A supporters view on yesterday’s Pitch Owners statement……
……After Chelsea’s surprise announcement about the CPO yesterday, I have jotted down a few bullet points as issues have occurred to me. This isn’t exhaustive but may provide food for thought and kick off further ideas in others.
The Proposal Itself
• Where is the proof that Stamford Bridge can’t be expanded? Undoubtedly many fans would prefer to stay, and I suspect loss of hotels/restaurants would not be a major concern for many.
• The idea of building a walkway at SB has been raised by Cliff Auger of the CSG on a number of occasions and surely would be the best way of dealing with the access issue. Has a detailed feasibility study ever been carried out on this?
• What is the realistic capacity that would be needed for expanded SB or a new ground? How often do the club think 55,000 seats would be needed?
• Have the club already received any offer on the SB land which is acceptable to them?
• What happens after 2020. In theory we could move to a Greenfield site off the M25?
• The ‘Old Oak Common’ rumour resurfaced for the umpteenth time yesterday. Hopefully this is a dead duck, but the story won’t go away.
• By offering £100 per share, shareholders who sold would only get their money back, with no account of inflation since 1993. They are worth £150+ now.
• The ‘walk of honour’ proposal is risible and insulting. Given that any new ground would be bigger, the ‘priority season ticket’ offer is surely nebulous as well, as well as morally reprehensible.
The Timing
• This is all being done at very short notice (17 working days), and the morning after a midweek away game, which could be interpreted by cynics as a deliberate move.
• Why such a sudden hurry, and such energy, on such a huge and clearly emotive issue? If the club have got nothing to hide why not wait until a site is identified so an informed choice can be made.
The Process
• Is the CPO address list up to date? How will members who have moved be made aware of the issue, especially as the next home game isn’t until 15th October and many shareholders probably don’t look at the website very often.
• It would be interesting to know how many shares were sold in the last year – has there been a covert attempt to build the ‘Yes’ vote?
• Given the club’s obsession with the Far East market, why has no real attempt been made to sell CPO shares internationally? Given the alleged Chelsea global fan base, 15,000 shares sold in 18 years is not exactly a success story.
The Campaign
Fans – groups and individuals.
• How do we get the disparate groups together and formulate an action plan?
• One big problem is that many of those who feel strongly about this are not CPO shareholders and will not be able to influence the result except through external protest.
• A meeting to agree a way forward is needed very quickly, but the next home game (Everton) is only 12 days before the CPO meeting.
• How do we get the shareholders list & can we write to them? If we do, it will presumably cost several thousand pounds (Can’t see the club funding a letter from the ‘No’ campaign). How do we fund this or do we not try to?
• Ideally, there should be a single forum on this issue, rather than myriad groups. To me, the CSG seems to be the logical focus.
Media
• We clearly have plenty of contacts across our fan base but how do we get a consistent message out there, keep them appraised of updates etc.
Next Steps
• Prepare for 27/10 meeting – try and optimise turnout, optimise CPO members actually able to vote, agree strategy and have proper debate
• Try and get answers in advance of 27/10 meeting to above questions
• Push for fan input into any redevelopment / new ground
Posted by Tim Rolls