Off Topic Brentonside Development

Just been reading about the new development.....British Land have been talking to the Council today and have agreed with them over how to proceed.......Cinema complex...plus upto twelve restuarants and of course linked with it, the new Coach Station......£42 million cost overall.

I expect James Brent is wishing that he had got his HHP development going two years ago......he just isn't in the same league as British Land........he is yet to get any of his planned developments anywhere near starting.........oh for a new grandstand that can be a decent size without all those other additions to pay for it.

 

Just saw that on the news, never took much notice.

 

He isn't going to build anything either plym. He could be here for another 10 years and the only thing that might happen building wise is that the old grandstand falls down on it's own. I'm not going to go into my opinion of Brent again because I've said it many times already.

 

You are not joking that he's not in the same laegue as British Land, which has a market capitalisation of £8.4 billion.

 

He's not in the same league as Albert the Icecream van man who has a capitalisation of £8.40 who is more likely to build something than Brent.

 

Albert could build a Nice Ice Cream double decker.. What about Billy the burger van man.. he must be worth something.

I have no idea what Brent has or has not got.. he ain't spending it yet, so not al ot we can do.. I thought the coach station was going in a different part of the town now? The bus station does need up grading its a mess, as is the train station.. oh and a lot of Plymouth could do with it also..

 

Whilst spending a long weekend in Plymouth when Mrs Plym and I came down for the Rovers game in September.....I couldn't help but notice the state of some areas of the City.....I did comment before about the Embankment Road area....an area I new as a kid between 1945/55 time, where my mum and her sisters where brought up.

You get spoilt travelling up to London from the suburbs...hundreds of cranes on building sites....I tried counting them one journey around the London Bridge/Waterloo East/Charing Cross area and I lost count around the 200 mark.....the same going west from Waterloo towards Richmond when we go to Kew Gardens regularly.......there must be literally Billions of £'s being spent in London and the South East....not surprising people drift towards London with so much development going on.

James Brent has shown us in the last year or two that he really has no money at all compared with the big boys (British Land £8.4 billion as notDistant reminded us).....I think we should count our blessings that Brent a non-football man actually bothered to take on PAFC in the first case.

It just shows you how poor the west country is.....what a shame that Scotland didn't vote for independence and of course getting rid of the Navy nuclear presence on their shores.....that could have helped Devonport come to life surely....just imagine the work that would have brought to Plymouth. Of course I'm assuming that Devonport could have taken it on board....I'm sure Lindy or Sensible could put me right on that matter.

The only thing that seemed to be doing well was the University....it had taken over the Hoe with literally a tent village when we where down there for graduation week that was just starting as we went home on the Monday.....probably why we couldn't get into either of the Premier Inns....although the Holiday Inn was considerally dearer...it was superior all round....giving you tremendous views from our 8th floor bedroom....and a 360 degree view from the Penthouse Restaurant on the 10th floor, plus the swimming pool on the 2nd floor.

PAFC must be more attractive to a football millionaire than it did five years ago....it would only cost pocket money for such a person to buy.....could be turned into a west country hub of football....not a decent team within a 100 miles....the potential is unlimited....the only local millionaire....whose name I can't recall isn't interested in football or in sport in general.....I notice Bournemouth have found an American organization that want to buy 25% of them......I expect that's the difference between the Premiership and Div 2.

 

Do you mean the Billionaire.. les dawson who owns the range.. correct he does not like football only motorbikes and he goes to F1.. He said he would put a range on the plot once... that is the only interest he would have in home park

 

Do you really think Brent took on Argyle for the benefit of maintaining a football club in the City Plym? Or could it be he saw an opportunity to gain cash from other interests if he did by currying favour with PCC who prbably didn't want the club to go down the swanee for their own reasons. Saviour or user? You decide and yes I know there wasn't a queue. He has spent nothing on Argyle, he will probably never spend anything on Argyle and the only thing he has kept his promise about is exactly that.

Now see what you made me do, I said I wouldn't repeat myself.

 

What did you say Sensible ... He must have spent some cash? what about players ect? I don't really keep up with the Brent saga.. All i am grateful for is that he was the only one in the Que.. We have no idea what his intentions are for the club or any development. At least its now in a better position if he was to move on.. I don't really know what to believe half the time. But i se your point as well.. i rather keep my focus on the football not the goings on or i may have a rant..

 

Keeping it to just the football bit is probably better for the ticker I'd agree. We did know what his intentions were meant to be but that's all they ever were, suggested intentions. I'm not sure he has a plan B remember he said there wasn't one when he proposed plan A and he always tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I think we are in a better position but thanks to the support that has held up pretty well considering the crap we have endured for the last few years. Not sure exactly how much of that is down to James and his Bheys.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Northampton if they go into Admin. They have a healthy debt but somebody in the wings allegedly to do a take over. Will they go into reverse for 5 years like we did? Like Portsmouth didn't? Like a few others didn't when it happened to them. We got James B and they got people who wanted to hand over a bit of cash to help. The price of living in God's Country rather than the Metropolis perhaps.

 

I also said long ago and repeatedly that I wouldn't re-enter the pro/anti JB debate. However..............

1.He is a businessman who clearly wants/needs the club to make a profit so he can take his cut- absolutely nothing wrong with that.
2.he has from time to time, along with Tony Wrathall put his hand in his pocket and produced real cash for the running of the club.
3. he has consistently supported the manager(s) with funds for players- whatever DA says , he was given a budget to work with and agreed to join the club with full knowledge of the budget. His latest comments in the press about how he couldn't afford to sign carlisile's Hope are probably true , but then again the agreed budget has been spent. expect more cash in Jan.
4. I wont even waste time on the owner of the 'range' - he may be a billionaire but we wont get a penny from him and he is even dripping about the so called minimum wage increasing.
5. as you may gather I am a paid up member of the Tory party, PAFC needs to live within it's means -in the same way that the country does. For all those that moan about cuts to the Police/NHS/armed forces/reduction in tax credits- fine, I suppose you wouldn't moan about a tax increase to compensate for these addl expenses. Equally I suppose you would vote for an increase in season ticket prices to finance more/better players....
6. randomly, had Scotland voted for independence (plymborn) I doubt the subs would have moved as far south as Devonport. Whatever the SNP thought/said it would have taken very many years (20?) to have closed Faslane- and then I suspect that Cumbria would have been the preferred location. Not sure that Devonport would be suitable from a purely physical perspective- depth of water etc-.

Not saying we should sit back and be totally happy with our lot, but for whatever JB has failed to deliver, we need to recognise what he has done and that is in essence ,saved the club from extinction.

 

Les Dawson that's the man I was thinking of......have I underestimated his wealth.

 

For a start he isn't a billionaire. Quite wealthy but not that wealthy. I don't dispute that Brent was the man who was there at the time of need. However, had there not been the intro to PCC he needed I wonder if he would have turned up at all. We will never know. Actually we will never really know a lot of things so it is all down to opinion. I, in my own personal life have always lived within my means and accept and applaud that concept. The only loan I have ever had in my entire life was £4000 for my one and only mortgage and paid it off in less than half the time. I don't believe in living off the State so would not vote for any of the above and don't agree with handouts for anyone and everyone. I have provided for my own retirement and pay a wedge of tax still for the privilege. However that doesn't mean I don't put my hand in my pocket to support my own. All that to say in a long winded way that I don't expect and never have the man to blow his fortune on Argyle.

I simply cannot blindly support Brent. I question his motives for getting involved and do not believe it was for anything other than personal gain despite his words at the time which was a City like Plymouth should have a football team and he wanted to be the saviour of the club for the people. Bullshit springs to mind. Yes he didn't have to get involved and yes he probably was looking for a return on his involvement. He never mentioned a return though in all of his outpourings. Of course he's in business to make a few quid but don't bullshit for christ sake. He should have just said it as it was at the time without all the crap pulling on the heart strings of the plebs. People would have got it even if it wasn't what they really wanted. By giving it large at the start he made a rod for his own back which he didn't need to have. Just say it as it is. I'll give my name to it but in return I will opt for business opportunities.

 

Sensible, a the last time of hearing he was worth 1.65 Billion in may i think so he must be 2 billion now i would think.. A bit more than Mr Brent.. Shame he hates football..I doubt we will ever get the wealthy person to take on the club.. we are stuck with what we have.

 

You might be the nearest we've got Joe....you know you want to do it......go on make Brent an offer.

 

Plym, if i was in a position i would do it... but the other half would not be happy.. That is lots of shoes and bags. I will be off to get our tickets today. will let you know if all sorted..

 

Well said Lyndhurst but I fear you are preaching to the otherwise converted.

The one point I must pick up on is Brent's reasons for buying the club. Those are crystal clear and always have been: namely to make money out of associated property redevelopment. There's nothing wrong with that and it would have been to the benefit of the club and the city. The other bidders had exactly the same in mind. Given that objective, Brent has so far behaved honourably towards the club and appears now to have appointed an excellent manager.

If he's done anything wrong, it's failing to raise project capital at the tail end of a very bad economic recession and banking crisis and having the council put the skids under his plan in favour of a rival which delivered a free new bus station. I've heard worse.

 

I agree with Mr Dawson on the minimum wage.. as most of the dorks don't deserve that much.. try employing them...

 

Love it, lets blame the Council for Brent not happening. Nothing to do with him and not having a pot to p**s in when it came down to the nitty gritty. His development went tits up before the Council gave the go ahead to the "other lot". Not what was originally suggested in that it shrank before our eyes and then the bricks were too expensive or some such rubbish. Brent has completed nothing he set out to complete in the building field whether to do with Argyle or otherwise. He isn't exactly Mr Popular in Torquay either is he.

I don't care if he made a few quid on the back of Argyle ownership. Best of luck to him if he could and I am not one to deny anyone making a profit where it's merited. But, I don't like bullshit I much prefer plain speaking where we can all understand the goals and motives. I don't move in business circles so am not used to it like perhaps you are notdistant. I do not recall any mention of a profit motive at anytime when the negotiations were taking place. I did when it came to the opposition and that was scoffed at by the marauding troups led by the glorious president. There was it seems no difference between either camp when push came to shove except one was more upfront than the one who won the day. I do remember certain promises made by Brent other than self sufficiency. He's kept the latter for sure but the rest look like being a long way off. We the supporters have saved Argyle in the end by our continued paying our hard earned to watch a very poor fare for several years now. All Brent did was lend his name to something and look for contracts he has never fullfilled to be lined up.