Ten years ago Man City were in no better a position than we are now. I watched them against Swansea and couldnt but help feel more than just a tinge of jealousy. One billionaire owner and they now have a wealth of class players and probably set to become a top European club. Leeds have the same potential given a proper owner. For Gods sake, weve waited long enough. Surely sooner or later a rich asian or arab will spot us. Its not that long since we were better than City and Chelsea. Only difference is money
This so called owner of Man city, is actually the public purse of the Abu Dhabi emirate. And when the Arab spring reaches that country, Man city will end up in the Rayman league. This is not the 'billionaire's' money, its taken without persmission just as all the ruling family in the UAE help themselves to public money. No difference from Mubarek of Egypt or Kaddafi of Libya.
only difference is they are the richest owners in football and this is what i think is wrong with football. Fans just want there club taken over by billionaires and have money pumped into the team and i would seriously be very unhappy if that were to happen to leeds because i disagree with it so much. Fans are just stupid seriously
Well said Josh-i wouldn't want to be taken over by a billionaire as a plaything. I suppose the other problem with that is it cheapens your achievements. If you were to ask which was the biggest achievement last season-the Brums lifting the Carling Cup or Man City winning the FA cup, I would say the Brums achieved more. The FA cup is notoriously hard to win, admittedly, but most people would point straight at Citys squad and resource and say "well they should be challenging anyway". I, like others on here believe that Leeds have the necessary resource to achieve things readily available, such as promotion, however that resource is being misdirected eg east stand renovation to the extreme (i think if more toilets were put in we'd have been happy with the rest being left alone-i'm sick of dying for a piss at half/full time!). So i dont believe we need a billionaire takeover, we just need a more savvy/less selfish owner. 2-1 Leeds tonight, making bloody hard work of it! MOT
Where is your Pride???? I seriously doubt many Leeds fans would agree with this. I hope not anyway. No proud supporting football fan should want its club owned by a foreign billionaire - its one of the most loathsome things to have come into modern football.
Just wait. The financial fair play rules will make a bigger impact than people think. By 2015, clubs will have to be breaking even. I know City did that stadium name deal, but that's crooked and is being investigated. Football will take a hit soon. People don't want to be paying £30+ to watch a game. The wages will have to come down. See the fair play rules - your wage bill/match day costs/etc. all have to be spent within the clubs means. However, things like Academies, training grounds, stadiums etc. can be built without the fee being counted under your expenditure. Clubs like City will end up focusing on their academy. It'll make football more even.
Doubt if theyll have any impact on the top clubs at all. Theyll find a workaround like pump extra cash in sponsorship and it wont show up as profit. As with most things in life the rich get richer while the minnows are left behind
I would hate for our club to turn into Man City - a team full of mercenaries with no loyalty to the team or the city itself. I would much rather have a Leeds team packed full of players who have come up through our ranks and who fight tooth and nail for Leeds. Some investment is required so that we no longer have to rely on free transfers and loans, but let's not become a soulless club like Man City.
I`d hate our club to have an owner like that. A rich mans plaything where he can put you down as easy as pick you up. It`s like being a football club whore.
i think that is completely terrible, seriously you should look at yourself if thats all you want in your club
Man City are turning into a horrible, unrecognizable plastic club. Their new, identikit stadium, the stupid light shows they do, the horrendous Poznan Dance, the fawning over their Arab overlords, their appeals on their website to try and cringily inform 'a new generation of more recent City followers'. All signs of what an embarrassment they're becoming due to the money that's been poured in. If Ridsdale had kept us up at the top, we'd have moved into a new, identikit stadium too. Maybe the same rubbish would have happened to us and scarred our club forever. That's why you need someone at your club who understands the fans' concerns and doesn't just see the club as a plaything. However the 'plaything' danger is just as potent whether you're owned by a billionaire or a plain old millionaire. Ken Bates clearly sees Leeds United as nothing other than a toy which he can use at leisure; hence the stupid plans to rebuild Chelsea Village in Beeston, as well as the Pavillion, Yorkshire Radio and all the other in-house nonsense he's built at the expense of the team and just for the sake of self-importance. Ideally, our owner would either be a fairly rich local businessman who has ties with the club or it would be fan-owned with a strong Trust at the fore. I think nearly any owner would be better than Ken Bates who is doing an awful job and almost trying to keep the club down at this level with his relunctance to invest. It's also clear that no other owner would be so brash and mendacious in his relationship with the fans. So we should keep these caveats in mind if any actual takeovers emerge in the future.
I would hate for our club to turn into Man City - a team full of mercenaries with no loyalty to the team or the city itself. .......... rubbish you would love to be challenging for trophies and playing in the champs league, people are jealous of city, i am and why not? they have a very bright future
Wouldn't want it, the only thing I like about Bates is at least we are only spending what were earning (which is great, except we'd have so much more to spend right now if we weren't Kens plaything in another way - just a club he can make new restaurants and executive boxes at no cost to him) Rather see us put more emphasis on youth and earn our way to the odd trophy rather than buy a truckload and end up with a huge financial cloud over us when the billionaire leaves
Why are you ignoring the point about loyalty, mercenaries and them being a plastic club? Some things in football are more important than a reckless pursuit of silverware which sacrifices the true spirit of a club... i.e. its supporters and distinctive culture. Stop embarrassing yourself with your failure to comment substantially.
