All info regarding the Stadium Redevelopment

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Build redevelopment for say £30m (?)
Charges interest at a hefty rate
Uses surplus at the club to pay for interest (no high earners left, parachute payments coming in)
Team muddles along at current standard with 6 juniors playing
Buys one marquee signing (RMcC) per year to get the season ticket sales up
Buggers off and leaves the debt and no income
Or needs to raise income and suggests NFL, apartment redevelopment etc etc other conspiracy theories

Just a hypothesis - btw did the Apollo programmes really land on the moon ??

So Khan gives us a £30m debt plus interest payments then "buggers off"?

Who takes over? How much will they pay for the club? They are going to factor in the cost of any debt in the price they offer. As far as I recall the club is debt free and we are running  more or less sustainably. So even if we take on a debt of £30m plus interest the assets would seem to be worth more than any debts.

The loser in your scenario would seem to be Khan who would be throwing away most of his £200m investment.

[Admin]

I'm all for it. We can't go back to (if we ever get there) the Premiership with our current ground / setup, we'd come straight back down again, or at least hover around the relegation places. If we do ever get back, I want us to compete for the long term, and redeveloping part of the ground is essential for that. Not just for bigger crowds, but bigger revenues, and something that basically drag us into the future. 

[dannyboi-ffc]

At the end of the day I support a football club. I'm a bus driver and I know my fair share about football. Business? I have no clue and I don't pretend I do.

From the outside it just seems a commitment to the long term future at our historical home. Is it bad business? It's the multi billionaires decision against a handful on an MB. Without trying to sound as patronising  as others are being, I think I'll put my trust in the hands of Khan on this one.

No offence intended of course and his FOOTBALLING decisions so far have been poor but somehow it can't see him going ahead with this development if he wasn't certain it was beneficial.

[Woolly Mammoth]

W

At the end of the day I support a football club. I'm a bus driver and I know my fair share about football. Business? I have no clue and I don't pretend I do.

From the outside it just seems a commitment to the long term future at our historical home. Is it bad business? It's the multi billionaires decision against a handful on an MB. Without trying to sound as patronising  as others are being, I think I'll put my trust in the hands of Khan on this one.

No offence intended of course and his FOOTBALLING decisions so far have been poor but somehow it can't see him going ahead with this development if he wasn't certain it was beneficial.
[/quote

When I put my hand out at that request stop down the Old Kent Road, why didn't you stop, instead of running over my foot, and sticking two fingers up at me at the same time.

By the way I am with you on rebuilding the Riverside Stand ASAP.

[Burt]

I'm all for it. We can't go back to (if we ever get there) the Premiership with our current ground / setup, we'd come straight back down again, or at least hover around the relegation places. If we do ever get back, I want us to compete for the long term, and redeveloping part of the ground is essential for that. Not just for bigger crowds, but bigger revenues, and something that basically drag us into the future. 

This...

[fulhamben]

This is by far the best news that's come out of Fulham in years. Nothing means more to me than watching us play at London's oldest place of worship. I don't care who our owner is, I don't care who our manager is, I don't even care what league we are in or who dons the shirt. But I do care about where I choose to  worship my religion. This new stand will end fears that are always in the back of my mind about our stadium turning into flats, or ground sharing with QPR. It also leads me to believe that shad won't just stop at the refurbishment and that he will do all he can to gets us back into the top flight. Ladies and gentleman, we are The Fulham  Club and Craven Cottage is our home.

[HillingdonFFC]

Find it staggering that anyone is against this. Absolutely vital imho. Would be brilliant and would show Khans commitment and help allay some of those nagging doubts regarding CCs future.
Its not just bums on seats, non matchday revenue massively increased and as much as I love the Cottage its basically two temporary ends and a small riverside 42 year old stand. The JH is obviously incomparable and irreplaceable. Everyone is building , increasing capacity etc. 25K is not enough, I dont subcribe to this 10k empty seats bollocks , it has to built for a future where there isnt.
Its taken years to get this stage, surely we don't want to go through all that planning process again.
Build it now I say

[Holders]

We needed this when we were in the PL. There's no point in building it if there isn't the intention for us to return.

However, I do recall when the Riverside was being built for £100k or thereabouts, comparisons were made with Pompey who were ploughing money into players instead. They got short-term advantage and we cannot ignore the need for reinforcement on that side as well. The two go hand-in-hand.

[FulhamStu]

Anyway I'm in favour of building it... Anyone else?

Absolutely, there are many reasons to want to build it.  Committment from the owner being high up the list.  Even if we are relegated we could potentially gain 2 promotions back to the Premier League before its completed. 

[FulhamStu]

Quite frankly I am amazed that people are glibly talking about a return to the Premiership - it took us 30 years last time - this is purely greedy and presumptuous   = we have no god-given right to go back up again and certainly not with the crap squad we have now - it could take years to get the squad balanced and a winning mentality installed - I and I am sure many others don't give a monkeys about some fancy new stadium where we can host corporates while watching Milton Keynes and Fleetwood at home

not just that... i am amazed how unrealistic people are and ignorant of how finance works
this development, if we do not go up could spell the end of fulham.... it is that nonsensical.... it is not a statement of ambition it is burdening the club with a massive debt that can only be srviced by life in the premiership.... and that looks a distant dream

there is no obvious sign the mnanagement have the first idea of how to the run the club with a view to getting us into the prem..it seems like they are doing the opposite intentionally to me..... maybe you are right, maybe they want a stadium that would be used for an NFL franchise.

i have zero faith in our leaders at the moment, they give no cause for optimism, as far as the people on the MB who think the new stand is a good idea, they clearly have never been in a position of running there own buisnesses otherwise they would instictively know this is wrong and they would also be able to do a few simple sums and prove it to be a disaster... as I said before this is an error of the greek economy proportions.

I think Mr Khan probably knows a bit about running a business.  A football club, well he is learning fast, however if he is not a successful businessman i don't know who is !

[Holders]

If he genuinely intends us to return to the PL it's essential; if he doesn't then it's pointless.

[blingo]

If you're against it, and what SK is doing, the answer is really simple. Buy him out and do it your way. Can't do that? No point in commenting further then is there?

Best thing that could happen. Well done SK who has the vision for Fulham's future in mind, it is stunning.

[Riverside]

The Riverside redevelopment has to be good news for the Club

Yes we have to fix the football side of the business as well and Khan knows this .

I think he also realises that he does not know enough or have enough time to manage this and more importantly does not this Macintosh does either .

Hence the appointment of Mike Rigg . Has he started full time yet ? I thought i had read that it would be March before he could be full time ?

[westcliff white]

I think its great news, and like Blingo said someone wants to do it differently then buy the club.

But then there is no pleasing some people, they seem to be negative no matter what the club does

[The Equalizer]

Southampton suffered badly after moving to St Marys, eventually going into administration and dropping from the top flight to League One. Now they're 4th in the Prem.

Looking ahead with positivity will bring you success in the future.

[FancyPantsil]

Build redevelopment for say £30m (?)
Charges interest at a hefty rate
Uses surplus at the club to pay for interest (no high earners left, parachute payments coming in)
Team muddles along at current standard with 6 juniors playing
Buys one marquee signing (RMcC) per year to get the season ticket sales up
Buggers off and leaves the debt and no income
Or needs to raise income and suggests NFL, apartment redevelopment etc etc other conspiracy theories

Just a hypothesis - btw did the Apollo programmes really land on the moon ??

"Debt and no income" would be a very attractive investment opportunity for a new owner. 

The scenario you describe would leave Khan walking away from the club losing everything he invested.  I'm sure he's highly motivated to do this.

[snarks]

Southampton suffered badly after moving to St Marys, eventually going into administration and dropping from the top flight to League One. Now they're 4th in the Prem.

Looking ahead with positivity will bring you success in the future.

Southampton is an odd case though, there was a lot of political infighting with the board and the club changed ownership twice before it went into administration.

It was 2001 when they moved into the stadium, 2005 (I think) when relegated from the prem, and 2008 when they went into administration, owing a paltry 5 million to the bank, all of which was secured on the stadium.

[Nick Bateman]

I work for an architectural recruitment/headhunting firm (although not for much longer) and a colleague has been tasked with finding people to work on the (re)development of Craven Cottage. He was under the impression though that it was more than just the riverside stand.

The architects are a firm called KSS.

One gets a tad wary whenever one hears an architectural firm and ground redevelopment in the same sentence.  It wasn't long ago we had Bulstrode trying something similar, except he told us of his plans.

If Fulham stay up there is a greater incentive for Khan to improve our capacity - if Kit Symons and Ali Mack inadvertently take us down, the plans may change to relocation/ground sharing with QPR and luxury flats at the riverside!

I hoep my fears are unfounded.

[H4usuallysitting]

The figures banded about for the redevelopment are around £8-10m, and they have to go out to re-tender and firm up costs - nobody as yet have been awarded the contract.....KSS (the architect) have and are doing the feasibility study, and the majority of steel work will be built off site and brought to site by barge, with a pontoon in the Thames servicing the site.......don't know yet when the job goes out for tender.......personally I think build it sooner rather than later......because if nothing else the build costs will be cheaper now than in say 5 years time, and it brings confidence to the club when attracting new players

[Fulham1959]

Sorry Nose, Baszab and others, I cannot believe how dense you are being. All the time, we hear people whine that Shahid should invest more money in the team. He's a very rich man and should spend, spend, spend! BUT HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO UNDER THE LEGAL REQUIREMENTS OF FFP.

So how can he show his commitment to the Club? How can he spend his own hard earned dosh on the Club? How can he re-assure fans that he is committed? How can he invest massive amounts of money in order to generate an increase in revenues? How can he prove that he is committed to staying at Craven Cottage? What could he possibly do that is OUTSIDE THE RESTRICTIONS OF FFP? Jeez, the bloke can't seem to win with some fans.

You talk about lumbering the Club with a massive debt for the Stand,  but how do you know how it will be financed? Who's to say that he won't do what Mo did and transfer loans into equity in a few years time?

For me, building the new stand is a massive, massive step forward by Fulham and a huge commitment from Shahid. Bring it on!

I totally agree.