Blackwell meadows

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shawry
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by shawry » Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:29 pm

Darlo_Pete wrote:As stated before I fell that a further statement from the club would be constructive and hopefully it would go to alleviate some fans worries about what is happening. A fair bit seems to have happened since the last update.
Can I ask what you would expect it to say that is different to the quote in the Echo article?

There is little the club can say in addition to that, and Im not sure anything they say at the minute will alleviate worries, the only thing that will do that is that the agreement has been signed, or we have elsewhere to go.

We have already been told that the club have not walked away from negotiations, and that we are ready to progress, as we have been for a while.

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divas
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by divas » Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:37 pm

onewayup wrote:I wonder if the land behind Cummings is still available to us .we would have to start from scratch in building the ground but it would be the football clubs own place,just thinking out loud.
Wouldn't it be great if there was a parcel of land, left to the town for sporting purposes that already had all existing utilities in place to develop quite cost effectively....I'll stop now.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Darlogramps » Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:53 pm

shawry wrote:
Darlo_Pete wrote:As stated before I fell that a further statement from the club would be constructive and hopefully it would go to alleviate some fans worries about what is happening. A fair bit seems to have happened since the last update.
Can I ask what you would expect it to say that is different to the quote in the Echo article?

There is little the club can say in addition to that, and Im not sure anything they say at the minute will alleviate worries, the only thing that will do that is that the agreement has been signed, or we have elsewhere to go.

We have already been told that the club have not walked away from negotiations, and that we are ready to progress, as we have been for a while.
Look at you, talking sense.

Don't you know you're supposed to ask for a statement from the club every time a slight development or minor rumour emerges.
If ever you're bored or miserable:

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D_F_C
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by D_F_C » Fri Jul 24, 2015 8:29 pm

Anyone else but Blackwell or HP isn't possible. Not really much point in discussing any other area. As someone mentioned, the cost was, from what I heard, over 1.5million to build Bishop's ground so we don't have that cash or time.

There isn't any need for an update, an update will happen when necessary.

I think that the negotiations are still ongoing and we have to sit tight and trust in our board. I think both clubs need each over and we as fans need to be careful not to be too opinionated about the situation.

I'm confident it will go ahead. There's too much to lose for both clubs

Beano
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Beano » Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:09 am

Both clubs definitely do need each other but need to ensure that the T&Cs are acceptable for both.

I would much rather we took our time and achieved an agreement that all parties are happy with to ensure genuine long term stability for all concerned.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by wizardofos » Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:32 am

I would much rather the T and C's had been agreed before all the expenditure on design, planning costs, fundraising and grant application had been activated.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by quaker4life » Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:21 am

I think it's time to call G for Gateshead.

The International stadium is within the local area and has excellent transport links and is only a further 30 miles from Bishop. We cannot take our chances at Heritage Park being refused promotion next season would be disasterous.

Although not ideal it would at least guarantee us entry into the Conference North, this whole Blackwell Meadows nonsense is nothing more than spin from the board to keep people interested, I look forward to "spreading the word" about us heading home in 2016/17 and 2017/18....
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Twintowers » Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:33 am

quaker4life wrote:I think it's time to call G for Gateshead.

The International stadium is within the local area and has excellent transport links and is only a further 30 miles from Bishop. We cannot take our chances at Heritage Park being refused promotion next season would be disasterous.

Although not ideal it would at least guarantee us entry into the Conference North, this whole Blackwell Meadows nonsense is nothing more than spin from the board to keep people interested, I look forward to "spreading the word" about us heading home in 2016/17 and 2017/18....
Jesus Christ!!!.Words fail me-----------no they don't,ARSEHOLE.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Bogratsteve » Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:14 pm

Ha ha Gateshead, this is a wind up?

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divas
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by divas » Sat Jul 25, 2015 1:02 pm

Coming from someone who, in 90% of his posts on here, mentions the "White Elephant" the suggestion of going to Gateshead is purely laughable

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Darlo_H
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Darlo_H » Sat Jul 25, 2015 3:10 pm

quaker4life wrote:I think it's time to call G for Gateshead.

The International stadium is within the local area and has excellent transport links and is only a further 30 miles from Bishop. We cannot take our chances at Heritage Park being refused promotion next season would be disasterous.

Although not ideal it would at least guarantee us entry into the Conference North, this whole Blackwell Meadows nonsense is nothing more than spin from the board to keep people interested, I look forward to "spreading the word" about us heading home in 2016/17 and 2017/18....
Moving another 30 miles away from Darlington to play in front of much smaller crowds in a shyte stadium for the sake of a promotion we haven't even achieved yet and whilst negotiations regarding a return to Darlington are still ongoing.

Great idea.
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Quakerz » Sat Jul 25, 2015 4:04 pm

quaker4life wrote:I think it's time to call G for Gateshead.

The International stadium is within the local area and has excellent transport links and is only a further 30 miles from Bishop. We cannot take our chances at Heritage Park being refused promotion next season would be disasterous.

Although not ideal it would at least guarantee us entry into the Conference North, this whole Blackwell Meadows nonsense is nothing more than spin from the board to keep people interested, I look forward to "spreading the word" about us heading home in 2016/17 and 2017/18....
You really are an absolute MONG.

You were the biggest anti Arena "white elephant" mouthpiece going, now you think it's a good idea to upscuttle 35 miles to an equally huge stadium? Fucking tool.

Well if you suddenly like large stadiums 20 times too big for us (we'd struggle to get 500) - THEN HOW ABOUT THE STADIUM FAR TOO BIG FOR US IN OUR OWN TOWN?!

I'd actually snap Mowden's hands off if a long term share was a possibility.
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by My opinion » Sat Jul 25, 2015 4:28 pm

Quakerz wrote:
quaker4life wrote:I think it's time to call G for Gateshead.

The International stadium is within the local area and has excellent transport links and is only a further 30 miles from Bishop. We cannot take our chances at Heritage Park being refused promotion next season would be disasterous.

Although not ideal it would at least guarantee us entry into the Conference North, this whole Blackwell Meadows nonsense is nothing more than spin from the board to keep people interested, I look forward to "spreading the word" about us heading home in 2016/17 and 2017/18....
You really are an absolute MONG.

You were the biggest anti Arena "white elephant" mouthpiece going, now you think it's a good idea to upscuttle 35 miles to an equally huge stadium? Fucking tool.

Well if you suddenly like large stadiums 20 times too big for us (we'd struggle to get 500) - THEN HOW ABOUT THE STADIUM FAR TOO BIG FOR US IN OUR OWN TOWN?!

I'd actually snap Mowden's hands off if a long term share was a possibility.
Or short term...say 2 years.
Might be enough time to sort out our long term after that

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Darlo_Pete » Sat Jul 25, 2015 5:20 pm

quaker4life wrote:I think it's time to call G for Gateshead.

The International stadium is within the local area and has excellent transport links and is only a further 30 miles from Bishop. We cannot take our chances at Heritage Park being refused promotion next season would be disasterous.

Although not ideal it would at least guarantee us entry into the Conference North, this whole Blackwell Meadows nonsense is nothing more than spin from the board to keep people interested, I look forward to "spreading the word" about us heading home in 2016/17 and 2017/18....
I've got my binoculars ready, just in case. I remember taking them down to the Don Valley Stadium, when we plated at Rotherham and they were invaluable when we were kicking to the far end. :lol: :lol:

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by quaker4life » Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:11 pm

Ha ha Gateshead, this is a wind up?
What on earth gave you that idea? :silent:
divas wrote:Coming from someone who, in 90% of his posts on here, mentions the "White Elephant" the suggestion of going to Gateshead is purely laughable
Image
Great idea.
Can't believe nobody thought of it sooner.
You really are an absolute MONG.

You were the biggest anti Arena "white elephant" mouthpiece going, now you think it's a good idea to upscuttle 35 miles to an equally huge stadium? Fucking tool.

Well if you suddenly like large stadiums 20 times too big for us (we'd struggle to get 500) - THEN HOW ABOUT THE STADIUM FAR TOO BIG FOR US IN OUR OWN TOWN?!

I'd actually snap Mowden's hands off if a long term share was a possibility.
Spot on Q.
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by AnthonyP » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:30 pm

A few years ago a new stadium at Eastbourne was talked about by the builders in conjunction with the new estate that is popping up (the Council insisted that some land was to be used for sporting purposes within the town) I'm not sure if an alternative was put into place by the builders when the football club closed the door and focused on Blackwell Meadows).
Likewise, in West Park, where they are looking to move the Cattle Mart, the Council insisted that there needed to be an investment in sporting facilities in the town. If I recall, this was also looked into as a serious possibility by the board in the early days.
Both of these, if available at this point, could be medium to long term possibilities I would say, but the new board would need to approach the interested parties to see if alternatives had already been put into place.
In the short term who is to say that we couldn't groundshare at the Arena for a few years (wouldn't be my personal choice of preference) until the other developments take place.
We need to be back in town, but not at DRFC if the agreement isn't right. Mowden did at one point offer to build us a small ground if we rented it from them, so there was some interest in helping us at one point.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by AnthonyP » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:31 pm

For what it's worth I think Martin J is handling the situation that is being created by DarlingtonRFC very well, but we do still need to be back in town.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by MCFCDarlo3 » Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:03 pm

Have Darlington Council offered any help in all of this?

I read that Slough Council had built a Sports Centre that the local team had relocated to after many years and Stockport Council have just bought Edgeley Park and rented it back to County to save them from developers.

Would be nice to get some help.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Darlo_Pete » Sun Jul 26, 2015 10:57 am

Nope so far the Council has been very quiet on the subject.

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divas
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by divas » Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:00 am

Darlo_Pete wrote:Nope so far the Council has been very quiet on the subject.
Maybe outwardly, but I know there's plenty of internal work going on in regards to planning still.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by lo36789 » Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:01 am

On the contrary from what I understand Darlington council have been absolutely fantastic. They have supported the whole way through the application process, they have started making the alterations which they are paying for (eg. Bus stops) and from what I understand they are trying to apply all the pressure they can to keep it moving.

They can't exactly fund anything with money they simply don't have.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Darlo_Pete » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:33 pm

I presume that we've now missed whatever deadlines had been set for work to start on the pitch for it to be used this autumn? In which case we are looking at moving in around this time next year, if things can be tied up with the Rugby Club.

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Mr_Tibbs
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Mr_Tibbs » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:57 pm

Darlo_Pete wrote:<pessimism>I presume that we've now missed whatever deadlines had been set for work to start on the pitch for it to be used this autumn? In which case we are looking at moving in around this time next year, if things can be tied up with the Rugby Club.</pessimism>
Isn't the pitch playable as it is? I thought the standard was reasonably flat, green (if an artificial surface) and with a barrier round it?

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Darlo_Pete » Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:23 pm

I don't think it'll stand up to the rigours of both the football and Rugby clubs playing on it. They had planned to spend quite a lot of money on the pitch.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Bogratsteve » Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:04 pm


JE93
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by JE93 » Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:45 pm

Remains frustrating situation but we just have to hope the board can get something sorted with the rugby club to make sure we get back to BM asap.

Reading the articles I wouldn't exactly call a £175,000 debt as finances being in 'good' shape for a club run on a volunteer basis, I guess it depends upon the structuring of the debt. But we shall see.

It would be interesting to know what the commercial impasses between the two clubs currently are (sometimes wonder if both clubs coming out and saying what their terms are would help things), whether it relates to gate receipts, bar takings... surely they don't want half the 50/50 money. We keep our fingers crossed for a speedy resolution

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by LoidLucan » Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:50 pm

So, looks like there aren't any talks going on behind the scenes and the rugby club is standing its ground.

"If the football club is not coming then we will wish them well, but we know we will have done all we can to make this groundshare happen."

Doesn't sound particularly great at the mo.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by m62exile » Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:52 pm

Pure speculation of course but it seems that the RFC are holding out for a share of football club generated revenue. Whether this was never tied up tightly previously or whether either side have sought to renegotiate we may never know.

Not much we can do other than trust the board to do right for the football club in a way that is fair and reasonable all round. I know it's disappointing for us all but let's face it we moved rashly once and it killed us, so let's take whatever time is required this time around.

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Robbie Painter
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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by Robbie Painter » Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:12 pm

Sounds like a nice bit of spin by the rugby club to attempt to shift the blame on stalled agreement onto our board. I don't buy that personally.

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Re: Blackwell meadows

Post by lo36789 » Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:09 pm

It will be interesting to see how this article goes down at the rugby club AGM tonight. I was told last night that the members were sold the groundshare on the basis that 100% of commercial revenues (food and drink) would be retained by the rugby club.

Never in a month of sundays would MJ have considered those terms. It would appear that somebody said what they thought they had to in order to get the vote through. When it reached the critical point of signing up to the original promises to the football club as Jenny Chapman put it DRFC, or specifically Mike Wilkinson, is now getting cold feet about it.

Depending on what happens it will all come out in the wash. Ultimately;
> DRFC havn't spent a penny so far, as they have no money. They are reliant on grants which will have to go back.
> We have spent money from the B2D fund on all the planning etc.
> If the minutes/agreement from the heads of terms show that we have been led down the garden path we must have a pretty good case to claim our expenses back from DRFC?

I have asked someone at the rugby club to actually ask the question to Mike Wilkinson of what is so unreasonable about what the football club is asking for that is making things stall, and why is it different to initial terms agreed?

If it is out in the open then everyone can be better informed of what is going on. I still have optimism that this thing can work, but that article has pretty much confirmed to me that the rugby club view our demands are unreasonable, so they are the ones blocking it not us.
Last edited by lo36789 on Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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