Leigh, London then daylight

[JoneslessBishop]

London Irish are eyeing up Brentfords new ground apparently. Could be argued that Wimbledon is to far away from their traditional W London base, but not that far to SW and could work. I really thought Barnet was a perfect size venue and a good atmosphere with 1.5k, and good transport links, even if a big to far north for most fans.Given the terrible deal club got last time there, can't see them going back, especially if they have little time to negotiate. I'd suggest they start now just in case. Can't see them getting planning permission even for temporary stands in ealing if they start that process in Oct.

[Lobbygobbler]

London Irish are eyeing up Brentfords new ground apparently. Could be argued that Wimbledon is to far away from their traditional W London base, but not that far to SW and could work. I really thought Barnet was a perfect size venue and a good atmosphere with 1.5k, and good transport links, even if a big to far north for most fans.Given the terrible deal club got last time there, can't see them going back, especially if they have little time to negotiate. I'd suggest they start now just in case. Can't see them getting planning permission even for temporary stands in ealing if they start that process in Oct.

Lionel Rd was being planned as far back as when the Broncos were last playing at Brentford. The thing that annoys me most of all is the fact that the Broncos didnt partner up with Brentford back then. It was as though some people within the club would have rather the club underpin Quins RL instead just after they went down

[Lobbygobbler]

Just a thought but anyone know how much Griffin Park or West Hams ground were sold for. Perhaps the RFL should have bought one of these?

[The Parksider]

URBAN MYTH #267!

The rent at the Stoop was too much!

 

REALITY

Our Ticketing income for 2012 was 36% higher than the 200k rent. 

 

But £200K is £200K he has to pay out doesn't he if he wins promotion and can't stay at Trailfinders??

Amongst other costs unless he cuts to the bone? 

 

Is the stoop available to host Broncos again in SL? How do you feel they would not get into a spiral of decline next time?

[Manx RL]

Just a thought but anyone know how much Griffin Park or West Hams ground were sold for. Perhaps the RFL should have bought one of these?

 

Accounts valued the Boleyn Ground at over £70m back in 2014 but it's believed they sold it at between £25m-40m but no firm figure has yet been released. 

 

Does the RFL have access to that kind of funding for a mill stone stadium and ongoing maintenance costs? Is it even the right size for RL?

[JonM]

Just a thought but anyone know how much Griffin Park or West Hams ground were sold for. Perhaps the RFL should have bought one of these?

 

The Griffin Park valuation is quite well hidden in all the documents. The value of the land is used to calculate how much S106 money they had to contribute to the council to pay for parks, schools etc. and it was worked out by independent valuers, starting from how much they would get for 120 houses at £500k apiece or something like that.

 

The build cost for the new stadium is £60 million (3k per seat) but that is just the build - the land itself obviously cost something, although they appear to have a very good deal for the part of the site that was bought in 2008/9. 

[westlondonfan]

1. Next football season is the 2016/17 season. Re-read what I posted.....

2. Never underestimate the draw of a "new ground". I know plenty of fans who like to visit new stadiums when clubs move/start up and Trailfinders is no different. As for away fans.....relying on their numbers is an all too familiar "tactic" at London. We should be looking to fill the place with "home" fans IMHO.

1. Fair enough! However as Lobbygobbler has said Lional Road has been mooted for a long time so I suppose 2017/18 is just the current intention.

2. I didn't really understand your second point. However I think the new stadium is planned to have a 20,000 capacity at the moment. I don't really think that London Broncos need a 20,000 capacity stadium at the moment for any match or are likely to require one at any time in the near future.

[Trailfinder]

Lionel Rd was being planned as far back as when the Broncos were last playing at Brentford. The thing that annoys me most of all is the fact that the Broncos didnt partner up with Brentford back then. It was as though some people within the club would have rather the club underpin Quins RL instead just after they went down

Again, your opinion is quite clearly blurred by your dismissal of the facts as they were at the time.

London Broncos were repeatedly being "bounced" off the Brentford pitch due to re-seeding.  along with changing rooms designed for 13 Soccer players that were cramped to say the least when faced with slightly more and larger athletes, little access to any office space or storage to speak of and a 3rd party club shop run from a port-a-cabin were all the state of play together with post match food being served 150 yards down the road above the local pub, as we proceeded to hurtle towards financial oblivion in 2005.

 

Ian Lenagan came on board with a vision for a partnership in West London, at a venue that had already seen some of our best nights as a club and we were welcomed on an initial 2 year, 3rd year option deal by a forward thinking Mark Evans. You might know him as the bloke whose company promoted the successful 2013 RLWC Semi-final Big Bash, or as the one time CEO of the Melbourne Storm.

 

At the Stoop we had office space, storage Space, access to a state of the Art Gym and injury clinic as well as all the other infrastructure in place at one of the wealthiest Rugby Union clubs on the planet. They were of course at that point beginning life in the 2nd tier, but by the time we kicked a ball in anger at the stoop, they were already back in the Premiership by a country mile....in fact, they were the 1/25 on favourites the minute they went down! 

 

Now, the reality. IL got the opportunity to buy his home club and I don't know of many who would turn down such a chance if given it. The issue was the RFL's attitude to his remaining as majority shareholder at London at the same time. Now, I understand the "that there London getting bailed out by the RFL" brigade would have grumbled if he'd been permitted to stay, but if the RFL had shown an ounce of backbone at the time, SL would look very different today. Instead, Hughes was left to sulk on his own, saddled AGAIN with bailing the club out. He didn't warm to Evans and then he started to dismantle the relationship. We moved our offices out, we stopped doing anything in the way of marketing activity and essentially became a tenant that was paying less for a season than Quins Union took for a single game. By the time MacKay was in his second year we were in freefall and Quins really didn't care if we stayed or left.......but we continued to procrastinate until Mackay announced to everyone we would be leaving long before the deal was done with a new venue.

 

In the 6 Seasons at The Stoop as Harlequins RL we played 79 Home SL ties. 293,255 fans averaging 3,712 watched. The Following SL 2 season as the Newly launched Broncos at the stoop saw that average fall to 2,5103...so the Name wasn't the issue....maybe a change of ground....nope, that resulted in the lowest SL average in 19 seasons of competition 1,294.

 

But hey, you know all this. You still snipe and comment about the Quins tie in as the death of us when the reality was we were dead before Quins took us in and the irony isn't lost that we've now moved 9 miles north of the Stoop to pay rent to a Union Landlord, are still reliant on one mans patience (and money)...all that's changed is the division we are in, the facilities on offer to fans and the quality of the opposition.

[Trailfinder]

1. Fair enough! However as Lobbygobbler has said Lional Road has been mooted for a long time so I suppose 2017/18 is just the current intention.

2. I didn't really understand your second point. However I think the new stadium is planned to have a 20,000 capacity at the moment. I don't really think that London Broncos need a 20,000 capacity stadium at the moment for any match or are likely to require one at any time in the near future.

1. No worries.

2. Mackay and Hughes looked over a ground in north London and whilst they procrastinated, Saracens stepped in, bought the rights, built a ground and flogged off record breaking sponsorship rights as a route to paying for it all. 10,000 would have been perfect, but the biggest issue isn't the ground, or the name for that matter, it's the direction the club was taken in and is now taking. Putting down "local roots" is great if you are Batley or Keighley with a history dating back 140 years and tradition on your side, but Ealing, with it's massively diverse mix of cultures and ethnicities is going to take decades to crack if the only route to attracting attention is hosting business networking evenings. Yes, it has the feel of a family/social club, but the majority of the fans I see there are the same who were at Griffin Park 11 years ago.....just a lot less of them! 

[DoubleD]

Again, your opinion is quite clearly blurred by your dismissal of the facts as they were at the time.

London Broncos were repeatedly being "bounced" off the Brentford pitch due to re-seeding. along with changing rooms designed for 13 Soccer players that were cramped to say the least when faced with slightly more and larger athletes, little access to any office space or storage to speak of and a 3rd party club shop run from a port-a-cabin were all the state of play together with post match food being served 150 yards down the road above the local pub, as we proceeded to hurtle towards financial oblivion in 2005.

Ian Lenagan came on board with a vision for a partnership in West London, at a venue that had already seen some of our best nights as a club and we were welcomed on an initial 2 year, 3rd year option deal by a forward thinking Mark Evans. You might know him as the bloke whose company promoted the successful 2013 RLWC Semi-final Big Bash, or as the one time CEO of the Melbourne Storm.

At the Stoop we had office space, storage Space, access to a state of the Art Gym and injury clinic as well as all the other infrastructure in place at one of the wealthiest Rugby Union clubs on the planet. They were of course at that point beginning life in the 2nd tier, but by the time we kicked a ball in anger at the stoop, they were already back in the Premiership by a country mile....in fact, they were the 1/25 on favourites the minute they went down!

Now, the reality. IL got the opportunity to buy his home club and I don't know of many who would turn down such a chance if given it. The issue was the RFL's attitude to his remaining as majority shareholder at London at the same time. Now, I understand the "that there London getting bailed out by the RFL" brigade would have grumbled if he'd been permitted to stay, but if the RFL had shown an ounce of backbone at the time, SL would look very different today. Instead, Hughes was left to sulk on his own, saddled AGAIN with bailing the club out. He didn't warm to Evans and then he started to dismantle the relationship. We moved our offices out, we stopped doing anything in the way of marketing activity and essentially became a tenant that was paying less for a season than Quins Union took for a single game. By the time MacKay was in his second year we were in freefall and Quins really didn't care if we stayed or left.......but we continued to procrastinate until Mackay announced to everyone we would be leaving long before the deal was done with a new venue.

In the 6 Seasons at The Stoop as Harlequins RL we played 79 Home SL ties. 293,255 fans averaging 3,712 watched. The Following SL 2 season as the Newly launched Broncos at the stoop saw that average fall to 2,5103...so the Name wasn't the issue....maybe a change of ground....nope, that resulted in the lowest SL average in 19 seasons of competition 1,294.

But hey, you know all this. You still snipe and comment about the Quins tie in as the death of us when the reality was we were dead before Quins took us in and the irony isn't lost that we've now moved 9 miles north of the Stoop to pay rent to a Union Landlord, are still reliant on one mans patience (and money)...all that's changed is the division we are in, the facilities on offer to fans and the quality of the opposition.

What a load of tosh barnaby, everyone knows the Quins move was the final nail in the coffin