Crystal Palace: Deal agreed with US investors Harris and Blitzer http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35138750 I know it's a bit off-topic as it's nothing to do with the Swans, but I see that Crystal Palace have taken the plunge when it comes to US Investment. Two US investors (experienced in the NBA and NHL) coming in to gain an 18% share each in the football club, with a pre-agreed intention of injecting £50m in capital into the club to develop the stadium. Pretty much exactly what we were (maybe still are) looking for. Something we should all be watching with interest to see how it turns out for them. Because if there's one thing we've learned from our latest accounts, it's that the TV money by itself isn't going to be enough to fund our stadium and squad development.
TV money should be plenty if spent responsibly , like our first 3 seasons in The Premier . We've become a " Them " instead of staying an "Us " when it comes to spending . A quick influx of investment money seems to bring a carelessness in spending for clubs that try it . As for investment for stadiums , we haven 't sold all the tickets for WestHam , even with a ticket reduction .
I'm not sure we are being careless when it comes to spending. We have spent very little on transfer fees recently - with many fans complaining that we should, in fact, be spending more. First 3 seasons in the Premier League are not relevant to now - the longer you stay up, the higher your players wages get. They sign new contracts with higher money and are given bigger bonuses for staying up and achieving greater things. Our average wage in our 5th year in the PL is probably quite a way higher than during our first 3 seasons. Regarding the fact we haven't sold all the tickets for West Ham - well we all know that football is an industry all about winning. We haven't been winning recently and so some of the punters are getting bored/annoyed/frustrated and not showing up. If the wins returned, you can be sure that the stadium would go back to having an 8,000 waiting list again. Money from expansion is not the point - ticket sales are irrelevant in modern day football - but having 8000 extra seats means extra fans can attend, feel the buzz, buy the merchandise, tell their friends, more foreign fans can come and support their international stars (Iceland, Ghana, Korea, Ecuador, etc). It's not about ticket sales, it's about growing the brand. Does it really matter whether the stadium would be half full in the Championship? The club aren't in the Championship, they are in the Premier League and should be planning to be in the Premier League year on year. Even if the stadium is half full should we get relegated...what's the big deal? Elland Road is half full, CCS is half full, County Ground is half full...there's loads of half full stadiums in the Championship. But they are ready for when the good times do eventually return - no matter how far into the future. Fact is, investment is all about speculation. No investment is a 100% guarantee of success/return of investment. But the whole point of investment is to give yourself the best opportunity to continue to be successful, or the best opportunity to get better. Not saying we definitely need investment and that the US guys from a few months back were the ones we needed, but considering that we are well known for being good with our wage bill and we've barely spent any serious money on transfers in the last 18 months, it's hard to see how we can generate the capital to ever seriously expand/improve our squad/stadium if we wanted to. Obviously, without success, expanding the stadium is less meaningful. But there is a solid argument that without some investment, success will become much harder to achieve in the long run. Investment for the sake of investment isn't the way to go, but I would hope that the club are still on the lookout for sound, sensible, experienced sports investors that could bring something to the table at our club in addition to money - such as marketing or management expertise.
We've wasted money the past season and a half . We have a 55 thousand pound a week striker who basically is't playing , bought another 5 million pound striker , unused, and have Emnes somewhere with the crickets , and we are desperate for a striker in the window . We have Tabanou , unused , at a cost of 3.5 million . We paid Laudrup 5 million to leave and Monk 3 million to leave . Fernandez is ok but not worth 7 million . We have the Vorm fiasco coming up that might cost a few million . Compare that to the players and managers that came in from the 2 seasons previous where we made 5 million from the sale of Rodgers , made 15 million on Bony , made 5 million off Sinclair , made 15 million off of Allen , got Siggy for free from the transfer of Davies . The amount of investment that we might get would pay for mistakes we made over the last season and a half and have a bit left to party a bit . Frankly , we would have a problem these days finding someone to invest in us , which to me is fine
The Prem's a step up in intensity and competition all round and that applies especially to the financials. Saying that I'd have hoped we would have handled it better.
All the more reason to be be more careful and frugal in our spending as our time up lengthens and the costs expand .
The U.S. Investors that were looking into investing in us are now trying to invest 200,000,000 in Everton . Now I'm pretty sure Everton aren't going to get relegated and will get their giant TV money next season ....why borrow more , does it ever end . IMO , the only reason these Americans are around is to get in on the money about to be turned lose .
