Now taxpayers have to bail out Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium

The Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster has been subsidised by around £4m by the town’s council since 2006. The venue, home to Doncaster Rovers Football Club as well as the town’s rugby league team and ladies football club, accrued losses of around £1m in each of its first two years.

It broke even for the following two but this year the problems have deepened and it is already more than £1.5m in the red, expected to rise to £2m by the end of the financial year.

Council documents have revealed that a high-profile concert featuring pop group Westlife ran up losses of £75,000.

The heavy losses mean the stadium could breach a £300,000 council loan on top of its overdraft.

It is understood talks have taken place between the council and Doncaster Rovers about selling the ground to the club, but these have not progressed.

Mayor Peter Davies said the stadium, approved by his predecessor Martin Winter, was a “ludicrous scheme”. However, he refused to be drawn on what the council wanted to do with the ground.

“This is one of the most ludicrous schemes that any council could have got involved in,” he said. “Over five years it has run up losses of around £4m – with taxpayers subsidising it. That is unacceptable.”

Doncaster Rovers chairman John Ryan said: “We are hoping to do a deal with the Keepmoat. Obviously, it’s not good for the rate-payers because the SMC are losing a load of money every year. We feel we could maybe run it as a better financial situation. We would like to buy it if the terms are right.

“Some people are disillusioned by the valuation. The council didn’t pay £32m, by the way, they paid £30m, and £2m was put in by the Football Trust via ourselves. But the reality is it has lost money ever since it opened. They are asking us to take on a losing business and therefore the valuation goes down quite considerably.

“We will see if we can come to some sort of arrangement. I wouldn’t have thought the rate-payers would be happy paying the losses year in, year out. I think the most likely deal will be a long term lease which would probably suit both parties. You are dealing with the council. Things grind along at a very slow pace. We are ever hopeful but I couldn’t put a timescale on it.”