Last week, Salford City Council granted another loan of £632,500 to its City of Salford Community Stadium (COSCOS), which it jointly owns with Peel Holdings.
The ground, now branded the AJ Bell Stadium, has continued to make huge losses, with the latest Council accounts showing a £1.459million loss last year, with net liabilities of £7.068million (see previous Salford Star article for full details – click here).
The latest loan takes the total outstanding amount owed to Salford City Council by the stadium company to almost £25million - £7.442million for 'operational funding', and £16.678million for the actual building of the stadium.
Yesterday, at Sale Sharks' media day, owner Simon Orange revealed that an offer has been made to Salford City Council and Peel Holdings to buy the stadium...
"We're in negotiations at the minute and, if we can't buy this stadium, then we're going to have to build our own because we have got to own and control our own destiny" Orange was reported as saying "We've made an offer but it's still early stages. I can't go into detail but the offer we've made we think is above what it's worth."
According to the latest COSCOS accounts, the 2015 cost of the stadium, including fixtures and fittings, was £20.07million but the 'operational asset' now has a 'net book value' of £5.86million. The 'investment properties', which the Star understands is the land around the stadium, is valued at £16.74million.
This afternoon, Salford Deputy Mayor, John Merry, confirmed to the Salford Star that an offer had been made by Sale Sharks for the stadium but that it was "unacceptable".
He added that a statement on the future of the Barton complex would be made shortly.
The Salford Star has asked Sale Sharks for a comment but as yet the club hasn't responded.
Main photo by Gareth Lyons
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