supporters trust to buy finch farm???

[just_COYB]

I already advised the club to get involved on a gainshare basis. If, one day, we might have an owner with deeper pockets, we could have an agreement to sell it back to the club. In the meantime potentially an initial gain could be made by reducing the rent to (say) 5% and charging a rent of £750K - Trust Members could earn 5% on their money & the club could save £500K per annum.

This is exactly what could work. You must give the investors a return for their money, and this could really change the finances of the club.

 

[BigBlueBalls]

This is exactly what could work. You must give the investors a return for their money, and this could really change the finances of the club.

Chelsea have and are still spending big money and using media pressure and guilt tactics to chase the few that bought a sliver of stamford bridge away.

Lets not pretend business isn't dirty.

 

[michfangoblue3]

We have to at least look into any option to raise finances at this point

 

[EFCNIK]

I was speaking to my uncle about this before. I'm a bit hmmm. davek's post made a lot of sense like.

What would an Azul's uncle be? Azulino?

 

[milks]

It's a good idea. It's the only club related tangible asset directly available to the public on the open market.

Davek is right though - £15m is a hell of a lot of funds to raise through a trust, by the time this capital has been generated FF could have already been sold, the price could have fluctuated or anything could have happened at the club.

It's on the market as an investment vehicle now, given the long term guaranteed income from EFC to the owners it's a quite attractive proposition. £15m with £1.25m per annum guaranteed over 30+ years. Everton also have a window to rebuy the site every 5 years (next window is this summer interestingly).

I really can't see all the cards being in the same place by the time a supporters trust have £15m in available funds though. That said, it's the first supporter group action with a target/goal that I can say that I'm fully behind.

 

[kev101]

Anyoe noticing a trend though?

Everton supporters commissioning and putting up detailed plans for a footy quarter to solve the stadium problem

Everton fans commissioning and putting up detailed plans to secure the training facility

Everton's board of directors standing around with their thumbs up their arses

Anything constructive to say?

 

[Muggins]

how much is everyone lobbing in?

I'll match what Bill has invested in the club.

 

[chriswho]

Really liked Davek's thoughts in this post.

My only comment here is on the price change. Ignoring that craziness of that increased valuation (2m vs 15m), IF the club were willing to consider letting the fans own the ground, then it would have been smart to let the fans buy it at 2M and not try to get the fans to bail them out of a bad spot now that the price is almost 8x more expensive.

Does point to another failure of management here (yes, hindsight is 20/20, but really?). And I'm someone who has previously defended Bill on many occasions.

 

[Philw]

Really liked Davek's thoughts in this post.

My only comment here is on the price change. Ignoring that craziness of that increased valuation (2m vs 15m), IF the club were willing to consider letting the fans own the ground, then it would have been smart to let the fans buy it at 2M and not try to get the fans to bail them out of a bad spot now that the price is almost 8x more expensive.

Does point to another failure of management here (yes, hindsight is 20/20, but really?). And I'm someone who has previously defended Bill on many occasions.

The land was sold, not FF itself just the land. The company then developed and built the facility themselves and now EFC rent it back from them.

Ignore this pls.

 

[Royal]

I'm less interested in spiting the board and more interested in helping the club, so I'll support this.

 

[milks]

Really liked Davek's thoughts in this post.

My only comment here is on the price change. Ignoring that craziness of that increased valuation (2m vs 15m), IF the club were willing to consider letting the fans own the ground, then it would have been smart to let the fans buy it at 2M and not try to get the fans to bail them out of a bad spot now that the price is almost 8x more expensive.

Does point to another failure of management here (yes, hindsight is 20/20, but really?). And I'm someone who has previously defended Bill on many occasions.

This transaction has nothing to do with the club. Finch Farm is on the general market and will be sold to the highest bidder by the existing owners, Hudson Capital.

Hudson (formerly ROM Investments) bought the land from EFC and developed the site to Everton's specifications with EFC agreeing to a 40 year guaranteed tenure. Nothing untoward in this whatsoever. The cost to Everton to have developed and built Finch Farm themselves would probably have exceed the £10m or so it cost Hudson to build it themselves.

D&B (design and build) schemes with sale and leaseback agreements such as this are fairly common place. I'd hazard a guess that Everton paid less than £2m for the land in the first place as well.

If, taking your comments literally, EFC had sold the land to the fans for £2m six years ago then would Finch Farm be there now? I'd imagine not. The fluctuation in price between a field (£2m) and a field with a state of the art training facility AND a 40 year lease to a strong covenant (£15m) is more than reasonable.

 

[milks]

I'll match what Bill has invested in the club.

This is more than you'd imagine...if he remortgaged his house to buy shares (invest capital), I can't envisage he lives in a £60k mid terrace.

 

[davek]

Anything constructive to say?

I always say constructive things. Over to you for your evaluatuion of the trust's idea.

 

[kev101]

I'm less interested in spiting the board and more interested in helping the club, so I'll support this.

This!

 

[chicoazul]

What would an Azul's uncle be? Azulino?

Not sure actually. He lives in Pwllheli like so maybe something to do with that.