Note: It has been brought to my attention that the funds being used to purchase the freehold to Home Park does not come from public funds, see Jim’s comment on this article for more info. Everything below was written before that information came to light, thank you Jim!
After yesterday’s news that Plymouth City Council are to buy Home Park for £1.6m, should the deal with Akkeron Group go through, we hear from James Brent that a deal could be completed by Friday (21st October). Brent told Radio Devon “I’m hoping that over the next 48 hours we’ll be able to do it, but it does require the support of a large number of people, the vast majority of people have signed up to it but we need everybody’s agreement to finally save the club.”
Brent continued “We have several hundred people that need to sign various agreements but we have the majority of those agreements already signed. We have indications from the majority of the balance that they will sign but we do need 100% of all those signatures.” – if most creditors have accepted the deal; I can’t see others holding out as if they do hold out for a better deal, the club will be liquidated and they’ll get nothing as unsecured creditors, it’s a no brainer decision!
Brent answered “I don’t think the taxpayers are bailing out the firm, I think what the taxpayer is doing is working in conjunction with a private sector investor to save what is a very important institution for the South West.” when queried about the city council buying the freehold to Home Park! I beg to differ Mr. Brent; the taxpayer is bailing out the club, more services will be cut as a consequence of the council’s actions and it will take almost 12 years to recover the debt in rent payments. The council already have a £8m shortfall in their budget from 2012/13 onwards!
Plymouth Argyle Fans Trust chairman Chris Webb believes that local businesses will be willing to invest in the club once a deal is done. Webb said “I think what we’ll see once James Brent gets in the saddle is a surge of optimism and support not only from Argyle fans on the terraces, but local businesses who are ready to put their money into the club commercially.” I am not so convinced by this; the fans have been coming to Home Park more recently because of the dire situation the club finds itself in; I doubt that will be sustained once the sale is completed; given the amount of floating fans and the current economic situation. Unfortunately, local businesses are struggling to survive themselves, so wont have any money to invest in a football club in the immediate future.
Just to clarify: I am happy that the survival of Plymouth Argyle is almost assured; but there was another option on the table that P&A Partnership ignored completely from Paul Buttivant’s consortium which didn’t require Plymouth City Council to buy the freehold to Home Park. Lead administrator Brendan Guilfoyle himself said that the council asked him to find a commercial buyer for the club if at all possible, so why was Buttivant’s bid ignored? Buttivant claimed to have funding in place and had put down a significant deposit with their legal representatives while also claiming to be able to complete within four weeks when he resubmitted his bid three weeks ago!
What about the staff and small businesses that would suffer great hardship if the club went bust? Loads of local business depend on Pafc.
That’s the problem, it’s a double edge sword; the only question is; does the club offer a bigger benefit to the community than the money lost / services from the public purse; what happens should Argyle get relegated to the conference next season; gates will no doubt fall further, half the locals that come to games are fickle, like many football supporters, they come out when things are going well and stay home when things are not going well. You know from my tweets how passionate I am about Plymouth Argyle but I feel that the PCC are taking a huge risk with public money, £11m was cut from the 2011/12 budget and a further £8m per annum will be cut from the 2012 – 2015 budget on top of the £1.6m that will be used to buy the freehold to Home Park!
Jason, it’s not the same money. The cuts to PCC’s budgets are *revenue* cuts – money in and money out. The HP purchase is a *capital* project and comes out of the Council’s plentiful capital reserves. If the money weren’t spent on the purchase, it would just sit in the bank accruing (very moderate) interest – it wouldn’t be used to find extra social workers or save Council jobs. As it is, the club is saved, with all the knock-on economic benefits that that brings to the City; the Council acquire an asset at a knockdown price that they receive a healthy annual income from; and receive a great deal of political goodwill into the bargain. It’s win/win/win.
Thanks for the info Jim! If that’s the case, it’s fine, I just have an issue with money earmarked for public services being used for private sector ventures!