The mail that football club Antwerp sent to all fans on Saturday morning was unusually harsh. “Although we read in the media that a few ‘want the best’ for the club, that they are ‘Antwerp fan’ and that they ‘want the stadium to be completed’, the reality appears to be somewhat different”, it sounds quite different. words to be understood to the address of Tania Mintjens. “This lady and her entourage keep asking additional questions and new demands that are unreasonable and therefore unacceptable. The club and other stakeholders feel that they are being led on a leash. The historical clans come back to disturb the beautiful march. Success has many fathers. The vultures are coming for it.”
The message is clear: the proposal that the owner of the Bosuilgronden launched a few weeks ago in Gazet van Antwerpen (see below) has not led to a breakthrough. On the contrary. “The stadium file is stuck, a solution is not in sight. The club is worried, the whole situation is weighing on the club. The current impasse is a major threat to the future of RAFC. That is at stake.”
Black Pete
A tackle with the feet forward, which can not be appreciated in the camp of Tania Mintjens. “The door remained open for consultation, but Antwerp has closed it with this communiqué,” Francis Vanderhoydonck, Tania Mintjens’ agent, responds, bewildered at Antwerp’s communication. “Are they trying to put the black piet in Mrs Mintjens’ camp in this way? I don’t know what the purpose of the club is.”
“But if they want to have the discussion in public, we will not shy away from it,” Vanderhoydonck continues. “We have no problem being transparent and putting the communication, with necessary documents, if necessary, on the table. Then it will become clear who is reasonable or unreasonable.”
© Robin Fasseur
In recent weeks, talks have been held between the lawyers of Ghelamco annex the club and Mintjens’ agent, but according to Vanderhoydonck, the parties have not come an inch closer to each other. “The only point that Antwerp agreed to is the first: a new leasehold agreement with a term of 99 years. The club did not agree with the remaining six points, including the free nature of the use of the ground. Then you can say that they reject the proposal on the merits.”
Expropriation or relocation?
Whether the door for consultation is now definitively closed? At football club Antwerp, no one wants to make any additional comments and only refers to the communiqué that was circulated.
The conclusion then seems painfully clear: without an agreement between club annex Gheysens and Mintjens, there are almost no more scenarios left to get out of the impasse. Either the city of Antwerp steps out of its wait-and-see ‘mediation role’ and the city council goes all out for the expropriation of the lands of the Bosuil, out of ‘public interest’. In this way, the city would take possession of the land from the Mintjens family. After which the city could entrust the site to the club in a long concession, as is also the case with harbor grounds.
© BELGIUM
If that does not work or if the city does not want to push it that far, only a departure from Deurne seems to be the only option for Paul Gheysens to further expand his club. An option that the Antwerp chairman already suggested during his much-discussed speech at the Antwerp town hall, the day after winning the championship title: “If we ever have to look for another place, it will be because we won’t get that leasehold,” he said. With an ultimatum: if Mintjens does not come across the bridge within six months, a move by the club is inevitable, according to Gheysens.
Today, that ultimatum seems to be in sight after barely a month.
THIS IS THE LITERAL PROPOSAL
1. A new leasehold agreement will be concluded with a term of 99 years.
2. No financial compensation should be paid for the land.
3. Ghelamco is committed as a contractor to build the grandstands with a normal commercial margin in line with the market.
4. The Ghelamco group will finance the construction under normal market conditions (without additional margin).
5. All proceeds from the stadium (direct and indirect) benefit the club.
6. The supporters will have one representative on the RAFC Board of Directors. We do want to determine how it is designated.
7. In the event of the sale of the club and/or stadium, the land owner will:
– have a transferable right to match
– if the right to match is not exercised, a compensation for the land will be due from the sale.
These conditions form a package. No menu.
The necessary controls will be built in.
In the event of non-compliance with the conditions, the term will be shortened to the original term of the existing right of superficies.
2023-07-01 11:09:50
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