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Coventry Stadium Sold

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Link to the Greyhounds statement:-

http://covdogs.com/

 

“We have been told that Coventry Stadium is to be sold and believe that developers are involved in the purchase. Our lease expires in about two and a half years and though Mr Sandhu, our landlord, has done all he can to support us we have no assurances that we can obtain an extension of that lease.

Our strategy has always been to develop a strong betting product for sale to media, but with no long term guarantees we have little prospect of signing any contracts, and can therefore no longer support the significant financial losses. Reluctantly, therefore, we will be closing the greyhound operation after the meeting on Saturday night.

We would like to thank all trainers and staff who have supported us over the past 2 years, particularly Harry who has worked tirelessly to promote our business at his own personal expense.”

 

ATB

 

Dave

Blimey that is a bit quick.Talk about contracts.Didn't they have any contracts further than this saturday?????

Yeh they Needed, wasn't given cause of the sale so they were given no option to not continue!

Come again.....

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Blimey that is a bit quick.Talk about contracts.Didn't they have any contracts further than this saturday?????

Come again.....

 

They have another two years on the lease, but his plans were long term. He clearly doesn't want to invest any more money in it when they are going to get booted out ..Can't blame him.

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Probably best to wait an see what Mick Horton has to say. We all knew it was up for sale, so it should be no surprise it's finally been sold really.

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I hope Horton isn't made an offer he can't refuse to surrender the lease, or does he have a sub lease on the Speedway ?

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Yes a what a debacle that was when the football club was booted out because they could not afford to pay extortionate rents.

 

 

Or it was a reasonable rent, and the club thought they could bankrupt the owners and take over the stadium for a song?

 

Surely the football club knew what rent they'd be paying before they moved into the new stadium, and before they sold their own stadium?

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I remember during the troubles with BSPA and the saga with Poole Mr Sandhu addressed supporters in the infer stand bar and agreed that the stadium was up for sale and that if it sold he would undertake to build a new speedway track for the Bees in this area. We will have to wait with fingers crossed!.

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Probably best to wait an see what Mick Horton has to say. We all knew it was up for sale, so it should be no surprise it's finally been sold really.

 

As far as I'm concerned, and I've felt like this for a few seasons, every new season at Brandon is a bonus.

 

Assuming the new owners are land developers, I suppose this could go one of a few ways. Will they be happy to run the stadium as a going concern until such time as planning permission is granted or will they simply close the stadium as soon as they are in a position to, then demolish it and let the land stand empty until planning permission is obtained (like what happened at Cradley)?

 

Perhaps one saving grace for the club is whether we could see a similar model to that at Swindon with a speedway facility being incorporated into any planning permission for houses being built.

 

We live in hope.

Edited by G the Bee

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Its the greyhound people's choice to end tomorrow rather than run to the end of their 2.5 year lease as they are losing money and would need long-term (more than 2.5 years) commitment from commercial advertisers to carry on viably!!

 

Assuming Mick Horton has another 2 years on his agreement then speedway should be safe for those 2 years as long as he gets the necessary assurances from the new owners (to be) that stadium facilities, H&S etc etc will still be maintained! Otherwise, how long is the trip to Peterborough?

 

 

Can we expect a statement on behalf of Sandhu, in similar vein to those in the past issued by Trumpie?? If so,I expect it will be very positive, so Coventry fans beware!!!

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I remember during the troubles with BSPA and the saga with Poole Mr Sandhu addressed supporters in the infer stand bar and agreed that the stadium was up for sale and that if it sold he would undertake to build a new speedway track for the Bees in this area. We will have to wait with fingers crossed!.

 

Not quite right there abbo. Sandhu said that it WAS his intention to ultimately build on the land and as and when he did, he would look to build a smaller track elsewhere. The fact that he decided later to sell and walk away from Speedway, would mean that won't happen I'd imagine...

Edited by Jacques

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They have another two years on the lease, but his plans were long term. He clearly doesn't want to invest any more money in it when they are going to get booted out ..Can't blame him.

With well-known pro-gambler Harry Findlay as a figurehead, Coventry's latest greyhound incarnation has been all about stomaching financial losses for a few years in the hope of their central geographical location helping them secure the Greyhound Derby (if Wimbledon was to close) or being the flagship-track of a truly nationwide jackpot-bet for greyhound racing along the lines of horse racing's Scoop-6 based mostly on Channel-4's coverage every Saturday-afternoon (Findlay is widely-respected as the king of any syndicates devoting huge energy and time to make a profit from massive Scoop-6 entries covering thousands of permutations compared to the average punter risking just a few quid).

 

While either that Derby or Jackpot ambition was still clearly on the horizon as the way to recover these current losses, they could justify the losses ... but they've clearly (and very swiftly) decided that if they can't guarantee staging those ambitions even if they won either or both of them, it's not worth chucking the current losses into what's now a financial drain instead of a rainbow.

 

Best chance of finding out any more about this very sudden exit might to watch tonight's Racing Post Greyhound TV from 7.15pm on Sky/212 or Freesat/401 because Coventry was one of their featured tracks (on Wednesday & Sunday nights) for well over a year until last summer ... however, it was dropped from the RPGTV roster amid speculation that the various bookie-firms who sponsor that channel weren't happy about their profits being damaged by the larger than normal amount of winning favourites in the races shown from Coventry.

 

It's surely a different financial situation for Mick Horton (and Coventry speedway in general) as he's not had a similarly lucrative financial horizon to aim at ... what's mattered more for the Bees is just keeping the finances ticking over.

 

So while the stadium still exists and the Bees' lease to rent it srill exists, the speedway should be able to start its season as planned in a few weeks' time ... remember, the dogs haven't been chucked out of the stadium, it's their bosses who've voluntarily baled out of their lease to swerve more current losses they now feel they have no reasonable hope of recovering.

 

But where today's decision appears to me to be dreadful for speedway is that the greyhounds have been using the stadium much more often (at least twice, often three or more times a week all year round) so their exit leaves the site much less busy and, therefore, much easier for any developers to justify the stadium's demolition if they apply to the local council to do that.

 

At least the current saga involving Galliard Homes and Oxford City Council appears to have proved that stadium owners need local council permission to demolish existing stadium buildings, never mind building any alternative uses ... so at least the bulldozers can't be driven straight in.

 

But with Birmingham surely unable with their once-a-week local noise restrictions to accommodate to much (if any) of any emergency hosting of Coventry home meetings and Monmore already doubly-committed to the Wolves and Heathens, would Leicester be the most likely saviour of any Bees' home action if Brandon closes completely mid-season ?

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I remember during the troubles with BSPA and the saga with Poole Mr Sandhu addressed supporters in the infer stand bar and agreed that the stadium was up for sale and that if it sold he would undertake to build a new speedway track for the Bees in this area. We will have to wait with fingers crossed!.

 

Yeah... and I was assured i'd be the first signing!

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