Potential New Owners

[WestYorksRoyal]

Cool. We get your point. A regulator is not a magic bullet to fix all our problems and will be lobbied to water down its powers. But the people rubbishing the idea and saying we should protect the Premier League golden goose are plainly wrong in my view.

For read across to another industry, financial services was a great success story in the 90s and 00s which nobody wanted to regulate too tightly. We saw how that ended, and now it is regulated for the better and while people in the industry suggest improvements, nobody would seriously say the increased regulation has caused harm.

Now for football, we're already seeing the signs of market failure like we did with the banks in the 00s. We had the super League debacle. Last year the government had to take extraordinary measures to fix the situation at Chelsea, which was a result of allowing shady money in and made so much worse because Chelsea were utterly dependent on him financially. Everton are in real trouble; this 777 group looks awful. But they're big enough that if shit hits the fan we'll see government intervention, whereas clubs like us can go fcuk ourselves.

So all the evidence is there in plain sight that the industry is broken. What can a regulator do? A very hard, million dollar question. But at a bare minimum, greater powers to vet potential owners and take action if they start acting badly, and greater financial controls where if owners want to run up losses, they need to deposit the capital for the club's solvency.

Perhaps "market failure" is the wrong term. In other industries, Chelsea and Everton could go bust, but football is not a normal industry.

[Franchise FC]

So, a bit like SJM then

As it turned out yes - but I honestly think SJM thought he had found a real billionaire rather than the wide boy son of a billionaire. Its certainly been all down hill from there and I really hope the Ashley rumours are true. Maybe Ashley wants to be loved after all the hate at Newcastle. I would just hope he buys the club, pays the bills and rebuilds the team/infrastructure. I honestly don't think it will cost a lot to get us back to at least the Championship within 2-3 seasons. And then Ashley will be the man who saved the club!

There's a saying ' "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

From his actions up to now, what makes people think Ashley is in this for anything other than to make as much money as possible for as little outlay as possible...

He's not a sugar daddy...

The only way I can see that he makes money out of this is if he stops the bleeding and turns the business around. That would appear to align with the goal of most Nobbers on here.

The order on the stadium would appear to rule out a property deal to make that money back

[From Despair To Where?]

I hope Ashley makes an absolute shit ton of money out of us because that will mean we'll be in a significantly better place.

[blythspartan]

We are not on the EFL embargo page yet, so I assume October’s tax bill has been paid, which could be a good sign.

[Stranded]

We are not on the EFL embargo page yet, so I assume October’s tax bill has been paid, which could be a good sign.

I think in terms of reporting, Monday is the key day.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

As it turned out yes - but I honestly think SJM thought he had found a real billionaire rather than the wide boy son of a billionaire. Its certainly been all down hill from there and I really hope the Ashley rumours are true. Maybe Ashley wants to be loved after all the hate at Newcastle. I would just hope he buys the club, pays the bills and rebuilds the team/infrastructure. I honestly don't think it will cost a lot to get us back to at least the Championship within 2-3 seasons. And then Ashley will be the man who saved the club!

There's a saying ' "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

From his actions up to now, what makes people think Ashley is in this for anything other than to make as much money as possible for as little outlay as possible...

He's not a sugar daddy...

Err, isn't this exactly what we want/need.

An owner who will build the club back up the leagues, whilst looking to make us as independant from owner wealth as we possibly can be. The only way he makes money out of us, is by keeping us as debt free as possible, have the club own the stadium (or possibly he owns that separately) and gets us solidly back in the Championship, at the very least.

I'm sorry, but English football is broken - you can't be sustainable (if that means not losing money) and competitive (if that means solidly back in the Championship).

Unless Ashley is suddenly in need of a new toy to spend money on, which I doubt, all that will happen is asset striping or one description or another - ticket prices will be up, young talent will be sold, cheap template kits will become the norm...

[Mid Sussex Royal]

We are not on the EFL embargo page yet, so I assume October’s tax bill has been paid, which could be a good sign.

I think in terms of reporting, Monday is the key day.

Yes - last 2 times its been on EFL website on third working day after which is Monday

[From Despair To Where?]

There's a saying ' "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

From his actions up to now, what makes people think Ashley is in this for anything other than to make as much money as possible for as little outlay as possible...

He's not a sugar daddy...

Err, isn't this exactly what we want/need.

An owner who will build the club back up the leagues, whilst looking to make us as independant from owner wealth as we possibly can be. The only way he makes money out of us, is by keeping us as debt free as possible, have the club own the stadium (or possibly he owns that separately) and gets us solidly back in the Championship, at the very least.

I'm sorry, but English football is broken - you can't be sustainable (if that means not losing money) and competitive (if that means solidly back in the Championship).

Unless Ashley is suddenly in need of a new toy to spend money on, which I doubt, all that will happen is asset striping or one description or another - ticket prices will be up, young talent will be sold, cheap template kits will become the norm...

He didn't make any money from Newcastle until he sold them. He pumped in near enough £80m straight after he bought them to clear debts.

He'snot looking to make a profit year on year, he's looking to build a product he can make a profit on when he sells.

[WestYorksRoyal]

There's a saying ' "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

From his actions up to now, what makes people think Ashley is in this for anything other than to make as much money as possible for as little outlay as possible...

He's not a sugar daddy...

Err, isn't this exactly what we want/need.

An owner who will build the club back up the leagues, whilst looking to make us as independant from owner wealth as we possibly can be. The only way he makes money out of us, is by keeping us as debt free as possible, have the club own the stadium (or possibly he owns that separately) and gets us solidly back in the Championship, at the very least.

I'm sorry, but English football is broken - you can't be sustainable (if that means not losing money) and competitive (if that means solidly back in the Championship).

Unless Ashley is suddenly in need of a new toy to spend money on, which I doubt, all that will happen is asset striping or one description or another - ticket prices will be up, young talent will be sold, cheap template kits will become the norm...

But as you said, English football is broken. Ashley can't be interested in buying for purely financial reasons. Maybe he perceives his reputation after Newcastle as unfair and wants to rebuild it. Or is in it for the long game to sell on a club worth more than he bought it for.

But the reason I'm less concerned about asset stripping is simply, what assets can he strip? The stadium has shit loads of protection; if it's not used for football, it's worth fcuk all. Bearwood is hardly land you can build homes on, you'd never get permission. As for academy products, they're worth peanuts until they get experience in the top 2 tiers. If that's how he wants to make money, he'd better bet on promotion.

Buying us to asset strip and make a short term buck is a stupid, unviable business decision. As Ashley's not an idiot, I know this can't be his motivation.

[From Despair To Where?]

And frankly, if Sports Direct want to pay £2m a season to have our ground called The Sports Direct Arena and our kit is supplied by Slazenger, frankly, I don't give a toss if it helps keep the club afloat.

It's nothing Madejski didn't do, having Auto Trader as the main club sponsor and naming the stadium after himself.

[under the tin]

And frankly, if Sports Direct want to pay £2m a season to have our ground called The Sports Direct Arena and our kit is supplied by Slazenger, frankly, I don't give a toss if it helps keep the club afloat.

It's nothing Madejski didn't do, having Auto Trader as the main club sponsor and naming the stadium after himself.

Hear, hear

[Snowflake Royal]

Yeah, I think Lindon is having a 'mare here.

The last thing we want is a new Dai, throwing money at stuff stupidly and leaving us in ruin.

[From Despair To Where?]

I'm not really in favour of selling the stadium naming rights but we're in no position to turn down income.

[Silver Fox]

That ship has shailed shurely?

[leon]

And frankly, if Sports Direct want to pay £2m a season to have our ground called The Sports Direct Arena and our kit is supplied by Slazenger, frankly, I don't give a toss if it helps keep the club afloat.

It's nothing Madejski didn't do, having Auto Trader as the main club sponsor and naming the stadium after himself.

yeah but what a shirt that was

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Err, isn't this exactly what we want/need.

An owner who will build the club back up the leagues, whilst looking to make us as independant from owner wealth as we possibly can be. The only way he makes money out of us, is by keeping us as debt free as possible, have the club own the stadium (or possibly he owns that separately) and gets us solidly back in the Championship, at the very least.

I'm sorry, but English football is broken - you can't be sustainable (if that means not losing money) and competitive (if that means solidly back in the Championship).

Unless Ashley is suddenly in need of a new toy to spend money on, which I doubt, all that will happen is asset striping or one description or another - ticket prices will be up, young talent will be sold, cheap template kits will become the norm...

He didn't make any money from Newcastle until he sold them. He pumped in near enough £80m straight after he bought them to clear debts.

He'snot looking to make a profit year on year, he's looking to build a product he can make a profit on when he sells.

I was going to say, I thought Ashley did actually invest a fair amount into Newcastle? It was just never perceived as "enough" for Newcastle fans. Not the perfect owner, but would surely bring us far more stability than what we have had since Madejski.

[WestYorksRoyal]

I think the gripe of Newcastle fans was his investment was reactionary and never well planned. Like "shit, we're going to get relegated, better spend some money". They claim he didn't invest in things like the academy, growing commercial revenue or training facilities I.e., the things that really make a long term difference.

Take it with a pinch of salt I say. The academy is currently contributing several players to a squad competing in Europe, so can't have stagnated that much under him.

[Hound]

Apparently close to signing exclusivity with Genevra associates - James Earnshaw

[Linden Jones' Tash]

Apparently close to signing exclusivity with Genevra associates - James Earnshaw

So I''ll ask the naive question - what's the incentive for a Hedge Fund to purchase a League One club?

It's not for community spirit...

[blythspartan]

I wanted Ashley who would sail through the fit and proper test. My gut feeling is that Genevra will be a final bad decision by Dai.