Premierleague 08-09

[Super Joe]

Maybe he's right, Arsenal have 75M cash to hand but have recently re-financed their Emirates Stadium debts to the tune of 260M.
They are currently operating at a profit so if they can service the debt then they are ok. But I read recently about their property development is being hit by the economic crisis.

It's a bit rich saying you have 75M cash when you have 260M of debt !?!?

SJ

[caller]

Chelsea fans do not need to worry about the ground, he can't sell that, my mate and other 'Chelsea Pitch Owners' own the freehold.

SJ

I think thats the pitch only Joe, or thats what my shares say (I think). They're worthless, by the way, it was for protection before Bates fought off Marler estates, or whatever they were called. Still, once a year, I get invited to a shareholders meeting/dinner with a few older players to give everyone a laugh.

Pete, Grant took over from Jose - the special one - he was Portuguese, not Spanish.

At face value it seems odd, just two games away from achieving what Chelsea, or most others have never done - to end as european and/or premiership winndr and to become a legend.

But, the question has been asked as to who was really running the ship? The players, Grant, Clarke? Certainly the latter has a major rapport with the players. And some of the issues, it was Joses team, the style didn't change, poor use of substitutes, poor decsions on team selection in the Carling cup final (that Chelsea set out to win) and so on, meant he never left his stamp on the team.

But yes, it was rough on him by any other standard. I thought he'd get another position without any problems and he was linked to several clubs, but I've no idea where he is now?

[Super Joe]

You sure, I've always been told they got the freehold to the Stadium, not the Village, but ofcourse the village idiots
Yeah it was Marler Estates, someone Mears??, they owned Fulham and QPR at one stage and I think they tried to merge the two!?! until Jimmy 'the pill' Hill bought Fulham off them.

From the official website:
"Many Chelsea fans will remember a time during the 1980s and early 90s when the freehold of Stamford Bridge was not owned by the club, and there was the continual threat from property developers to evict Chelsea FC from our ancestral home. Luckily, in 1993 the developers went into receivership and the club immediately acquired the freehold. To ensure that such a battle with property developers would never happen again, CPO was formed and granted an option to purchase the freehold, and so set about raising the money by selling shares in the company.
In December 1997 the then Chelsea Village (now Chelsea Football Club Ltd) reorganised its finance and as part of that arrangement, Chelsea village provided CPO with a non-recourse loan in excess of .10 million to complete the purchase of the freehold. CPO granted Chelsea FC a 199-year lease"

SJ

[caller]

You sure, I've always been told they got the freehold to the Stadium, not the Village, but ofcourse the village idiots
Yeah it was Marler Estates, someone Mears??, they owned Fulham and QPR at one stage and I think they tried to merge the two!?! until Jimmy 'the pill' Hill bought Fulham off them.

From the official website:
"Many Chelsea fans will remember a time during the 1980s and early 90s when the freehold of Stamford Bridge was not owned by the club, and there was the continual threat from property developers to evict Chelsea FC from our ancestral home. Luckily, in 1993 the developers went into receivership and the club immediately acquired the freehold. To ensure that such a battle with property developers would never happen again, CPO was formed and granted an option to purchase the freehold, and so set about raising the money by selling shares in the company.
In December 1997 the then Chelsea Village (now Chelsea Football Club Ltd) reorganised its finance and as part of that arrangement, Chelsea village provided CPO with a non-recourse loan in excess of .10 million to complete the purchase of the freehold. CPO granted Chelsea FC a 199-year lease"

SJ

Thanks for that Joe, I shall hold my head high with pride!

The Mears family bought Stamford Bridge, then an athletics track at the turn of the last century, offered it to Fulham to play at, who declined, and so started their own club and called it Chelsea (it's actually in Fulham).

Gus Mears and his subsequent heirs would have been tuning in their grave when then chairman Brian Mears and his brother David, first messed up in the early 70's and with others, particularly the scumbag Viscount Chelsea (on the board) tried to get Chelsea to groundshare with QPR, Brentford, Fulham and redevelop the Bridge which is prime real estate land and the nearest to central London.

The only shareholder who wouldn't sell out and so prevented the developers securing enough shares to do what they wanted was Richard (Lord) Attenbrough, a lifelong fan - a true hero. But Bates only finally secured the ground with the backing of the late Matthew Harding after the price plummeted (Wall St. crash), who was a fan with lots of dosh, pity the worst stand in the ground is named after him after he died in a helicopter crash on his way home from a game.

Then the Russian moved in....

[Super Joe]

Bates treated MH like dirt, even after he died IMO and my Chelsea mates' opinion. MH stand is the old away end right? you think it's cack now you should have been in there as an away fan
Bates was the saviour but as I'm sure you know more than me very nearly bankrupted the club with his finance debts (75M EuroBond at a daft interest rate etc).
Some argue he was lucky Roman came along, others say if it wasn't for him and his ground development, Village and the like, Roman or A.N.Other would not have come along.

If it were up to me you'd be playing at Griffin Park

SJ

[caller]

Yeah, the Bates/Harding thing was odd. They started as buddy buddies but then fell out. I think Bates does it his way or not at all. He was certainly plotting against Harding when he died, it was all very sad, a young guy who drank in the local pubs with the fans, a bit like the Newcastle guy does now.

Is Bates a hero or villian? Hero without a doubt to take over the club, realise the other directors on the new board as part of the holding company were working against him to save the club and kicked them out. He then fought the banks, local planners (Tories) and various developers to keep the club going, buying the shops that fronted the Bridge to stop their development and the like.

The offices of the Pitch owners used to be in one of those shops.

But in the end it was clearly on the verge of it all falling down around him. But by then we were a top four club, the infrastrucure was all in place (bar the training ground) and without doubt a much better investment.

[Super Joe]

Another key factor Location, Location, Location.

It helped that you are in an expensive, trendy part of town ... FULHAM

SJ

[caller]

Yeah, I hate Fulham now. But when I was a kid it was a real working class area, full of dark terraces surrounding the gas works, all with outside loos, and lots of prefabs everywhere - Alan Hudson lived in one. Then Hattie Jacques bought two houses just off the Kings Road (Sands End area), knocked them into one and the rest is history!!!

What a carry-on!

[Super Joe]

Can remember that a bit, used to get taken to Fulham a lot as a kid, then alternate Saturday was bus to Brentford.
Should have stuck with the Bees

SJ

[BaaBaa.]

Keegan quits, again.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 98,00.html

[Arcadian]

Sky News reporting that he was sacked.

[Zidane]

I think he was upset about James Milner being sold to Villa and having his authority undermined behind the scenes......when things dont go his way he always does a runner.
Mind you,in this case,it cant have been easy working with someone like Dennis Wise as Director of Football.
Feel sorry for the Newcastle fans.They always seem to be let down.
So who will get the managers job ? Dennis Wise or even better,Paul Jewell....surely not !

Zidane

[BaaBaa.]

There's bound to be the usual calls for Shearer.

[dtaai-maai]

There's bound to be the usual calls for Shearer.

No, last I heard there was a decent offer for him to play centre forward at Spurs...

[caller]

I thought Milner wanted out and his contract was up?