Coventry Stadium Sold

[Starman2006]

Can't see Speedway continuing at Brandon after this season. Regardless of the length that remains on the promoters lease the stadium owner / developer just won't blow any money on maintenance and extra bills required to keep the stadium open.

 

If anything, they'll be looking to pay off the lease

 

This is terrible for Speedway, another venue with history set to disappear and not likely to return. Are there any other oval track venues in and around Coventry as this will be their only hope? A new venue would be almost impossible to find seeing as the football club are struggling with an almost identical problem. There certainly won't be a merge with the speedway and football, they just won't want the track around a football pitch, no club wants that.

 

Belle Vue have been very fortunate in the fact that Manchester City FC has been banging £millions into the redevelopment of the City leaving the council with funds to help pay towards a new Speedway venue.

 

New speedway ventures are nigh on impossible

They could share with Wolverhampton or Leicester. Not quite the same though... Money talks nowadays, Sadly.

[Daniel Smith]

They could share with Wolverhampton or Leicester. Not quite the same though... Money talks nowadays, Sadly.

Leicester most likely as Wolves already have Dudley in there. There must be an active oval track open that's closer than Leicester though?

[Midland Red]

......many of us have had some great times there from British Finals ......, OlsenFarewell.

Yes it was a great time to see the back of Mr Olsen

Sadly no one could foresee the damage that lay ahead in his hands

[pirateandi]

At this moment the future will read coventry the most boring city in England 2015- ??

[Crump99]

If it is property developers then they certainly won't wait for the Speedway lease to run out.

 

I work in the housing market and the market is a fickle thing, It fluctuates rapidly and this supposed company have decided to make this an investment project; They almost certainly used housing market data from today along with their financial projections

 

I suspect Coventry may be bought out! What happens if the economy has a recession?

 

Sandhu has stitched up the Bee's in my opinion.

 

And there was me thinking all this time that you were a merchant banker or a financial guru

Edited February 22, 2014 by Crump99

[speedibee]

I would think the bees will continue to race , right up to the mysterious fire that destroys the main stand . that can be pencilled in any time after the second round of planning permission fails .

[dave69]

A bit like the "mysterious" fire at Newport when we had Phil waiting to take over or the "gypsies" taking the cabling .

[speedibee]

A bit like the "mysterious" fire at Newport when we had Phil waiting to take over or the "gypsies" taking the cabling .

yes or the one at Cradley , and the one at Long Eaton , still if developers are going to leave these places unlocked and leave cans of petrol and boxes of matches lying around I suppose a mystery fire is inevitable

[Tom Turner]

 

No, all hail Matt Ford who drove Sandhu out of the sport and as many said at the time could well have caused the demise of one of the sports biggest clubs.

 

We may be approaching that point.

 

All over petty jealousy.

 

[Jacques]

I think it is very easy to blame Sandhu. We all know that Speedway functions best when the landlord is also the promoter. Sadly, a dying breed. Whether you were on the Sandhu/Frost side, or Ford/BSPA side, the one thing we all knew - whoever "lost" would eventually exit the sport. You cannot blame them. Their business came under attack, and it has been well documented that Sandhu has helped both speedway and greyhounds since. I doubt Sandhu was picking up a base rate return on his investment in the stadium, why expect him to continue? Did he owe forumites who support other teams anything? No. You expected him just to fall in line and shut up? Why. He had the best interests of Coventry Speedway at heart, it was his business.

 

There is no shock about the announcement. We have all known the site was up for sale. A natural course was it would be sold. We cannot jump to conclusions about the landlord, other than everyone on here or within the sport had a fair and equal opportunity to buy the stadium. Maybe the BSPA should have stepped in and made it a National Stadium, maybe fans, of all teams, could have grouped together. We can just remain hopeful that a new owner is speedway orientated.

 

The sport itself needs to take a good, long hard look at itself. It allowed the initial fall out, there were no remedies, and the general organisation since 2006/07 has been shocking. Rules made up as we go along, a desire for fewer fixtures etc.... Sandhu was the landlord, and the sport itself wanted FEWER fixtures! It is a complete contradiction. It reduces any return for a landlord, so why shouldn't they look to sell?

 

I have always thought speedway actually needs more fixtures, and full time riders in the UK. We know the riders have stamina for it, double uppers and international riders can race up to 6 or 7 times a week. If costs were controlled, then maybe speedway could aspire to the 80+ fixtures that NBA and NHL manage to fit in. Advertising, sponsorship and bookies would like it. It does need landlord promoters, it would need covers, I would like indoor stadiums or covered tracks using systems like Hamburg tennis arena. Don't get me started on the irregular fixtures that have become the norm. It is unacceptable to customers like me, and to any potential landlord-speedway promoter. These stadiums could have multi-purpose use, but are under-used by speedway, and the lack of investment in facilities - even the basics, let alone my aspirations - means they could not attract pop concerts, these popular DJ events that have taken off in popularity, or other sports.

 

Of course, this requires foresight and investment. I laughed at the Greyhound comment requiring stability for >2.5 years, well, speedway is lucky to get 1 year. You could not make a capital investment in a stadium when you don't know basics - fixtures, format - and that rival teams could dictate to your business. My very first post here was that BSPA needed an independent governing body....many said, why would businesses give away control, but in the end the Sandhu-Ford battle just showed what happens when rival businessman clash over the governance. The same mistakes are repeated, season in, season out, and there is an expectation of a different outcome. I am not sure why. These arguments are for another day though.

 

I hope that Brandon Stadium continues, and I know there will always be Speedway of some sort, I have no doubts. It is always nice if it continues in a stadium that has such history and memories. I have been going since 1979, but sadly more irregular because life needs organisation and speedway does not have it. Coventry is now as mortal as other tracks, in a way that it never was during the 1980s or 1990s as tracks came and went. I always felt that the speedway season was twice as long back in the 1980s, twice as much racing, juniors afterwards etc..., twice the crowd, and half the time between races. As the seasons get shorter, as fixtures are curtailed as soon as a result can stand, as the empty weekends during the summer with no top flight speedway increase towards a month hiatus, the hours available to make more memories at speedway tracks in the UK has definitely decreased. If a developer did move in, at least those memories can't be knocked down, they are not dependent on the future.

 

Well almost, I gave my son the middle name of Brandon as he arrived at 7.33pm on a Saturday evening during the summer. It could be difficult to explain that choice with no stadium. He was born in a July - which from memory had 3 different race nights, at least a 2 week break in the middle, followed by 3 in a week, then nothing at Brandon Stadium until late August. How can you make a plan, or money, around that?

 

Even if Speedway continues at Brandon - investment and organisation is needed at that stadium and in others across the country to ensure that the uncertainty cannot hang over the sport, a governing body should be there to protect the sport and give it a legacy. It relies on the blind loyalty of supporters for far too long and far too often. The fans appear to be the ones to suffer the most, which ever track, what ever the corner of the UK. It is difficult being a speedway fan! To paraphrase from the play "Peter and the Starcatcher", when your track has any level of uncertainty, it does hurt, its supposed to hurt, that's how you know it meant something.

 

[BANANAMAN]

I may be mistaken but we had a conversation among ourselves (office staff and trackstaff,(me and my helpers) in 2008 about the main site of the Stadium and we were told by the council offices, Brandon is definitaly Brownbelt land and as such cannot be redeveloped for anything other than a sporting venue .If I am right there maybe a situation worth looking into by someone with more clout than a poor old truck driver (me) .Fingers and anything else crossed .

Not living in the city I can remember reading on here a story regarding planning permission being refused by the local council for a funeral directors !! So the chance of a cheap housing on an estate being built & current residents seeing their properties devalue would seem slim .Looked on the Bees site & no news ...Could Mr Horton have purchased the stadium from Sandhu ?

[philfromcov]

if you look at some facts:

 

the land is being sold for £1million

if you check the land registry you will see if you can build on it the land will be worth around £20Million.

land is a long term investment and therefore no one would throw that away unless they had to.

 

planning rules always change, so i would suggest that Sandhu has to sell the land..

and possible all that implies.

[Ray Stadia]

Not living in the city I can remember reading on here a story regarding planning permission being refused by the local council for a funeral directors !! So the chance of a cheap housing on an estate being built & current residents seeing their properties devalue would seem slim .Looked on the Bees site & no news ...Could Mr Horton have purchased the stadium from Sandhu ?

Obviously I want to be careful, but I am sure I read on here, in the recent past, that either Mr Sandhu, a business partner or both had financial issues, possibly involving HMRC, but I could be totally wrong. If I am correct, then perhaps the sale of the stadium is connected with this situation.

[Jacques]

Obviously I want to be careful, but I am sure I read on here, in the recent past, that either Mr Sandhu, a business partner or both had financial issues, possibly involving HMRC, but I could be totally wrong. If I am correct, then perhaps the sale of the stadium is connected with this situation.

 

You are right Ray, it was in the local press so it's no secret and not anything not been discussed previously. I think it was a relative that had shares in the stadium.. I did wonder about it myself. I suppose it will all come out sooner or later

[Starman2006]

I think it is very easy to blame Sandhu. We all know that Speedway functions best when the landlord is also the promoter. Sadly, a dying breed. Whether you were on the Sandhu/Frost side, or Ford/BSPA side, the one thing we all knew - whoever "lost" would eventually exit the sport. You cannot blame them. Their business came under attack, and it has been well documented that Sandhu has helped both speedway and greyhounds since. I doubt Sandhu was picking up a base rate return on his investment in the stadium, why expect him to continue? Did he owe forumites who support other teams anything? No. You expected him just to fall in line and shut up? Why. He had the best interests of Coventry Speedway at heart, it was his business.

 

There is no shock about the announcement. We have all known the site was up for sale. A natural course was it would be sold. We cannot jump to conclusions about the landlord, other than everyone on here or within the sport had a fair and equal opportunity to buy the stadium. Maybe the BSPA should have stepped in and made it a National Stadium, maybe fans, of all teams, could have grouped together. We can just remain hopeful that a new owner is speedway orientated.

 

The sport itself needs to take a good, long hard look at itself. It allowed the initial fall out, there were no remedies, and the general organisation since 2006/07 has been shocking. Rules made up as we go along, a desire for fewer fixtures etc.... Sandhu was the landlord, and the sport itself wanted FEWER fixtures! It is a complete contradiction. It reduces any return for a landlord, so why shouldn't they look to sell?

 

I have always thought speedway actually needs more fixtures, and full time riders in the UK. We know the riders have stamina for it, double uppers and international riders can race up to 6 or 7 times a week. If costs were controlled, then maybe speedway could aspire to the 80+ fixtures that NBA and NHL manage to fit in. Advertising, sponsorship and bookies would like it. It does need landlord promoters, it would need covers, I would like indoor stadiums or covered tracks using systems like Hamburg tennis arena. Don't get me started on the irregular fixtures that have become the norm. It is unacceptable to customers like me, and to any potential landlord-speedway promoter. These stadiums could have multi-purpose use, but are under-used by speedway, and the lack of investment in facilities - even the basics, let alone my aspirations - means they could not attract pop concerts, these popular DJ events that have taken off in popularity, or other sports.

 

Of course, this requires foresight and investment. I laughed at the Greyhound comment requiring stability for >2.5 years, well, speedway is lucky to get 1 year. You could not make a capital investment in a stadium when you don't know basics - fixtures, format - and that rival teams could dictate to your business. My very first post here was that BSPA needed an independent governing body....many said, why would businesses give away control, but in the end the Sandhu-Ford battle just showed what happens when rival businessman clash over the governance. The same mistakes are repeated, season in, season out, and there is an expectation of a different outcome. I am not sure why. These arguments are for another day though.

 

I hope that Brandon Stadium continues, and I know there will always be Speedway of some sort, I have no doubts. It is always nice if it continues in a stadium that has such history and memories. I have been going since 1979, but sadly more irregular because life needs organisation and speedway does not have it. Coventry is now as mortal as other tracks, in a way that it never was during the 1980s or 1990s as tracks came and went. I always felt that the speedway season was twice as long back in the 1980s, twice as much racing, juniors afterwards etc..., twice the crowd, and half the time between races. As the seasons get shorter, as fixtures are curtailed as soon as a result can stand, as the empty weekends during the summer with no top flight speedway increase towards a month hiatus, the hours available to make more memories at speedway tracks in the UK has definitely decreased. If a developer did move in, at least those memories can't be knocked down, they are not dependent on the future.

 

Well almost, I gave my son the middle name of Brandon as he arrived at 7.33pm on a Saturday evening during the summer. It could be difficult to explain that choice with no stadium. He was born in a July - which from memory had 3 different race nights, at least a 2 week break in the middle, followed by 3 in a week, then nothing at Brandon Stadium until late August. How can you make a plan, or money, around that?

 

Even if Speedway continues at Brandon - investment and organisation is needed at that stadium and in others across the country to ensure that the uncertainty cannot hang over the sport, a governing body should be there to protect the sport and give it a legacy. It relies on the blind loyalty of supporters for far too long and far too often. The fans appear to be the ones to suffer the most, which ever track, what ever the corner of the UK. It is difficult being a speedway fan! To paraphrase from the play "Peter and the Starcatcher", when your track has any level of uncertainty, it does hurt, its supposed to hurt, that's how you know it meant something.

You ever thought about writing a book...

[FTM]

You ever thought about writing a book...

Are you always so nasty with any comments to do with Coventry as your last 4 posts have shown I sincerley hope one day all your comments come back to bite you in the A**e and other posters can heap misery on your beloved Poole no one normally likes to see another club and its fans cease to stay open but you seem to revel in other peoples misery

[kingbee]

You ever thought about writing a book...

At least he makes more sence than what you post on here

[Kester]

You ever thought about writing a book...

 

You ever thought about reading one?

[Woz01]

At this moment the future will read coventry the most boring city in England 2015- ??

Its looking like that at the minute!

if you look at some facts:

 

the land is being sold for £1million

if you check the land registry you will see if you can build on it the land will be worth around £20Million.

land is a long term investment and therefore no one would throw that away unless they had to.

 

planning rules always change, so i would suggest that Sandhu has to sell the land..

and possible all that implies.

I was told last season that Sandhu had no choice but to sell the stadium.

Obviously I want to be careful, but I am sure I read on here, in the recent past, that either Mr Sandhu, a business partner or both had financial issues, possibly involving HMRC, but I could be totally wrong. If I am correct, then perhaps the sale of the stadium is connected with this situation.

 

Yep spot on, HMRC were involved after a convicted man (money laundering I think) seemed to own part of Brandon. Sandhu denied the claim. Edited February 22, 2014 by woz01

[NeilWatson]

THE news that Greyhounds has decided to close after tonights meeting came as a shock and it saddened me that they felt they could not continue to operate until the remaining three years on the lease lapsed. Harry and his team have worked extremely hard during the last few years to make Coventry Dogs a credible force within the greyhound racing world and deserved to have enjoyed the fruits of those labours.

They asked me for an extension to the lease to guarantee a further five years which I was unable to offer due to the current negotiations for the sale of the Stadium as all I could contractually offer was the three year guarantee already in place which clearly was not enough.

In terms of the other activities the Coventry Bees and Brisca F1 stock cars these are guaranteed to continue for the next three years regardless as to the ownership of the stadium and during those three years I will be trying to secure an alternative site for a new stadium in the Coventry area.

All three sports have become something that I enjoy on a personal level and the respective fans have shown me a great deal of respect over the past twelve years as such I want to ensure we do everything we can to see these sports continue. I am giving my word that I will do everything I can to ensure we succeed and if anybody can help us to secure a suitable site in the Coventry area please get in touch with jeremyheaver@btinternet.com or by phone on 07872836640.

In terms of the stadium site itself it will be sold and redeveloped its just a question as to when that redevelopment will take place. It will not take place for at least three seasons and that gives us time to find alternative sites for development into our new home.

Once again I would like to praise Harry and his team for the efforts they made at Coventry Dogs and I hope both speedway and stock car fans are reassured that we are working towards a more solid future.

 

A Sandhu

Edited February 22, 2014 by NeilWatson