Khan buying Wembley??!

[Roberty]

Interesting what Slav knew. It must be exciting working under an owner who can buy Wembley. I can't, with a straight face pretend khan has ever spoke of or made clear he wants to make Fulham @the Man U of the south" for want of a better way of explaining. But for a manager from Serbia, to see your boss buy the home of football must make this job and club pretty attractive. I'm glad you can't buy your way out of this league, it's what makes it great, but you would want to be the manager for the stadium upgrade and hopefully promotion just to see where we could end up. No? Just my thoughts. I'd also hope that khan would tell the FA that if we don't have a Boxing Day home fixture they aregetting single ply bog roll in the FA offices and boxes.

Or Izal ! Remember that?

Yes and I'm old enough to remember Bronco too

[Robbie]

These deals are rarely financed by one person or entity. There will be many parties. Part of the story is that various UK public bodies are still owed money by Wembley (e.g. Sport England) and they clearly want their money back.

My guess is this is partly about American Football (but even Khan will be able to see that demand could be limited). Another big part of the pitch is to make Wembley into O2 "West" ... a venue for many more entertainment events.

I doubt this has anything much or at all to do with FFC. And Khan is just the front man.

[Robbie]

I wonder if Slav's "I knew for 18 months" is a slip in translation.  Sounds unlikely that this has been a concrete plan for that long ... it would have leaked.

[b+w geezer]

The Riverside development has seen unexplained delay after unexplained delay,

Not under this owner it hasn't. He explained why he didn't want to proceed with the plan he inherited, said that he would come up with a replacement scheme and did so. Work on that is currently scheduled to start after a similar period of time as it took Tottenham to start work on WHL, following the granting of permission for that.

That is the current state of play.

[General]

These deals are rarely financed by one person or entity. There will be many parties. Part of the story is that various UK public bodies are still owed money by Wembley (e.g. Sport England) and they clearly want their money back.

My guess is this is partly about American Football (but even Khan will be able to see that demand could be limited). Another big part of the pitch is to make Wembley into O2 "West" ... a venue for many more entertainment events.

I doubt this has anything much or at all to do with FFC. And Khan is just the front man.

I was wondering how the financial side would actually work too.. what's the revenue for Wembley with all the sports, concerts and other events it hosts? Imagine quite high, couple that with potentially Chelsea using it as their home ground temporarily I wonder how much money is recouped in the first year?

One thing is clear on a marketing side I'm sure he could claim quite a lot of money from u.s. marketing deals tied into the NFL.

I'm sure the figures for him make the purchase make more sense than just handing over 800 million. He'll hedge against the risks and outlay I'd have thought quite substantially.

[cmg]

Interesting comments.  Lots of possibilities for how this will turn out.  Here's a thought.  Who knew Wembley Stadium was up for sale?  Not many I'd guess.

Geez but who can come up with £1bn?

And there lies the difference between me (and, I venture to suggest, most of us supporters) and the likes of Shahid Khan....When you're that rich, everything's for sale.

[b+w geezer]

the redevelopment was certainly pushed back several times by this owner. Surely you recall heatherwick...

For sure. He commissioned Heatherwick to draft a proposal and decided not to go with it. He told us he wanted something better (i.e."explained") and it then took a year from there to come up with a new plan and put in a detailed planning permission. By the standards of these things (a huge project)  I find that pretty quick going. (How many months less than 12 would people expect all that to have taken?)

If the suggestion is that he should have gone for the Heatherwick just because that was the first alternative shown to him, then that is a tenable opinion I suppose.  (Is that the suggestion?)

Even if that is the suggestion, "delay after delay" seems hyperbolic, while "unexplained" is plain inaccurate.

[cmg]

The Riverside development has seen unexplained delay after unexplained delay,

Not under this owner it hasn't.

As much as I hate to agree with anything written by riversider, the redevelopment was certainly pushed back several times by this owner. Surely you recall heatherwick...

There is no doubt that the Riverside development has been subject to delays. Delays that many have found irritating, and some have found suspicious.
It was the Heatherwick business that got me thinking how impossible it was for us 'ordinary' people to get our heads around what it means to be as rich as Khan.
He had a design for a stand that was approved and ready to go. He fancied something better so he called in Heatherwick. It was an off the wall choice of an outfit well known for quirky designs. What they came up with I guess we will never know. One thing for sure is that Khan didn't fancy it. I would be fairly sure, also, that the plan did not come cheap -but that didn't stop Khan binning it and starting again. Although the delays have been expensive, that sort of money just isn't a big consideration for our chairman. 

[mrmicawbers]

When your as wealthy as Khan you have the time and money to have a Project.Like planning how you would like to spend hundreds of Millions on a boat.I would assume he want people to be in awe of  what he has built. And that includes the proposed new stand on the Riverside.I say bring it on the sooner the better.

[flyingfish]

The Riverside development has seen unexplained delay after unexplained delay, today for me it's all started to make a little sense,
If we get promoted to The Premier League, I will confidentially predict that Fulham will move to Wembley whilst The Riverside Stand is built (that's if it does now get built)
This would of course speed up the building process , which makes perfect sense, but an owner having 2 stadiums in one City makes no sense,
A traditionalist like me would never leave Craven Cottage to watch us at Wembley on a permanent basis, but what does our owner care, if I'm replaced by 20,000 Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea etc let alone all the Korean and Japanese etc
Makes no sense to buy Wembley for 10 NFL games a season but would make sense if there was 19 Premier League games a season averaging say 40,000 a game,
I feel sorry for The Jacksonville Jaguars supporters today and I'm apprehensive for all Fulham supporters to, this story couldn't have broken at a worse time for Fulham ,
Khan nailed his colours to the mast today , a London NFL team is the first and foremost priority,  hopefully a promotion this season will let him see the value in us to.

:dead horse:
Don't matter what he says or does - it will never be enough for some!
read his statement - are you saying he is being untruthful and it's all a cover up?

Quite. The same people bed for a club statement and then when they do shout 'lies!'

When we get promoted, they still won't believe it and accuse Khan if having some other nefarious aim.

[flyingfish]

. FI'd also hope that khan would tell the FA that if we don't have a Boxing Day home fixture they are getting single ply bog roll in the FA offices and boxes.

The most sense spoken all thread.

[KJS]

It doesn't matted what the owner say's some fans just want to run him down!

He is a wealthy business man who is not stupid so he needs to be given credit for his vision re the NFL franchise situation in London.

Give the man a break!

[toshes mate]

As an EFL club owner we can all believe Mr Khan has a lot to learn, but as a shrewd businessman he is up there with the best.  Who knew the FA wanted out of ownership of Wembley?  Certainly the way the subject has detonated suggests few did, and who would have taken him seriously if Mr Khan had said at any time since his arrival at FFC, 'Today FFC. Tomorrow Wembley Stadium. And then, The World.'  Good luck to the guy if his venture means nothing but good for English football and its American cousin (several times removed).
 

[Riversider]

The Riverside development has seen unexplained delay after unexplained delay, today for me it's all started to make a little sense,
If we get promoted to The Premier League, I will confidentially predict that Fulham will move to Wembley whilst The Riverside Stand is built (that's if it does now get built)
This would of course speed up the building process , which makes perfect sense, but an owner having 2 stadiums in one City makes no sense,
A traditionalist like me would never leave Craven Cottage to watch us at Wembley on a permanent basis, but what does our owner care, if I'm replaced by 20,000 Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea etc let alone all the Korean and Japanese etc
Makes no sense to buy Wembley for 10 NFL games a season but would make sense if there was 19 Premier League games a season averaging say 40,000 a game,
I feel sorry for The Jacksonville Jaguars supporters today and I'm apprehensive for all Fulham supporters to, this story couldn't have broken at a worse time for Fulham ,
Khan nailed his colours to the mast today , a London NFL team is the first and foremost priority,  hopefully a promotion this season will let him see the value in us to.

:dead horse:
Don't matter what he says or does - it will never be enough for some!
read his statement - are you saying he is being untruthful and it's all a cover up?

He also told us that he bought the BBC sports ground for our junior sides did he not ? Seems likely now that it's going to be used as a training base for his London NFL team.

[FulhamStu]

Heatherwick is a designer of shall we say exotic buildings etc.  I suggest The design may have been spectacular but not practical.  Khan is a businessman and wanted something that would bring in the ££ and like the stand that will be built or not, that is one of the prime reasons for investing in a new Riverside stand.  Khan has been completely consistent from day one about the need to increase revenue and the Riverside Stand was always a huge part of that.

[toshes mate]

He also told us that he bought the BBC sports ground for our junior sides did he not ? Seems likely now that it's going to be used as a training base for his London NFL team.

And so are you saying he is lying in his statement on the FFC website, and seeking to conflate FFC with NFL business in a conspiracy?  Whatever you may think of the guy I don't believe he needs to conflate anything because clearly he has NFL ambition and backing driving this move to purchase Wembley.  If they NFL need training facilities anywhere they'll have to pay for them or build their own.  That is income for Fulham if Motspur Park (or Craven Cottage) is used.    I am not a Khan sycophant in any shape or form but I believe you are being unnecessarily alarmist at a time when cool and calm should be the order of the day. 

[Holders]

Let's face it, this just isn't right.

Wembley is the national stadium for our national sport, the predominant sport in the whole world, and it's seriously being considered that it be sold to a foreign private individual predominantly for the use by an alien game for which our country has no heritage. National pride is at stake. What self-respecting country would even consider this? What next - sponsorship? "The MacDonalds Wembley", "The Disney Wembley".

I know the bloke's our chairman but that doesn't justify it.

[KJS]

Football is just Business so sentiment goes out of the window!!

[MJG]

The Riverside development has seen unexplained delay after unexplained delay, today for me it's all started to make a little sense,
If we get promoted to The Premier League, I will confidentially predict that Fulham will move to Wembley whilst The Riverside Stand is built (that's if it does now get built)
This would of course speed up the building process , which makes perfect sense, but an owner having 2 stadiums in one City makes no sense,
A traditionalist like me would never leave Craven Cottage to watch us at Wembley on a permanent basis, but what does our owner care, if I'm replaced by 20,000 Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea etc let alone all the Korean and Japanese etc
Makes no sense to buy Wembley for 10 NFL games a season but would make sense if there was 19 Premier League games a season averaging say 40,000 a game,
I feel sorry for The Jacksonville Jaguars supporters today and I'm apprehensive for all Fulham supporters to, this story couldn't have broken at a worse time for Fulham ,
Khan nailed his colours to the mast today , a London NFL team is the first and foremost priority,  hopefully a promotion this season will let him see the value in us to.

:dead horse:
Don't matter what he says or does - it will never be enough for some!
read his statement - are you saying he is being untruthful and it's all a cover up?

He also told us that he bought the BBC sports ground for our junior sides did he not ? Seems likely now that it's going to be used as a training base for his London NFL team.

yet planning permission given to turn it into exactly what he said.
And even if it was used as facilities for an NFL tram what's the issue?

[MJG]

the redevelopment was certainly pushed back several times by this owner. Surely you recall heatherwick...

For sure. He commissioned Heatherwick to draft a proposal and decided not to go with it. He told us he wanted something better (i.e."explained") and it then took a year from there to come up with a new plan and put in a detailed planning permission. By the standards of these things (a huge project)  I find that pretty quick going. (How many months less than 12 would people expect all that to have taken?)

If the suggestion is that he should have gone for the Heatherwick just because that was the first alternative shown to him, then that is a tenable opinion I suppose.  (Is that the suggestion?)

Even if that is the suggestion, "delay after delay" seems hyperbolic, while "unexplained" is plain inaccurate.

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