Iron Bru › Forums › Blast Furnace › Michelle Harness › Reply To: Michelle Harness
Fair. I realise that Swann holds the blame there. Though, if Harness and co secure a ground solution it will be something Hilton failed to do, and that’s what I am trying to refer to really. Swann cost us club ownership of the ground, but Hilton’s nature might have costed us with playing there.
You do have to consider the possibility that Swann played awkward with Hilton as he realised he had made a grave mistake, and wanted to keep the ground away from the club until the club sorted itself out…
Very early on after joining this forum, I did say that Peter Swann was in the driving seat in regards to the club, the freehold and the inevitable situation concerning Hilton, much to the annoyance of some.
I don’t know Peter Swann or any individual associated with him and therefore I can’t speak for him but it would take a special kind of idiot to argue that Swann and his advisors didn’t drop an almighty one entertaining Hilton and doing a deal with him. Even allowing for the obvious oversight, Swann should have protected himself by having a clause in the sale agreement which stated that should Hilton fail to complete on the freehold as agreed, then ownership of the club reverts back to Swann. It would have saved a lot of messing about.
Going back to my opening paragraph, nothing has changed. This should not be considered as an exercise in trying to wrestle the stadium off Swann, it should be an opportunity to sort this mess out correctly, once and for all. Assuming that Peter Swann and the SUFC board are keen to see the stadium transferred back to the club, I would like to see clauses / deeds of variation which prevent current and future custodians of the club from selling off the ground to a third party. Hopefully the local Council and Iron Trust will play an active role here.
I would like to make two recommendations. First of all to the SUFC board, please get some specialist tax advice regarding the original transfer of the stadium, the debt write off and the potential repurchase of the stadium. Secondly to Peter Swann, draft the sale agreement in a way that Hilton or any individual associated with him can have no future involvement with the club, just for peace of mind.
Having the stadium back under the control of the club will be pivotal to safeguarding your future. I would like to see the new board consult with the local media and set out their stall on this subject.
