Thomas 'confident' club's East Stand deal will finally go through ahead of council meeting next week

Cobblers chairman Kelvin Thomas says he is 'confident' the club's land deal with the council will finally be ratified and formalised at the end of the month.

A deal with West Northants Council looked set to go through in December which would have seen the club-owned CDNL buy the land after finishing the East Stand at Sixfields.

County Developments (Northampton) Limited (CDNL) will still pay £890,000 despite a report to go before a special council meeting on Monday revealing a deal last year was held up to consider a rival bid of more than £2million from a property developer.

The report reveals: "Whilst it (the club's bid) is lower, it is not subject to the risk and delay likely to result from an attempt by the council to break the main site lease.

"It is anticipated that CDNL would robustly challenge any attempt by WNC to terminate the Main Site Lease. Litigation is likely to be expensive and time-consuming and of uncertain outcome.

"Accepting the CDNL offer removes those risks and makes it more likely that the East Stand will be completed."

The council will discuss the deal next Monday (February 21) with a decision then set to be taken to cabinet the following Monday.

"The reality is that it's not been our process," said Thomas. "We have been part of that process and now we are at a point where we feel, and the council feels, that everything has been done, everything has been covered and everything has been checked.

"There's been valuations done independently and auditor's reports done independently and there has also been legal opinion sought and QC opinion sought and everything has pointed in the direction that our deal is the route forward for the council to take.

"Now they are completing the process by discussing it at full council and then taking it to cabinet. We are confident from our perspective because every check has been done and that's how the council have got to the stage of being able to produce the report to take to cabinet.

"All the work has been put in and for anyone to speak against it now, I would say they would either have some sort of agenda against the football club or they think they know more than the independent valuations and independent reports that have been carried out."

"The council have said publicly that this is the most prudent option and obviously we would agree and from the club's perspective, this is very positive step in getting the East Stand completed."

Thomas admits he has been 'frustrated' by the most recent delays.

"Of course it is frustrating and the football club takes a lot of the heat but we have wanted to get it done from the start," he added.

"There's stuff in the background that has not helped and has caused some of these delays but we're not going back over the past. We are where we are and hopefully we are now under two weeks away from a decision.

"The big thing was getting the QC opinion for the council and the process because that confirmed that the leases were quite robust and it would take a legal challenge to break those leases.

"So we're not worried by what's happened, our efforts are now focused and concentrated on the future."