by RoyalBlue »
31 Jul 2014 14:14
Vision
Not as if Whelan hasn't benefitted from being in charge in much the same way as JM either. Didn't he own JJB when the stadium bore that name and once he sold it then it became the DW. Can't think what that refers to. Not to mention pontifcating publicly (well sky sports news) on every football topic known to man. Also a bit like Walker before him, I stand to be corrected but I'm not entirely sure there's much forward thinking in terms of infrastructure and what will happen once he's gone. Don't get me wrong he's done absolute wonders for Wigan who were lower down the food chain than us when he took them over but it hasn't come without benefit to him and he's gained in many ways the same way JM's critics have a pop at him for.
Big difference being that Whelan appears to have given/paid far more for that 'fame' (his name was more known in the locality in the first place), did it primarily because he had a link to and affection for the club (a la Smee) and, as far as I'm aware, didn't come out with all the false modesty crap i.e. 'it wasn't my idea to name the stadium after me'. His first use of the stadium name was for the purposes of promoting his business, rather than his name. I also suspect his media appearances are more likely to be for mercenary than self-publicity purposes.
West Stand Man RoyalBlue
Are you sure? You can cram an awful lot of housing onto that site. How much extra work would have to be conducted that wouldn't be required for commercial property. And, as Strap says, planning permission for housing is virtually guaranteed.
Not necessarily true. Yes, there is a long record of central government overturning local planning refusals but I think it is highly probable that even at that level a plan to destroy the stadium would be rejected. What could be feasible is to seek permission to use some of the car parking space for housing or commercial development and I can see that getting through as it is space that could be seen to be wasted at the moment (it only gets used every couple of weeks). If it is to be a commercial development then some of the car parking would have to stay ( or maybe a multi-storey one built instead) so that visitors to the site could bring a car!
However, as has been pointed out elsewhere, John Madejski is a property developer in his own right. If there was serious value to be had from this land he probably would have exploited it by now. Nigel Howe is employed by JM for his property skills not his knowledge of football.
Other than for the fact that Madejski seems to have already blown a lot of his cash on other property developments that went wrong. Added to which, after all of the work he has undertaken to be the man of Reading (the town) and the saviour of RFC, he would probably find it quite difficult to undertake a property development at the expense of RFC without incurring the risk of falling out of favour and being run out of town.
