Fancy owning a Football Conference stadium?
Ebbsfleet Utd’s ground is up for grabs
Those who would rather live in a football stadium than a house are in for a treat: for the same price as a decent-sized detached property, you could get your hands Stonebridge Road, the home of Ebbsfleet Utd.
The Football Conference ground has been put on the market for an incredibly low guide price of £380,000-£420,000 – perhaps a reflection of the dire financial straits the club find themselves in. Since the novelty of MyFootballClub ownership wore off and few casual fans fancied renewing their investment, the Kentish side have jettisoned players and put their home on the market.
The 5,000 capacity Stadium – where Jimmy Bullard learned his trade while the club were still known as Gravesend & Northfleet – isn’t in the most glamorous locations (to call it ‘drab and industrial’ is an understatement), but the new owners will receive Ebbsfleet’s £5,400 annual tenancy, and £2,900 in advertising tenancies.
Investment update: The dream of owning your own stadium may now to over. It looks like Gravesham Council have stepped in with a £400,000 bid.
6 responses so far
Keith Handley // September 17, 2009 at 10:17 am
The ground was being sold by the landlords of EUFC not the club itself.
Dave // September 17, 2009 at 10:23 am
Also, the club didn’t own the ground, they leased it. The owners (MyFootballClub members), directors and supporters were raising funds to buy the lease before it went to auction. The deal with the council may still provide that option, but also appears to have secured the lease at a peppercorn rent for 100 years.
Like many other clubs at the moment the budget for this season is very tight, but at Ebbsfleet this was set after lengthy, open discussions and in full awareness that the Setanta money would probably not be forthcoming.
There are still plenty of people involved and interested in MyFootballClub and Ebbsfleet, and the level of transparency and supporter involvement in decision making is unparalleled.
Arithon // September 17, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Oh now you have ruined a great story with facts
Shame on you.
Roca // September 17, 2009 at 3:26 pm
And there is no bid.
It’s sold.
Get your facts right for only £35:
myfootballclub.co.uk
Steve Fair // September 17, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Was this article meant to be a sly joke? If so it was hilarious, and by “hilarious”, I mean “weakly researched and badly written”.
Daves nan // September 17, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Can we assume that Ryan Bailey wasn’t responsible for the photograph?
Ryan has managed to get just about every fact wrong but that really is a photograph of Stonebridge road.
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