Nottingham Forest out of the ‘woods’, almost!

Image: City Ground, Arne Müseler, CC BY-SA 3.0 de

The Premier League team Nottingham Forest F.C. look set to stay at their residence – the City Ground in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England (UK) – after the Nottingham City Council agreed to sell the stadium’s land to the club, ending months of stalemate on its future.

‘BBC’ stated that the new land deal includes conditions to ensure the club stays at the stadium “for a long time to come”, the Council said.

It has been agreed by the two parties but not yet officially signed.

The Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, England (UK). The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.

The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England (UK) on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to the Nottingham Forest F.C. since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455.

The Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the City of Nottingham (UK) in the ceremonial County of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. Nottingham has had a Council from the medieval times which has been reformed on numerous occasions.

The Ground, on the banks of the River Trent, sits on a land owned by the Council which has been leased to the club on a long-term agreement.

The current lease has 33 years to run but talks on a new lease between the club and the Council broke down earlier this year.

‘BBC’ further stated that a fresh agreement is seen as critical for the club’s existing plans to redevelop the stadium which would expand its capacity from 29,000 to 40,000 through the rebuilding of the Peter Taylor Stand and extension of the Bridgford Stand.

Negotiations collapsed after the Council asked for a larger sum for the lease following Forest’s promotion to the Premier League.

The authority was looking to increase rent from £250,000 to about £1m per year.

Alternatively, it offered to sell the freehold to the site to the club.

Talks between the Council and the club had since been at an impasse leading Forest to say they were considering a potential move to Toton in Nottinghamshire to create a new 50,000-capacity stadium.

However, on July 8^th, Neghat Khan, the new leader of the Council, said a deal to sell the land to the club outright had been “agreed in principle”.

It will be subject to approval by the Council’s Executive Board at a public meeting on July 16^th meaning reports on the deal will be made public in the coming days.

Enthused Khan, “I’m pleased to announce that we have agreed in principle to the sale of the City Ground to Nottingham Forest all subject to the Executive Board approval next Tuesday (July 16^th). It’s a great deal for the Forest supporters, for the club and also the Nottingham taxpayers. It now means we can focus our resources on tackling other issues we have. But this is a great news story.”
 

Analysis

The relationship between the Council and the club has been pretty frosty at times.

After negotiations over rent reached an impasse earlier this year, they spent months without talking to one another at all.

When Neghat Khan took over as the leader she said one of her first acts would be to “reach out” to the Owner of Nottingham Forest F.C. (Evangelos Marinakis) and the Chairman (Tom Cartledge).

Just seven weeks later and it looks like a solution has been found.

It isn’t quite a done deal yet, but no one at the Council is expecting anything to go wrong.

Over to Forest.

Forest first announced plans to expand the stadium, the club’s home since 1898, back in 2019.

However, a new land deal ultimately did not progress because the City Council decided the amount did not meet its obligation to ensure it was getting best value for the taxpayers’ money.

The Council then declared effective bankruptcy in November last year amid a multimillion-pound budget deficit and Government Commissioners were appointed in February to oversee the critical improvements over how the Council operates.

The Commissioners will now be ensuring the Council achieves the best value in all areas of its operations.

The sale of the City Ground land freehold has been approved by the Commissioners and has undergone independent valuation.

The exact sale price of the land is not being disclosed, however, the authority says it will bring in a “significant capital receipt”.
 

Confidential Discussions

A statement sent out by the Nottingham Forest F.C. read, “For absolute clarity we continue to work on the terms for a conditional deal for the purchase of the freehold. Any decision to purchase the freehold will be entirely conditional on the Nottingham Forest first being granted the relevant permissions that will allow us to realize our hugely ambitious plans for a significantly larger stadium capacity, world-class hospitality spaces and associated substantial real estate development in the vicinity of the ground. Our discussions remain confidential and the club will update the fans when meaningful progress has been achieved.”

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