I’ve received a number of questions today
about some of the topics I discussed on air today. There is a quick reply below
based on what I’ve information I’ve been given.
The club agrees and acknowledges that if the club was to be promoted to a
higher league that they should pay a higher rent at the Ricoh. However, a levy
was proposed by ACL on all ticket sales should the club be promoted, limiting
the clubs income stream.
The club
never stopped paying rent
While the
wider deal was being negotiated, everyone acknowledged that the £1.2m rent was
unsustainable and a lower, interim rent figure should be agreed. An interim
rent of £10,000 per match was agreed.
The rent had
historically been paid by the club topping up an escrow account Rent Deposit Account so that there would always be a balance of
£500,000 in it. At the start of the rent "dispute", according
to our sources, ACL took the £500k out
of this account as a lump sum - and the club continued to pay the
interim rent for every match thereafter.
2. Match-day
costs were paid directly by the club, not ACL
The key
match-day costs, such as stewards, police, St. John ambulance, etc. were always
paid directly to those service providers by the club - not via ACL
So for each
match, the club paid the interim rent to ACL and in addition paid the match-day
costs directly to the service providers.
