Maybe a stupid question, but does anyone know why the club and Sainsburys don't seem to want to work together ? Would it not be beneficial to both parties to reach an agreement that sees us redeveloping the main stand and whitehorse, with Sainsbury's losing some land in return for a new store on a new stadium in a soon to be gentrified area.

Is it because the club only want to do it stand by stand or are Sainsbury's just not interested or expecting us to buy land at a premium and then build them a new store also ?

Thanks for the link Rudi. If the land owned blue (which is the traditional outline colour for adjacent landlholding) is correct and current, then it looks from that plan that we must have done a sale and lease back of that end of the ground at some point in the past. Would need to see leases to see exactly where we stand however the ball would appear to be firmly in Sainsburys court. CPO rules are complex, but it would not be out of the question if the Council feel it is in the public interest for it to occur. Threat of CPO is normally sufficient to get two sides talking at reasonable price, as is a big fat chequebook however Sainsburys will not only be looking at the value of the land to be sold but also at the reduction in the value of their asset as a result of the loss of car parking. Hands up all those who would stop shopping there if the car parking disappears?

I really do hope that SP has done his homework properly on all of this before releasing yesterdays scheme as there would be huge disappointment if this is a damp squib.

There are probably a number of reasons but personally I think one of the main ones is from a business point of view, football especially with a club like ours is an extremely speculative game. I'd imagine sainsburys are reluctant to give up on precious land that supermarkets see as so valuable for the sake of "maybe increasing a bit of revenue" - if we go down, that of course won't be the case. That on top of weighing how much more profit they'll actually rake in as a result of 6k more people on a match day vs how much land they may need to give up.

If you look it at strictly from a business point of view, were essentially asking them to give up highly valued land (and who knows of what quanitity), because Parish thinks this is a slam dunk for everyone around despite the fact we have a club that is desperately fighting relegation every year.

One would hope that potentially they have an agreement in principle, subject to planning. And that's what I'm still clinging onto, when taking into considerarion the fuss that was made yesterday.

I hope it happens but the Sainsburys comments in the advertiser didn't hint anything to that effect.

[Link]

All you need to know on how Parish views Sainsburys on this.