It's the covenant...

Do you know what the gist of the covenant is?

 

I've searched the land registries before and the only covenant I can see on the land is the one from the senior family which allows them to buy back the land for about £10k if the club chooses not to play football on it anymore.

 

Was this covenant responsible for the 750k too?

 

Combining what Gegenpresser has said with the character of our owners, that's massively interesting...

 

That was the Ark of The Covenant. Raiders of the Lying Tw.ats

 

I know - I'm not keen on starting threads where I'm not fully in charge of how daft they might seem.

It might be all crap - this male line enforcement stuff - but I have passed it on now, not least because I haven't seen our owners explain exactly what their problem is.

So no - I haven't seen the specific covenant, although I have, in 40 years of legal life, seen them about. These male line clauses.

 

Well given that diligence would take place prior to the take over they wouldn’t be ‘our lawyers’ they would be ‘their lawyers’. But yes if lawyers missed something so basic in a multi million pound take over then they would I’m sure be legal measures taken by our owners against ‘their lawyers’.

I’ve asked our former owner before and will check again but he seemed fairly clear last time I asked.

And again they are in similar difficulties at every other club they own suggesting that the issues may be slightly different.

it seems clear they are pursuing a low risk low investment strategy. Not ‘looking to do anything crazy’. Spread the investments to minimise the risk and maximise the potential of one of their clubs hitting the jackpot (like we almost did last season).

 

Also do you have the exact wording of this covenant, out of interest?

 

The club?

Is that wording a bit problematic considering the club don't own the land?

 

Don't be taking my word as gospel or anything, I'm not exactly an expert on covenants but I did download the deeds or title registries or whatever ages ago and only one mentioned was that one. I'm sure it didn't mention any gender or anything either, just grandkids of Mr senior

 

No I don't sorry. I don't think I have the files anymore but I'll have a look on my computer tomorrow.

I think it just said used for football or something like that. Which it is.


What I'd be asking is why are our owners so worried about not being able to stop playing football at oakwell?

 

Must admit I watched a game this aft, and 4 or 5 penalties I'd have given the other way.

Just like football eh?

 

Wouldn't surprise me if that's the one as it would scupper our owners if they ever wanted to sell the land.

 

If you did it through an e-services account you should be able to redownload it free of charge in the "my downloads" section

 

Exactly.

 

I thought it was 'sports'. There was a cricket field at one point too wasn't there? Could be wrong as the last time I heard this spoken about must be 20 or 30 years ago, but I did know it existed. It would have been at a supporter's club/trust meeting. Probably more than one.

 

This isn't from any registry but is from John Dennis's book:


Interestingly, we did briefly consider the possibility of relocating from Oakwell, but for emotional and financial considerations this deemed impractical. The major stumbling block to any move away from Oakwell centred upon a condition in the sale agreement from the Senior family to the Football Club in 1908 surrounding part of the land on which the pitch and stadium stood. In simple terms, the vendor stipulated that should Oakwell cease to be used for the purposes of playing football then he and future generations of his family would have the right to buy back the land for the same price as it was sold to the Football Club for in 1908 – a figure of £1,200. This clause, known as a reversion right, was legally enforceable until twenty-five years after the death of Mr Senior's last surviving grandchild. Over the years, my board made a number of attempts to negotiate a buy-out of this clause, but the expectations of the beneficiaries were far greater than the actual commercial value.

 

Not sure, I'll do digging tomorrow and see what I can find.

 

I can get Land Reg entries "for free" through my job, I'd need to be a bit clever about it but I'll see if I can grab it when I'm back in the office on Tuesday.

 

I would suggest that there is a massive chance that that option would be taken very soon as I have seen very little football played at Oakwell this season