{"id":8009,"date":"2001-07-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-07-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/?p=8009"},"modified":"2020-09-22T11:26:01","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T11:26:01","slug":"mcclures-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/2001\/07\/13\/mcclures-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"McClure’s Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Ninth Floor plc, the London-based company of which McClure is chief executive and joint chairman, disposed of its 99.15 pc shareholding to Swansea’s current managing director Mike Lewis.<\/p>\n

In return, 60-year-old Lewis paid Ninth Floor \u00c2\u00a31 plus an agreement to repay loans totalling \u00c2\u00a3801,098.<\/p>\n

If Lewis sells his shareholding within the next two years he will have to pay 20pc of any profit to Ninth Floor.<\/p>\n

The Swansea managing director said his role as chairman is only temporary and that he will be looking to bring new investors on to the Swansea board.<\/p>\n

Ninth Floor also pumped a final payment of \u00c2\u00a3200,000 into the club which will give Lewis time to find new investors.<\/p>\n

But last night McClure warned prospective owners that the club could only fulfil its potential if it leaves the antiquated Vetch Field.<\/p>\n

"I wish Swansea luck, but the future of the club depends on a new stadium. That is so important. It would help to bring in the new investment Swansea City needs," he said.<\/p>\n

"If you have a stadium which is comfortable and easy for access then you will be able to attract investors. I don’t think Swansea City has a future without the new ground.<\/p>\n

"The Vetch isn’t a nice environment. It’s not a place I’d be happy to take my wife and kids. If you go to the cinema you don’t expect to sit in a fleapit and the same goes for football matches."<\/p>\n

McClure had hoped the Swans – along with Swansea RFC – would now be playing at the 25,000-capacity Morfa Stadium but, despite planning permission being granted, the \u00c2\u00a375m council-backed project is still a long way off.<\/p>\n

"People in Swansea must ask themselves why they have a council that can’t deliver on its promises. If it had leadership and vision we would be in the Morfa by now," said McClure.<\/p>\n

"We were supposed to be playing in the new stadium by 2000, then it became 2001. I’m not sure when Swansea will go there but, hopefully, the year will start with a two.<\/p>\n

"I feel we did a lot of positive things at Swansea but if we made one mistake it was pursuing the Morfa option with the council.<\/p>\n

"Had we done something with a commercial developer the club would have had a new ground by now.<\/p>\n

"The issue of the new stadium is a fundamental one and it must be solved, but it’s no longer my problem. For me, Swansea is in the past. It’s history."<\/p>\n

Ninth Floor bought Swansea City in August 1997, paying \u00c2\u00a3100 for shares and \u00c2\u00a3500,000 for various loans.<\/p>\n

The Swans won promotion to the Second Division in May 2000, but the 2000-01 season was a disaster with the team being relegated straight back to the Third Division.<\/p>\n

After it was revealed he was an Arsenal season ticket-holder and that he supported Norwich City, coupled with the fact he was rarely seen at any of Swansea’s matches, McClure became a vilified figure at the Vetch.<\/p>\n

With the club losing a reputed \u00c2\u00a325,000 a week and having seen its share price plunge from 22 to six pence, Ninth Floor put the club up for sale four months ago.<\/p>\n

Despite several parties being linked with a buy-out, McClure received only one formal offer – from Lewis.<\/p>\n

"We were anxious to get out as cleanly and quickly as we could, so getting rid of the club is a relief in that sense," admitted McClure. "We just couldn’t hold on to it any longer.<\/p>\n

"There were a few people interested in buying the club and there was a lot of talk.<\/p>\n

"But we wanted to be out before the start of the new season and Mike Lewis’s offer was the only one that allowed us to do that."<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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\u00c2\u00a9 Trinity Mirror Digital Media 2001<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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The 2001\/2002 Season on JackArmy.net<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

RogerFreestone.com<\/a><\/td>\nNew Jack City Message Board<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Division Three Table<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Falling On Deaf Ears<\/a><\/td>\n

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Going Away?<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n
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JACKARMY.NET – SWANSEA CITY FOR THE FANS BY THE FANS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ninth Floor plc, the London-based company of which McClure is chief executive and joint chairman, disposed of its 99.15 pc shareholding to Swansea’s current managing director Mike Lewis. In return, 60-year-old Lewis paid Ninth Floor \u00c2\u00a31 plus an agreement to repay loans totalling \u00c2\u00a3801,098. If Lewis sells his shareholding within the next two years he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":453,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/453"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}