Row V I'm so glad my cars are insured with AIG. Not. I might have a like look around just in case.
Must admit though, I'm paying some damn good pricing - my 18 year old drives a '02 Grand Cherokee for $2k / year. Eat your hearts out!
Wycombe RoyalAvon RoyalOLLIE KEARNS AIG are in trouble which could impact Man U
The chances of AIG going under are less than zero.
THe chances are a long way above zero according to the media today.
The 17 BusWycombe RoyalAvon Royal The chances of AIG going under are less than zero.
THe chances are a long way above zero according to the media today.
And indeed from the boss himself.
AIG's former chairman Maurice Greenberg said Tuesday that without a loan or any other injection of capital from the outside, the giant insurance company would be bankrupt.
Dirk GentlyThe 17 BusWycombe Royal THe chances are a long way above zero according to the media today.
And indeed from the boss himself.
AIG's former chairman Maurice Greenberg said Tuesday that without a loan or any other injection of capital from the outside, the giant insurance company would be bankrupt.
Their credit rating has just been downgraded, which now makes it much, much harder for them to borrow money.
Avon RoyalOLLIE KEARNS AIG are in trouble which could impact Man U
The chances of AIG going under are less than zero.
West Stand ManAvon RoyalOLLIE KEARNS AIG are in trouble which could impact Man U
The chances of AIG going under are less than zero.
Oh dear. What an embarrassing statement to make in the light of the actual facts. AIG goes broke less than 24 hours after your brilliant observation! Bailed out by a £80Bn loan from the US government at a point when the board are saying that without that money the company will fold. Remind me not to take any serious financial advice from you in the future!
T.R.O.L.I. One thing I'll add to this:
If AIG do go bust, is it really going to affect Man Utd? I very much doubt it as they must have hundreds of companies fighting over the rights to be the shirt sponsor of one of the biggest clubs in the world.
papereyesT.R.O.L.I. One thing I'll add to this:
If AIG do go bust, is it really going to affect Man Utd? I very much doubt it as they must have hundreds of companies fighting over the rights to be the shirt sponsor of one of the biggest clubs in the world.
That's roughly what I think.
It ain't going to be the big clubs heavily hit by this, it will be the ones a few rungs down the ladder.
TheMaraudingDogpapereyesT.R.O.L.I. One thing I'll add to this:
If AIG do go bust, is it really going to affect Man Utd? I very much doubt it as they must have hundreds of companies fighting over the rights to be the shirt sponsor of one of the biggest clubs in the world.
That's roughly what I think.
It ain't going to be the big clubs heavily hit by this, it will be the ones a few rungs down the ladder.
All sponsorships have get out clauses for both sides. Vodafone got out of United early and word is that AIG won't be in a position to sponsor United next season. So another new sponsor for them and I suppose another new home shirt to go with it.
1960 John Lewis (Waitrose) business down 27% this year.
Mr Angry For those of you who inhabit Planet Football, there is a real world out there, and its one that is crashing around our ears as we type; the days of massive expenditure based on borrowing against potential future earnings, if they haven't ended now, are about to - and in a big way. Banks and financial institutions SIMPLY WILL NOT LEND VAST SUMS TO FOOTBALL CLUBS as they will be seen as too much of a risk.
Success for football teams AT OUR LEVEL will no longer be based on how much money you throw at players and agents, but on how many players you can develop either from the Academy or from having bought relatively inexpensively and from money that has already been earned.
With this in mind, i fundamentally disagree wth the assertion that it is hard to see any progress for the foreseeable future; as has already been said, the emergence of Karacan, Pearce and Kelly, with Henry waiting for his chance as well, means that we ARE progressing and hopefully will continue to do so for the future.
Royal Rother Best post on the subject for a while.Mr Angry For those of you who inhabit Planet Football, there is a real world out there, and its one that is crashing around our ears as we type; the days of massive expenditure based on borrowing against potential future earnings, if they haven't ended now, are about to - and in a big way. Banks and financial institutions SIMPLY WILL NOT LEND VAST SUMS TO FOOTBALL CLUBS as they will be seen as too much of a risk.
Success for football teams AT OUR LEVEL will no longer be based on how much money you throw at players and agents, but on how many players you can develop either from the Academy or from having bought relatively inexpensively and from money that has already been earned.
With this in mind, i fundamentally disagree wth the assertion that it is hard to see any progress for the foreseeable future; as has already been said, the emergence of Karacan, Pearce and Kelly, with Henry waiting for his chance as well, means that we ARE progressing and hopefully will continue to do so for the future.
People are catching on.
I suspect that doomsday is rapidly approaching for many football clubs but due to JM's policies RFC will be one of the few left standing relatively unscathed.
David Conn Ever since the Premier League boomed into life in 1992, fuelled by Sky's millions, stubborn prophets of doom have warned it is a bubble that is bound to burst. More measured observers wondered if clubs would be particularly vulnerable to a recession, because in order to pay enormous wages to their blessed players they rely on millions of ordinary people paying £400 a year for their Sky packages, season tickets which have ballooned about 800% in 16 years, and sponsorship and corporate entertainment budgets which many companies have to cut in rocky times.
Now, here it is: banking meltdown, and the prospect of a recession for which the outlook varies only in the depth of its grimness. But look at the attendances: the football public's response to last week's dire headlines gave a clue to how the game is likely to fare - at the top, clubs believe, perhaps surprisingly, that they will be safe, while lower down, they will have to be careful.
At six of the 10 weekend Premier League matches there were capacity or almost full houses. These came at Chelsea, for Manchester United's highly charged visit, Liverpool, West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur and newly promoted Hull City and West Bromwich Albion. Sunderland did not fill the 49,000 Stadium of Light seats but 38,388 people at a match against Middlesbrough hardly represents an exodus of fans in hard-pressed Wearside. Bolton Wanderers, with 6,000 seats empty despite Arsenal's presence, illustrated the continuing struggle to raise Reebok crowds above 22,000, and Blackburn Rovers' kids...#8209;for...#8209;a-quid deal for the game against Fulham helped to draw 19,398. That is 12,000 below Ewood Park's capacity but Rovers' chairman, John Williams, argues that 20,000 attendees in a town of 100,000 people demonstrates profound commitment, rather than a game losing its lustre.
The most spectacular statement of optimism in the Premier League's future was delivered in Manchester, where City's 6-0 rampage against Portsmouth followed the takeover of the club by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He issued a public letter headed "Dear fellow Manchester City fans", in which he pledged to be a "long-term investor", to nurture homegrown players "not just a team of all-stars" and to support City's role "in Manchester and the community it represents".
The letter did not offer just warm words. "In cold business terms," it said, "Premiership football is one of the best entertainment products in the world and we see this as a sound business investment."
That could hardly be clearer: Sheikh Mansour, of the Abu Dhabi royal family and chairman of the emirate's International Petroleum Investment Company, does not see the Premier League as a bubble about to burst any time soon.
Despite City suddenly becoming the world's richest club and featuring Robinho in the line-up, there were still more than 7,000 empty seats at the City of Manchester Stadium for Sunday's match, which was not broadcast on live TV. For all the petro-billions behind City, "Manchester and the community it represents" comprises some of the UK's poorest people. Although 40,000 is, historically, a good crowd, City remain in the category of clubs needing to work to fill their ground.
Across Manchester, last week's bail-out of the stricken insurers AIG, United's £14.125m-a-year shirt sponsor, was read by some as a powerful sign of the downturn hitting football, but United sent out a "business as usual" message. The club did not argue with marketing analysts who said United would easily find another sponsor if AIG did pull out, because a Manchester United footballer's chest represents a glittering, global shop window for any company, even in this market.
Many have noted the melting away of United's season-ticket waiting list following the expansion of Old Trafford and serial price increases, but crowds so far, 75,512 against Newcastle and 74,944 for the Champions League tie with Villarreal, remain immense, up with the record numbers famously packed in cheaply during any previous "golden age".
All the other boxes are ticked at Old Trafford, including the corporate ones, which, according to a club spokesman, are 96% full for this season. In short, they are not worrying about a meltdown. At the other top clubs, Arsenal and Liverpool still have waiting lists for season tickets, and Chelsea, with adult prices this season between £650 and £1,150, are also sold out.
Dan Jones, of the sports business group at Deloitte, believes Premier League football is less vulnerable than other industries, because of fans' enduring loyalty, and because much of the clubs' money is already secured. The record £2.7bn TV deal runs till 2010 and the clubs are confident that Sky's competitors, for Sheikh Mansour's coveted "entertainment product", will trump that figure next time.
"Season tickets are paid up until May, sponsorship deals are fairly long...#8209;term," Jones points out, "so football clubs are actually more protected than other businesses who look at the current economic climate and wonder how they will be doing next month."
Clubs such as Blackburn, Bolton, West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland, Wigan and Middlesbrough did not need last week's news from the City of London to tell them of difficult economic circumstances - they are surrounded by them. Williams is acutely aware that Blackburn and much of east Lancashire have never struggled out of long-term decline and says most Rovers fans are in lower income bands.
"The A666 is not the King's Road, and we have to be aware of the impact of any recession," he says.
Blackburn season tickets and corporate box sales are both slightly down this season and the club is working harder, as with Saturday's "kids-for-a-quid" offer, to attract crowds match by match.
West Bromwich Albion provide a ready preview of how clubs may react if recession does bite their fans - they can reduce prices. West Midlands' traditional engineering economy has been grinding down for years, and Albion responded to promotion last season by cutting season ticket prices 11%, following 20% the previous season. That makes season tickets at The Hawthorns almost a third cheaper than when Albion were last in the Premier League. The result: full houses at all three home games so far. The demand is there.
Much has been made of Albion starting the season without a sponsor, but the club's finance director, Mark Jenkins, says they are confident: "Clearly companies are watching their budgets, but we are talking to two very attractive potential sponsors. However, we are not willing to under-sell our sponsorship and have a price below which we won't go."
Below the gilded Premier League, clubs must battle harder to attract fans, sponsors and corporate customers, but Football League crowds are still at historically vast levels. Since football was cleaned up, reinvented and actively marketed following its Hillsborough nadir, a huge well of fan loyalty - gold dust for any business - has been amassed, and it looks durable, even in a recession.
Of the economic downturn, one fan said last week: "Obviously, if people lose their jobs, some will have to give up going to the match if they need the money to feed their kids. Mind you," he added, "I'm not one of them."
He may have been joking.
OLLIE KEARNS The impact is starting to works it's way through to the world of football. XL has hit West Ham, AIG are in trouble which could impact Man U, the recession will hit gate receipts, TV subscription and merchandise sales. Advertising revenue will tumble as companies tighten their belts. SKY will bid significantly less for football next time around.
Which clubs are going to be in big trouble in 2 years time and how glad will we be that Reading is well run financially ?
OLLIE KEARNSOLLIE KEARNS The impact is starting to works it's way through to the world of football. XL has hit West Ham, AIG are in trouble which could impact Man U, the recession will hit gate receipts, TV subscription and merchandise sales. Advertising revenue will tumble as companies tighten their belts. SKY will bid significantly less for football next time around.
Which clubs are going to be in big trouble in 2 years time and how glad will we be that Reading is well run financially ?
Will West Ham survive ? Their Icelandic bank backers are in liquidation and they face a +£30m compensation bill from Sheffield United. Will they start next season with -30 points ? Are they the first major club to head into receivership ? They could start again in the Conference South as AFC West Ham United
We could be one of the richest clubs in the Prem when we go back up next year
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