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[cheshire cat]

Calderdale council are looking to address a shortfall in their future budget. One option they are considering is selling The Shay.

I can't see what the fans take on things are. You have to register to view their forum.

[Saughall Robin]

I don't think you're going to need to register to bet they're almost all up in arms about it! 😉

[HashtagAlty]

35 page thread and counting. Although it has got to the point of discussing Nazi beliefs and German front line...

[cheshire cat]

35 page thread and counting. Although it has got to the point of discussing Nazi beliefs and German front line...

Brilliant!

A drifting thread.

[Mick]

Terrible news.

Could sell to an investor and give AFC a lease......equals rent rises and probably relegation back to North

Could sell to a developer.....same as above if groundsharing with BPA or Dewsbury....or worse...club folds

Did the Countil not rescue the club when it went bust....say peppercorn rent for the Shay tenancy ?

[cheshire cat]

I first picked the story up on the rugby clubs facebook page. They're in the mire too

[AussieShaymen]

Worrying times for us. Best case scenario would be council to give lease to an independent not for profit trust, with representation from both clubs on the trust committee. Majority of fans do not want the clubs to be in control of the stadium outright. Our council has prioritised the piece hall and are willing to underwrite that to ridiculous amounts of money. While they don't do anything to promote The shay at all, or get more use out of it. If they are actually tried harder, they could probably easily recoup the 161,000 they say they are losing per year on the shay, compared to the millions annually they invest in the piece hall.

[cheshire cat]

So how does our situation differ from that of FC Halifax. Are we leasing the ground from Trafford Borough?

I tried to register on the Shay men forum to find out what's going on but they don't seem to be signing up new members at the moment. Probably trying to avoid an influx of trolls

[TheCultOfIanTunnacliffe]

Worrying times for us. Best case scenario would be council to give lease to an independent not for profit trust, with representation from both clubs on the trust committee. Majority of fans do not want the clubs to be in control of the stadium outright. Our council has prioritised the piece hall and are willing to underwrite that to ridiculous amounts of money. While they don't do anything to promote The shay at all, or get more use out of it. If they are actually tried harder, they could probably easily recoup the 161,000 they say they are losing per year on the shay, compared to the millions annually they invest in the piece hall.

Yes, but The Piece Hall has got both Debbie Harry and Grace Jones appearing there this year, whereas The Shay can only offer Luke Summerfield and Festus Arthur...   

[HashtagAlty]

So how does our situation differ from that of FC Halifax. Are we leasing the ground from Trafford Borough?

I tried to register on the Shay men forum to find out what's going on but they don't seem to be signing up new members at the moment. Probably trying to avoid an influx of trolls

Given what happened in recent years, we're responsibile for the ground, and they the lands. Whereas Halifax own or operate neither.

[Mick]

So how does our situation differ from that of FC Halifax. Are we leasing the ground from Trafford Borough?

I tried to register on the Shay men forum to find out what's going on but they don't seem to be signing up new members at the moment. Probably trying to avoid an influx of trolls

Given what happened in recent years, we're responsibile for the ground, and they the lands. Whereas Halifax own or operate neither.

And don't we also have many years left on the lease....hence protected from Council deciding to sell the land the ground sits on

[Bob]

So how does our situation differ from that of FC Halifax. Are we leasing the ground from Trafford Borough?

I tried to register on the Shay men forum to find out what's going on but they don't seem to be signing up new members at the moment. Probably trying to avoid an influx of trolls

Given what happened in recent years, we're responsibile for the ground, and they the lands. Whereas Halifax own or operate neither.

Trafford own the freehold to the land on which our stadium sits. We lease the land from them and this is in place until 2095. The actual stadium itself belongs to the club. I believe the actual stadium in Halifax is owned by the council.

[cheshire cat]

OK. Thanks for that. It explains why the council expected our club to address all the H&S issues.

I am party to a similar lease. 25 years in our case. The rent is adjusted every five years. An opportunity for the landlord to turn the screw.

I'm surprised that the feeling at Halifax is that the council should find a third party who is willing to buy the ground and lease it back to the sports clubs. At the moment the council are running the ground at a loss.
Any third party will most likely be wanting to make a handsome profit.

[AussieShaymen]

OK. Thanks for that. It explains why the council expected our club to address all the H&S issues.

I am party to a similar lease. 25 years in our case. The rent is adjusted every five years. An opportunity for the landlord to turn the screw.

I'm surprised that the feeling at Halifax is that the council should find a third party who is willing to buy the ground and lease it back to the sports clubs. At the moment the council are running the ground at a loss.
Any third party will most likely be wanting to make a handsome profit.

We don't want third party ownership, but we also don't feel the clubs are capable of running the stadium. We are currently being run with no ambition, there is no effort to grow the club. Dont take this the wrong way but traditionally we have been a bigger club than Alty. However on our forum we use Alty, as what we should be doing. You're showing ambition and are signing players, engaging fans and opening club shops. Things we don't seem able to do. I would say you've already passed us now.

There is no way our two clubs  could run the shay outright, it would need a major culture shift especially at the football club for it to work. However we do need the freedom of not having the council make out decisions for us. We make nothing off any sales at ground and are. The councils mercy with any groind/pitch improvements.

Like I said a not for profit trust(like we did in past) with representatives from both clubs would be the best option to most fans. Would allow us to have more say and freedom of using the Shay and actually benefiting from it and also the community. The Shay is criminally underused by the council, as they don't care or have the means to do more.

[cheshire cat]

Thanks for that AussieShaymen. I missed the not for profit bit. Good luck with that. It sounds like you need a philanthropist or someone with a bit of vision.

It looks like the first step is to understand why there's a shortfall of £160K a year and what the chances are of being able to address that.
I take your point about Halifax being a bigger club historically. Really, rather than looking at us you should be taking a good look at how Spirites have managed to turn things around imho.