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Swindon Stadium


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1 hour ago, skydog said:

Hes a clever mothertrucker I'll give him that. This has probably been the exact plan right from the beginning 

You give him too much credit, he got lucky and came up against SBC who allowed him to hoodwink them over and over again if had been someone like Oxford or rugby council he may have come unstuck.

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The speedway stopped because Mr Russell decided to hold hands with Sir Osbourne and agree speedway was not viable!!

Make a noise about building a new stadium 'somewhere' in the Swindon area, we have heard it all before.

Osbourne has now created a real tail of not following through with his words - Reading, Swindon, Torquay and his involvement in the Coventry hearing all against our sport.

Oxford was a clear business opportunity, a 10 year lease by the new landlord and invest and look what happens. This is what should have happened when you have a greyhound investor wanting to work with speedway, and I hope we one day get a landlord at Poole like Oxford.

Clearly he has no intention in investing in any sites he leases, and just wants to run all his sites down until they are in a state of financial difficulty and then try and push through for building. 

He has now shown his card so many times and if he comes for Poole, rest assured he will have a fight on his hands as I wouldn't trust a word the man says now. BCP will meet a wall if they try and force anything under hand, they tried it in the winter of 1995 and very quickly backed down. People may say they don't have any money but this is one site and you can't keep selling all your assets to balance your books.  What happens when you have no assets to sell? I know central government get more involved in councils over selling assets which we have seen in Bournemouth, Southampton and Portsmouth in the past 12 months. 

For Poole I hope he ends his lease early and gives to a consortium of local business people that actually have the future of Poole Stadium at the heart, and know the local area and what it needs to prosper. But why would he? he gets money from parking (NHS) and normal parking, kids nursery, ambulance HQ and speedway for doing very little, but the lack of investment in the site is starting to show. The stadium could be transformed into a local hub with the right people involved.

I feel for all Swindon supporters we need you back in the league but with Osbourne no-where to be seen in the setup, the man cannot be trusted.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Pirates Of Poole
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6 hours ago, Toady said:

You give him too much credit, he got lucky and came up against SBC who allowed him to hoodwink them over and over again if had been someone like Oxford or rugby council he may have come unstuck.

Not really, he's got a pretty good record for getting what he wanted. I know he failed with Oxford years ago but he was nothing to do with it this time around. And he was only involved in Cov because BE knew he was good at closing Speedway tracks down! Dont get me wrong  I'm not a fan of his, in fact I'm  Reading fan. If I saw him on fire I'd go fill a jerry can and make sure the job was done properly! But hes obviously a devious bastard and very good at it.

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17 hours ago, skydog said:

Not really, he's got a pretty good record for getting what he wanted. I know he failed with Oxford years ago but he was nothing to do with it this time around. And he was only involved in Cov because BE knew he was good at closing Speedway tracks down! Dont get me wrong  I'm not a fan of his, in fact I'm  Reading fan. If I saw him on fire I'd go fill a jerry can and make sure the job was done properly! But hes obviously a devious bastard and very good at it.

Weak locally elected bodies allow such things to happen all the time..

Often, due to saving the cost of going to court..

And with virtually zero protestations from the Swindon fan base, and zero fight back, we are where we are..

In fact, the lack of a vocal response and clear protest targeted action taken, could help the cause of Osbourne who can turn around and say "it wont be missed"..

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17 hours ago, mikebv said:

Weak locally elected bodies allow such things to happen all the time..

Often, due to saving the cost of going to court..

And with virtually zero protestations from the Swindon fan base, and zero fight back, we are where we are..

In fact, the lack of a vocal response and clear protest targeted action taken, could help the cause of Osbourne who can turn around and say "it wont be missed"..

Exactly,  he knows how to play the long game. If they had finished Speedway at Swindon after 2019 saying it wasnt coming back, there would have been uproar. So they string people along for a few years first, then when they announce it the support has dwindled and the councillors no longer care and are probably fed up of the whole thing.

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It is the sad case that Mr O is holding all the aces, As he has in previous cases (Milton Keynes, Reading, & Torquay among others) Whilst supporters have passion & desire to see their beloved club & sport continue at the venue adopted by GI with Osbourne at the helm they have never had the finances to oppose him or the local councils that are required to provide land for housing projects as our country is so over populated & growing year on year.

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The point here is that Osbourne owns /owned that land he never did at Reading,Torquay,Poole.The local council never cared about opposing any of his plans. Since around 2008 they just rubber stamped the sale and subsequent development each and every parcel of land he released and of course no new Stadium ever materialised.When they eventually awoke in 2019 they passed plans that would see the new stadium built but due to the poorly worded s106 conditions he is still in the driving seat showing the inept local council for what it is.

Oxford councillors and Rugby councillors showed how it should be done against these chancers and of course well organised protest groups something that has always been missing from Swindon

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On 4/1/2024 at 10:46 AM, Technik said:

It is the sad case that Mr O is holding all the aces, As he has in previous cases (Milton Keynes, Reading, & Torquay among others) Whilst supporters have passion & desire to see their beloved club & sport continue at the venue adopted by GI with Osbourne at the helm they have never had the finances to oppose him or the local councils that are required to provide land for housing projects as our country is so over populated & growing year on year.

SO OSBOURNE had a hand in MKS closure as well!!!,what doent this man get up to.seems its working though looking at his house and plot of land in Bristol may he will let speedway be given the go ahead at his gaff, there is plenty of land and he is the only home owner on site its that big.Lets crack on and do this!!!

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On 4/4/2024 at 1:15 AM, speedwaysliders said:

SO OSBOURNE had a hand in MKS closure as well!!!,what doent this man get up to.seems its working though looking at his house and plot of land in Bristol may he will let speedway be given the go ahead at his gaff, there is plenty of land and he is the only home owner on site its that big.Lets crack on and do this!!!

But, can you blame Osbourne for:- Lakeside, Rye House, Wimbledon, Hackney, Wolverhampton, Stoke, Boston, Eastbourne, Newport, Exeter, Cradley Heath..........etc etc! :unsure:

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2 hours ago, Ray Stadia said:

But, can you blame Osbourne for:- Lakeside, Rye House, Wimbledon, Hackney, Wolverhampton, Stoke, Boston, Eastbourne, Newport, Exeter, Cradley Heath..........etc etc! :unsure:

Lakeside, Am i correct in thinking the land owner no longer wanted Speedway their.

Rye House, The Owners again do not want Speedway.

Wimbledon, GRA did not want Speedway nor in the end Greyhound racing.

Hackney, Was that site required for the Olympics.

Wolverhampton, Yet another requested to leave by Stadium owners.

Stoke, Landowners sold the Stadium.

Boston, No idea.

Eastbourne, Unviable or should i say Bills unpaid.

Newport, Closed and demolished by Owners.

Exeter, I,m guessing that yet again Stadium developed by Owners.

Cradley Heath, Sold for development by the owners.

Long Eaton, Sold for development by the owners.

Coventry, Situation fluid and ongoing.

The common factor amongst the majority of closed Stadiums is that they were closed for future development by the Stadium owners, some of the exceptions being Sunderland, Newcastle, Bradford, Workington (Rugby). The major issue is that primarily Speedway promoters are tenants of these Stadia and therefore it is out of their hands what the Stadium owners decide to do ie take the big bucks from developers or loose change in rent from Speedway promoters usually on an annual lease.

 

 As for Osborne he is a developer, sold Bristol, Closed Reading, Milton Keynes, and Swindon, something went wrong at Hereford, and Torquay don't want to play ball with his new Stadia idea, I have no doubt he is on the look out for potential none League Football Stadiums preferably in the South West..

 

Edited by heathen52
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1 hour ago, heathen52 said:

Lakeside, Am i correct in thinking the land owner no longer wanted Speedway their.

Rye House, The Owners again do not want Speedway.

Wimbledon, GRA did not want Speedway nor in the end Greyhound racing.

Hackney, Was that site required for the Olympics.

Wolverhampton, Yet another requested to leave by Stadium owners.

Stoke, Landowners sold the Stadium.

Boston, No idea.

Eastbourne, Unviable or should i say Bills unpaid.

Newport, Closed and demolished by Owners.

Exeter, I,m guessing that yet again Stadium developed by Owners.

Cradley Heath, Sold for development by the owners.

Long Eaton, Sold for development by the owners.

Coventry, Situation fluid and ongoing.

The common factor amongst the majority of closed Stadiums is that they were closed for future development by the Stadium owners, some of the exceptions being Sunderland, Newcastle, Bradford, Workington (Rugby). The major issue is that primarily Speedway promoters are tenants of these Stadia and therefore it is out of their hands what the Stadium owners decide to do ie take the big bucks from developers or loose change in rent from Speedway promoters usually on an annual lease.

 

 As for Osborne he is a developer, sold Bristol, Closed Reading, Milton Keynes, and Swindon, something went wrong at Hereford, and Torquay don't want to play ball with his new Stadia idea, I have no doubt he is on the look out for potential none League Football Stadiums preferably in the South West..

 

The point I was making, is the loss of speedway tracks/teams, is not just Osborne. As for Coventry, Cradley Heath and I think Stoke and maybe Somerset, they did own the tracks, but that didn't save speedway. 

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5 hours ago, Ray Stadia said:

The point I was making, is the loss of speedway tracks/teams, is not just Osborne. As for Coventry, Cradley Heath and I think Stoke and maybe Somerset, they did own the tracks, but that didn't save speedway. 

I think Stoke lost their track due to the expansion of the industrial estate. They only rented their land. 

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30 minutes ago, 1Tsunami said:

I think Stoke lost their track due to the expansion of the industrial estate. They only rented their land. 

Dave did an incredible job for many years to keep Stoke running and competitive...

A true unsung stalwart of UK Speedway..

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13 hours ago, Ray Stadia said:

The point I was making, is the loss of speedway tracks/teams, is not just Osborne. As for Coventry, Cradley Heath and I think Stoke and maybe Somerset, they did own the tracks, but that didn't save speedway. 

Somerset speedway owners did own the land in which the track sat - but was approached with what I’m led to believe was “an offer which couldn’t be refused”. The clubhouse is now owned by a fuel company with surrounding car park areas now housing screwfix, Howdens kitchens and a Ford car garage.

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20 hours ago, Ray Stadia said:

The point I was making, is the loss of speedway tracks/teams, is not just Osborne. As for Coventry, Cradley Heath and I think Stoke and maybe Somerset, they did own the tracks, but that didn't save speedway. 

Those owners who eventually sold up, by & large, did so after many years of owning, developing & maintaining the facility whilst ensuring as best as possible, a competitive team was put together. 
Osborne, on the other hand has an undeniable history of acquiring stadiums/clubs and running both into the ground with little or no investment in either before selling off for development. 
The message is clear, When Osbourne comes calling, so does the Grim Reaper.

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7 hours ago, Najjer said:

Somerset speedway owners did own the land in which the track sat - but was approached with what I’m led to believe was “an offer which couldn’t be refused”. The clubhouse is now owned by a fuel company with surrounding car park areas now housing screwfix, Howdens kitchens and a Ford car garage.

What I am suggesting, is speedway fans say tracks are lost due to promoters only renting the stadium, but speedway has been lost, when promoters own their stadiums! 

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6 hours ago, 1 valve said:

Those owners who eventually sold up, by & large, did so after many years of owning, developing & maintaining the facility whilst ensuring as best as possible, a competitive team was put together. 
Osborne, on the other hand has an undeniable history of acquiring stadiums/clubs and running both into the ground with little or no investment in either before selling off for development. 
The message is clear, When Osbourne comes calling, so does the Grim Reaper.

Thankfully Osborne's time at Oxford during the mid seventies came to an end when he "sold" the stadium to the local council but was saved by some pretty resourceful characters who formed a committee as regards its future. Personally I would turn my back on him if he ever entered a room I happened to be in.

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