Fiddler is really Gypsy Rose Lee when suggesting they might raise another £2M. If they agree the new PRA and WRU pays off the Sennedd loan there is more than enough theoretical book money to invest heavily. It feels like this supertanker is beginning to answer the helm.
Has anyone with a ST been contacted about checking your contact details about updates about the move to St Helens, at least things are starting to move.
The founder members of Ospreys Supporters Club collected the line of feeder clubs jerseys used as a display in Riverside. Will these be used in St Helens. Also the same group founded the OSCA presentation, whats going to happen to this and the honours board ?
Did he mention what type of redevelopment the clubhouse was going to receive? Would us fans have access to it on match days, would it be open through the week(pub hours, serving food etc) What about large screens in the ground for tmo reviews, beer/food stalls in and around the ground(selling proper food/beer, unlike the .com)? Club shop/ticket office? Toilets/changing rooms, where will the players enter the field...
The clubhouse development will depend to an extent on the south stand. If it ends up a temporary structure the changing rooms will be in the clubhouse where the existing gym and changing rooms are. If it is permanent structure they will be under the stand. If they can raise a further 2m it will be the latter if not the former. Match days the clubhouse will be hospitality. Fans would be in the Fanzone which will be at the Swansea end where the old cricket scoreboard was. They will be looking to utilise clubhouse on non match days including weddings and conferences, No mention of screens but there will have to be one. All the spare space is at the Swansea end
From what I have heard the development is a partnership that involves private monies at well. So I would have thought the conditions are more likely to apply to the levels of private investment coming through. The Council leader has stated it is a partnership as will be the entire
Swansea Bay sports park and any investment partnership will have conditions.
The delay is due to the fact that’s it’s a cricket ground. You don’t kick a cricket club off mid season when they have no where to play. They have played there for over 100 Years. That’s not the way to make friends.
SCC first and third teams play at SH but their third team already plays at the two pitches at Ashleigh Road and there is a ground on Sketty Lane next to the fire station. Glamorgan stopped playing at SH 5 years ago due to poor pitch and facilities and said this summer that they were going to invest in Neath. That puts more strain on Swansea Cricket finances so something was always going to change.
L B stated there was no offer put on table for Toby, we are not party to the discussions , but the outcome similar to WRU not making sure the most exciting young wing played for Wales not England
How is it even remotely similar? One winger obviously wanted to play for England else he'd have waited for Wales. We have no idea if Toby wanted to stay or go?
I just have reviewed them in the thread below. One says we are likely to have to play our early block fixtures away and another says it does not matter if not ready at start as long as it is sometime in 25/6 season. Stop embarrassing yourself.
There is a lot to chew over and it will be November before we see the real WRU/PRB/PRA proposals and (more crucially) get the WRU Annual Report for the numbers. Only then can we guess at how much the regions will get from WRU and remember that the £4.5M ST goes on about is not funding but salary cap. (In 2022/23 three regions shared £27.9M while Dragons got £9.7M but that imbalance should end now that WRU have "sold" Dragons).
If the cap does rise to the suggested £6.5M (it all depends when since the £4.5M cap only came in in September) it means a 45% increase in available salary which should bring more Exiles back home so I don't think it will be a case of losing players to the other regions more like sharing in academy output, surplus positional players and new recruits from outside. It wasn't so long ago that we "gave" Rory Thornton away 'cos we could not give him game time and look who is on our wing now. It already happens.
Like everything in Wales Online it is unfounded speculation with a tribal bias. I would counsel patience, but then I nearly always do.
I think that ST has put 2 and 2 together and come up with 859 as an answer.
I can see the WRU wanting to have more control over the Team Wales lads and I can see them trying to exert some influence about players moving (Read Gatland here) but the players will still have to agree to the movement and I doubt any of the regions would be willing to cede that amount of power to the WRUin for any sort of balance sheet improvement.
If we do agree to this in whatever form it is framed, then we have to think that the powers that be inside the Ospreys have agreed that it is the best course of action for the Ospreys. Of course we all want Wales to do well, but we are Ospreys supporters first.
Essentially we and all other regions only exist because shareholders are prepared to fund losses and this cannot and will not go on forever. If a compromise agreement is required with the union with the best safeguards we can negotiate to get us into our own stadium and enable us to build a business model that is sustainable then we have to do it. There is zero point in having pure independence and then running out of money.
Two very good, pragmatic posts. Just as we support the team and trust in the staff then so too should we support and trust the management/owners. We don't have a lot of choice anyway.
Lance was asked by my Brother in Law (BIL)basically the same thing at the update a couple of months ago and Lance didn't answer to his satisfaction.
We know ST makes up stories but this has added information which to me he has received from an insider ( and we would know where he got that from) and that would lead me to one of the teams that would agree to these proposals.
It would be the start of a very slippery slope IMO, that I couldn't countenance in supporting beyond the end of this season if we were to support these proposals.
I think we need to see what the proposals are before getting too het up about this. I dont see a problem with a 20% stake in return for taking liability off the balance sheet and ensuring teams dont stockpile in the same position. I would have thought Cardiff would be the biggest objectors to forcing players to move positions. It would impact on Grady and Ben Thomas.
WRU paid out £2.85M and wrote off a £900,000 loan in 2017 to acquire the 50% of Dragons they did not already own. They did not get it free and as others have said, they put more in over the years.
I think you are missing the point. We all know the union paid consideration to acquire the Dargons. The point is that they gave it away including Rodney Parade to the new shareholders in return for taking on the same Covid loans that the other three did without getting a stadium thrown in for free.
You expect Lance to discuss commercially sensitive information in a public forum when you won’t. That seems strange. Of course a month to put everything in place is tight and I agree more unlikely than likely but would it matter in the greater scheme of things if it took a few months longer
The revised fixture list is out. Unfortunately 2 games have been moved to the Brewery Field (not great for me as my in-laws are elderly and will not travel there) and the Scarlets game is on the 21st of December instead.
Fiddler is really Gypsy Rose Lee when suggesting they might raise another £2M. If they agree the new PRA and WRU pays off the Sennedd loan there is more than enough theoretical book money to invest heavily. It feels like this supertanker is beginning to answer the helm.
Has anyone with a ST been contacted about checking your contact details about updates about the move to St Helens, at least things are starting to move.
The founder members of Ospreys Supporters Club collected the line of feeder clubs jerseys used as a display in Riverside. Will these be used in St Helens. Also the same group founded the OSCA presentation, whats going to happen to this and the honours board ?
Thanks for the update Fiddler.
Are there any more details about St. Helens that you can share please?
Just out of the meeting and at the game so I will post more later but it was very informative.
Fully funded phase 1 with phase 2 happening in 2-3 years.
Planning in April
Work starts in May
Pitch laid after cricket season - 12 weeks
Terrace to hold approx 3k
Mumbles Road stand will be existing stand for students approx 1k
Swansea road end Family Stand approx 2k
New main stand approx 2k could be demountable or permanent depending on funding
The fan zone is near the clubhouse but it will not be fully covered.
That's phase 1.
Phase 2 will be moving the training barn to St Helen's.
St Helens to be developed by CCSx , licence with conditions for Ospreys , (Still a Region ?)
The delay is due to the fact that’s it’s a cricket ground. You don’t kick a cricket club off mid season when they have no where to play. They have played there for over 100 Years. That’s not the way to make friends.
Finally some good news - Ospreys’ move to St Helen’s gets a step closer | Ospreys
Tommy boy
I was delighted that they are moving to St Helens as I would have been if they moved to the Gnoll , but St Helens was the best option,
My gripe is being told categorically publicly and by personal EMail by L B That we would be playing from the start of Season 25/26 at ST Helens
LB was either being naive or disingenuous to keep repeating this
What effect would have a statement saying we will be developing StHelens , but in the interim our games will be played at Bridgend
No statement as yet in respect of our tenure at Swansea stadium , we await confirmation of next seasons fixtures and grounds
So much for LB promise and acceptance by some on this forum
Don’t expect to be watching in the development this side of next Christmas
Has there been any movement on the requested loan from SCSx , or has this been delayed by the incompetent’s in Cardiff
St Helen's unlikely to be ready for the start of next season. Looking at moving in this time next year.
There is a lot to chew over and it will be November before we see the real WRU/PRB/PRA proposals and (more crucially) get the WRU Annual Report for the numbers. Only then can we guess at how much the regions will get from WRU and remember that the £4.5M ST goes on about is not funding but salary cap. (In 2022/23 three regions shared £27.9M while Dragons got £9.7M but that imbalance should end now that WRU have "sold" Dragons).
If the cap does rise to the suggested £6.5M (it all depends when since the £4.5M cap only came in in September) it means a 45% increase in available salary which should bring more Exiles back home so I don't think it will be a case of losing players to the other regions more like sharing in academy output, surplus positional players and new recruits from outside. It wasn't so long ago that we "gave" Rory Thornton away 'cos we could not give him game time and look who is on our wing now. It already happens.
Like everything in Wales Online it is unfounded speculation with a tribal bias. I would counsel patience, but then I nearly always do.
Lance was asked by my Brother in Law (BIL)basically the same thing at the update a couple of months ago and Lance didn't answer to his satisfaction.
We know ST makes up stories but this has added information which to me he has received from an insider ( and we would know where he got that from) and that would lead me to one of the teams that would agree to these proposals.
It would be the start of a very slippery slope IMO, that I couldn't countenance in supporting beyond the end of this season if we were to support these proposals.
http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=6588954&u=https%3A//t.co/CPmgIGdax3
If this goes ahead, and we accept it, then they may as well not bother with St Helens, as there will be zero point in it.
Can anyone give details on what was said/asked last night please?
No planning consultation,no lease agreement , anyone care to put odds on St Helens being ready for 2025/6 season
The revised fixture list is out. Unfortunately 2 games have been moved to the Brewery Field (not great for me as my in-laws are elderly and will not travel there) and the Scarlets game is on the 21st of December instead.
The only game confirmed in swansea is December 8th
Looking at the fixture list on the website, most of the home games are TBC. after I renewed my ST