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Odsal - RFL Selling the lease

Whippet13

By Whippet13
in The General Rugby League Forum

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Les Tonks Sidestep

Les Tonks Sidestep

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Damien said:

Didn't they just buy it to protect Bradford? I don't think it really then falls on them to then spend a fortune on it 

Depends on the terms of the (sub) lease, but there was certainly a lot of talk at the time that the upkeep costs were the tenant's not the landlord's responsibility. 

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Expatknight
Expatknight

The RFL shouldn’t have got involved in the first place,it was only because of who was in charge of The Bulls at the time, no other ground would have received the support that dump has. It is disgracef

sam4731
sam4731

TRL whip round? I quite like the sound of "It's the refs fault arena"

Worzel
Worzel

Ok fine, so let’s ask the logical prior question then: Why did Wood allow the RFL to lend so much money to a member club in the first place, before then benefitting later as the owner? Stinks to high

The Future is League

The Future is League

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Whippet13 said:

Remainder of the 150 year lease is open to offers:

https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/2115198-jewel-in-the-crown-odsal-stadium-hits-the-market

No longer the "Wembley of the North", it is now a "Jewel in the Crown" of Bradford, which I think makes it sound like a curry house.

It was my understanding that there was EU money in place to spend on Odsal, but that when by the by when we left the EU

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wasginger

wasginger

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Whippet13 said:

Remainder of the 150 year lease is open to offers:

https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yorkshire/news/2115198-jewel-in-the-crown-odsal-stadium-hits-the-market

No longer the "Wembley of the North", it is now a "Jewel in the Crown" of Bradford, which I think makes it sound like a curry house.

Be careful with your words Whippet 13. Game caller will be saying your comments are racist. 

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Bulls2487

Bulls2487

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Damien said:

I highly doubt its that simplistic to be honest and that it wasnt something that was going to happen anyway 

Natwest called in overdraft/loan due to having no assets due to sale of Odsal plus the VAT on the sale resulted in Bulls needing to find 750k.

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Rovers13

Rovers13

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Bulls2487 said:

Natwest called in overdraft/loan due to having no assets due to sale of Odsal plus the VAT on the sale resulted in Bulls needing to find 750k.

I’ve no inside info but I’d hazard a guess if it wasn’t for the RFL there wouldn’t be a bulls, why the hell would they want anything to do with odsal? If I was gonna buy it I’d demolish it and build houses on it and double my money 😉😂😂

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Bulls2487

Bulls2487

Posted
Posted

Meanwhile, chairman Peter Hood has moved to clarify the club's position with its bank, Natwest.

 

In a statement on Wednesday, Natwest's parent company Royal Bank of Scotland said that the club had not provided them with security since the sale of their Odsal ground.

 

But Hood said: "In total, even after the club disposed of its land to the RFL in the recent sale-and-leaseback deal, the bank still has security over bricks and mortar and personal guarantees worth in aggregate in the region of perhaps ten times the overdraft.

 

"At no time has Natwest ever been specifically secured on the stadium - otherwise, how could we have sold it?"

 

an outstanding VAT bill of £250,000 from the sale of their Odsal Stadium lease to the Rugby Football League

 

From 2 articles at the time.

 

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Damien

Damien

Posted
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6 minutes ago, Bulls2487 said:

Natwest called in overdraft/loan due to having no assets due to sale of Odsal plus the VAT on the sale resulted in Bulls needing to find 750k.

There is absolutely nothing in it for the RFL to buy the lease on a dilapidated money pit.

I have absolutely no doubt they did bought it in the best interests of the Bulls, and I have no quarrel with that in the slightest. There is plenty to criticise the RFL for but helping a club in distress and ensuring they dont become another Swinton or Oldham isn't one of them. 

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bobbruce

bobbruce

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Bulls2487 said:

Meanwhile, chairman Peter Hood has moved to clarify the club's position with its bank, Natwest.

 

In a statement on Wednesday, Natwest's parent company Royal Bank of Scotland said that the club had not provided them with security since the sale of their Odsal ground.

 

But Hood said: "In total, even after the club disposed of its land to the RFL in the recent sale-and-leaseback deal, the bank still has security over bricks and mortar and personal guarantees worth in aggregate in the region of perhaps ten times the overdraft.

 

"At no time has Natwest ever been specifically secured on the stadium - otherwise, how could we have sold it?"

 

an outstanding VAT bill of £250,000 from the sale of their Odsal Stadium lease to the Rugby Football League

 

From 2 articles at the time.

 

If they owed £250k VAT on the sale of the Odsal lease that would mean they sold it for £1.25m. It clearly wasn’t that VAT bill that put you in trouble. 

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RBKnight

RBKnight

Posted
Posted
59 minutes ago, Bulls2487 said:

Bailed us out?

We were paying £1 a year. The RFL purchase put the club into Admin as Natwest withdrew banking facilities.

 

As I understand it, the RFL got the lease so they had some security against the huge unsecured debt owed to the RFL by the Bulls. 

A complete collapse into bankruptcy would have put the game's governing body into jeopardy.

Seems a shame that the Bulls, whilst paying a peppercorn rent during their locust years, didn't do anything about the state of Odsal.

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Sports Prophet

Sports Prophet

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Damien said:

There is absolutely nothing in it for the RFL to buy the lease on a dilapidated money pit.

I have absolutely no doubt they did bought it in the best interests of the Bulls, and I have no quarrel with that in the slightest. There is plenty to criticise the RFL for but helping a club in distress and ensuring they dont become another Swinton or Oldham isn't one of them. 

Yeah, the way I see this is the RFL swooped in to buy the stadium before Natwest backed the Bulls into an inescapable corner to take over security of the stadium. This would present the highly likely risk the stadium would be prolifically more expensive to retain as a RL venue when the Bulls, no doubt, entered liquidation not too far further down the line anyway.

Blaming the RFL for the Bulls administration or the state of Odsal is frankly laughable.

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Anita Bath

Anita Bath

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, bobbruce said:

Didn’t the RFL by into Rochdales lease/ground plus another club as well 

RFL took over Hornets shares in the stadium company in return for settling some debts when the former board collapsed an a fan cooperative took over ( which probably saved the club). These shares were then later sold to Rochdale FC who now have full ownership of the stadium and have a longterm lease allowing Hornets to play there which was a condition of sale the RFL insisted on.

However there have been major problems between the football and rugby clubs arising from the specific terms of the lease. In addition the football club recently agreed to two of the football club directors offering a large loan repayable with interest, to the football club with the stadium being used as security on the potential loan.

If the loan is taken up, but not repaid who knows what would happen to Hornets lease.

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OdsalBull

OdsalBull

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, Rovers13 said:

If RFL start pumping money in grounds they lease what’s to stop say swinton saying where is my 500k for our new changing rooms? They can’t do it would massively  open up can of worms. 

Landlord is responsible for maintenance surely? Not in the case of Odsal 

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OdsalBull

OdsalBull

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, Damien said:

There is absolutely nothing in it for the RFL to buy the lease on a dilapidated money pit.

I have absolutely no doubt they did bought it in the best interests of the Bulls, and I have no quarrel with that in the slightest. There is plenty to criticise the RFL for but helping a club in distress and ensuring they dont become another Swinton or Oldham isn't one of them. 

How can you say there is nothing in it for thme? They have had their rent every year which is currently 125k and will sell for £750k so I don't think you can really say it's a charitable gesture. Overall you could argue they are in a positive 

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