The new football season is still in its infancy yet around the divisions pressure is already being heaped upon chairmen, managers and players with dissatisfied fans calling for heads to roll. This weekend saw protests at Everton with calls from a certain section of the fans demanding that Bill Kenwright step aside and let new investors come in while at the other end of the spectrum Bournemouth fans voiced their disapproval of the Clubs transfer policy under forthright chairman Eddie Mitchell who sparked controversy this weekend by openly criticising those who booed his team off after defeat to Chesterfield. Meanwhile continuous paper talk has inferred that the managers of Blackburn, Leicester and Nottingham Forrest have insecure futures. Over recent years it has been clear to see that new and wealthy investors who have entered the footballing market are an impatient lot and generally expect a quick return and progress for their investment. Many managers have paid the price for this high expectations, many would argue rightly, as after all more investment should lead to an improvement. Unfortunately the situation is not always so clear, as Portsmouth fans will tell you. After numerous takeovers where 'wealthy investors' pledged to invigorate and bankroll an enterprising new regime all that materialised was debt and constant boardroom wranglings led to the club tearing itself apart as people jumped ship. So the question is why are fans so desperate for their club to be snapped up by investors promising rags to riches. Certainly there have been success stories and Chelsea and Manchester City have developed under their rich owners, yet there have been many losers, where clubs have ended up in far worse situation through over or underspending. The Portsmouth story is far from unique and the financial clout promised by new investors at Blackburn, Coventry and Notts County also has been thin on the ground. It is possible that rich owners can bring trophies and artificial success but this is clearly unsustainable and probably far less gratifying than the achievement of clubs with less financial clout such as Everton's recent FA Cup final foray. It could be argued that Everton are victims of their own recent success with strong top half finishes under the guidance of manager David Moyes with little money at his disposal. It is understandable that fans seeing their club so close to success would wish that their chairman would spend some money to push their club that little bit further but at what cost, surely not the future of the club, especially when just down the road rivals Liverpool have been extremely active in the transfer market. Yet Kenwright a lifelong Everton has tried to encourage investment into the club, pressed for the development of a larger ground and was shrewd enough to appoint Moyes in the first place. Surely it would be folly and also irresponsible for him to burden the club with unsustainable debt and jeopardise the long term future of the club. Eddie Mitchell's outburst at the Bournemouth game on Saturday may have been a shock and raised many people's eyebrows, however many chairmen who have been running their clubs with tight reigns may also be in agreement with his vociferous rant. Mitchell who took over Bournemouth and covered the players wages can be seen as villain for allowing so many of his first team to depart from the Cherries, yet again it may not be possible for him to keep players with ambitions of playing in higher divisions and are many fans expectations too unreasonable. Certainly it could seem that Mitchell has had a tight grip on the clubs purse strings and it must be hard for Cherry fans to swallow after last seasons success, but it seems many have already forgotten what life was like prior to Mitchell's arrival when the club was in financial peril. It is a tough balancing act and difficult to judge where the middle ground is. It certainly seems that in a world where people expect and demand everything instantaneously that the expectations of the average fan have increased and people do seem more impatient, yet for the financially prudent chairmen, possibly with the clubs best interests at heart it can be a lonely place out there. But fans may soon realise that 'investment' does not always bring new joy, just look at Blackburn and their demise since the loss of former chairmen John Williams. The morale of the story for the impatient fan, be careful what you wish for.
Pretty much mirrors my own thoughts, and better expressed. But this is far too rational and reasoned an original post for a football forum. Make this an article.
S'funny how fans also "expect" their club to be premiership because of their size and history - Leeds and West Ham fans readily come to mind. Eddie Mitchell made a rod for his back wen he came out with what he did at the fans forum. What he should have said was that in the last two years, Bournemouth have been very successful off the field, and that any person that has left has gone onto play or manage at a higher level. It shows that Bournemouth provide players and managers an opportunity and platform to perform. This would surely encourage people to come to the club. Everton have been successful under Moyes and have a knack of getting some decent youngsters through their accademy, think Rooney, Rodwell, Osman, Hibbert, Barkley - all of whom have cost large amounts of money or who will cost large amounts of money. they will survive even though Yakubu and Arteta left in transfer window. Saints seem to be on a roll at the moment. very good manager in Nigel Atkins and a board that supports him. Out of all comments I have read, I am a QPR fan that has seen my club get through managers like there is no tomorrow, almost gone bankrupt, had dubious owners in dumb and dumber. If I had been offered 15 years of relative stability in the premier league I would have bitten your hand off. Finally, what happens to the clubs when there rich owners disappear?
With respect to Saints, I think I can answer that because it has been asked of Cortese, in previous interviews. His answer is that he isn't going anywhere, despite the distraction of being invited to be a part of AC Milan, in 2010. He says he's best right here. That's the Chairman's position sorted. He also said that the money is going to be no different. The backing is as if Markus Liebherr was still alive. Plus, if the scenario ever happened that the Liebherr family wanted to sell the club, he would continue to operate it and run it, and he would make sure it went to the best of new owners, who would continue with his same plans. Now all that I've written above is absolutely what Cortese has said in various interviews, and he doesn't ever contradict himself, unless he has been misunderstood. So you can bet your bottom dollar that Cortese and SFC will grow, be more successful, and remain that way into the distant future.
TheSecondStain, i wasn't having a dig at the Saints (and hope it wasn't coming across like that), I was just thinking along the lines of Chelsea, Mitec, Manure etc
The short answer is they get other rich owners....certainly in the case of Manure and Liverpool it would seem so if the ball rolls even so should the others........
No, I realise that you weren't having a dig, and I didn't take it as one either. As I was able to answer that last question for you though, I thought you might be interested.
what REALLY gets my goat is the people who left to get food on 35, and i believe that is what caused the drop in the performance. sure they should play well most games with or without support, but when Forest scored the first, there was a start of lots of chanting. when they scored the second goal , i heard nothing, and i was sitting in the Kingsland north wing!
The people who moan are generally pessimistic twats who blow with the wind they are often contradictory and based on some of the comments made in my earshot saturday some know jackshit about football They are the people who probably moan about their jobs,family ,mars bars are not as big as they used to be ,work colleages, the hand of god STILL .They whinge and bleat and have short memories they make no allowances its as if they are waiting to pounce when things arent going quite to plan with some pleasure i might add if we had to rely on these small minded thick fault finders the world would be a sorry place .Thank god for the enthusiastic, forward thinking positive generally happy and manic Nigel the very person these idiots were moaning about.Can you beleve it
