Well, here's the key questions to me. (They may be rubbish questions to y'all, but hey ho
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1. Purchase price
(a) am I right in thinking that unless SLE pay all the debts in full, any deal has to be passed by a meeting of creditors in a CVA? If yes, then:
----(i) what's the chance of HMRC agreeing to a deal at less than 100%?
----(ii) are HMRC the majority creditor, or is that RFL?
----(iii) [iCould[/i SLE even offer less than 100p/£? I mean, a newco buying the club is one thing, but surely the actual league itself couldn't be seen to be buying at a price that means the taxpayer loses a bunch of money? How would such an event sit with Sport England, etc.?
2. Once the deal is done, SLE own the Bulls. Let's say just to use round figures they had to pay £1m.
----(i) Would the clubs agree to any sale that did not recover the outlay?
----(ii) Why would a buyer come forward now, and pay £1m? For what? I don't see it. But would SLE agree to sell for little or nothing?
Quote ="mat"presumably SLE will have to pay sufficient to satisfy the creditors and pay guilfoyles bill. This figure plus costs incurred between now and end of season will be price someone has to pay to buy the club from SLE'"
Except why on god's earth would anyone do that? It is the buyer who sets the price - not the seller! Any buyer couldn't give a shoite what SLE paid, why should that concern them? There's little enough chance of a proper buyer coming forward. There's zero chance of a buyer coming forward and agreeing to fork out, FOR NOTHING, a sum equivalent to repay the huge debts of some failed company! Any buyer would work out what they thing they were buying was worth, and make an offer accordingly. Which brings me to:
----(iii) Wouldn't any buyer want to know, before making an offer,
...........(a) whether they could buy the lease from the RFL, the underlease from SLE, or whether they would have to rent?
...........(b) whether they were buying a SL team or a Championship or C1 team? (In a back to square one type of way). Would SLE accept a conditional offer? If they did, would their conditional acceptance itself be conditional on the RFL in turn agreeing to sell the lease which in turn would be conditional on the Council agreeing to transfer the lease and agreeing to the subletting to the new tenants?
3. I assume there will be no moneyed buyer. Is it not the case though that, if there was, they would have to move pretty damn sharpish to have any chance at all of salvaging anything at all for next season? I mean, as matters stand, whilst SLE may become the owner, they obviously cannot sign up or renew any contract, no player would be foolish enough to sign up or extend a contract with a temporary owner with no guarantee of SL rugby next year.
4. If as I fear the end of the season comes and nobody bought the club, and it folds, where does that leave the SLE clubs? They will have royally done in their cash.
5. If some other body is formed such as a Supporters Trust, that might be feasible in order to run a new club, at Championship or C1 level, (though personally I am sceptical whether we have enough people with the time as well as ability and cash resources to afford to retire from their own lives and do that for nowt, but we shall see); how would this Trust acquire the newco? It would have no funds.
----(i) Would SLE give it away?
----(ii) If yes, where would Supporters Trust newco get the substantial funds it would need to form a credible club to operate in the championships next year?
Of course by far the biggest revenue source is season tcket sales but for the foreseeable, obviously we won't be able to sell any, since nobody has a clue what the tickets would be for.
6. Surely, given the uncertainty, one thing we will not be able to do is appoint a coaching staff; since just like ABC, a coach wants to have certainty, and is not going to take a job without having a clue in what league that job will be, and thus at what salary?
7. Presumably as part of the SLE deal the SLE will become the new subtenant of Odsal. Which may in practical terms be the only purchased item on any value, though personally I'm not sure what the underlease would in reality be worth. Would the new buyer sublet from SLE? or be expected to come up with a wedge to buy the underlease?
I wish I could see a more positive outlook, or even a less bleak one, but it just seems to me that the problems are pretty much insurmountable. But I'm no expert, so please, someone explain to me any way at all that we might be in SL in 2013. For the life of me, I can't see one, and I need cheering up.