Ray Stadia Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 6 hours ago, Gemini said: So you are saying the Ochiltrees had no idea he was a property developer then? "They wanted to turn Brandon Stadium into a housing estate. Instead Avtar Sandhu took it upon himself to transform a famous old fossil of an arena into a stylish and thriving sporting complex. Mixing business with pleasure is not always recommended practice, but for the charismatic Malaysian-born businessman, it has suddenly become a way of life. Having made most of his money from the telecommunications industry, and shrewd dealings in the property market, he seems to have spent most of it indulging his passion for sport - whether hockey, cricket or, as in the last couple of years, speedway, stock-cars and greyhound racing. Sandhu, who also owns the Norfolk Hotel in Birmingham, purchased a 100 per cent stake in Coventry Stadium at the back end of 2002, buying out the Ochiltree family in the process. He willingly admits he bought the stadium with the intention of bulldozing it and building houses on the 25-acre site. "I wanted it for housing, and to start with my offer was turned down even though I outbid everyone else," he explained. "The site was offered to an ex-speedway rider but that deal fell through, and they came back to me. I then bought it at a lower price than I first offered." I just carried out a company check search and it appears the name Avtar Sandhu is a very popular name for company directors. There seems to be well over 30! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adonis Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 (edited) On 2/24/2019 at 11:49 PM, Gemini said: So you are saying the Ochiltrees had no idea he was a property developer then? "They wanted to turn Brandon Stadium into a housing estate. Instead Avtar Sandhu took it upon himself to transform a famous old fossil of an arena into a stylish and thriving sporting complex. Mixing business with pleasure is not always recommended practice, but for the charismatic Malaysian-born businessman, it has suddenly become a way of life. Having made most of his money from the telecommunications industry, and shrewd dealings in the property market, he seems to have spent most of it indulging his passion for sport - whether hockey, cricket or, as in the last couple of years, speedway, stock-cars and greyhound racing. Sandhu, who also owns the Norfolk Hotel in Birmingham, purchased a 100 per cent stake in Coventry Stadium at the back end of 2002, buying out the Ochiltree family in the process. He willingly admits he bought the stadium with the intention of bulldozing it and building houses on the 25-acre site. "I wanted it for housing, and to start with my offer was turned down even though I outbid everyone else," he explained. "The site was offered to an ex-speedway rider but that deal fell through, and they came back to me. I then bought it at a lower price than I first offered." do you believe everything that Sandhus PR dept posts on his behalf ? personally I have never read such a load of bullrubbish and lies , the only bit that's true is he bought it with intention of building houses on it . it's taken longer than he expected .but he's got his way in the end . Edited February 28, 2019 by adonis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Snackette Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 One has to applaud the courage of those prepared to invest their time and money into the Rockingham adventure. Sadly their attempt to replicate NASCAR Racing in the UK was always doomed to failure. It isn't a coincidence that the bulk of Nascar fixtures are based in the southern states, where the dry warm climate is conducive to the sport. Northamptonshire has certain qualities, but a dry warm climate isn't one of them! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickthemuppet Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 On 2/21/2019 at 12:13 AM, Gemini said: So Linda and Martin Ochiltree selling to a known property developer get no criticism, just Sandhu? I'd say the beginning of the end was when that happened. The Ochiltree's also sold Leicester speedway for development previously Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 45 minutes ago, mickthemuppet said: The Ochiltree's also sold Leicester speedway for development previously Not strictly true, both Brandon & Blackbird Rd were owned by Midland Sports Stadiums. The Ochiltree family were the " front guys" but not the sole decision makers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 On 2/25/2019 at 8:47 AM, adonis said: do you believe everything that Sandhus PR dept posts on his behalf ? personally I have never read such a load of bullrubbish and lies , the only bit that's true is he bought it with intention of building houses on it . it's taken longer than he expected .but he's got his way in the end How can you say the only bit that's true is he bought it with the intention of building houses? So you are saying it's lies how he made his money, owned a hotel etc? Anyway, you still didn't answer my question about the Ochiltree's having no idea he was a property developer which is what you are implying. I can't believe that. The Ochiltree's wanted to sell and didn't really care who bought the stadium as long as somebody did. They didn't have the passion for Coventry Speedway that Charles did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 On 2/25/2019 at 6:22 AM, Ray Stadia said: I just carried out a company check search and it appears the name Avtar Sandhu is a very popular name for company directors. There seems to be well over 30! Yes, but only one has his face. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adonis Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 8 hours ago, Gemini said: How can you say the only bit that's true is he bought it with the intention of building houses? So you are saying it's lies how he made his money, owned a hotel etc? Anyway, you still didn't answer my question about the Ochiltree's having no idea he was a property developer which is what you are implying. I can't believe that. The Ochiltree's wanted to sell and didn't really care who bought the stadium as long as somebody did. They didn't have the passion for Coventry Speedway that Charles did. Did they sell it to Sandhu .or did Sandhu buy somebody elses share and it was out of their hands ?, anyway I don't consider it worthwhile debating with someone who posts and obviously believes every word of Sandhus spin . If you want to blame the Ochiltrees fine by me . you'll get no further argument ,because i have better things to do with my time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickthemuppet Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 In his book Harry Findlay said he paid 1.5m for the lease to run greyhounds there and lost the lost. He also said he could have bought Brandon Stadium at the same time for £2m Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Stadia Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 46 minutes ago, mickthemuppet said: In his book Harry Findlay said he paid 1.5m for the lease to run greyhounds there and lost the lost. He also said he could have bought Brandon Stadium at the same time for £2m What a shame, just 500K short! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmauger Posted February 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 (edited) In 1997 one could have bought Hull's Craven Park stadium lock stock and barrel for, wait for it, just £600,000 - bargain mate ! A relatively new venue, built in 1989, in 1997 Craven Park was running speedway (yay!), rugby, thrice weekly greyhounds, and had many bookings in the function rooms and today with little alterations also hosts dance / excercise classes. This (together with speedway & dogs) would easily have fitted into the late Ian Thomas' mantra of 'not opening a shop for just one day a week but probably still paying rates for 12 months'. To say the least. Though understadably my interest in the activities at CP are nil there's zip chance of a speedway return as turns 3 & 4 had a blooming great stand built on them. Apart from that new stand and 99% disappearence of the speedway track (still a wee bit of shale here and there) the place looks the pretty much same as it did pre-2005, when speedway ended (sad). In fact the turns 1 & 2 area, especially the terracing, was knee deep in weeds the last time I looked. These days think the only activities taking place are rugby and the dance / excercise stuff. Sigh..... Edited February 28, 2019 by martinmauger added CP stuff 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adonis Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 12:13 AM, Gemini said: How can you say the only bit that's true is he bought it with the intention of building houses? So you are saying it's lies how he made his money, owned a hotel etc? Anyway, you still didn't answer my question about the Ochiltree's having no idea he was a property developer which is what you are implying. I can't believe that. The Ochiltree's wanted to sell and didn't really care who bought the stadium as long as somebody did. They didn't have the passion for Coventry Speedway that Charles did. Did they sell it to Sandhu .or did Sandhu buy somebody elses share and it was out of their hands ?, anyway I don't consider it worthwhile debating with someone who posts and obviously believes every word of Sandhus spin . If you want to blame the Ochiltrees fine by me . you'll get no further argument ,because i have better things to do with my time , I'll see you in the new stadium that Sandhu swore to find for his beloved Bees , perhaps you could remind him i think he's forgot to look for somehwere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted March 2, 2019 Report Share Posted March 2, 2019 In other words you don't know what happened and neither do I. Unfortunately it makes no difference to me now whether there is a new stadium or not but I wish those who are working hard to try to get back to Brandon good luck. One thing we do agree on is Sandhu didn't fulfill his promise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*JJ Posted March 2, 2019 Report Share Posted March 2, 2019 13 hours ago, Gemini said: In other words you don't know what happened and neither do I. Unfortunately it makes no difference to me now whether there is a new stadium or not but I wish those who are working hard to try to get back to Brandon good luck. One thing we do agree on is Sandhu didn't fulfill his promise. Is anyone surprised? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted March 2, 2019 Report Share Posted March 2, 2019 Sadly ~ No, but perhaps it would have all been different if what happened in the Winter of 2010/11 could have been avoided. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adonis Posted March 4, 2019 Report Share Posted March 4, 2019 On 3/2/2019 at 6:11 PM, Gemini said: Sadly ~ No, but perhaps it would have all been different if what happened in the Winter of 2010/11 could have been avoided. It was long after 2011 that Sandhu promised to find somewhere else , only a fool or group of fools would believe anything he said 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted March 4, 2019 Report Share Posted March 4, 2019 3 hours ago, adonis said: It was long after 2011 that Sandhu promised to find somewhere else , only a fool or group of fools would believe anything he said What I meant was perhaps things would have turned out differently if there hadn't been that upset in 2011 and Sandhu had kept his interest in Speedway instead of becoming disillusioned with the sport. I think we all agree he didn't keep his promise afterwards. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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