He left Shelbourne because he was not going to be able to do what he wanted to do to benefit Hull City. The end.
He's been fantastic for us and long may it continue, but will that continue if there comes a time he finds it hard to get his own way, or does something that the fans don't universally like? The Allams where great until they weren't ( he's nothing like them at all before anyone twists what I'm saying )
Hopefully that's the top and bottom of it, but it's happened at 2 clubs now, with our history with owners, I can't blame anyone for wondering and asking some questions out loud
It is concerning it’s two clubs now he’s walked out of rather quickly but once you find out the context, Fortuna was before the EPL dream and basically him dipping his feet into the football ownership world and then Shelbourne was most likely there was no long term benefit, Irish football probably a bit too proud for their own good
If there was no long term benefit then why jump in without doing full due diligence and realising that before buying the stake? He doesn't seem like the kind of person to do that. Something doesn't add up. I'm not a huge fan of the multiple club ownership personally, but I can see both sides to it. I'd rather he just concentrate on us, improve our training ground and facilities etc
I think the key difference is he has 100% control here so there's no boardroom clashes, but I do worry if he does something the fans don't like how that will go down. For instance I made reference to the training ground plans, but I'd love to see progress on that sooner rather than later. When you look at what some clubs train at compared to us it's poles apart, so you can't tell me there's no tangible benefit to be had from improving our training facilities - if nothing else it may help us get a few more 50/50 deals over the line. For all these club investments and players we buy and loan out to one day maybe play for us or random youth players we pick up hoping one turns out to be gold dust, there's much easier and more direct (granted, more up front cost) ways to have a tangible improvement on the first team.
Another thing to consider regarding the pursuing of a multi-club model and pros and cons thereof, is that (I suspect) Rosenior is at least partly behind the push for it. He's talked a few times about how he thinks things around the club can be improved outside of the obvious playing side, how they negotiated everything about the club's long-term plans before he took the job, and he spoke very positively about the Shelbourne deal when it came about. I don't think it's purely an Acun thing.
I don't think anyone would argue that the training ground isn't a priority, but it's a bigger job. Getting a site, building whatever we need there and so on will take some doing unfortunately. That'll be why it hasn't been done already by this ownership or previous ones.
It's a bigger job but we've heard next to nothing about any progress on it other than a few media pieces before the Council elections. It's such a clear and easy win I would think any and all updates on it would be conveyed to people.
I think the important point is that the 60% ownership was based on a 3m investment plan. The operative word being 'plan'. There's no way he's walking away from a 3m investment in shelbourne at the current stage. He's cutting his losses early.
I've seen posted by Shelbourne side that the full 3 million had not been paid. They knew of 750k which had been paid to help with ground improvements. If he has only paid this amount, it is more understandable he would call it a day and put it down to experience.
This is my concern too. He seems like a man who craves adulation. He engages with fans, has implemented a lot of popular things etc. He's very much a populist which is expected given his background in media. He's a people person. However, I worry that if a vocal minority start criticising him on social media about certain things, he'll take it personally and much become more distant from the club and the fans as we know he reads fan tweets. For example, he could start attending fewer games, being less generous with his financial input into the club etc. Now, some would say 'would a businessman be that sensitive and/or petty over some criticism?'. Well, look at Sheffield Wednesday's owner and how he reacted to a portion of their fans giving him some deserved criticism. I like Acun and barring a few strange decisions regarding transfers and managerial appointments, I don't think he's done much wrong at all when it comes to running the club. In fact, he's done brilliantly creating a positive atmosphere and getting the best attendances we've had in years. I just have my reservations once the honeymoon period of his ownership ends.
There's no comparison between his major investment in City and a very small investment in Ireland. Maybe he just decided that having loaned them a couple of our U23's and finding they were a couple of the best players in the league, that it wasn't going to be untapped talent pool he he'd hoped it would be.
Where exactly will this new training facility be built ? Seems everywhere that might be a possibility has either planning or other problems. I wonder this because it’s a subject everyone has an opinion but not one of them pinpoints an ideal spot for it. “ Build it and they will come.” My own six pence worth is “ **** the fair “ build the bugger there… not sure it big enough but it’s just a thought…
No idea until the accounts come out (and even then we really know, as they're out of date by the time they're published), but we're obviously currently trading at a significant loss and that shortfall has to be made up ongoing.
That would be incredibly naive. Anyone on here could have told him that, let alone the experts he should have at his disposal.
The lawns cottingham could be a good potential site, but I think it will be something more out of town. If money and planning where no issue, I'd say buy brantingham park ( hull Ionians ) and the fields next to it and build something there
They're still working on the basis of a new training facility next to the ground, I believe they're still optimistic they can get the council to flog them the Walton Street site. It's not going to happen, so presumably they'll have to have a rethink soon.
