Crusaders homeless already.... : Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:07 am  

Ok - a bit tongue in cheek -

But Brewery Field is no longer owned by CC - they have sold ground back to Bridgend Ravens RFC and Bridgend Town AFC and are now their tenants.

Implications??

: Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:10 am  

Mar 12 2009 by Andrew Harrison, Glamorgan Gazette

CONTROL of Bridgend’s Brewery Field has changed hands in what rugby league supremo Leighton Samuel hailed as a “brilliant deal”.
A company made up of Bridgend Town Football Club and Bridgend Ravens RFC now holds the lease on the ground.
And the Ravens hope to buy 50% of the lease outright with financial support from the WRU.
Brewery Field Ltd took on responsibility for the famous stadium last Friday after eight weeks of negotiations between the football club, the Ravens and ground owners Bridgend County Borough Council.
And the new company has plans to renovate the ground with former Ospreys director of rugby, Kevin Hopkins, appointed stadium manager.
“The company intends to shortly put into place works of improvement and renovation to upgrade the premises generally, including bringing back into use the family enclosure,” said a Brewery Field Ltd spokesman.
“A number of changes are being considered to the way in which the facility is being operated and will be announced to the Gazette shortly.”
Mr Samuel’s firm Dekor surrendered the lease to BCBC after accepting a total offer of £500,000 from the football club, made up of £100,000 for the lease plus £400,000 for the associated buildings.
Bridgend AFC used cash received from the sale of their old Coychurch Road home to supermarket chain Asda.
A rent of £7,500 per year has been agreed with the lease running for 25 years. BCBC was unhappy at an initial rent offer of £1,500 as Mr Samuel was paying £8,928 per year at the time of surrendering the lease.
But Brewery Field Ltd has been allowed get-out clauses as the football are still keen on a move to a sporting village at Island Farm should ambitious plans be granted.
The Ravens and Super League side Celtic Crusaders will continue to play at the Brewery Field under licences issued to them by the new company. BCBC hopes Bridgend Town will also play home matches at the ground if a new synthetic 3G or 4G pitch can be laid.
Mr Samuel, who remains Celtic Crusaders chairman, told the Gazette : “The cost of the ground and maintenance meant we were paying out a considerable amount. Brewery Field Ltd will be able to do a better job. We were trying to run it on a matchday basis but didn’t push the social side.
“The Brewery Field is a good stadium but an old one and takes a lot of running. I’m glad that someone has taken it on who can run it to its full capabilities. From our perspective, it’s a brilliant deal.”

Re: Crusaders homeless already.... : Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:09 pm  

smwrff wrote:

Ok - a bit tongue in cheek -

But Brewery Field is no longer owned by CC - they have sold ground back to Bridgend Ravens RFC and Bridgend Town AFC and are now their tenants.

Implications??

As I told you on our site. Not many.

We are actually paying less rent than we were before to the council. We do not have to pay for the upkeep of the ground etc and the ground looks to be having improvements made to it as well as a new pitch.

It's a win, win situation I feel as Bridgend Town AFC needed to spend the money they received from their old ground sale by a certain date. I think all parties are happy including us.

Re: Crusaders homeless already.... : Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:12 pm  

smwrff wrote:

Ok - a bit tongue in cheek -

But Brewery Field is no longer owned by CC - they have sold ground back to Bridgend Ravens RFC and Bridgend Town AFC and are now their tenants.

Implications??

As I told you on our site. Not many.

We are actually paying less rent than we were before to the council. We do not have to pay for the upkeep of the ground etc and the ground looks to be having improvements made to it as well as a new pitch.

It's a win, win situation I feel as Bridgend Town AFC needed to spend the money they received from their old ground sale by a certain date. I think all parties are happy including us.

: Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:03 pm  

well yes i spose technically we could be homeless...in 25 years when the lease runs out

: Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:10 pm  

No-one at the club is unhappy about this. It's an arrangement used by many clubs such as Leigh Centurions and Leeds Rhinos for example. It means one company runs the ground and the club have devote more time and effort to concentrate club matters. I wouldn't say it's a non-story but it's certainly not a scandal and the stadium company have our best interests at heart as they know the Crusaders are the primary tenants.

: Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:11 pm  

smwrff wrote:

Mar 12 2009 by Andrew Harrison, Glamorgan Gazette

CONTROL of Bridgend’s Brewery Field has changed hands in what rugby league supremo Leighton Samuel hailed as a “brilliant deal”.
A company made up of Bridgend Town Football Club and Bridgend Ravens RFC now holds the lease on the ground.
And the Ravens hope to buy 50% of the lease outright with financial support from the WRU.
Brewery Field Ltd took on responsibility for the famous stadium last Friday after eight weeks of negotiations between the football club, the Ravens and ground owners Bridgend County Borough Council.
And the new company has plans to renovate the ground with former Ospreys director of rugby, Kevin Hopkins, appointed stadium manager.
“The company intends to shortly put into place works of improvement and renovation to upgrade the premises generally, including bringing back into use the family enclosure,” said a Brewery Field Ltd spokesman.
“A number of changes are being considered to the way in which the facility is being operated and will be announced to the Gazette shortly.”
Mr Samuel’s firm Dekor surrendered the lease to BCBC after accepting a total offer of £500,000 from the football club, made up of £100,000 for the lease plus £400,000 for the associated buildings.
Bridgend AFC used cash received from the sale of their old Coychurch Road home to supermarket chain Asda.
A rent of £7,500 per year has been agreed with the lease running for 25 years. BCBC was unhappy at an initial rent offer of £1,500 as Mr Samuel was paying £8,928 per year at the time of surrendering the lease.
But Brewery Field Ltd has been allowed get-out clauses as the football are still keen on a move to a sporting village at Island Farm should ambitious plans be granted.
The Ravens and Super League side Celtic Crusaders will continue to play at the Brewery Field under licences issued to them by the new company. BCBC hopes Bridgend Town will also play home matches at the ground if a new synthetic 3G or 4G pitch can be laid.
Mr Samuel, who remains Celtic Crusaders chairman, told the Gazette : “The cost of the ground and maintenance meant we were paying out a considerable amount. Brewery Field Ltd will be able to do a better job. We were trying to run it on a matchday basis but didn’t push the social side.
“The Brewery Field is a good stadium but an old one and takes a lot of running. I’m glad that someone has taken it on who can run it to its full capabilities. From our perspective, it’s a brilliant deal.”

smurf you just shot yourself in the foot by posting this if you read your own post propely the crusaders will still be playing there you bitter fool.The only one who is laughing out of all this is Mr samual for selling a lease for half of mill and then renting the ground for a few grand a year

: Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:25 pm  

half a mill in the bank, cheaper rent and no liabilities for repairs or capital investment but landlord is committed to developing the ground and cheaper rent on a 25 year lease AND good relations with future partners for the proposed island farm stadium project? Yeah what a disaster!

: Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:46 pm  

Hang on, as I said in my very first post, the title was a bit tongue in cheek - maybe a bit too provocative, but I am genuinely interested in peoples opinions of this story.

Speaking as a lifelong Ravens fan I am very pleased to have got the BF back - but speaking as a Crusaders fan I am a little sceptical as to LS motives - to be blunt I dont trust him.

The demise of the Warriors left him with a very underused asset in the BF, and it was a stroke of genius to fill the ground again via Superleague. But now that he has managed to offload the BF, and recover another 500k of cash I think that he will now move on.

: Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:49 pm  

and to CruCrusader - I would have posted this reply on the other site, but I am having a problem posting there - censorship or coincedental technical problem? not sure.