Thursday: A deal to allow Peterborough United to buy its £8 million stadium out of city council ownership has been defended as a good result for tax payers.
Under the terms agreed, Posh will pay an unspecified monthly sum to Peterborough City Council over an unspecified number of years which will end in the club being given ownership of the London Road ground.
The agreement marks the end of months of talks between the two and paves the way for the start of a revamp of the ground which will see the demolition of the Moy’s End stand, traditionally used by away fans.
The replacement stand will include a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education centre.
Officials have refused to say whether the club or council will own the centre.
Council leader Councillor Marco Cereste said: “I do not know how much money the council will get when the stadium is sold back but even if it broke even it would be a good investment for us.
“We have come up with an agreement that seems to make everybody happy. There’s a way forward and this is good news.
“We don’t know yet when the club will buy the stadium or how much, that has still to be decided. It will mean the club stays at London Road and it’s a win-win situation.”
Cllr Cereste said work on the Moy’s End stand, which starts next month, should be completed by next season.
The deal includes the council paying compensation to Posh during the season while the Moy’s End stand is out of action to recompense its financial loss as there will be less space for fans.
The agreement comes just three years after the council bought the ground from Peterborough United Holdings Ltd, a firm not connected to the club and to which city businessman Colin Hill was a consultant.
Club chief executive Bob Symns said: “Talks between Peterborough United and the council about the stadium redevelopment have taken another giant stride forward.
“Both parties have spent many hours over a vastly extended period building a legal package that will incorporate current and future new stands, club ownership of the stadium and sustainable financial arrangements that will conclude and define the football club’s future.
“The time it has taken to reach this point in our talks has been particularly frustrating for all concerned, ourselves, the city council and not least our supporters.
Preparation work has already begun on redevelopment and Mr Symns said he hoped demolition of the Moy’s End stand would be well underway.
He said when talks first started it was seen as a straight forward process but quickly became more complicated when improvements to the other stands were included as well as the long-term ownership, something Mr Symns described as the club’s ‘holy grail’.
Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony said: “It is massively important to the city, it is massively important to the club because it was getting to the point where we had a couple of years left on the lease and I was ready to serve notice and look elsewhere.
“But I am not at that point now. I think we are at the point where we are moving forward in a nice way.”
Paul Froggatt, of the Posh Supporters’ Trust, said: “This is good news for everybody. I don’t see Posh being successful on the pitch because of this deal but I can see it making a difference in terms of commercial success and that’s important for Mr MacAnthony. It gives him something tangible to own.”
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Factfile:
London Road has been the home of Peterborough United FC since 1913.
Peterborough City Council forked out £8.65 million in February 2009 to buy the ground from Peterborough United Holdings Ltd (PUHL) in a move described at the time as saving the club.
At the time, club director of football Barry Fry said he understood the ground had been sold to PUHL in 2003 for about £1million.
Ambitious plans to redevelop the ground and the area around it have since been unveiled by the council.
The redevelopment of the Moy’s End stand is due to cost £9 million with £5.5 million coming from a grant and the rest funded by the council.
A brand new 2,500-seater stand will be built, replacing the current terrace which has a capacity of 3,495.
The stadium has to be all-seater by next season if the club remains in the Championship, but Posh is hoping to trial a new ‘safe-standing’ area used in Europe. If not it could bolt temporary chairs to the terraces until a more permanent solution is found.
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