New Training Ground.!!

Quoted from RonMariner

I can’t remember now, but we’re JS and AP saying they would fund it? Or just seek finance for it?

They said investors would pay for it. No idea what that means, because there's unlikely to be any return and why would anybody put millions in for somebody else to spend?

I was told the original plan was to crowd fund it, and the cost was more like 2 million. Who knows what the plans are now, I can't imagine crowd funding would touch the sides though.

Quoted from WayneBurnettsJockstrap

Its odd that we need a new training ground because Cheapside obviously isnt providing us with adequate training facilities, even though over the years it has had new pitches laid, new changing rooms, new dining area, physio rooms and gym.
Well, how come when Town were a much better team to watch, they also trained at Cheapside with much crappier facilities. Are you sure its not just the quality of the players, all along, that is causing the quality of football to do a massive downturn over the years? Surely it cant all be blamed on the training ground?
Why dont they start training at local schools again, like they used to. Nearly every school field has to be of a certain standard so it is not dangerous for the kids to play on.
Wouldn't the figure being banded around, 6 million?, be much better spent on new quality players instead?

I get your point but I think there are several factors to consider here. I would guess in the late 80s/early 90s the training ground would not have been too different from other teams? Like you say they used to come to schools and train, or train on King George's so anything would have been an improvement. So if players are looking at the facility where they will spend most of their working time then if it was not too far behind others then we could persuade them to come. However, it "seems" that perhaps we are a long way behind now so if players are wavering then it may be a deciding factor. It is where they spend most of their working time, the ground is probably only going to be less than 10% of their working week so a state of the art training facility will have a big sway on whether people turn up or not.

Clearly it is the quality of the players who have caused a downturn in the quality of football, we can't blame the training pitches on what they do on the pitch. However, as I have said, we do need to entice good players to come and a good training ground will help with that, surely?

Answering your last question. It all depends where the money has come from doesn't it? I am sure that you can spend pretty much what you want on capital projects without it going against any fair funding protocols but to be able to spend £6m on players then we need to have that from income streams such as sponsorship or gate receipts (or selling shares, etc.) even if we amortise across several years. So yes, of course it would be better to spend it on players, but I am not entirely sure it is possible!

It does worry me that after 3 years the owners haven’t attracted a single penny of outside investment anywhere. Are they saying we can build a new training ground AND improve BP without external money?!

Quoted from RonMariner

I can’t remember now, but we’re JS and AP saying they would fund it? Or just seek finance for it?

Don’t see how we can afford better players, a better ground and better training facilities. Can’t see how it all stacks up.

Quoted from LN8Mariner

I get your point but I think there are several factors to consider here. I would guess in the late 80s/early 90s the training ground would not have been too different from other teams? Like you say they used to come to schools and train, or train on King George's so anything would have been an improvement. So if players are looking at the facility where they will spend most of their working time then if it was not too far behind others then we could persuade them to come. However, it "seems" that perhaps we are a long way behind now so if players are wavering then it may be a deciding factor. It is where they spend most of their working time, the ground is probably only going to be less than 10% of their working week so a state of the art training facility will have a big sway on whether people turn up or not.

Clearly it is the quality of the players who have caused a downturn in the quality of football, we can't blame the training pitches on what they do on the pitch. However, as I have said, we do need to entice good players to come and a good training ground will help with that, surely?

Answering your last question. It all depends where the money has come from doesn't it? I am sure that you can spend pretty much what you want on capital projects without it going against any fair funding protocols but to be able to spend £6m on players then we need to have that from income streams such as sponsorship or gate receipts (or selling shares, etc.) even if we amortise across several years. So yes, of course it would be better to spend it on players, but I am not entirely sure it is possible!

Investment in infrastructure doesn't count towards fair play rules, but any income we are able to receive from a training ground would. That is another reason to keep it local and make it a facility that the community can use.

Quoted from Heisenberg

It does worry me that after 3 years the owners haven’t attracted a single penny of outside investment anywhere. Are they saying we can build a new training ground AND improve BP without external money?!

Must admit it has surprised me that two multi millionaires who are both entrepreneurs have not been in a position to attract further investment from their wide circle of contacts. I seem to recall Jason saying in an interview, think it was during their first year in charge, that there were interested parties but it wasn’t the right time and they wanted people to be investing for the right reasons.

Obviously I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes and we certainly want to avoid any further dodgy characters trying to get involved but it would be nice, if we survive this season, if we could get some further income streams to give the fans a bit of a feel good factor which is much needed at present.

Quoted from crusty ole pie

Don’t understand that the cost of buying the land building the houses and the training facility total cost 6 million sale of the houses 6 million next cost to club nothing. I am no expert in this field but you get the gist of it

20 houses sold at £300,000 a pop will just equal £6million in sales.  It's not profit.  The costs of building houses is through the roof at the minute (both labour and materials).

This article is a few years old but it gives a feel for the profit margins - https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2022/03/02/persimmon-makes-66000-profit-per-house/

£66,000 profit per house from a major national home builder.   Over 20 houses that's £1.32million profit, without even considering the reduced scales of economies that Persimmon will get from building housing estates in the 100's if not 1000's of houses.

We're not going to offset the cost of buying land and the cost of building the training ground by effectively sub-contracting the building and sale of 20 houses out to a builder. It'll need to be something on a much, much bigger scale.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

Must admit it has surprised me that two multi millionaires who are both entrepreneurs have not been in a position to attract further investment from their wide circle of contacts. I seem to recall Jason saying in an interview, think it was during their first year in charge, that there were interested parties but it wasn’t the right time and they wanted people to be investing for the right reasons.

Obviously I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes and we certainly want to avoid any further dodgy characters trying to get involved but it would be nice, if we survive this season, if we could get some further income streams to give the fans a bit of a feel good factor which is much needed at present.

Government money.  So-called levelling up.

Interesting how Barrow have relocated their training ground 100 miles from ground are they attracting players on that they have based it in a central part where players can return and travel As GTFC rebuild talk of training grounds etc I wonder if that would help recruitment
On separate matter
Travelling on Friday from London to Barrow it feels the back of beyond 6hrs train 2 hrs bus replacement UTM

Quoted from Trevor Whymark

Interesting how Barrow have relocated their training ground 100 miles from ground are they attracting players on that they have based it in a central part where players can return and travel As GTFC rebuild talk of training grounds etc I wonder if that would help recruitment
On separate matter
Travelling on Friday from London to Barrow it feels the back of beyond 6hrs train 2 hrs bus replacement UTM

Surely you’ve seen that topic has been done to death. We won’t be getting an out of town training facility like barrows.