Iron Bru › Forums › Blast Furnace › The most important post on this board for a long time? › Reply To: The most important post on this board for a long time?
Interested Bystander is not, as popularly believed, Will Swann. He is older than Will I believe but well connected to Peter Swann (the “interested” part of the “bystander”.
3) Glanford Park – How does the club regain ownership of the stadium? For me, Peter Swann owes you one. Swann and his advisors have dropped a massive one here, he knows it and I feel it’s only right that he takes a haircut, for the right people. The local council need to play a part, whether through the direct purchase of the stadium or to provide a mortgage facility for the club to purchase it, but none of this will happen with Hilton in situ. The Iron Trust, the local council, some of the existing board members and other local business people need to meet and get this deal done.
This post is true albeit with a slight pro-Swann bias. It’s silent on the promises made when Swann acquired the land, and
Swann would need to take a haircut anyway (land value, current market conditions). There’s a not-demolished stadium sitting on the land, question marks over whether permission would be granted, and expected higher-than-average construction costs. Swann has more than just altruism pushing him to sell the land to SUFC in whatever guise.Swann will want to minimise his haircut. He doesn’t want a bald patch to show.
Swann won’t be altruistic, but if Interested Bystander is right (and he usually is, given his access to the horse’s mouth), Swann may be realistic.
I wonder about the offer made by Simon Elliott and others before Hilton got the nod. If that’s still on the table, times have changed….
If I knew or had access to Peter Swann or any individual connected to him, do you really think he would have entertained Hilton after I had finished? Perhaps he is the type of person to ignore advice, but you’ve made the mistake in thinking that I’m the type of person to hang about where my advice is ignored.
As for me usually being right, that’s thanks to a long career and a nose for these things, not because of any horse’s mouth.