making redelopment plans approve an alternative motor sport like speedway as possible tenants if they apparently don't want cars?

There seems to a speedway-tortoise attitude in regard to motor sport at Wimbledon Stadium. Stock cars have been there season-on-season since the early 1960s - now they look to be on the way to the Plough Lane exit door? If that's the cars future what chance is there for a speedway revival?

Edited January 26, 2014 by Guest

[The White Knight]

 

 

There seems to a speedway-tortoise attitude in regard to motor sport at Wimbledon Stadium. Stock cars have been there season-on-season since the early 1960s - now they look to be on the way to the Plough Lane exit door? If that's the hope what chance is there for a speedway revival?

 

Fair question gustix.

 

Virtually nil I would think sadly. :sad:

 

One can however live in hope. :neutral: