Nuneaton Town stadium owners placed in liquidation

[dutchman]

The company which owns Nuneaton Town’s football stadium has been placed in liquidation.



A meeting of shareholders and creditors met on Tuesday which could begin a process to sell the club’s Liberty Way ground.

Liquidators were appointed for Ian Neale Construction Group Ltd and act as landlord for the stadium.

John Rimmer, insolvency practitioner at BRI Business Recovery and Insolvency, in Coventry, was appointed along with Peter Windatt.

Mr Rimmer said: “We can now start the process of getting a valuation and inviting offers (for the stadium).

“We will now see what creditors claims are and what the company’s assets are.

“A liquidator looks to close the liquidation as soon as possible but we’re looking at a matter of months rather than weeks.”

Ian Neale Construction Group holds the freehold of the stadium but the football club is owned by a separate company, Boro Leisure Limited, which holds a ten-year lease to occupy the ground.

Mr Rimmer added: “We want to make it clear that there is no change to the football club. We are merely acting as (stadium) landlord and it’s business as usual for the football club.”

[dutchman]

Nuneaton football fans bid to save Liberty Way stadium



Nuneaton Town football club supporters are applying for its ground to be registered as a "community asset".

If approved, the supporters' co-operative group would be notified if the ground is put up for sale and they are given a right to bid.

The Liberty Way stadium owner, Ian Neale Construction Group Limited, recently went into liquidation, but the supporters applied before this.

Oxford United fans were first to protect a stadium as a community asset.

To get the status, the group has to apply to the local authority, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

John Hobson, from the Nuneaton Town Supporters’ Co-operative, said: "We first applied before any of this [liquidation] came to light.

"Under the legislation we have the right to bid, which is different from the right to buy, and we would then have six weeks to confirm our interest in acquiring the stadium and a further 20 weeks to raise the money required."

He added: "We were doing it as a matter of course because the legislation was there.... It was something we were just doing and then this blew up really."

Mr Hobson said the stadium owners had assured him everything was "hunky dory" with the club and they had no debt.

He added: "We wouldn't want to stand in the way of anybody coming into the club, any investors who wanted the ground and were able to give the club a sustainable future."

A statement from the liquidators BRI said fans, players and other stakeholders "should not be unduly concerned".

It said: "The joint liquidators are currently acting as landlords of the stadium which is leased to Nuneaton Town Football Club on a 10-year lease of which eight years remain.

"Fans, players and other stakeholders should not be unduly concerned as it is intended that the lease will continue to operate as normal and that there will be no evident change to Nuneaton Town Football Club."

The club finished 15th in the Blue Square Bet Premier this season.

[dutchman]

Co-op consider move to buy ground from Neale

A GROUP of Nuneaton Town supporters could bid to buy the club’s ground after applying to register it as a ‘community asset’.

The company which owned the stadium, Ian Neale Construction Group, is in the process of being liquidated, meaning it is effectively up for sale.

Chairman of the Nuneaton Town Supporters Co-Operative, John Hobson, said: “We aren’t ruling anything in or out.

“We’ve made contact with the liquidators but we are going through the process of registering the ground so we couldn’t make more of a commitment either way at this stage.”

The group began the process of registering the Liberty Way stadium as a community asset 13 weeks ago.

They were hoping it would take eight weeks, although there has been no indication they will not be successful.

If the process is completed, they would become just the second fans group in the country to register their team’s ground.

Once the process is complete, it would mean the co-operative must be notified if the ground is ever put up for sale at any point in the future.

Mr Hobson admits the group did not act with the current chain of events regarding owner Ian Neale’s businesses in mind.

“Supporters Direct recommended this to us. We started the process on March 1, before Ian Neale’s businesses went into liquidation,” he said.

“Our thought process was that if someone we felt didn’t have the club’s best interests at heart tried to buy the ground, we had a chance to act.

“We would have six weeks to register an interest and a further 20 weeks to try and get financial support.”

Mr Hobson added the group would not stand in the way of potential investors they felt had the best interest of the club at heart.

Mr Neale has already said he hopes to own the ground once the liquidation process is complete.

Both he and liquidators BRI Business Recovery and Insolvency insist it is business as usual for the football club itself as that is a separate business.

A BRI statement said: “The joint liquidators are currently acting as landlords of the stadium which is leased to Nuneaton Town Football Club on a 10-year lease of which eight years remain.

“Fans, players and other stakeholders should not be unduly concerned as it is intended that the lease will continue to operate as normal and that there will be no evident change to Nuneaton Town Football Club.”