Is the Banks's Stadium still 'For Sale?'

Walsall blogger Mark Jones wonders if the 'For Sale' sign has really come down at the Banks's Stadium as the Saddlers enter another period of uncertainty.

'For Sale' or not 'For Sale?' That is the question about the Banks's Stadium freehold. And, as usual, fans are in the dark about the answer. So what is actually going on?

We know that a reported £4.6million bid from Geoff Dance's PMD Magnetics was turned down recently.

There are many views on the true value of the freehold but, surely, its true worth is what someone is willing to pay for it.

I have no idea whether the PMD figure was a take-it or leave-it offer, whether it was an opening bid ready for negotiation or why it was dismissed.

We also know the vendor put together a presentation during the summer designed to encourage the council to buy in and a price of £5million was widely quoted.

The then-council voted against it, sticking to party lines - Labour in favour, Conservatives against with the Lib Dems, being their usual helpful selves, sitting on the fence and abstaining.

However, after the recent by-election, the balance of power has now shifted. Mike Bird's Tories are no longer the biggest single party and who knows what will happen in the May elections?

Future council involvement can't be ruled out but now the land appears to be off the market, so who knows what's going on?

As always, everything depends upon how serious the landlord actually is or was about selling. After all, everyone remembers the football club going on the market after Bedspreadgate in 1998 and how that didn't turn out.

The amounts quoted above, plus the amount of rent accrued over the last two decades, ought to represent a pretty hefty return if and when a sale does happen.

And don't forget every one of us who has paid to attend a home match over that period has contributed to the football club paying - and continuing to pay - the rent.

What more the seller actually wants out of the deal is anybody's guess.

What ought to be apparent is that the club can't keep on paying excessive rent, index-linked at a time when inflation is hovering around five per cent.

Manager Dean Smith has a difficult enough job simply trying to keep the club in League One as it is.

It's a shame that the sale or no-sale is the biggest Saddlers-related talking point this week, when we should be focussing on is the gutsy performance at Huddersfield.

We came close were we to putting their run back to zero after Jamie Patterson's stunning first career goal.

Instead, I can't help speculating if we will ever play there again; more worryingly I'm also wondering if his strike has got the pound signs lighting up in someone's eyes.

The club can't go on operating the way it has these last few years, the uncertainty needs to end, supporters need to be told what exactly's going on.

The circle needs to be broken – the quicker the better.