Foreign take over

A rich foreigner with more money than most people in the world decides that due to the swans being ripe for plundering he wants to buy the club as his new play thing, offering to put squill ions into the club ! Nothing to do with re-branding etc my question is if he offered the guys on the board a minimum of say £7,000,000 each for their share in the club do you think they would sell ? If not how about for more ? I would sorry would you ?

 

Yes yes yes.....but also with a heavy heart. I love the way our Club is run and the fact that we have mainly locals in charge but face facts - we will forever be a selling club if we manage to stay in the Prem. If a player comes good for us he will usually want to play for a top 6 side and we can't argue with that. If we stay as we are, and there's nothing wrong with where we are btw, we will be unable to attract the top players who all want to play in CL or at least Europa (we won't achieve that every season imo). So whereas I would be very excited about having a rich benefactor I do feel that the Club will have lost something of its identity.

Tan is the worst type of owner who has ostracised many of the fans as the price for success. We don't want that.

But the question is do you want to be a romantic and settle for where we are or be a pragmatist and realise that usually money buys success? Good thread.

 

The club has already becoming more distant from it's roots and will continue to do so for as long as we remain at this level.thats the price we as supporters will pay .The new Academy for example is a no go for example where the parents are not encouraged to watch how they're kids are being coached.Money is the big driver and I think for example the club has got it wrong in ticket pricing (£7 to watch Valencia away but £35 at home) and thats the rub, the club may price it'self out of local support if we become more successful .I appreciate all the trust has done for us over the past 11 years and long may it continue but with a realiance on tv/ticket/shirt and other marketing tools without an owner who is willing to pump money into the club then thats how it will continue with large increases in what us punters pay to watch/support the club.
Success is great but at what price are we prepared to pay for it is the question .

 

Comparing Valencia ticket prices in Spain v UK is not meaningful - different market, different consumers, different economic constraints on the local market, etc.

Regarding selling-out .... For the current key people in the club's ownership - they have (I believe) managed the club through it's Phoenix revival with certain core principles and philosophies in mind. When they undertook the original risk I doubt that they did it with a mind to making a financial gain or with any exit plan in mind - they did it because it needed to be done and they had an affinity for the club that transcends risk and many other factors. Now this is all conjecture on my part - I don't know any of the current board personally. I would hope that they would not turn into a band or mercenaries at this point and cash in without some regard for the integrity of what they have built, the continuation of the trajectory etc. They are probably fully emotionally vested in the club - I know I would be. To have achieved what they have and then to walk away without some semblance of concern about its future would be remarkable. In the regular business world it could happen, has happened, I've witnessed it first hand - but this business because of its very nature would, I hope, be different.

I would not relinquish controlling share in the club. I might certainly sell-off some of my interest, but not the controlling share. And, if I did not have a controlling share then I would strongly advocate against it.

Of course, the current board are not going to live forever and a succession plan of ownership needs to be developed if it does not already exist. I would hope that the Supporters Trust are involved in the development of that plan and that the Trust would be given ample time to do whatever it needs to do to position itself to assume control or at least to have a some degree of control over the future of the club.

The club is not a rich man's toy. It is a part of the community. There are too many of us still around that have had the biting cold penetrate the soles of our shoes on the North Bank in terrible weather watching the lowest of the low in competition to see the club flipped for pure profit ... I would hope.

 

"Comparing Valencia ticket prices in Spain v UK is not meaningful - different market, different consumers, different economic constraints on the local market, etc."




shouldn't we be questioning why we are paying more for less then>>>>>surely we have that right as supporters

 

Money talks, and £7,000,000.00 would test most people's loyalties, hypothetically speaking,of course.

 

We pay more because the best players in the world want to play in the Prem and have to be paid. Barca and Real are the exceptions. These are businesses, not charities. Market forces rule everything whether you like it or not, aber.

I suspect not.

 

We're not atm too dissimilar to Valencia/Spain's current economic situation .I work and earn I suspect above the local average wage and have to justify to myself (if not the misses) the cost of watching games and I know thats a major consideration for most supporters.
We should never relinquish our (supporters) position on the board ,everyone refers back to 10/11 years ago but the club well before then was at times criminally mismanaged .Toshacks era was one for example which cost the club both financially and reputation wise and eventually took us to the brink of going out of the league.Now we're considered stable and living within our means which could mean we've peaked at this level , is that such a bad thing ?.too many clubs have become the playthings of rich "investors"(now there's a play on words) with dire consequences just for their moment in the sun .

 

sell sell sell.....we have already broken our transfer policy and wage limit for the size of a club like ours so there is no turning back now which is reflected in our ticket prices that exceeds far more that what it should for the area. we have put our self on dodgy ground when it comes to attracting future players of quality because it wont be the fee it will now be the wages that they will want if others at the club are paid stupid money for a club our size....A billionaire owner will be the only way we will survive at top level the way we are going....

 

Don't worry lads if somebody wants to buy my controlling stake in the Swans , i want 20 big ones and they would have to have been Swans fans since we were in Div 4,

 

I got £20 and had a season ticket back in the old div 3, does that count?

 

An excellent post Sean and one which I was actually thinking about posting myself. It certainly gives food for thought to those who criticised the shareholders for taking a share dividend out of the club. These guys could quite easily sell on too anyone for millions if they came along. I know the trust have 20% of the shares, and they can never be sold to an outside party, but what would that 20% represent to someone who owns 80%? They'd be pretty much worthless. The people in charge are indeed the best we've ever had. And in return for the success the club has achieved under them, they deserve to be rewarded. It's not as if they are in a position to take anything if the club is not successful as has been done at other clubs, including one not to far away! As the financial structure of the club is just not set up that way. On the other hand, the upside to them selling their shares for millions should they ever do so, would be that whoever buys them surely would have the intentions of taking the club to a higher level as they wouldnt have purchased the club for millions in the first place. Otherwise it would be far better to acquire a club in the preverbial ****, again as has happened to a club not to far from here recently!

 

I have raised this issue on more than one occasion, and I see it as an inevitability, unless the board are dedicated enough to have a bullet proof plan for succession to the board, with the same philosophy. Must admit I cannot see our board being able to resist a buy out from some rich Billionaire, so it's just a matter of time!...................

 

I think the best you can hope for if selling, is for the buyer to be like Fulhams Dodi Fayed, or maybe the new Shahid Khan. In other words, a guy that doesn't change a thing.

Now if you wan't the big spender, the whole outlook would change. And the outlook staring back at you would change. No more praise for doing good and reaching goals, instead it would be the opposite, judgement at the ready when not doing well, and abstain from recognising success as you "just bought it".

Would you really want to be the little guy in the billionaires club?

 

Good point, the only 'bullet proof' plan from what I can see is that if the trust bank all monies theyv'e received in dividends and if the club remain in the premier league for say 20 years, have enough capital to buy the club outright. Too many ifs there though. And always remembering of course that as another poster somewhere or other reminded us. We are potentially one car crash away from having Charlie Morgan as the largest shareholder in Swansea City!

 

Don't the trust have first dibs if any of the others decide to sell up?

 

I dont think it's exclusive to the trust Monty, more a case of shares must be offered to shareholders first if someone wants too sell.

 

I'm sure it's exclusively to the trust will have to check, and I reckon the trust would easily be able to raise a few million.

 

You may be right Monty, I wont disagree with you but I think I read it somewhere. But I don't think the trust at the moment could raise a few million anyway. However, it does raise the point that maybe say Martin Morgan wished to sell, who on the board could or would wish to buy his 22.5% stake in the club? It's a big risk and if the trust didn't have the money, where would he go from there? Hypothetical I know, but................?

 

"Dodi Fayed"

He's dead, mate.