Posh Supporters Trust believe construction of a new stadium could be vital to the club's future

Trust chairman Marco Graziano met with Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony recently to cover a number of issues raised by speculation and rumour concerning the club’s financial position.

The Trust were encouraged to hear MacAnthony’s plans to reduce the amount of debt carried by the club, but still hold concerns about the progress made regarding the possibility of a new stadium and the allocation of the £2.5 million raised by a ‘Posh Bond’ scheme earlier this year.

MacAnthony has since partly addressed those issues in a letter to shareholders covering a need to issue club shares to debt holders who wish to convert shares into equity, thus reducing club debt.

MacAnthony also talks of progress with the planned new ‘Sports Bar’ at the club – one of the pledged uses of the Bond money. Part of the Bond money went on the construction of a safe standing area on the London Road End of the current ground as promised. The third use of the Bond money was to move the planning and building of a proposed new stadium forward.

The Trust believes the fractured relationship between the co-owners has stalled the progress on a new stadium.

The Trust have now issued a statement covering the meeting with MacAnthony and their views on club matters.

On the Weston Homes Stadium and a new stadium

‘In the original stadium discussions, the owners rejected redevelopment of the existing stadium due to the lack of commercial scope.

‘In a recent, (due to impasse and delays) meeting with Stewart Thompson the Trust again asked the redevelopment question and again redevelopment of London Road was rejected as not financially viable.

‘The commercial viability and the redevelopment constraints rationale is why the Trust supported the PUFC ambition to relocate to a new city centre location on the embankment.

‘The owners launched the Embankment stadium project in February 2020 announcing in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Peterborough City Council to collaborate on a new community project to develop the embankment location and within this strategic (master) plan (contingent on planning approval) create a new home for PUFC. The embankment stadium web site still bears the completion date of 2023.

‘Of course, the owners will point to the pandemic as the source of the delays, this inevitably has had an impact on timelines. However, even allowing for the delays the stadium project progress is well behind the expectations set by the owners themselves when they launched the stadium embankment project several years ago as the only viable option.

‘The Trust wants to see concrete plans and a visible project structure for communicating to everyone involved in the community.

‘The Trust has identified 'remote’ and ‘control', issues affecting the progress. Articulated more plainly, the role of Stewart Thompson and his relationship with the other owners, much of which has been previously reported is most likely at the root of the lack of progress.

‘This is why the Trust is calling for the appointment of local ownership and leadership with responsibility and accountability for delivering our new home on the PUFC preferred Embankment location.’

POSH BOND

‘The Trust still remains unclear, despite earlier statements on the lack of progress relating to the projects justifying the need for the Bond. We were given assurances (and the Bond prospectus specified the use of these funds) that the Bond money would not be absorbed in the general running of the club, including repaying existing debts. In the recent meeting with the Chairman, we were assured that these projects would be completed.

‘However, no commitment to the financial reconciliation of each of the projects was offered and no timelines were provided for the ‘Sports Bar’ or the ‘…planning, architectural and engineering work to progress a planning application for the proposed new Embankment stadium and venue’.

‘We note in the most recent edition of the Peterborough Telegraph the continuing theme of opposition to the Embankment project. The principal sponsor of the project must start making the case and building an exciting vision for the positive impact of the proposed development. This means the football club, its owners and Posh fans need to convince the community and the council that there is an exciting, necessary and viable project for an arena on the embankment site. The future of the Posh may well depend on it.’

DEBT REDUCTION

The Trust welcomes the club’s owner’s recent commitment to reduce PUFC debt. Since those assurances we have also been notified of the club’s intention to exchange some of the debt for equity. Understanding the detail behind this proposed change to PUFC equity will be important before reaching any final conclusions. However, reducing PUFC debt from its current high level is important.

‘The Trust thanks the chairman (Darragh MacAnthony) for inviting the Trust to a meeting to face questions on a range of issues.

‘The Trust is pleased with the appointment of Leighton Mitchell as interim CEO. Leighton has worked effectively on a number of operational issues with the Trust. Moreover, the Trust want to take this opportunity to recognise and thank all the operational staff who support fans with ticketing, marketing, the club shop, commercial and match day activities.’