Are Foreign Owners Good For Football

[foxes1]

My club Leicester have just been taken over by a foreign consortium consisting of Thai businessman, is the amount of foreign investment in the British game harming football or is it good for it.
We have over the last few years had various foreign investors buy clubs, but a lot of the clubs seem to have alienated the fans (ie Man Utd and Liverpool). Could we also see more clubs going the way of Portsmouth who seem to have had new owners every other week and basically have ruined the club.
Whilst its nice to have our debt wiped out I have my doubts as to if foreign owners are a good idea or not, but only time will tell.

[Senior82]

It depends how the business is run. Chelsea/Man City are ok as long as the benefactors don't ask for a return on their investment. Man U/Arsenal will be fine as there is a clear long term business plan.

Portsmouth were screwed because they spent a shed load of cash that they never had, and were never going to have. The final chairman (Balram Chainrai) only became the owner as he basically repossessed the club after Ali-Al Faraj couldn't keep up the repayments on the 'mortgage' he had taken out.

As long as your new owners don't throw caution to the wind then you should be fine. They might be from a far flung land but they're still businessmen, and if they've paid x million pounds for something, i'm sure they'll at least try to look after it.

[James]

Since the premier league began the amounts of money being thrown about has generated a greedy money orientated business and teams like Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Norwich, Leeds and others have suffered from this.

Wednesday for example in the early 90's were a top ten premier league team, but the finances just weren't there for them to continue competing at that level, they have since dropped down a few times and again find themselves in League 1 and have had all kinds of financial problems, thankfully though they seemed to have stedied the ship with the finances a bit but they used to have packed crowds every week now about quarter of the stadium is empty.

Leeds were the same they broke the bank to not just stay in the top ten but compete higher in the premier league and whilst they did gain some success and played champions league football the fall out from that was HUGE, they spent a number of years in league 1 and struggled to adapt they had to rely heavily on youth team players being developed in house as they had to sell their major assets to stay in existance, i mean players like Robinson, Ferdinand, Smith, Lennon, Kewell etc.

I think with all these new foriegn investors coming in it's making people in the game more and more greedy and money orientated, i mean City are reportedly paying Yaya Toure £200,000 a WEEK, other teams just cannot compete on a financial level like that and they will do what Portsmouth done and try and get better players in on wages they cannot afford hoping that they get instant success as that is what the fans want, I still think that in the next five years at least five teams in the Premiership and Championship will no longer be in existance because they will have just gone bust.

As Senior says if Chelsea/City's owners decide that they want out as their bored they would want a return on their investment which could put those two teams in deep doggy doo.

Unfortunately english football is no longer a sport where teams are on an even playing field, money talks and has turned a sport into a multi billion pund business where every one from owners, managers, players, coaches, agents are in it just for the money and they try desperatly to drain every little bit of money out of the game as they possibly can.

Look at teams further down the league as well, Southend are fighting off financial meltdown, and even in the championship, Crystal Palace and Cardiff are constantly in court for non payments etc, i still firmly believe that the sport can be saved the problem is that the people who are running it need to grow a pair and it can be done quite easily the problem is the people who run the FA, Premier League, UEFA and FIFA are all incompetant idiots who are greeider than the pampered primadonnas on the pitch
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[Auchinleckian]

Football today no longer resembles the all consuming passionate affair that dominated British life for nearly 100 years. There's no passion on the terraces any more, and the accompanying terrace culture has all but died.
Roy Keane was right when he criticised the prawn sandwich eating brigade that have hijacked the game for the upwardly mobile middle classes. The game was ripe for exploitation and it's now suffering as a consequence. Have't watched professional football for nearly 20 years now and I have no intention of ever watching it again. I refuse to have Murdoch in the house so don't watch live football at all unless I'm on the terraces at Auchinleck, or wherever they're playing, or some other non league club that actually cares and interacts with it's fans.
Premier League superstars? I'd put them up against a wall.....

[Tynie Topics]

I think the English Premiership clubs are whores to Sky money, Champions League money and foreign investment and are gradually losing touch with the games roots, and in turn attract the sort of fan who wouldn’t have been seen dead in a football ground 20 years ago. The so-called “middle classes” are as entitled to watch football as anyone else, however that shouldn’t be at the expense of the “working class” fan. Some of the ticket prices in the EPL are frankly obscene and I personally wouldn’t/couldn’t afford to pay it.

The Taylor report and Sky have a lot to answer for although it was the excuse club owners needed to rid the game forever of the “undesirables” who inhabited their crumbling terraces, cemented by the formation of the “Premiership”, and to form a European cabal (G14?) to soak up the cash and to hell with anyone else. There’s no going back now, where we’ll end up is anyone’s guess, but with the very real prospect of a “double dip” recession, some clubs really are on a sticky wicket. I never thought I’d see the day that clubs field virtual reserve teams in the latter stages of the UEFA Cup as they were going for 4th place in the league……..

There is life outside the EPL of course, I’m off down to Southport tomorrow for the AFC Wimbledon game and looking forward to it, but even down in the Conference we have clubs living beyond their means and paying fulltime wages on crowds of less than 1,000 as they seek the promised land of League 2. Non league football isn’t the be all, a “real” football fan can still be a Chelsea fan or a Man Utd fan just as much as a Rochdale or a Forest Green Rovers fan can be, it’s not the reserve of the non-leaguers, but increasingly the “real” fan is being forced out of grounds at the top level.

It needs a concerted campaign by fans. If top Bundesliga clubs can be owned by their fans and still compete in the Champions League, if they can built large modern safe stadia with standing areas, if they can sell tickets for less than £15, then there is no excuse when it comes to clubs in this country.
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[Tynie Topics]

As for Auchinleck Talbot, remember, they are the Chelsea or the Man Utd of Scottish Junior football and pay players more than is really healthy for the Junior game, so it’s not all sweetness and light in darkest Ayrshire…..
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[foxes1]

Problem with the money thats sloshing around in the game these days it is not going down to grass roots level it is all going into lining the players pockets. I used to go down to all our games home and away up until the mid 80's, but nowadays I pick and choose the games I go to. I am going to our game against M'boro tomorrow only because I got a cheap ticket, otherwise I wouldn't pay the £28 for a Championship game.
These investors that have bought Leicester want to market us in the Far East, but it will never happen the club isn't big enough for that and I doubt it ever will be, and if they can't do that what happens then they will pull the plug and clear off.

[Auchinleckian]

Tynie Topics wrote:

As for Auchinleck Talbot, remember, they are the Chelsea or the Man Utd of Scottish Junior football and pay players more than is really healthy for the Junior game, so it’s not all sweetness and light in darkest Ayrshire…..

Am afraid you're wrong on that account Tynie. In terms of major trophies won, there's no doubt that Talbot are the foremost Junior team, however we do not, and can not compete with the spending and wage paying of some Junior clubs, ie Irvine Meadow (still, incredibly) Talbot have had a fixed wage structure for many years now, and players signing for the Talbot do so in the knowledge that a few seasons at Beechwood will give them a far greater chance of winning major trophies rather than big pay cheques.

The club's AGM a fortnight back highlighted the fact that players expenses and bonuses are being further cut back, but also being consolidated into the basic pay. Like other Junior clubs we've cut our cloth accordingly over the last two years, but it was already from a prudent base. Do you know that the whole of the Talbot squad, along with about 70 odd fans, all pay £10 per month via standing order to raise money for transfers and signing on fees? That's what I talk about when I mention how well run non league clubs and their fans work together.

If money had ever had been he prime motivator for the Talbot, do you honestly not think that we'd have applied for League membership each time places became vacant. There's absolutely no doubt we'd have been welcomed with open arms by the SFA because of our ability to not only attract crowds at Beechwood but because of the large numbers we take away. Come down one Saturday and watch a game at Beechwood with me and share a pint?

[kenred]

An emphatic NO! except perhaps in Man citys case who are buying anybody ,and anyone at inflated prices.

[Tynie Topics]

Auchinleckian wrote:

Am afraid you're wrong on that account Tynie.

From where I'm sitting in the Junior world, my club is Barnet, your club is Chelsea. My club are to all intents and purposes amateur - we only pay expenses - whilst you shop in Oxford Street for players.

Just an observation, not a criticism.

We had Auchinleck up at the start of last season for a Testimonial for our manager, and you were a credit to the Junior game. Also been to Beechwood and it's a very good set-up, a set-up that 95% of clubs can only dream about.
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[Auchinleckian]

So you're a Blackburn fan then?

[Tynie Topics]

Auchinleckian wrote:

So you're a Blackburn fan then?

I am. I was Secretary at the time on the Talbot game, no longer on the committee.
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[Auchinleckian]

Do you think English folk would be confused if we told them that only a few years back Blackburn played Preston up here in league games?

[Tynie Topics]

Auchinleckian wrote:

Do you think English folk would be confused if we told them that only a few years back Blackburn played Preston up here in league games?

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[pastpirate]

Well I am confused so I guess you're right.
Pleeeease explain.
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[coolascustard]

Dont think it always matters who owns the club most are in it just for what they can get out.
We have had english owners who totally ripped the club off and are now doing time at her majsteys pleasure.
We now have american owners who some think they are doing the same.
They talk the talk.

[Auchinleckian]

pastpirate wrote:

Well I am confused so I guess you're right. Pleeeease explain.

Blackburn are a long established Scottish Junior club. Up until a few years back, before moving into the East of Scotland League they could play a team from Prestonpans called Preston Athletic. So there you have it, a local derby in Scotland, not Lancashire, Blackburn vs Preston.

[foxes1]

Well our Foreign owners have got their way and got a big name manager in, still don't think he will be any good. Could we be going down the same route as Man City, bring in a Thai as chairman bring Sven in to manage then get some mega-rich Saudis in and make a loss of 121 million pounds. Bloody hope not.

[CARLISLE ONE]

Isnt the mighty Sven the best paid least successful manager ever ?

As for football and ownership and grass roots etc ... The good old days of the 80's I remember,, would travel away when Carlisle were away and the rest of the times would watch Gretna in Dyrboroughs Northern League, travel on the team bus, paying a couple of quid, spend a couple hours in the away teams Social Club having good crack with the locals. Good times were had by all.
Then I moved on to filming Carlisle matches so had to give Gretna a miss, loved that too at first despite the fact we were absolute pants, would get in for free, a free programme, team sheet and into players bar. Then came the Messiah, a certain Mr Knighton with the promised land to come within ten years and the club became soulless, no more free programme , sheet, pay for parking, use tradesmans entrance, a stand that didnt fit the pitch, a man who sacked every good coach and manager and threatened us with part time, sacked me too , and i became disillusioned, dont go as much as I did, obviously but would i like a foreign benefactor to come in and pump millions ? No thanks, I would prefer success to be earned by good coaching, long term foundations being built etc. We will never repeat the one season we had in the top flight but so be it, wont stop the dream
And whatever happened to Gretna ? I picked up a lot stuff from the creditors sale, corner flags, balls etc. Thinking of setting the flags out in my garden rather than sell them .....