Football club ownership

[Bea Smith]

A superb article in The Independent with a headline that rings very true, about the sort of people running football clubs these days, and it mentions how some fans will go to any lengths to avoid their clubs owners being scrutinised;-

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/owners-care-manchester-city-dulwich-hamlet-blackpool-sheffield-united-leyton-orient-a8046881.html?S2ref=866583

 

I really feel sorry for little Dulwich Hamlet, a famous club on the amateur circuit many moons ago, and now being threatened with their very existence by a development monster.

[geosname]

Its a strange business owning a football club, its not surprising it attracts some strange people

[Bea Smith]

Its a strange business owning a football club, its not surprising it attracts some strange people

 

It shouldn't be strange, it is just the greed and corruption of the game - and the higher you go the worse it gets, FIFA being totally disgraceful - but we don't have to accept that it will always be that way.

[geosname]

I would suspect that if its rotten at the top its not likely to be confined to that area

[Bea Smith]

I would suspect that if its rotten at the top its not likely to be confined to that area

 

I would beg to differ. In small clubs where a lot of people know each other (amateur clubs or smaller non-league clubs) it would be far more difficult to get away with anything.

 

They are still vulnerable to the likes of the vultures threatening Dulwich Hamlet, but the smaller the club the less money involved and the smaller the shark size, obviously with a couple of exceptions.

[elav trop 1876]

didn't same thing happen at Wrexham and Liverpool weren't far off with hicks n Gillette, i'm sure most owners can use football as a cash cow as they do business- I always thought Oscar from Chelsea to a Chinese club (think £30mil) was strange but when both owners are probably politically tied to their countries this is an easy way of moving money around legally.

There are some good owners like Gibson at middlesborough who seemingly from the outside puts more in (time and money)than takes out.

 

 

Not sure if I saw this on here but its a sad sight to see an ex footy ground in decay like this one at kettering which has been conveniently acquired by a property developer- think the fa could do more...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-41264994

[Jacko51]

didn't same thing happen at Wrexham and Liverpool weren't far off with hicks n Gillette, i'm sure most owners can use football as a cash cow as they do business- I always thought Oscar from Chelsea to a Chinese club (think £30mil) was strange but when both owners are probably politically tied to their countries this is an easy way of moving money around legally.

There are some good owners like Gibson at middlesborough who seemingly from the outside puts more in (time and money)than takes out.

 

 

Gibson, like Coates, is a lifelong fan of the club he owns. The problems are often caused when interlopers, who don't understand the emotional links between club and community, get involved.

[rayzer]

 

Were you thinking of any one in particular Jean?

[Jacko51]

Were you thinking of any one in particular Jean?

 

Several actually.

[bookworm]

Football is to varying degrees depending on the home nation rotten from FIFA down and has made millionaires out of stools recognised only for their cretinous behaviour.

[geosname]

I would beg to differ. In small clubs where a lot of people know each other (amateur clubs or smaller non-league clubs) it would be far more difficult to get away with anything.

 

They are still vulnerable to the likes of the vultures threatening Dulwich Hamlet, but the smaller the club the less money involved and the smaller the shark size, obviously with a couple of exceptions.

 

Im not suggesting that because some of the fruit and the branches at the top are rotten that all the roots are infected but its a probability that some are and some of that infection works its way up the tree.

[For Us All]

Were you thinking of any one in particular Jean?

 

Arsenal being the perfect example.

An ex-collegue of mine attended the recent AGM and was telling me how farcical and embarrassing it was to hear the comments from people who were running the club.

[Bea Smith]

Arsenal being the perfect example.

An ex-collegue of mine attended the recent AGM and was telling me how farcical and embarrassing it was to hear the comments from people who were running the club.

 

Perhaps all potential and existing football club owners and directors should be required to pass a 'fit ownership' course like the FA Coaching badges, where they are taught about what fans think and need, the community aspects of football, and PR skills amongst other things.

 

They would have to spend 6-10 weeks in a classroom learning not to be objectionable profiteering cesspits. Just a thought.

[Conrad]

Perhaps all potential and existing football club owners and directors should be required to pass a 'fit ownership' course like the FA Coaching badges, where they are taught about what fans think and need, the community aspects of football, and PR skills amongst other things.

 

They would have to spend 6-10 weeks in a classroom learning not to be objectionable profiteering cesspits. Just a thought.

 

How would that apply to an owner of a club who didn’t realise he was buying a football club, but instead thought he was buying a hotel?

[RailwayRowdy]

Owners down the years have always regarded the club as their own personal ATM. Our very own Mr. Bell and biscuit tins immediately come to mind and the 5,000 below capacity Arsenal attendance to name but 2 instances in our own recent past. But nowadays the numbers in question are beyond car rental agreements. Nothing has really changed, except the scale of the deception.