Random thoughts from me this morning, before I go next door to the Italian coffee shop and ogle the girls serving there. Hopefully the hot weather will mean there's plenty of the produce on display, so to speak Why are billionaires so dumb? The US (ex Pakistani) guy who has bought Fulham - bet he has no idea that clubs in the league below are a much better long term financial investment. Fulham - small club, small ground, small attendances, small fan base and alsways will be. Low potential. Leeds - big club, big(ish) ground, potentially huge fan base and attendances. High potential. Really dumb, did he even think about Leeds, I think not. What forwards will BM start with against Brighton? I know he is saying he won't make any decisions for ages, bgut I bet he's got a provisional line up in his mind. My view atm is he will go with Hunt and Smith, despite the doubts people keep expressing about him, I think BM will want to see what Smith does to the overall shape of the team. Suspect the third will be Ross, though in what position I am less sure. Also think sadly, that despite his bright start Ross will struggle to hold onto a permanent place, can see him being pushed hard by Poleon and others maybe. Hope I am wrong though, on that and he starts scoring for fun. Time for that coffee
At last an up to date morning all thread, been waiting hours. Morning 20/20 and all who follow. Not really thought about the lineup yet. Will wait to see if and when there are new signings. I had my doubts about McCormack, but he's proved me wrong and I hope he gets a good run in the team..
Probably did look at Leeds and thought right Leeds assets!! No ground, No training facilities,No quality, No hope
Shako, agree Ross deserves a good run, given his attitude, just got a feeling he is one of those players who is not quite good enough, or his style is slightly a luxury and there is always a good reason to play someone else - a big bulky striker, a proper MF, an out and out winger etc etc - hope I am wrong Now go to bed and stop trying to pretend you are up early
I see Rudy is due to play a bit in the Slovenia game tonight http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20130713/slovenia-rudy-returns-to-the-fray_2247585_3236575 For Mighty's benefit, I draw your attention to the following words: "around 800 Leeds fans are expected to be in attendance" - you may wish to contrast this turnout for a meaningless pre-season friendly in a foreign country, with Milwalls "massed ranks of fans" (aka Sid and Doris) when you last visited Elland Road for a league game. Now tell me again why the billionaire buying Fulham is not dumb?
Morning all. Myself and the daughters are being treated to a half hour flight this morning over midland lakes. If I don't post again, you can guess what happened
Morning all. The trouble with foreign investors is that they will never really look beyond the Premier League. Once they analyse the revenue streams, sort them in descending order and look at the top line (in most cases) titled Sky TV that appears to be enough for them. What most of them fail to realise is that there are actually quite a few teams in the Champ that would be a better long term investment than some from the Prem.
40 I am sorry m8 but its not my fault that you lot employ the WYP to protect you from such vile animals as myself plus what you havnt enclosed is how much BMD is actually going to pay them
Morning all. Investing in a premiership club is investing in something that is already in receipt of huge funds. Fulham have been safely in the Prem for a good few years now. But it sometimes leads to owners like the Venkys who didn't know you could get relegated or a mentality of just trying not to be relegated, which sucks you in. The styke oif the owner can also affect the whole club, from the fans to the players and management team - just look at Bates! Investing in a non-Prem club is more risky, and as such has larger extremes - great risks but great rewards if you do manage to get promoted. Then there is the risk of the strategy you put in place to ensure you don't lose everything by going mental in trying to compete at the top end of the Prem. So the first thing you must do when investing in a non-Prem team is ensure you can bankroll them for a long time, or grow income to outstrip costs irrespective of performance, or bring costs below income. It seems much tougher to do it right for a non-Prem club, but what do I know?
partly agree, Sheldon - in that its not guaranteed when you will get to the Prem if you buy Leeds. But the financial returns if you do (in terms of value of the club) are huge. Also, you avoid one big risk - Fulham may have been in the Prem for a while, but they are a small operation and there is always the risk if a few wrong steps are taken that they will go down. And I'd much rather be the owner of Leeds in the Championship (having paid the current price for them) than the owner of a relegated Fulham (having paid the price for them when in the Prem). But, as you say, what do we know - we don't know what they guy paid for Fulham, for a start. Depends also on his business objectives. There is at least the possibility of Leeds becoming a top 4 club, in the Champions League, worth 100's of millions - unless he tries to buy that success (a risky operation) I can't ever see that with Fulham.
Why Fulham? Because they're in London. However, they won't get the support the new owner thinks they will so interesting to see how he reacts when reality sets in. Jol first manager sacked?
Shahid Khan is understood to be paying Mohamed Al Fayed £150m plus for Fulham And he wants to add an English county cricket team to his portfolio
Afternoon All I can see why somebody would buy a club like Fulham or Stoke or West Brom. They're established in the Prem and they are bringing money in. It's an easy buy if you want to get European Football in a couple to a few seasons. As for bigger clubs in the Champ I would have thought that the likes of Forest or US would be a better investment compared to some Prem clubs. There are bigger clubs in the Champ compared to the Prem.
Honestly, for me it would be a no contest. Buy Fulham for £150m, and I don't see obvious ways to enhance its value so at best sell for £200m. Also there is a danger it goes pear shaped and its worth a lot less (a div 2 Fulham would be worth £30m, plus if they own their ground the value of that. But buy Leeds for £50m, and the upside would be a massive team worth a lot more than Fulham ever could be. With little downside really, unless you believe the Millwall lads and we are at risk of relegation - can't see than happening again, tbh. In fairness, I suppose it IS possible the guy buying Fulham has a masterplan and knows how to extract a lot more value from mthem than I can see - after all he's a billionaire, and I'm not
