Potential New Owners

[NathStPaul]

Anthony Smith is reporting the young boy who owns Gymshark is taking over.

Take it with a pinch of salt, Smith is very unreliable and full of nonsense.

[Norfolk Royal]

Indeed. The Gymshark bloke has just denied any involvement.

[Royal_jimmy]

It's nuts to think that in 40 years we've only had 1 decent owner. Surely we're due another good owner

[WestYorksRoyal]

It's nuts to think that in 40 years we've only had 1 decent owner. Surely we're due another good owner

Tbf his tenure was 20 years. And you're being harsh on Smee who literally saved the club.

[From Despair To Where?]

Also, I think Smee's downfall was largely down to his business failing in the recession rather than any wilfull mismanagement.

[Royal Ginger]

I’d largely say the Thai consortium was neutral at worst. Saved us from Zingarevic and had the decency to duck out when they were done.

Downside is they let Dai take over but that’s a him thing and it’s always a roll of the dice.

[Sutekh]

I’d largely say the Thai consortium was neutral at worst. Saved us from Zingarevic and had the decency to duck out when they were done.

Downside is they let Dai take over but that’s a him thing and it’s always a roll of the dice.

Thais only cared about getting the car park! Although he saved the club (the first time) by buying it, I never took to Smee for the ridiculous sacking of Maurice Evans and then the seeming failure to support the manager after getting to the 2nd tier.

[Snowflake Royal]

I’d largely say the Thai consortium was neutral at worst. Saved us from Zingarevic and had the decency to duck out when they were done.

Downside is they let Dai take over but that’s a him thing and it’s always a roll of the dice.

Thais only cared about getting the car park! Although he saved the club (the first time) by buying it, I never took to Smee for the ridiculous sacking of Maurice Evans and then the seeming failure to support the manager after getting to the 2nd tier.

They sorted out Vibrac and HMRC. Started bringing the wage bill down to manageable levels, and had the club moving in the right direction.

They were good for the club.

[Orion1871]

Doesn't change the fact that they took the land and the hotel. Two things that possibly could have made this current sale a lot smoother.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I’d largely say the Thai consortium was neutral at worst. Saved us from Zingarevic and had the decency to duck out when they were done.

Downside is they let Dai take over but that’s a him thing and it’s always a roll of the dice.

Thais only cared about getting the car park! Although he saved the club (the first time) by buying it, I never took to Smee for the ridiculous sacking of Maurice Evans and then the seeming failure to support the manager after getting to the 2nd tier.

They sorted out Vibrac and HMRC. Started bringing the wage bill down to manageable levels, and had the club moving in the right direction.

They were good for the club.

Yeah I do think it's a bit of a shame that they couldn't sustain the club in the long-term, although that's probably only because of what Dai has done to the club since he came in. I'd have hoped the Thai's weren't asset stripping and taking money out of the club and running us at a bare minimum.

[Snowflake Royal]

Thais only cared about getting the car park! Although he saved the club (the first time) by buying it, I never took to Smee for the ridiculous sacking of Maurice Evans and then the seeming failure to support the manager after getting to the 2nd tier.

They sorted out Vibrac and HMRC. Started bringing the wage bill down to manageable levels, and had the club moving in the right direction.

They were good for the club.

Yeah I do think it's a bit of a shame that they couldn't sustain the club in the long-term, although that's probably only because of what Dai has done to the club since he came in. I'd have hoped the Thai's weren't asset stripping and taking money out of the club and running us at a bare minimum.

Well we did basically get to a PO Final and FA Cup Semi under them ... and it seems like letting McDermott go was more personal circumstances they couldn't talk about, which was my only real bone of contention with them.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

They sorted out Vibrac and HMRC. Started bringing the wage bill down to manageable levels, and had the club moving in the right direction.

They were good for the club.

Yeah I do think it's a bit of a shame that they couldn't sustain the club in the long-term, although that's probably only because of what Dai has done to the club since he came in. I'd have hoped the Thai's weren't asset stripping and taking money out of the club and running us at a bare minimum.

Well we did basically get to a PO Final and FA Cup Semi under them ... and it seems like letting McDermott go was more personal circumstances they couldn't talk about, which was my only real bone of contention with them.

Yeah sorry I wasn't very clear there - I meant as if they'd have stayed on instead of selling to Dai. All immaterial as it happened and they didn't have the finances to keep up with us unfortunately.

Still had some strange moments under them with the season where we made several loan signings and we all know about "that" song...

[Sutekh]

Yeah I do think it's a bit of a shame that they couldn't sustain the club in the long-term, although that's probably only because of what Dai has done to the club since he came in. I'd have hoped the Thai's weren't asset stripping and taking money out of the club and running us at a bare minimum.

Well we did basically get to a PO Final and FA Cup Semi under them ... and it seems like letting McDermott go was more personal circumstances they couldn't talk about, which was my only real bone of contention with them.

Yeah sorry I wasn't very clear there - I meant as if they'd have stayed on instead of selling to Dai. All immaterial as it happened and they didn't have the finances to keep up with us unfortunately.

Still had some strange moments under them with the season where we made several loan signings and we all know about "that" song...

Agree that the Thais were on the whole beneficial and so much better than the current problem. Best things IMO were the aforementioned on field "successes", appointing Tevreden, then Clarke and then appointing BM after Clarke had shot his own foot off.

Worst things were selling off the car park, getting shot of BM then failing to find the necessary £300k for Ten Hag.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Well we did basically get to a PO Final and FA Cup Semi under them ... and it seems like letting McDermott go was more personal circumstances they couldn't talk about, which was my only real bone of contention with them.

Yeah sorry I wasn't very clear there - I meant as if they'd have stayed on instead of selling to Dai. All immaterial as it happened and they didn't have the finances to keep up with us unfortunately.

Still had some strange moments under them with the season where we made several loan signings and we all know about "that" song...

Agree that the Thais were on the whole beneficial and so much better than the current problem. Best things IMO were the aforementioned on field "successes", appointing Tevreden, then Clarke and then appointing BM after Clarke had shot his own foot off.

Worst things were selling off the car park, getting shot of BM then failing to find the necessary £300k for Ten Hag.

I don't actually think getting rid of BM was a bad decision, irrespective of his personal life which may have been a factor and is obviously a bad situation. But in terms of actual performance of the team, we weren't exactly going anywhere either. I think probably the bad idea was giving him a 2 and a half year contract.

Stam, for all of his faults in the second season, was very good in his first. Sure the football was turgid but it was a very good season overall up until the disappointment of the PO final of course. Obviously it did all begin to unravel and hindsight is a wonderful thing, although I did think we needed to change it up a bit from McDermott.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Stam's 2nd season was always going to be a challenge; it felt like we had defied the odds in 16/17 and then add in losing Al-Habsi, Williams and, in effect, Kermogant. But I do wonder if he would have done better with better recruitment. Not more money, we spent loads, but smarter recruitment. Players like Edwards, Bodvarsson and Bacuna were not suited to his style, while Aluko fixed one of the few positions that didn't need solving.

I think we could have comfortably been top half if not play offs, and I suspect we'd have seen something like that with the Thais and BT at the helm. Perhaps would have cashed in on Moore and Swift after a couple of years, too.

[From Despair To Where?]

As for the Aluko signing, we signed Barrow that summer as well who was twice the player for a fraction of the cost.

Signing Aluko made no sense regardless of the cost.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Barrow is one player that I genuinely missed out of all the one's we let go. Not sure what he was earning (or what fee we actually received for him) but he had plenty of pace which seemed to have caused teams all sorts of problems and had an eye for goal.

Assuming the Thai's were still in charge, I could have easily seen a front 3 of Barrow, a CF and Meite being a threat, especially with players like Swift and someone like Olise coming through in behind as well there. Admittedly, that's quite an attacking line up.

[WestYorksRoyal]

As for the Aluko signing, we signed Barrow that summer as well who was twice the player for a fraction of the cost.

Signing Aluko made no sense regardless of the cost.

It was a ridiculous signing. I remember a former Fulham exec saying they had no intention to sell, but we eventually came in with so much money it was impossible to say no. These would be football fans and part time charlies in charge of football clubs make awful decisions. If anyone has seen Sunderland 'Til I Die, it reminds me of the Will Grigg transfer where their own manager advises them to stop at £1.5m and they end up spending £3m.

[From Despair To Where?]

Going back a few years, I remember someone at Bradford saying they got a call from Aston Villa offering £100,000 for Ian Ormondroyd. Although he wasn't a 1st team regular, they weren't particularly looking to sell him so as a joke, they replied if you come back with a £500,000 bid, we'll think about it, knowing no-one in their right mind would buy Ormondroyd for £500k.

20 minutes later they get a call back from Villa offering £500,000 for Ian Ormondroyd.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Going back a few years, I remember someone at Bradford saying they got a call from Aston Villa offering £100,000 for Ian Ormondroyd. Although he wasn't a 1st team regular, they weren't particularly looking to sell him so as a joke, they replied if you come back with a £500,000 bid, we'll think about it, knowing no-one in their right mind would buy Ormondroyd for £500k.

20 minutes later they get a call back from Villa offering £500,000 for Ian Ormondroyd.

Hughes to Norwich was probably similar