SH’s 8-year wait to buy up SP may be fucked – Uncle Ron wants to sell SP for £16m to the consortium who are supposed to be buying CPFC. Now, £16m isn’t a great deal when you considered we sold the crumbling Plough Lane for £9m, but this raises loads of points. One, I doubt if the new consortium will be quite as lax with SH as the previous lot were – expect either a raise in rent or some other “reaffirming of position” by CPFC if it goes ahead.
Secondly, if what is rumoured is right, namely our lease is up next year, we could well be chucked out, and we WILL be homeless. And who would want us? Remember, SH still gets a bit uppity about grounds with less than SP’s current capacity, and would his pride take us sharing at the New Den say? Stamford Bridge would be out of the question, bearing in mind Fulham are supposed to be sharing with them whilst Craven Cottage is being rebuilt.
The only other feasible one is the Valley, again it suffers from being 20,000 which actually is ideal for us but not for SH. We could get an extension, which may be the most likely outcome but as said before, Palace want to get SP “back” if you know what I mean. Thirdly, and I’m wishing aloud here, SH will be forced into looking for new sites, the only trouble is that if he feels he’s being pressurised he could well go funny, like he did with Dublin, and hell WILL happen then.
Finally, the consortium could well want WFC to be “partners” at SP which is worrying quite likely. That said, part of the deal with Ron Noades could well mean that WFC aren’t allowed to be partners – judging by how Teamtalk have reported it SH has been asking Uncle Ron about buying it for a while now (so that explains no proper ground move), and Uncle Ron has done the dirty on Sam. Course, if that is the case, this could well make SH much more determined to find a new place, probably more than he has done since 1991. Wait and see, but be vigilant if SH starts praising the stands at Selhurst…
Tommy Burns has been kicked out at Reading, which will fuel the rumours that Robbie Earle is on his way there as player/manager. Probably a good move all round, he’s clearly past it with us, he wants to try management and there’s a vacancy at a good place to learn stuff (remember Lawrie Sanchez came from Reading).
The Orient defender, one Matthew Lockwood, is a target for us. And Everton. And Southampton. Orient have slapped a £1m price tag on him – can’t we give them Dean Blackwell and Alan Kimble? Plus £999,999 as well? On second thoughts, we did give them Roger Joseph. Apparently, Lockwood is a bit of a “play-anywhere-in-defence”, a la Kjetil Waehler, perhaps he understands the zonal system too? He can also play in midfield – hold on, haven’t we got too many of them?
Southampton have sold the Dell to Barratt Homes for £5m when they move into their brand-spanking new 32,000 stadium at St Marys, just outside the city, which will increase their attendances and revenues, and put them on an even keel for greater things, maybe into Europe. Also, Southend United have planned a new 15,000 stadium to uproot from Roots Hall, this will reportedly put them on a nice springboard to put them in a far better position than they are at the moment. Just thought I’d mention it.