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Fill Field Mill and Mansfield Town to Harchester United may not happen - Batchelor



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Published Date: 29 March 2008
JOHN Batchelor says that he will drop his plan to rename Mansfield Town as Harchester United - 'IF Stags fans fill Field Mill every week'.
Mr Batchelor, hoping to hear in the next few days if he has persuaded Mansfield owner Keith Haslam to sell the club and Field Mill, caused uproar on Friday with his idea to change Mansfield Town's name to the fictional football team, Harchester, which features in Sky TV's soap opera Dream Team.

  • Mansfield Town to Harchester United - all the stories


The news was exclusively revealed by Chad - following a leaked e-mail - and Mr Batchelor admitted that his phone had not stopped ringing since then.

The Football League, the Conference, Mansfield's MP and Mayor have all had their say . . . not to mention the supporters on stories on this website.

Mr Batchelor has also received many telephone calls from disgruntled Stags fans, after giving out his telephone number during a radio interview on Mansfield station 103.2 on Friday evening.

To listen to the interview by Tony Delahunty again, click here

Mr Batchelor added: "I have returned some calls also and still have a couple more to ring. We have had some interesting and long chats!"

At the weekend he told Chad: "If the stadium is full every week with Mansfield fans and the town can demonstrate it would get behind the club and has a desire for a professional club, then maybe there would be no need to rename the club.

"I have never understood fans boycotting their own team, but if there are not enough people coming to matches to keep the club going then I have to find ways of doing things differently.

"As I have made very clear, I am in this to make money for the club and so for me."

The would-be owner denied that he had leaked the information, causing the massive media interest. He said: "I did not want this to come out now and distract from what is going on, on the pitch.

"I would much rather this had come out after I had finalised my plans more - at the momet we have no agreement from the programme makers to do this even."

He added that if he took over the club, he would divert most of the profits to improving the squad and - if he also bought Field Mill - the ground.

Mr Batchelor has previously said that he would take 25% from sponsorship deals and on Saturday he stressed: "Let's be clear. I will take no salary. I will earn money off the back of making the club work. First we will tackle meeting our overheads and then taking it into profit.

"Everything will go into one pot - sponsorship money and money generated from games etc. From this i will take 25% of the net profits and the rest will go on improving the squad and the ground."

On Saturday he again stressed his desire to buy both the club and Field Mill - saying that he was still waiting to hear from owner Keith Haslam and chief executive Stephen Booth, who are handling the sale.

Chad first revealed they had held takeover talks on Wednesday and on Friday evening Mr Booth formally confirmed those meetings.

Mr Batchelor, when asked how he would finance buying the stadium for just over £4m, said: "It is cheaper for me to mortgage than to pay rent.

"I would rather just buy the football club and pay a reasonable rent, but it is a fairly steep price."

Chad revealed yesterday that Mr Haslam wants an annual rent of £275,000 - reduced to £175,000 in the Conference - on a 10-year lease for anyone wanting to buy just the football club.

When it was pointed out by Chad that buying the club and ground on a £4m plus mortgage could leave the Stags with a massive debt - particularly if Mr Batchelor then moved on very quickly as he has a habit of doing with companies he buys - the would-be owner admitted: "It does, but wouldn't Mansfield have a massive debt in terms of the rent anyway.

"The club is not going to get rid of Keith Haslam without paying - it is just a choice of doing it by renting or a mortgage."

He added that he had no intention of relocating the club away from Field Mill - but admitted that by renaming it Harchester United, this would make any such move away from Mansfield easier.

Mr Batchelor has previously told Chad that he is 'in the market' to buy a football club and has looked into the situations at Macclesfield, Chester and Rotherham.

A few years ago he approached Stockport County, but was met with a hostile reception by fans following his time at York City - where he took the club into administration amidst financial allegations.

At City he had bought the club for £1 and promised, but failed, to buy Bootham Crescent.

The full article contains 836 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 29 March 2008 12:53 PM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Mansfield
 
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1

paulyoud,

Aldershot 29/03/2008 11:00:12
Lowest point in the history of this famous club.

Local luminaries with fat wallets stand by and let it die.

Shame on them
2

Amber Rob,

29/03/2008 11:00:18
Fill the Mill, where have I heard that one before? I am sure in his next statement he will say we'll be playing Championship football in 5 years. It's ironic, he makes a statement asking fans to fill the ground, just a day after a statement stating he won't listen to fans, not really a sensible way ahead is it? A club like MTFC must engage the community and absolutely must get the fans wholeheartedly behind it, it is the ONLY way a small professional club like ours can survive. Haslam has failed to learn that in 15 years, it appears (if you pardon the pun) Batchelor is from the same stock.
3

delboy the Stag,

29/03/2008 19:14:58
Mr Haslam,I know you dont normally listen to us,but can you at least do the fans one MASSIVE favour?DONT SELL THE CLUB TO THIS IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please show us just a little consideration.If Batchelor gets it many of us will stay away,so I suspect your rent will struggle to be paid,which wont be good for anyone!!!!MTFC R.I.P?????????????????
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