Houghton in todays Echo

[carver30]

Page 5 of Echo he goes on about developing his academy, anyone know what its about, I thought we had seen the last of him.

[TinShedDarloFan]

It will be on his half of the land, he still (well when it all goes through) owns 50% of the land and 50% of the stadium, so unfortunatly we wont see the back of him although he will no longer be involved in the running of Darlington Football Club

[fat tony]

The land still has planning permission for the hotel, cafe, offices and a 'football academy'.

It doesn't surprise me if he's going ahead with it all - lets be honest, developing that land was the only thing he was ever interested in.

[RH79]

I saw that to! I note he says he retains a mortgage over the land but it isnt clear whcih part he is talking about

[cwisstoffhur]

if he wants to build a football academy right next to the ground then so be it, surely it will benefit us.

[Norm_D_Ploom]

Esp if it is priced well and Saturday bookings include some sort of incentive to go to the match.

[QuakerPete]

If Houghton has "nothing to do with the football club" at all, why would him building a football academy (or anything else) benefit DFC? He certainly wouldn't have any reason to offer incentives to then attend any matches.

For me it's still a grey area of this land / stadium ownership and how it all works. If Houghton still owns 50% of the stadium, what's in it for him? If Raj and Houghton own 50% each of the land - is that a joint ownership of the same land (including the development land?) or do they both own half each of the available land? How do each / both benefit from or run that system?

For someone who couldn't work with Houghton, seems Raj is doing just that.

[ballybally]

If Houghton has "nothing to do with the football club" at all, why would him building a football academy (or anything else) benefit DFC? He certainly wouldn't have any reason to offer incentives to then attend any matches.

For me it's still a grey area of this land / stadium ownership and how it all works. If Houghton still owns 50% of the stadium, what's in it for him? If Raj and Houghton own 50% each of the land - is that a joint ownership of the same land (including the development land?) or do they both own half each of the available land? How do each / both benefit from or run that system?

For someone who couldn't work with Houghton, seems Raj is doing just that.

I still believe that all of this has been managed by them both for financial reasons and this 'agreement' is the best way to appease the fans. Call me cynical if you like, but I can't see any other explanation.

[Charlie_Darlo]

Lets hope he gets a particularly bad case of swine flu. He is just not welcome in this town anymore.