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Post by crosstheriver on Oct 9, 2011 19:57:49 GMT
Read this and feel sorry for them.....?
Ipswich Borough Council says it is in the process of trying to recoup rent from Ipswich Town.
BBC Radio Suffolk understands the club is £650,000 in arrears for the rent of their Portman Road home.
Last year an independent assessor concluded the bill should rise from £15,000 a year to £111,000 and be back-dated to 2004.
The council says it is prepared to "take steps", but the club have yet to make a statement on the issue.
Speaking in March, Town chief executive Simon Clegg unveiled the extent to which their rent had risen while defending a rise in season ticket prices.
"We've had a significant increase in our rent of 743%, increasing our annual rent from about £15,000 to £111,000," he told BBC Radio Suffolk.
"So reluctantly we've decided we've had to increase ticket prices by 6%."
The council is hopeful of coming to an arrangement with the club before next week.
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Post by notaswindonfan on Oct 9, 2011 20:42:12 GMT
£15,000 not surprised they wanted to increase it wouldn't mind that for united stadium but that is one large increase
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Post by crosstheriver on Oct 9, 2011 21:23:16 GMT
Still cheap by comparison to some!
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Post by scoob on Oct 9, 2011 21:35:19 GMT
It's a 30,000 capacity stadium and they are averaging 18,000 this season. I bet the new rent is well under what they pay most, if not all, if their players per year (total £12M in 2009 - see below). We pay £350k for our 12,500 capacity stadium and have a huge loss in other revenue. I'm not suprised that the council has decided to stop using council taxpayers money to subsidise the club. I feel so sorry for them........... Their Chief Exec has used the rent increase to justify increasing ticket prices by £1+ but that will raise over £400k extra revenue so he is using this to pull the wool over the fans eyes! news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/i/ipswich_town/9432404.stmnews.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/i/ipswich_town/8339592.stm
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Post by SteMerritt on Oct 10, 2011 9:18:45 GMT
The back-date bit is scandalous though.
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Post by surreyman on Oct 10, 2011 9:27:53 GMT
If the back-dating is because the Council have realised they've been under-charging ITFC since 2004, that's an outrageous claim. The Council should have had better processes in place for reviewing rents.
But maybe the increase is a penalty imposed because ITFC owe £650k back rent? If ITFC are spending £12 million each year on players' wages, maybe they have poor priorities? Surely rent should always be paid first?
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Post by Mark on Oct 10, 2011 10:06:20 GMT
This is completely different to OUFC though. At Ipswich the Council may own the LAND, but have granted a long lease. The club (or more precisely its subsidiary Stadco) have built and operate the STADIUM.
There may be an argument that the land rent has been undercooked for years, or they may have very cheap car parking or training grounds for all I know.
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