Source: Bournemouth_Echo
Cherries: Mitchell wants fans' help to buy stadium
CHAIRMAN Eddie Mitchell wants to mark this year's Dean Court centenary by bringing ownership of the famous stadium into the hands of supporters.[LNB] Mitchell and the Cherries board have investigated the possibility of forming a trust in an attempt to raise funds to try to buy the ground from Structadene.[LNB] The London-based property company bought the stadium from the club in a controversial £3.5m sale-and-leaseback deal in December 2005.[LNB] As tenants, Cherries pay £1,000 a day to rent the venue and Mitchell says a trust would benefit both the club and investors.[LNB] News of the scheme follows hot on the heels of the board rejecting an offer for the club from Russian pair Vladimir Antonov and Roman Dubov whose bid included plans to buy back the ground.[LNB] Speaking to the Daily Echo, Mitchell said: I don't think a company or individual buying the stadium is the right thing for the club because all you are doing is changing landlords. Then, when that landlord is fed up, they will only sell it again.[LNB] We are working towards getting some professional advice on how a trust could be set up. We pay £1,000 a day in rent and, based on that, it gives between an eight and 10 per cent return. I think the building society rate is between two and three.[LNB] In logical terms, if we managed to raise enough money to buy back the stadium and reduced our rent by one third, it would still give investors a five or six per cent return.[LNB] We are stabilising the club off the pitch and relying on Eddie and the boys on the pitch. The next step would be to secure the stadium back into the ownership of the club and its supporters. If it were done correctly, everybody would earn a bit on their money and the club would be secure in the hands of the fans.[LNB] The idea of selling Dean Court was first raised in 2002 before the plan was shelved when fans raised around £750,000 through Cherryshare to help the club with its mounting debt.[LNB] However, it was eventually sold three years later and the issue proved very divisive. Tem-pers flared among supporters at a stormy meeting at Dean Court but the board controversially managed to push it through.[LNB] The terms of the agreement struck at the time made provision for annual 2.5 per cent rent increases until the fifth year when it would remain the same for the next five years. It also included a buy-back option, which started at £4.25m and rose £60,000 a year for five years, although fixed prices were only specified until April 2010.[LNB] Mitchell added: We would need to negotiate a price with the landlord. The buy-back agreement ran out in April and we are hoping to negotiate an extended clause.[LNB] We are not in the driving seat and it would be for the landlord to accept an offer, if we were able to raise enough money to make one. I would like to think that if we were successful in raising what we believe to be the true value of the stadium, the landlord would sell it back to the club. I see this as a really good business venture.[LNB]
