Who Should Own MCFC ?

[bluemanc]

Every day the owner/the previous owner/board members/anyone connected to the running of all aspects of City apart from (upto now) the academy comes under attack be it warranted or not.
But what NO one ever comes up with is an alternative except for Bluewatch who has nailed his colours to the mast. Do you want a similar situation to in the past where 4 or 5 people all have the majority of the shares or do you want another owner but more of a Bill Gates type or even the Glazers who have milked the fans dry until the harcore is practically non-existant BUT has delvered the goods.
Perhaps even though it failed to attract support but is still in the wings would you want the Trust/Fans Group to own City.
Well it's okay being critical but what do you want ??????????

 

[goat boy]

Big G said he was going to buy Frank out on here, the other day. Forward with Big G, I say.

 

[mammutly]

It is always much easier to say what you don't want, so I won't bother stating the obvious. These days there are very few individuals who can own and finance a PL club. It's a passtime even multi millionaires can't afford.
We need someone who first and foremost has access to serious money and also has a solid grasp of financial issues and can structure the clubs debts in a realistic way. Or have the good sense to allow someone else more expert to do that whilst overseeing the process. Equally important, they would need to be a fan and have some real committment to the club. The only person I know of who ticks most of these boxes is David Bernstein, who I do think was doing all the right things with the club before the passionate, but much less sensible Wardle crew stepped in. He would need to be backed by investors, who would have to either be represented by and tied into a single company, or be very few in number ( one or two, maybe three but that's pushing it). So, I'd like Bernstein or someone with his nous to be the figurehead owner/ chairman of the club, accepting that he'd need to be answerable to investors/shareholders but who had no hands on control.

As to a fans trust, probably not a goer IMO, but I don't know much about how it works elsewhere.

 

[scall11]

Agreed. Bernstein was a Chairman who was convincing when he said he was astute and bringing things under control. With all due respect to Wardle, it was what we needed. We need someone with the passion of Wardle and the sensible attitude of Bernstein.

Bear in mind, Bernstein has spent the last few years in London. No doubt moving in financial circles still, especially as Chairman of Wembley Stadium.

And didn't Bernstein quit because he thought Robbie Fowler was a waste of money?

I think that speaks volumes for his vision!

 

[Bluemoon115]

Agreed. Bernstein was a Chairman who was convincing when he said he was astute and bringing things under control. With all due respect to Wardle, it was what we needed. We need someone with the passion of Wardle and the sensible attitude of Bernstein.

Bear in mind, Bernstein has spent the last few years in London. No doubt moving in financial circles still, especially as Chairman of Wembley Stadium.

And didn't Bernstein quit because he thought Robbie Fowler was a waste of money?

I think that speaks volumes for his vision!

The term poor investment was used. £6M (at least) in, £0 out, far too much on wages, mostly injured. Yeah, I'd say he was about right.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

It's alright saying that we need a wealthy owner who will use the money wisely but that's probably a pipe-dream.

Take a good look around at how many clubs have rich owners that happily bankroll their club. There's Chelsea and Chelsea and erm Chelsea and then there's Chelsea. Maybe Fulham. Lerner has certainly put money into Villa but it's in the form of shares and loans. The other three of the big four are self-financing, as are Everton, Spurs, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Bolton. West Ham have had a big injection of cash but that was a long-term loan and is being repaid. Not helped them much either. There are to many nobs like Ashley, Kenwright, Madjeski and others who like the idea of owning "their" club but aren't going to risk losing serious money. And these people are the ones letting Sky dictate the agenda because it means more money from Sky and less from them. These are the ones letting the players and their agents get away with murder.

I make no apologies for saying that their is only one group of people that really have the long-term interests of the clubs at heart and who could the tough decisions needed to ensure the long-term survival of those clubs and the game in general and that's the fans. It seems to work well enough in Spain & Germany.

 

[mammutly]

Agreed. Bernstein was a Chairman who was convincing when he said he was astute and bringing things under control. With all due respect to Wardle, it was what we needed. We need someone with the passion of Wardle and the sensible attitude of Bernstein.

Bear in mind, Bernstein has spent the last few years in London. No doubt moving in financial circles still, especially as Chairman of Wembley Stadium.

And didn't Bernstein quit because he thought Robbie Fowler was a waste of money?

I think that speaks volumes for his vision!

The term poor investment was used. £6M (at least) in, £0 out, far too much on wages, mostly injured. Yeah, I'd say he was about right.

Not wishing to hijack a thread but, with wages, Fowler cost us around £8 million, how much per goal was that? 'Poor investment' hardly covers it. When he went to Liverpool, the fat, idle wastrel even had the cheek to openly say that he was going to make the effort to get properly fit ! We should have sued him.

 

[goat boy]

As projectriver so delightfully summed up in a post on the temporary forum the other day- investing in a football club, unless you've got a mind to get involved and start picking the team, is just a boring way to lose money.

sorry for chewing your words up PR, i think i got the jist of it though

 

[Bluemoon115]

Not wishing to hijack a thread but, with wages, Fowler cost us around £8 million, how much per goal was that? 'Poor investment' hardly covers it. When he went to Liverpool, the fat, idle wastrel even had the cheek to openly say that he was going to make the effort to get properly fit ! We should have sued him.

If we'd have never gone for him, we'd have still had the sensible chairman in charge (maybe not now, but he'd have kept us stable until bigger options were available, and we could have taken more time to explore better options then Thaksin), and not wasted upto £15M.

Aaah well, at least he scored against the rags.

 

[scall11]

So really, instead of shouting at the players, the manager, the Chairman etc.

Shall we just track down Robbie Fowler and just follow him round booing him 24 hours a day? I think we've deducted that he is to blame for the clubs current fortune. :o)

I'm up for it.