The new kit is very nice and I’m sure it’s great that Ashley has returned. I am trying not to be even more irritating by posting on lots of different threads. I have been very surprised at the general lack of concern about the bond default - and other matters which many here will defend, ignore or not really address, like Vaughan saying Wasps would own the training ground when it appears that they don’t.
There are some on here who I think do have some concerns, other are totally blasé and have been shown to be wrong, e.g, the bonds weren’t sorted out in a few weeks. Until the bonds are sorted I don’t see much in the way of ups because until then there is a constant cloud hanging over everything.
The consent solicitation should be out in 9 days. Bondholders who express a view are not happy bunnies but they may have smaller holdings who had planned to use the redemption to, for example, pay off their mortgages. Those with bigger holding may be keeping their powder dry, but all the media attention is not helping Wasps cause. It does only take 25% to vote against the plan for it to fall.
If everything works out, those who are totally unconcerned will be able to say “told you so”. Those who are concerned will breath a sigh of relief. If it doesn’t work out, there will be some to whom it will come as a total shock.
Whilst my stance will be seen as biased, because I have supported CCFC for a very long time, it does actually provide some balance when taken overall with all the views expressed by the many more posters who have an equal but opposite biased stance. They are more than capable of highlighting all the ups.
As I said previously, I am enjoying the debate. The world would be a very boring, and probably less developed, place if everyone agreed on everything.
I'm not sure you're reading the room.
It's not that no-one here is concerned. Of course we are, but there is a lot more context you seem to miss.
We've been on the edge of bankruptcy as a club in the past. We were spiralling down into oblivion with little success on the pitch, a tenancy agreement that shafted us completely and a football club whose fans hated us. Our D.O.R. was putting his hands in his own pocket to buy supplies for the physios to treat the players, we called former players out of retirement just to sit on the bench so we were able to field a team, and players were going unpaid.
Then Derek came along and saved the club. He poured vast amounts of his own personal money into a club that wasn't his natural home. And he did that for two reasons.
1) He loves rugby. The game, the atmosphere, the crowds, the fans, the friendships, the rivalries, the whole thing. The first time I ever spoke to him we chatted on the phone for an hour about different games, our favourite moments, the players we enjoyed watching, how we thought the club would do. Plenty of people have sotries of meeting him in a bar in France and spending time just chatting to him as they would with any other fan. In fact I've not heard from anyone who has met him with an open mind who thinks he isn't genuine.
2) He saw an opportunity to make money from the club. Now I'm the first to admit I was against the move to Coventry when it was first announced, it adds an hour or two onto my travel time in each direction, and I knew I'd get to fewer games, but the imagination and scope of the plans is truly staggering, and it is hard not to be impressed by the ambition of it all. The fact that there was a stadium going begging, a stadium that had essentially been built for a football team whose owners were so arrogant they screwed over the freehold owners and then flounced off in a huff to try to devalue it enough that they could buy it at a steal was serendipity of the highest order.
I can understand why fans of CCFC feel aggrieved at how things have worked out, but if SISU had dealt with the council the way Wasps did, and not tried to bully them into a situation that was not what they wanted then there would have been no stadium to buy. SISU and Joyless showed their true colours by trying again and again to sue Wasps unsuccessfully instead of attempting to build a mutually beneficial relationship.
Now obviously those original plans have not gone the way anyone at Wasps hoped, and things don't look brilliant right now. But there is a huge amount of love and support for Derek and the team he has assembled among the fans of the club. We are worried, but we trust him. We wouldn't have a club without him.
We're concerned about the bond, but figure there is likely a plan. From the way things have worked out I suspect there was a plan, and something happened to throw a spanner in the works. They wouldn't have been able to mention HSBC if they weren't involved, so something must have happened there. Maybe the threat of more legal action from CCFC was the issue? Who knows. I'm a bond holder and I'm ok with waiting as long as my 6.5% is being paid.
We're concerned about the lack of income, but understand that Rugby is a pretty poor way to try to make money. The plan for the club was for hotels, conferences, concerts, football, netball, and rugby all to come together. Covid effectively killed every single one of those income streams, and it is only just starting to bounce back. Hotels, Bars, Concert Venues and other similar businesses went under all over the country and so the fact that we are still here is a testament to how well the club is run.
We're concerned about the performances on the field, as a fan base we have different theories about what is causing it, but that is what this place is for, we disagree, we debate, sometimes we get cross, but we are all Wasps fans first and foremost.
We're concerned that CCFC might be more trouble than they are worth. Not a single game played this season and already legal threats. It's like your club can't understand that a healthy working relationship benefits us both. We aren't in competition, we can both succeed.
I'm sure some people are concerned about the training centre, but I'm not. It was never owned by Wasps, it was owned by Derek and Chris, now it is owned by just Chris, who is not only a very switched on and successful guy, but sits on the board of Wasps. A company doesn't have to own a property for it to be its home. Just like the freehold of the Arena does not belong to Wasps, the freehold of the training centre doesn't either.
So yeah we're concerned, but we certainly aren't panicking yet.
Always a Wasp