Wrexham to get 99 year lease on their ground

[iesty wfc]

Landmark decision was announced yesterday that, subject to a vote at a supporter trust meeting, the club will be taking back ownership of the Racecourse ground and will lease it back off the current owners, Glyndwr university

after announcing a profit for the first time since becoming supporter owned, this is the next big step in the clubs rebuilding

a lot of happy wrexham fans today

 

[CFC2010]

Great news for yourselves, well done.

 

[Mr Scooty]

Excellent news.

If they don't play Nena's 99 Red Balloons at half time on Saturday I'll be fucking furious.

 

[Luke Imp]

Landmark decision was announced yesterday that, subject to a vote at a supporter trust meeting, the club will be taking back ownership of the Racecourse ground and will lease it back off the current owners, Glyndwr university

after announcing a profit for the first time since becoming supporter owned, this is the next big step in the clubs rebuilding

a lot of happy wrexham fans today

How does that work with maintenance and matchday/non-matchday money i.e. are you going to end up like Oxford where they take little or none of their catering/sponsorship/advertising boards etc?

 

[GuiseleySteve]

Maintenance was my first thought as i know there was an audit/assessment which suggested £m's in maintenance & repairs over the next few years?

 

[Master D]

How does that work with maintenance and matchday/non-matchday money i.e. are you going to end up like Oxford where they take little or none of their catering/sponsorship/advertising boards etc?

I'm reading it as we will be in control of everything again exactly as it was for decades when Marstons brewery owned the ground and we paid a peppercorn rent. I read this as though we can do what we want regarding all of the above but we pay for anything and everything to do with the ground. Only time will tell as to whether it is a good thing but I don't think our board would put it to the membership if they weren't completely sure about it and had done all the figures. The uni want the place off their hands so I'm hoping in a few years we will be in a position to buy it from them permanently.

 

[B2TF]

The world's your omlette now. So many options available - you can use it as security against borrowing and end up with no ground at all when you default on the repayments if you like.

 

[CPD_Wrecsam]

No way would the WST/WAFC board touch it with a barge pole if it wasn't going to be financially beneficial.

There's rumoured maintenance costs of £1.5m needed over the next 5 years which would be priced with Glyndwr's 'preferred' contractors in mind, you could probably shave 1/2 or more off that figure, if we can get who we want in.

Also, it opens a plethora of income revenue streams for us that we don't currently receive; advertsing hoardings above pitch level, Stadium, stand and shirt sponsorship, catering and beer sales etc.

We'll be able to open the ground year round with profits going to the club, Stereophonics are playing here in July and we could have more concerts like that, as well as utilising our hospitality areas year round with various events.

Apparently it will be much easier to seek grants for ground improvements too.

 

[Mr Scooty]

I bloody love the Racecourse and want us to stay here forever. A little patch appeared on the grass just in front of the Mold Road Stand a couple weeks ago. Someone has had their ashes buried there. Nobody appreciates the history of the place and wants to protect its future more than Wrexham fans. It will now be in the safest hands possible. I suppose there is a chance this could be costly and perhaps even jeopardise the future of the club, but there's also no better way of securing the future of the club than securing the future of our ground and making it profitable. The long empty Kop occupies a huge amount of land. I'd imagine there is some sort of development planned for it. Be quite nice to become a four sided ground again in the process.

 

[iesty wfc]

How does that work with maintenance and matchday/non-matchday money i.e. are you going to end up like Oxford where they take little or none of their catering/sponsorship/advertising boards etc?

Maintenance was my first thought as i know there was an audit/assessment which suggested £m's in maintenance & repairs over the next few years?

My understanding is that we will get monies from all aspects of the ground I.e. catering etc

Maintenance will be budgeted I imagine. There is circa 1.5m or so spend required but it won't be all done in one hit

 

[GlynTheMilk]

I'm reading it as we will be in control of everything again exactly as it was for decades when Marstons brewery owned the ground and we paid a peppercorn rent.

It was our own Border Breweries who owned the ground until 1984, when Marston's bought them out/closed them down, the bunch of bastards. The town didn't smell the same after 1984. The Prince of Ales and all that.

There's rumoured maintenance costs of £1.5m needed over the next 5 years which would be priced with Glyndwr's 'preferred' contractors in mind, you could probably shave 1/2 or more off that figure, if we can get who we want in.

I would imagine that you could shave quite a lot off that figure if you had people willing to donate a bit of time, effort and know-how towards the maintenance. Have you got a paintbrush? I wonder if there'll be an opportunity for fans to donate to a Keep The Racecourse Going Fund for stuff that needs professional attention; they can happily have a few quid a month off me if there is.

Great news though. It would be great if The Kop could be brought up to a standard where we can use at least part of it.

 

[Raymondo316]

The long empty Kop occupies a huge amount of land. I'd imagine there is some sort of development planned for it. Be quite nice to become a four sided ground again in the process.

That terrace is a thing of beauty...why the heck would you wanna demolish it??

 

[Gibber_McGee]

That terrace is a thing of beauty...why the heck would you wanna demolish it??

It would be great to have the Kop back in use - it's the biggest terrace left in British football - but essentially it is collapsing. It was built on old spoil from the local pits and that has come away from the concrete shell.

Hopefully we can put together funding and grants to build a replacement for it. If we did we could hopefully see some Wales games return to the Racecourse.

Exciting times for our club. Things are really coming together off the pitch.

 

[slaphead]

I love the Racecourse, a proper football ground with the old school feel to it. To see that terrace back in use and full again would be a thing of beauty.

 

[Mr Scooty]

Yeah, I was recently reminiscing about the day we stayed in the football league by beating Boston on the last game of the season.
The last time The Kop was full I think.

The rabona cross from Chris Llewelyn for Proctor to head home our 3rd that effectively made sure we stayed up was an amazing moment itself, but to see a packed Kop erupting behind the goal sends shivers down all areas.

I was obviously enjoying the luxury of watching the game from my seat in the Mold Road stand, but the Kop is where it all began for me. Karl Connolly, the football league, beating premiership teams what seemed like every season, man wearing a motorcycle helmet, pissing against a concrete wall, so many happy memories stood on there. I believe that getting it back up and running again isn't really an option, so at some point it is going to have to be demolished and we'll move forward with something appropriate in its place hopefully.

 

[Walkley_Owl]

Been once to the Racecourse, loved it!

 

[JaredSUFC]

Went to the Racecourse for the Wales - New Zealand friendly in 2007. The place is a thing of beauty. And it's be good to see some Wales games go back up north

 

[Master D]

The Kop was rammed for that Boston match. I remember it like yesterday walking from the match saying, "we must never let this happen ever again, having to escape relegation on the last day"....

 

[slaphead]

The Kop was rammed for that Boston match. I remember it like yesterday walking from the match saying, "we must never let this happen ever again, having to escape relegation on the last day"....

Well, to be fair, you didn't..

 

[Master D]

I knew that was coming immediately, but I couldn't be arsed editing it and rephrasing!

 

[Luke Imp]

Beat us 4-2 at our place in your final game.

 

[Raymondo316]

Cant the kop just be renovated or will that cost to much?? Just seems such a shame to just demolish it

I wish British teams took more of a German approach to stadiums

More and more of these terraces are being demolished and replaced by souless seated stands

 

[Mr Scooty]

More hot terrace porn from the Boston game. Ryan Valentine scoring our penalty equaliser.

Look up penalty kick on wikipedia and that is one of the three images that will greet you. Awesome pen.

 

[SomeMightShay]

Still a ground i won't go to as long as they continue to overcharge away fans for like for like seating, But it is good to see a fan owned club continue to grow on a financial footing and isn't fuelled by vegan potato fuelled hippies and their vanity projects.

 

[GuiseleySteve]

I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Racecourse. We played reasonably well, scored three goals and perhaps should have won. The talented Dom Vose and an over zealous referee spoiled the party. Looking forward to the return fixture although Nethermoor might be a bit of a step down to the Wrexham faithfull but you will be closer to the action!

 

[GlynTheMilk]

Still a ground i won't go to as long as they continue to overcharge away fans for like for like seating, But it is good to see a fan owned club continue to grow on a financial footing and isn't fuelled by vegan potato fuelled hippies and their vanity projects.

I took the trouble of looking up ticket prices for Cheltenham fans in the Yale Stand for our upcoming game, and compared them to Yale Stand ticket prices for home fans (in brackets):

Adult Advance £17.00 (£17.00)
Over 80 Advance £7.00 (£7.00)
Over 62 Advance £12.00 (£12.00)
Under 21 Advance £12.00 (£12.00)
Under 18 Advance £7.00 (£7.00)
Family Under 18 Advance £3.00 (£3.00)
Family Under 11 Advance £1.00 (£1.00)
Match Day Over 80 £7.00 (£7.00)
Match Day Over 62 £14.00 (£14.00)
Match Day Adult £19.00 (£19.00)
Match Day Under 21 £14.00 (£14.00)
Match Day Under 18 £7.00 (£7.00)
Match Day Family Under 18 £3.00 (£3.00)
Match Day Family Under 11 £1.00 (£1.00)
Data is from http://sa1.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/EventSearch?presenter=TLWREXHAMAFC

So, did we jack up our prices for Halifax's visit, or are you telling porkie pies?

 

[GlynTheMilk]

I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Racecourse. We played reasonably well, scored three goals and perhaps should have won. The talented Dom Vose and an over zealous referee spoiled the party. Looking forward to the return fixture although Nethermoor might be a bit of a step down to the Wrexham faithfull but you will be closer to the action!

I was really looking forward to visiting Nethermoor. Grounds like that are absoultely the best thing about being in The Conference; you get to watch football as God intended. We'll definitely be trying to get to the rearranged game, if we can sort out our work diaries.

 

[CPD_Wrecsam]

I took the trouble of looking up ticket prices for Cheltenham fans in the Yale Stand for our upcoming game, and compared them to Yale Stand ticket prices for home fans (in brackets):

Adult Advance £17.00 (£17.00)
Over 80 Advance £7.00 (£7.00)
Over 62 Advance £12.00 (£12.00)
Under 21 Advance £12.00 (£12.00)
Under 18 Advance £7.00 (£7.00)
Family Under 18 Advance £3.00 (£3.00)
Family Under 11 Advance £1.00 (£1.00)
Match Day Over 80 £7.00 (£7.00)
Match Day Over 62 £14.00 (£14.00)
Match Day Adult £19.00 (£19.00)
Match Day Under 21 £14.00 (£14.00)
Match Day Under 18 £7.00 (£7.00)
Match Day Family Under 18 £3.00 (£3.00)
Match Day Family Under 11 £1.00 (£1.00)
Data is from http://sa1.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/EventSearch?presenter=TLWREXHAMAFC

So, did we jack up our prices for Halifax's visit, or are you telling porkie pies?

He means behind the goal, where home (adult) fans can watch for £15 (£13 advance).

 

[SomeMightShay]

So, did we jack up our prices for Halifax's visit, or are you telling porkie pies?

See above.

 

[Wrexdragon]

See above.

But that is due to the two huge iron girders used to prop up the roof that obstruct your view. Certain seats are less affected than others but almost every seat is affected.

Home fans in the Yale stand used by away fans pay the same as the away fans.