Interesting timing

[ty cobb]

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/oxfor ... s__United/

Wonder what KT is hoping to achieve with this? A move to get a reduced price for the stadium, or an excuse for the fact that we're going to break even this season because of the Deano money of nearly £700,000, i.e. in a normal season we would have another £700,000 added to the £4 million.

Or maybe we're going to make a loss regardless of the Deano money - easy to forget how shocking our off the field situation is with us top of the league. £4 million in debt, no hope of owning stadium and a owner who has lost interest.

[Snake]

Wonder what KT is hoping to achieve with this?

Err, start a bit of media dialog with Oxfordshire’s most read local newspaper, maybe?

Clearly KT had only modest editorial influence on this Newsquest article otherwise he’d have never allowed the OM to publish that picture.

[Mally]

Wonder what KT is hoping to achieve with this?

He's probably hoping to promote the membership scheme and other commercial activity but needed to give the mail a story that they would be interested in. Any Kassam story certainly fits the bill there.

He may also be having a bit of a sideways swipe at Lenagan, Merry and Jim for the ridiculous terms they signed up to three and a half years ago.
e.g.:
£13 million option for the purchase
High rent levels
No clause for reduced rent after relegation despite rent increases included for promotion
No advertisng or catering revenues included
No use of the stadium/conference centre other than on match days

[Swissbloke]

I agree Mally, the Mail's headline doesn't really fit with what KT is saying, the rent is of course stifling as any rent is. There's no new Kassam = evil stuff here. although the usual mob are getting angry again.

[slappy]

I don't recognise Andrew Smith as an OM writer in connection with OUFC. As stated above, KT presumably wanted some free advertising for the Membership Scheme and other partnerships, but that doesn't make for an interesting headline.

As to the &quotrent reduction in the Conference&quot, I still haven't heard a good explanation from anyone as to what justification there could be for this, unless for example the North Stand was closed to home supporters all season long. Pleading poverty to your landlord might be a reason for Kassam to reduce your rent, but I can't think of another. Like leasing a car with a base lease cost, then getting extra charges for higher mileage. Stadco has a base cost to &quotmaintain&quot / pay interest on the loans and then higher leagues will presumably have some higher overheads.

[Snake]

I don't recognise Andrew Smith as an OM writer in connection with OUFC.

He's a business journalist working @ Osney Mead and is therefore an associate of Chris Koenig. Koenig is interested in the Land Deal that saved our club, and he didn't even get half the details even after begging me for years for the real facts. What he did not get under FOI legislation was much more interesting and is still on my PC at home.

http://archive.oxfordmail.net/2007/10/19/194630.html

This article above includes a quote of &quotLocal Authorities are required to receive &quotbest value&quot for any public assets they sell under the terms of section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972.&quot.

My answer to that is simple, CK. Fuck off and die.

[GodalmingYellow]

I don't recognise Andrew Smith as an OM writer in connection with OUFC. As stated above, KT presumably wanted some free advertising for the Membership Scheme and other partnerships, but that doesn't make for an interesting headline.

As to the &quotrent reduction in the Conference&quot, I still haven't heard a good explanation from anyone as to what justification there could be for this, unless for example the North Stand was closed to home supporters all season long. Pleading poverty to your landlord might be a reason for Kassam to reduce your rent, but I can't think of another. Like leasing a car with a base lease cost, then getting extra charges for higher mileage. Stadco has a base cost to &quotmaintain&quot / pay interest on the loans and then higher leagues will presumably have some higher overheads.

That argumen, which I don't think holds much water, depends on where you draw the base line.

If you assume there are higher costs the further up the league you go (and I'm far from convinced that there are any material extra costs) then the argument equally applies to moving down the leagues.

Who says the base line should be League 2 level?

The reason for variable rent isn't to do with stadium variable costs to Kassam, it is to do with market value. The stadium variable costs to Kassam are covered by the management charge, not the rent.

[Mally]

I don't recognise Andrew Smith as an OM writer in connection with OUFC. As stated above, KT presumably wanted some free advertising for the Membership Scheme and other partnerships, but that doesn't make for an interesting headline.

As to the &quotrent reduction in the Conference&quot, I still haven't heard a good explanation from anyone as to what justification there could be for this, unless for example the North Stand was closed to home supporters all season long. Pleading poverty to your landlord might be a reason for Kassam to reduce your rent, but I can't think of another. Like leasing a car with a base lease cost, then getting extra charges for higher mileage. Stadco has a base cost to &quotmaintain&quot / pay interest on the loans and then higher leagues will presumably have some higher overheads.

That argumen, which I don't think holds much water, depends on where you draw the base line.

If you assume there are higher costs the further up the league you go (and I'm far from convinced that there are any material extra costs) then the argument equally applies to moving down the leagues.

Who says the base line should be League 2 level?

The reason for variable rent isn't to do with stadium variable costs to Kassam, it is to do with market value. The stadium variable costs to Kassam are covered by the management charge, not the rent.

Base line was set when the agreement was signed between Firoka and WPL. As you've already mentioned if there's a clause saying rent goes up after promotion it would have bee sensible to negotiate that rent goes down after relegation. The economic argument being that the club is likely to get higher gate receipts as it moves up the leagues and lower ones as it moves down. A good analogy would be renting an office block and paying more as the company expands and more office space is used and a reduction in rent when people are laid off and offices are empty.

[scooter]

I don't recognise Andrew Smith as an OM writer in connection with OUFC. As stated above, KT presumably wanted some free advertising for the Membership Scheme and other partnerships, but that doesn't make for an interesting headline.

As to the &quotrent reduction in the Conference&quot, I still haven't heard a good explanation from anyone as to what justification there could be for this, unless for example the North Stand was closed to home supporters all season long. Pleading poverty to your landlord might be a reason for Kassam to reduce your rent, but I can't think of another. Like leasing a car with a base lease cost, then getting extra charges for higher mileage. Stadco has a base cost to &quotmaintain&quot / pay interest on the loans and then higher leagues will presumably have some higher overheads.

That argumen, which I don't think holds much water, depends on where you draw the base line.

If you assume there are higher costs the further up the league you go (and I'm far from convinced that there are any material extra costs) then the argument equally applies to moving down the leagues.

Who says the base line should be League 2 level?

The reason for variable rent isn't to do with stadium variable costs to Kassam, it is to do with market value. The stadium variable costs to Kassam are covered by the management charge, not the rent.

Base line was set when the agreement was signed between Firoka and WPL. As you've already mentioned if there's a clause saying rent goes up after promotion it would have bee sensible to negotiate that rent goes down after relegation. The economic argument being that the club is likely to get higher gate receipts as it moves up the leagues and lower ones as it moves down. A good analogy would be renting an office block and paying more as the company expands and more office space is used and a reduction in rent when people are laid off and offices are empty.

I may be completely wrong on this as the events fade into time, but my understanding was that WPL had an existing licence assigned to them.

In other words OUFC were already renting the ground from Firoka and this is another example of haste and naivety on the part of WPL and NM in particular that has come back to bite us, as they failed to understand the implications of the licence and renegotiate it to take account of the new structure where the club and ground are not in common ownership.

[Mally]

That argumen, which I don't think holds much water, depends on where you draw the base line.

If you assume there are higher costs the further up the league you go (and I'm far from convinced that there are any material extra costs) then the argument equally applies to moving down the leagues.

Who says the base line should be League 2 level?

The reason for variable rent isn't to do with stadium variable costs to Kassam, it is to do with market value. The stadium variable costs to Kassam are covered by the management charge, not the rent.

Base line was set when the agreement was signed between Firoka and WPL. As you've already mentioned if there's a clause saying rent goes up after promotion it would have bee sensible to negotiate that rent goes down after relegation. The economic argument being that the club is likely to get higher gate receipts as it moves up the leagues and lower ones as it moves down. A good analogy would be renting an office block and paying more as the company expands and more office space is used and a reduction in rent when people are laid off and offices are empty.

I may be completely wrong on this as the events fade into time, but my understanding was that WPL had an existing licence assigned to them.

In other words OUFC were already renting the ground from Firoka and this is another example of haste and naivety on the part of WPL and NM in particular that has come back to bite us, as they failed to understand the implications of the licence and renegotiate it to take account of the new structure where the club and ground are not in common ownership.

The licence was &quotexisting&quot in that it was made between OUFC and Firoka when Kassam owned both and Ashwini Tawakley was a director of both and both signed for each side of the agreement, howevber this was done on 21st March 2006 and therfore was put in place specifically for the purposes of selling the club but not the stadium. The stamp of WPL's solicitors in Milton Keynes appears on the official Land Registry copy.