Sale of the Whitehorse Lane end to Sainsbury's in 1980

[wpdavid]

All I have read is that Sainsbury's paid £2 million for the land and that, allegedly, not much (if any) of that found its way into the club's bank account.

As far as anyone here knows, is that correct?

And can anyone provide some more information for me?

Thank in advance.

 

[Badger11]

All I have read is that Sainsbury's paid £2 million for the land and that, allegedly, not much (if any) of that found its way into the club's bank account.

As far as anyone here knows, is that correct?

And can anyone provide some more information for me?

Thank in advance.

From memory previous owner Ray Bloye sold the land for about £1m and took an £800, 000 consultancy fee. Incoming owner Ron Noades sued but lost.

 

[NMPalace]

From memory previous owner Ray Bloye sold the land for about £1m and took an £800, 000 consultancy fee. Incoming owner Ron Noades sued but lost.

Supposedly Raymond Bloye's ownership was from 1972 to 26 January 1981.

I was only young put i came be back after the summer break in 1980 to find the Whitehorse had essentially been sold off. As the 100% owner Bloye essentially pocketed the money. It all went pear shaped on the pitch too from that point onwards so can't see how the two weren't connected. Took us 10 years to recover

 

[wpdavid]

From memory previous owner Ray Bloye sold the land for about £1m and took an £800, 000 consultancy fee. Incoming owner Ron Noades sued but lost.

I now know a bit more than when I opened this thread. The land was sold for £1,975,000 but 'costs' of £650,000 were deducted from the gross proceeds, as well as an 'extraordinary item' of £41,274. That's shown retrospecitvely in the 1981 accounts, which are freely available from Companies House. That does beg the question of what happened to the remaining £1,283,276. The 1980 accounts would answer that question, as the transaction took place during the year ended 30 June 1980, but Companies House don't have them. Which does seem rather odd as they do have the accounts fo 1979 as well as 1981.

 

[Penge Eagle]

Ray Bloye was a very wealthy man so it wasn't like he needed the money. A boyhood Palace fan, it's pretty rough he would think of ripping off his club. He bought £30,000 shares from Arthur Wait on taking over Palace and later sold them to Ron Noades for £600,000 which in itself is a tidy profit after 9 years.

 

[wpdavid]

Ray Bloye was a very wealthy man so it wasn't like he needed the money. A boyhood Palace fan, it's pretty rough he would think of ripping off his club. He bought £30,000 shares from Arthur Wait on taking over Palace and later sold them to Ron Noades for £600,000 which in itself is a tidy profit after 9 years.

I suppose he sold hs shares about six months after the sale of the Whitehorse Lane end of the ground, so that particular bonus came later, and in the summer of 1980 he didn't know how much he would be able to sell them for in January 1981. On a separate point, I remember reading about what you wrote not so long ago and wondering why Noades paid so much for a club that was obviously in free-fall.

 

[Hrolf The Ganger]

The memory of seeing the half sized Whtehorse for the first time irks me to this day.

I want to see it restored in my lifetime.

 

[Jameston88]

Ray Bloye was a very wealthy man so it wasn't like he needed the money. A boyhood Palace fan, it's pretty rough he would think of ripping off his club. He bought £30,000 shares from Arthur Wait on taking over Palace and later sold them to Ron Noades for £600,000 which in itself is a tidy profit after 9 years.

I think you will find that Terry Venables was also implicated in this sale.
Well known at the time.

 

[wpdavid]

I think you will find that Terry Venables was also implicated in this sale.
Well known at the time.

According to Venables' autobiography, Bloye promised him at £100,000 bonus if he took Palace into the First Division, but never paid up. I don't know whether that's linked to the proceeds from the sale of the Whitehorse Lane end. But I suspect that Venables' autobiography is as telling for what it doesn't say, as much as for what it actually does.

 

[Penge Eagle]

I suppose he sold hs shares about six months after the sale of the Whitehorse Lane end of the ground, so that particular bonus came later, and in the summer of 1980 he didn't know how much he would be able to sell them for in January 1981. On a separate point, I remember reading about what you wrote not so long ago and wondering why Noades paid so much for a club that was obviously in free-fall.

After his success with Wimbledon, Noades would have felt he could have repeated it with Palace who for years was always spoken about having enormous potential. Noades had his Dons mates Dario Gradi and Dave Bassett on the football side and right from 1981, spoke about groundsharing with Wimbledon for the financial benefits. I remember a quote from Noades saying he bought the airspace above Sainsbury's. 🙂

 

[NMPalace]

Ray Bloye was a very wealthy man so it wasn't like he needed the money. A boyhood Palace fan, it's pretty rough he would think of ripping off his club. He bought £30,000 shares from Arthur Wait on taking over Palace and later sold them to Ron Noades for £600,000 which in itself is a tidy profit after 9 years.

you could say the same about Noades - a supposed Palace fan (post his Wimbledon days) who ripped off a gullible Goldberg for c£20m. That clearly wasn't enough profit for him so he retained the freehold of Selhurst and kept the Surrey training ground too making Palace essentially worthless over night.

 

[Penge Eagle]

you could say the same about Noades - a supposed Palace fan (post his Wimbledon days) who ripped off a gullible Goldberg for c£20m. That clearly wasn't enough profit for him so he retained the freehold of Selhurst and kept the Surrey training ground too making Palace essentially worthless over night.

I don't think anyone believed Noades was a true Palace supporter, whether he said so or not. Bloye and Waite were at least fans since childhood, but I guess it comes down to integrity and Wait was the only one who had it. He ran out of steam and genuinely thought Bloye's war chest would take Palace to the next level. Then Bloye moved Bert Head upstairs... 🙁