A Tale of Two Citys...

[Newman Noggs]

I note City have swept the fact Sheikh Mansour has two wives under the carpet.

Genuinely not sure why this would need sweeping under the carpet. Apart from the double misery, surely there's nothing whatsoever wrong with it.

 

[Banned Tosspot]

Didn't Russ (Rascal) have an issue at one point?

Don't see him on here these days, so I wonder if that issue was linked to the similar thought pattern to the people I know about the changing identity of the club [at the time] or whether it was totally unrelated?

If it was connected, I wonder where he stands now?

With Thaksin.

Don't remind us!

 

[Sir peace frog]

this isn't a tale of two citys more a tale of rags to riches,we are the same club,but a club that was given a vision and a business plan,and owners and directors who could carry out that plan.

 

[dickie davies]

Whether we were 17th in the turnover league or not we were skint and not far from administration, so in my mind as supporters we won the football lottery
Didn't we sell Corluka the day before we were taken over as we were so desperate for the cash!!
We were going absolutely nowhere and had no chance of competing against the Sky four who were boxing off the CL places every year

 

[Seedy Ron]

Whether we were 17th in the turnover league or not we were skint and not far from administration, so in my mind as supporters we won the football lottery
Didn't we sell Corluka the day before we were taken over as we were so desperate for the cash!!
We were going absolutely nowhere and had no chance of competing against the Sky four who were boxing off the CL places every year

Regardless of our financial position at the time of the takeover, we were, (as has been proved catergorically) an excellent business proposition in an ever growing market who had achieved 3 top ten finishes in the 6 years since promotion. So much so we had been taken over a little over 12 months earlier by Thaksin who also must of thought this.

To win the football lottery I believe you have to be plucked from absolute obscurity and with us I totally believe it not to be the case, lucky with the timing and organisation who chose to buy us, but outside of the cartel we were always one of the biggest of the rest. In my opinion it was a takeover with a substantial influx of cash just like the Chapman/Arsenal period of the 30's, the Edwards/Rag period of the 50's and the Moores/Everton/Liverpool period.

No real problem with your view I just disagree with it. By your logic Arsenal, Rags & Scouse clubs all won the football lottery well before us though I have never heard that being spoken of.

 

[bugsyblue]

I remember the day I read the news. Was working at the time with my cousin who is a united fan. Was glorious.

 

[bornblueegg]

If I remember correctly the infrastructure was a major part of the decision the stadium and fan base. As I understand it Liarpool and the barcodes were also courted but Fck up (thanks mike Ashley). The lady that brokered the deal can’t remember her name (should do she is still fckhot) had also offered scouse pool nd the codes but they didn’t take it seriously.

 

[Sir Joe Aguero]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deloitte_Football_Money_League

Any interested enough should click on this link to see if we did indeed have a lottery win. If they can then be bothered to scroll down to 2007 to see we were actually 17th out of the whole of Europe in Deloitte Money league and the 7th highest in England.

The only other viable option for investment in England out of those clubs was Newcastle United, with it’s city centre location, run down stadium and no real scope to expand. We on the other hand had a brand new stadium, huge tracts of land which could be purchased and built on, and love him or hate him driven business types like Gary Cook who really went for it when they heard the good Sheikh was interested.

It was not in anyway a lottery win but a sound business decision which had the audacity to bear fruit. Very bitter fruit to some it seems.

Facts? Evidence? Get out.

 

[goatboy]

We kinda did win the lottery really. We were incredibly lucky in how things panned out. Thaksin was under great political scrutiny and having all his assets frozen. And if I remember right he only paid between 25-50% up front for all of the players brought in under Sven and I think jo (shudders) too.

Didn't john Wardle have to prop us up a little bit at the end of the season? We know the sheikh looked at Everton and Newcastle first. Thankfully st James park is in the city centre and can't be expanded upon and bill kenwright is a crooked bastard so the sheikh didn't see them as viable investments.

I'd heard he looked at Liverpool and arsenal too, wether that's true I don't know.

Fact is we were an average team with a loyal fan base, but more importantly space to expand and the area surrounding the stadium was ripe for development. The sheikh made a sound investment. But we as fans definitely won the lottery

To me it felt a little hollow in the first couple of years but seeing the business model they have in place and the work in the community that we do. Coupled with the incredible football were playing who could walk away from this

 

[dickie davies]

We kinda did win the lottery really. We were incredibly lucky in how things panned out. Thaksin was under great political scrutiny and having all his assets frozen. And if I remember right he only paid between 25-50% up front for all of the players brought in under Sven and I think jo (shudders) too.

Didn't john Wardle have to prop us up a little bit at the end of the season? We know the sheikh looked at Everton and Newcastle first. Thankfully st James park is in the city centre and can't be expanded upon and bill kenwright is a crooked bastard so the sheikh didn't see them as viable investments.

I'd heard he looked at Liverpool and arsenal too, wether that's true I don't know.

Fact is we were an average team with a loyal fan base, but more importantly space to expand and the area surrounding the stadium was ripe for development. The sheikh made a sound investment. But we as fans definitely won the lottery

To me it felt a little hollow in the first couple of years but seeing the business model they have in place and the work in the community that we do. Coupled with the incredible football were playing who could walk away from this

He looked at Newcastle, but as soon as Ashley found out he was dealing with an extremely wealthy Arab he chucked £100M on the asking price so the Sheikh walked away
He looked at Everton but Kenwright thought it was one of those press stings who were just trying to look at the books, so wouldn't open talks
He also considered Arsenal, but the shares are owned by several people so it made purchasing them complicated and that's if the shareholders wanted to sell
We weren't on the radar but Cooke got whiff of the search and flew to Abu Dhabi with his powerpoint presentation and made the sale.
Although he made many gaffs, especially when pissed, we have an awful lot to thank Garry Cooke for

@Seedy Ron I appreciate your post and what you're saying, but we were on the verge of administration. John Wardle had lent the club money to pay wages. We were totally boracic and sinking with an owner who had all his assets frozen
With regard to Thaksin we also have to thank him because if he hadn't bought us the year before, theconsortium headed by Ray Ranson would have. They eventually bought Coventry City and look at how that panned out
Did those other clubs you mention win the football lottery!! Yes they fucking well did, with the exception of Liverpool who won the pools and we all speak of it, even if the media or their own supporters don't