McEwan to 'go it alone' on Stingrays takeover

Bobby McEwan will takeover the Hull Stingrays on his own after it was this afternoon revealed local businessman Nic Gough will no longer be a part of any takeover bid for the Elite League club.

Gough had joined up with Stingrays assistant coach McEwan to mount a takeover bid from the Coventry Blaze ownership group earlier in the spring.

Though progress was incredibly slow moving due to complications over the initial application, ice-time and then negotiation process with the previous owners - Gough and McEwan looked to be closing in on a takeover towards the latter part of last week and early part of this week.

BBC Radio Humberside confirmed on Monday that Hull City Council (HCC) had called a press conference for Thursday morning at the Hull Arena to announce the results of the ice-time tender at which they will confirm ice-time for the Stingrays 12/13 EIHL campaign

It has now become clear that while the ice-time tender process was closing in on completion, negotiations between the Gough and McEwan and Coventry remained messy and fractured with no accounts shown for their time in Hull, a mooted asking price of between £15,000 and £35,000, and confidentiality issues on the part of the Blaze.

Monday also saw an Elite League board meeting at which the league's ten ownership groups - crucially including McEwan and not Gough - met to agree on a new two conference restructure for the 12/13 campaign.

The restructure saw the Stingrays aligned into a coincidentally financially weaker Northern conference alongside Braehead Clan, Dundee Stars, Fife Flyers and Edinburgh Capitals. Crucially as far as the Stingrays are concerned, the changes saw the loss of four home fixtures against Sheffield and Nottingham - who both bring big numbers of visiting fans to Hull Arena - while also increasing the number of times they travel to Scotland to 16 - up from 12.

While it has been alleged that all EIHL clubs agreed to the deal, it is believed that it was McEwan and not Gough - who was not in attendance - that agreed, in principle, with the changes.

Gough was understandably very unhappy with the new structure, however, didn't withdraw his support late on Tuesday night following the announcement ahead of a meeting with McEwan and Cloutier this morning.

Gough, McEwan and player-coach Sylvain Cloutier met at the Hull Arena - prior to a meeting with HCC- at which point McEwan surprisingly revealed that he believed he could take the club on his own.

Though the decision may indirectly be linked to Gough's understandable anger at the Elite League's decision, it is believe McEwan will continue on with plans for the Stingrays 12/13 EIHL campaign with Cloutier likely returning as player-coach.

Gough spoke of his natural disappointment at the decision to F Block Blog:

"I'm as gutted as the next person but you've got to be realistic. It was looking more and more challenging to achieve what we set out to be achieved initially and we were already close to the wire. This [EIHL restructuring] could have a massive ramifications on the club and the gate. We already had a mountain to climb but the EIHL have ensured that we had a mountain to climb in flip flops and shorts. My heart said yes but my head said no"

He later added on Facebook:

"How can a league that purports to be professional and fair implement changes that disadvantage one of its members whilst benefitting the remaining nine - it stinks"

Nevertheless, Gough will remain a dedicated Stingrays fan and has also offered to help out in anyway he can.

"I'm gutted I'm not involved. I'm disappointed it's come to this but I'm behind him [McEwan] 100%. I wish him every success."

As it stands now, and despite a premature press release from the Blaze ownership group confirming a pre-agreement with the takeover group - which attributed quotes to Gough that were, according to him, fabricated - McEwan still needs to complete the deal to takeover with the Blaze.

While the club may not be in the crisis it was in two years ago following the Pack's departure and it does still have a willing suitor interested in taking over, the situation remains on a knife edge. Inparticular the 12/13 EIHL campaign will likely be incredibly difficult financially though this appears to be a situation McEwan believes manageable.

The Stingrays fans forum tomorrow night (8pm start) at the Hull Arena should reveal more information on the future of the Stingrays as a club with McEwan, Cloutier and a surprise guest or two - thought to be the club's first signings of the summer - all in attendance. Gough has also confirmed he will be in attendance to answer any questions on recent events.

BREAKING: Stingrays future in doubt as Gough pulls out of takeover

The Hull Stingrays have once again been left in potential crisis after Nic Gough pulled out of his proposed takeover of the club.

More to follow...

Ice-time deal imminent; fans forum confirmed

BBC Radio Humberside have this morning revealed that Hull City Council have called a press conference for Thursday morning at the Hull Arena - where it is expected they will announce that they have finally agreed to a deal with the Stingrays for ice-time for the 12/13 season.

The ice-time announcement will confirm the long-awaited official takeover of the club by Nic Gough and Bobby McEwan - who are set to complete a deal with the previous Coventry Blaze ownership group - and also confirm that the Stingrays will be back for a landmark tenth season.

Following the press conference there will be a Stingrays Fans Forum with the new owners and a very special guest also on Thursday at Hull Arena with doors opening at 7.30pm for an 8pm start.

Done deal; Gough and McEwan take over Stingrays

The Excel Hull Stingrays will enter the 12/13 Elite Ice Hockey League campaign - their tenth season in existence and seventh in the top flight - under new ownership after it was today confirmed that Nic Gough and Bobby McEwan had agreed terms with the Coventry Blaze ownership group to take over the club.

The long awaited deal will transfer ownership of the club and make to local businessman Gough and former Humberside Seahawk and Stingrays assistant coach McEwan the club's third ownership group in ten seasons provided Hull City Council agree, as expected, to their proposal regarding the Hull Arena ice-time contract.

An official statement from the now former owner James Pease read:

"The deal is done pending their award of the ice time contract at the Arena and we are delighted that Nic and Bobby are taking over. The club desperately needs to be under local ownership and direction and now it has that. We kept the club alive when that looked impossible but for it to be taken forward now, it needs to be operated by people from the area. 

From our perspective we were asked by many of the supporters to find them an owner who would keep them in the Elite League and who had the best interests of the club at heart. We've done that and I'm sure everyone will get behind Nic and Bobby as they take over. 

We know things haven't been perfect, especially during last season, but it's been very difficult for us to run two clubs, especially with one being so far away from where we are based. It's now time for us to focus on the job we have to do in Coventry and for Nic and Bobby to focus on taking the Stingrays forward. We look forward to many on ice battles in the coming seasons. 

As we say goodbye, we'd like to thank everyone who supported us during the last two seasons, sponsors, supporters and volunteers but especially, Sylvain Cloutier and the players who did such a great job. We really do wish Nic and Bobby all the very best."

The deal ends a particularly turbulent period in the club's history which began with rumours prior to the end of the season that suggested the Coventry based ownership group of Andy Buxton, Mike Cowley, James Pease and Paul Thompson were looking to offload the club to a willing suitor.

This was confirmed on 9 April in an article in the Hull Daily Mail, however, it took until 25 April for the group to officially rule themselves out of owning the Stingrays heading in to 12/13. After a minor ownership battle with local businessman Paul Fielder and former player Slava Koulikov, Gough and McEwan have now agreed an unspecified fee to takeover as the club's new owners.

The outgoing Coventry ownership have endured a real rollercoaster time during their stay in Hull.

They began their tenure as absolute saviours of the Stingrays - having picked the club up from the depths after Mike and Sue Pack stepped away as the season drew agonisingly close - and they went on to have a successful first year in the city, despite the lack of preparation, increasing attendances as the club had a record year on ice.

Third year coach Sylvain Cloutier was afforded the time and preparation to build a squad from scratch last summer - having been re-signed late in the 10/11 season. However, after a great pre-season, the club struggled to find form early on. Amid rumours of financial problems in Coventry, fans turned on the ownership as Joshua Mizerek and Frantisek Bakrlik were released to see only Kurtis Dulle come in to the club as they ran from December on down one import.

Despite the financial issues - and alleged late payment of players, which only surfaced early in the off-season - the club hit real momentum late in the season as they beat Fife, Sheffield and Dundee before advancing to the EIHL Playoff Semi-Finals and EIHL Playoff Final Four Weekend for the first time thanks to a historic and memorable two legged Quarter Final victory over Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Steelers.

With turbulent times now hopefully behind them, the Rays can look forward to a future with a local owner, amazingly for the first time in their history.

In the same statement new owner Gough said:

"I'd like to thank Andy, Mike, James and Paul for all they did to keep the Stingrays alive and develop things to where they are now. It's been tough for them at times but, like us, everyone in Hull should be appreciative of the great foundations they have laid for the Stingrays that are now our responsibility to build on. 

The agreement we have reached with them has helped Bobby and I hugely and has shown us how much they want the Stingrays to succeed under new ownership. They are good people and we really want to thank them sincerely for what they've been prepared to do. They have made an unbelievably gesture that has given us a great chance to take the club forward and it's our intention to do that."

As has been widely stated both previously in this very blog and in today's statement, a huge credit should go to the former ownership group for the hard work they have put in in getting the Stingrays to where they are from the tough situation they found the club in. Though the figure the club changed hands for remains unspecified, the statement does seem to indicate the figure was way below the alleged initial price tag of £20k, which will in turn help the new owners going forward.

Now it is time for the club to move on and begin a new chapter in its near ten year history.

It is largely believed that Cloutier has already agreed to return for a fourth season at the helm and that he has already begun approaching a number of player regarding next season - including some of last season's squad as well as British netminder Ben Bowns. However, the real hard work now begins in earnest with the expected official confirmation of his re-signing coming soon, possibly after Gough and McEwan receive the green light on Hull Arena ice time.

Off-ice too, it is likely a huge amount of man hours will need to be put in in order for the club to build from the solid position it was left in by the previous regime.

Whatever the situation, the uncertainly surrounding the Stingrays has now - barring a shock decision from Hull City Council - dispersed and that in itself is reason to once again look forward to the summer and season ahead.

Go Rays!

StingBlaze are no more; New dawn on the horizon?

The Hull Stingrays will enter the 12/13 Elite Ice Hockey League campaign with their third set of owners in nine seasons after it was tonight revealed that their current Coventry based ownership group have pulled out of the city ahead of next season.

16 days after joint owner Andy Buxton promised the club's future ownership would become 'clearer' within seven days, a 1040 word statement was tonight released confirming their decision to leave Hull two years after saving the club, with the release also explaining the reasons for the lengthy delay and lack of communication since.

Accepting that, though their commitment to the club's future was unwavering throughout their two years in charge, the 'continued growth of the Stingrays was dependent upon local ownership and operational control', the statement also officially confirmed that discussions have been ongoing with potential new owners since the end of the 11/12 EIHL campaign, something openly discussed in the media.

The owners singled out that the reason for the delay was down to interested parties expressed their interest in ice-time directly to Hull City Council (HCC), who own the Hull Arena. This then forced the council to put the ice-time contract, yet to be agreed for the 12/13 campaign, up for tender for potential Stingrays owners.

Though the current owners confirmed they will not compete for the ice-time tender - although they will be in attendance at the meeting on Friday - they did also state that any new bidder will have to pay an upfront cost, one way or another, for the right to return the Stingrays to the EIHL next season.

It has become clear through the press release that there remain two stages and then two options open to any bidders - including the heavily favoured joint bid of local businessman Nic Gough and last season's bench coach Bobby McEwan.

First, any potential owner must win the tender with HCC for ice-time at the Hull Arena next season before either setting up the club afresh by paying EIHL a fee as 'new operator' or by buying the existing club from the current owners.

Although there are other bids mentioned, Gough and McEwan, inparticular, have so far refused to meet the current owners valuation of the club - which would include equipment, cars, storage facilities, a mascots costume and intellectual property rights, which is presumably the club's name and logo amongst other things.

The valuation placed on the club according to the statement is 'a long way' from the £40k figure quoted in a recent Hull Daily Mail article and also way below the cost of the 'new operator' cost imposed by the EIHL. Either way they must agree with the fee requested by the current owners or pay the fee requested by the EIHL.

Despite this, the bid of Gough and McEwan seems likely to be the club's future with the statement reading:

"We would like to make it clear that we are very supportive of their [Gough and McEwan's] desire to become the new Stingrays operators. We believe that they have the interests of the Stingrays at heart and will continue to operate the team in the Elite League. They are well connected in the local area and have the ability to take the Stingrays further forward."

Nevertheless, whoever it is that decides to take the club on and how ever they do it, they will have to move quickly and decisively - starting on Friday at the meeting with Hull City Council. A failure to secure the ice-time contract by allowing it to fall into a rival bidders hands or failing to agree terms could be both costly and time consuming.

With the current owners now walking away from the club, the ice-time contract would potentially be the first stage in a new era of ice hockey in the city, setting the club up for it's third owners in nine years.

The statement closed by stating:

"With our involvement in the Hull Stingrays coming to an end, we would like to take the chance to thank the supporter, sponsors, helpers, players and coaching staff for everything they have contributed during the last two years. It has been very challengeing operating two clubs and there have undoubtedly been ups and downs along the way. What we have done is keep the sport alive at the top level in Hull for two seasons at a time when that looked to be virtually impossible and we would particularly like to thank the players for their contributions to this."

Poignantly it ended with:

"Hull now has a club that  people want to take forward which is a real positive for the sport."

In response to that and on a final note, it is true the current ownership have taken a lot of stick during the two years they have run top flight ice hockey in the city - some deserved, some harsh - but they undoubtedly deserve great credit and a massive thank you for saving the club from the abyss, keeping the dream alive and leaving the club in a much, much better state than they inherited it.

A tremendous amount of hard work - from all of the players, staff and volunteers - has gone into improving the club to a point where it is in as good a condition as it ever has been, both on and off the ice, so despite the criticisms - be it lack of communication to fans or alleged late payments to players - the current owners (now previous?) deserve huge credit, if not for improving the club, then for saving it!