TAKEOVER *NOT* CONFIMRED

[Horsham Royal]

If it’s profitable why would you need owners with money to keep it afloat

It's profitable if you actually sell the players it produces for more than a pittance, or in the case of the likes of Loader, Richards, etc, anything at all.

Which means you don’t need a rich owner to fund it.

Wasn't Andrew's point that with a rich (and willing) owner you're not having to sell below market rate in firesales so academy can generate profit without owner's subsidy.

[From Despair To Where?]

Some are talking about Bearwood and the Academy being too expensive in L1 but I disagree. Surely the Academy can be a very profitable entity if you have owners with money.

If it’s profitable why would you need owners with money to keep it afloat

It's profitable if you actually sell the players it produces for more than a pittance, or in the case of the likes of Loader, Richards, etc, anything at all. Just because Dai Yongge is a f[u]cking moron doesn't mean someone sensible can't run it sensibly.

Sunderland had a category 1 academy in League 1 and Derby also have a category 1 academy in this league. So it can be done.

They also get double the crowds we do in League 1.

If your revenue is £8m a year, you can't really afford to spend £5m of that on a Cat1 academy.

[rabidbee]

It also occurs to me that if new owners are hoping to get us promoted and sell us for a quick profit, they may feel they might make better margins from a lean investment (without Bearwood) than if they try to buy everything as it is now.

[Elm Park Kid]

It's unlikely they would make any profit selling us in the Championship. It's more expensive to fund a Championship side than League One. Only if we were consistently challenging for promotion.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Isn't every level unsustainable unless you're Man Utd size? If we get promoted, income goes 2x up but wages go 2.5x up. In the PL, incorrect goes 5x up and so do wages. Newly promoted teams make a profit, but if they stick around there the players who do the business start asking for wages that reflect their worth, and then the losses start again on a bigger scale to what they were.

[Winston Biscuit]

If its these sports.com people then maybe a documentary is on the way

[Elm Park Kid]

Isn't every level unsustainable unless you're Man Utd size? If we get promoted, income goes 2x up but wages go 2.5x up. In the PL, incorrect goes 5x up and so do wages. Newly promoted teams make a profit, but if they stick around there the players who do the business start asking for wages that reflect their worth, and then the losses start again on a bigger scale to what they were.

You can run at break-even in the PL if all you're doing is trying to avoid relegation. Whilst pretty much every Championship team loses money .

Though, the value of becoming a PL team is not really about profitability now. It's that you become a target for vanity buyers (Saudis) and those speculating that the league can be made more profitable in the future (Americans).

[windermereROYAL]

Several posts on twitter, mostly seeing one and copying it, saying it`s a done deal, I paid particular interest to the directors box today and Mark Bowen was a lonely figure sitting in the front row on his own.
Now if we were on the verge of an imminent takeover to would expect some of them to be here watching our games.

[tmesis]

If its these sports.com people then maybe a documentary is on the way

You'd hope so. It would be nice to have something on their channel beyond clips you can probably see for free on youtube.

[WestYorksRoyal]

If its these sports.com people then maybe a documentary is on the way

You'd hope so. It would be nice to have something on their channel beyond clips you can probably see for free on youtube.

I'm waiting until we know the full story, but hopefully we get more information on their funding as it doesn't look like an organisation flushed with money. Presumably the EFL will need to see this and Howe will have been able to check too. Though AZ and Samuelson tricked everyone.

[Elm Park Kid]

Several posts on twitter, mostly seeing one and copying it, saying it`s a done deal, I paid particular interest to the directors box today and Mark Bowen was a lonely figure sitting in the front row on his own.
Now if we were on the verge of an imminent takeover to would expect some of them to be here watching our games.

My (non twitter sources) tell me that yes, it is basically done. Might even be announced on Monday. But .. .. . there's still time for Dai to oxf*rd it all up.

Still time for Dai . .. . worst Bond film ever!

[Green]

If new ownership does occur, can we please not only remove Dai Yongge but also discard the notion that new developments don't warrant new threads?

Currently, discussions on the potential ownership change are scattered across three threads, perhaps even more, because people are hesitant to create a dedicated thread for today (and any day’s) news.

This isn't beneficial for anyone, and it would be better to consolidate discussions for clarity and efficiency. One of my biggest gripes with HNA, TBH.

What are your other gripes, Webster?

Let it all out.

[Franchise FC]

Several posts on twitter, mostly seeing one and copying it, saying it`s a done deal, I paid particular interest to the directors box today and Mark Bowen was a lonely figure sitting in the front row on his own.
Now if we were on the verge of an imminent takeover to would expect some of them to be here watching our games.

My (non twitter sources) tell me that yes, it is basically done. Might even be announced on Monday. But .. .. . there's still time for Dai to oxf*rd it all up.

Still time for Dai . .. . worst Bond film ever!

It’ll happen for Dai another day

[WestYorksRoyal]

Several posts on twitter, mostly seeing one and copying it, saying it`s a done deal, I paid particular interest to the directors box today and Mark Bowen was a lonely figure sitting in the front row on his own.
Now if we were on the verge of an imminent takeover to would expect some of them to be here watching our games.

Bowen may be nervous that his position is under threat. Marc Bircham has a lot of football experience in this country and will presumably lead football operations.

[tmesis]

Several posts on twitter, mostly seeing one and copying it, saying it`s a done deal, I paid particular interest to the directors box today and Mark Bowen was a lonely figure sitting in the front row on his own.
Now if we were on the verge of an imminent takeover to would expect some of them to be here watching our games.

Bowen may be nervous that his position is under threat. Marc Bircham has a lot of football experience in this country and will presumably lead football operations.

I wouldn't have thought so. He joined them last month (well, they didn't exist before last month) as Director and Head of Business Development, which sounds a very different role to actually running the football side of a football club.

[72 bus]

If its these sports.com people then maybe a documentary is on the way

You'd hope so. It would be nice to have something on their channel beyond clips you can probably see for free on youtube.

I'm waiting until we know the full story, but hopefully we get more information on their funding as it doesn't look like an organisation flushed with money. Presumably the EFL will need to see this and Howe will have been able to check too. Though AZ and Samuelson tricked everyone.

You don't need to be flushed with money to sustain a L1 club, Wycombe manage to challenge for top six most seasons with a 5000 gate and no academy.
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/leag ... ttendances

[WestYorksRoyal]

You'd hope so. It would be nice to have something on their channel beyond clips you can probably see for free on youtube.

I'm waiting until we know the full story, but hopefully we get more information on their funding as it doesn't look like an organisation flushed with money. Presumably the EFL will need to see this and Howe will have been able to check too. Though AZ and Samuelson tricked everyone.

You don't need to be flushed with money to sustain a L1 club, Wycombe manage to challenge for top six most seasons with a 5000 gate and no academy.
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/leag ... ttendances

I've just been burned too much. AZ, Dais. Unfortunately you often see a cycle of bad owners until the right one finally turns up. It's happened in places like Bolton, Wigan, Portsmouth and Bury.

If these guys have modest resources but can make us a competitive L1 club with players who fight for the badge, it's a massive yes from me. I don't think I'll ever take simply having a team I enjoy watching for granted again, and that'll do just fine even if we're not hitting previous heights. We just don't know anything about them though.

[Snowflake Royal]

If new ownership does occur, can we please not only remove Dai Yongge but also discard the notion that new developments don't warrant new threads?

Currently, discussions on the potential ownership change are scattered across three threads, perhaps even more, because people are hesitant to create a dedicated thread for today (and any day’s) news.

This isn't beneficial for anyone, and it would be better to consolidate discussions for clarity and efficiency. One of my biggest gripes with HNA, TBH.

This feels a weird one. We should have more threads to discuss things because the current issues are being discussed across multiple threads and its confusing? Isn't that contradictory?

Anyone can set up a new thread at any time, and if people like it, they'll use it.

[Stranded]

Rumour building that something may happen tonight!

[WestYorksRoyal]

If you thought Reading FC Twitterspace was insufferable for the Wilder affair, that's just a taste of what's coming this week.