Have we got our own Cellino

https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.c...n-lee-the-mysterious-e22m-december-2018-loan/

 

This was highlighted a few months ago but I don't think it was of much concern due to us just beating Fulham. Does make you wonder though doesn't it? And let's face it, the EFLs fit and proper persons test would probably pass Steve Dale again if he was to bid for a club!

It's concerning. I don't think they've got a penny to scratch their arse's with, their whole ownership model is odd. It first I thought it was unique and promising, but in today's world, what kind of "billionaire" investment group buys a football club to be happy with the odd million here and there and doesn't seem that bothered about the league position etc? You normally see billionaires walk into a football club, splash big money to get them where they need them to be and then reap the rewards once they're a top flight club IE Southampton, Bournemouth, Leicester.

I don't understand it, I dint think we ever will. I don't think they're here for the long term either.

 

Not every asset in a billionaire’s portfolio has to earn them billions. If someone offered you a few grand for free every year would you say no because your overall worth is more?
We are now a low effort, reliable return with £0 invested by them in purchasing exclusively young players with the clubs assets, giving them more exposure and experience than others at their age so they develop and selling them for a huge profit. They don’t even need to be involved at this point (and nor do we, which is why I suspect they aren’t bothered about this bad PR). Not many investments will give you a few million every couple of years having spent absolutely nothing.

 

I think Gally ought to be asking for a fans forum as there’s some questions that need answering.

Thalos seems to be an interesting company, ie everything’s hidden behind paperwork in Luxembourg who in turn seem to owned by Debt purchasers.

 

Lee and Zheng's statement In April 2019 said their commitment to Nice is long term. Ratcliffe had an offer to buy the club accepted in June 2019. The sale was completed in August 2019. You can't believe a word these sort of people say. They will already be looking to offload our club behind the scenes and I hope they don't leave behind any nasty financial surprises a la PD.

https://www.ogcnice.com/en/news/36709/statement-by-chien-lee-and-alex-zheng

 

I agree that this seems like a possibility. I just don't think it's enough money. Also, the model predates their ownership.

That said, this bizarre handling of the Stendel situation has made their ownership (and thus their intentions) start to seem pretty strange. Moreover, the silent Billy Beane factor now seems a little suspect. Why was he mentioned a lot during the early days and never seen since. As far as I'm aware there's no record of him ever discussing his ownership/participation in the running of BFC (could be wrong on this).

And yet......Big Pauly Conway appears to be a regular fixture at (at least) a decent number of games (home and away), I've seen him at several, as well as having been CEO for, what, like a year? So, with the greatest of respect to my beautiful and wonderful hometown, if I was an American billionaire, it probably wouldn't be my first choice for the weekend, etc: do you know what I mean?

I think, either: they do not have the amount of money they claim (in which case DusTha's points make more sense) or it is just billionaire's Football Manager, a pet project, something to occupy their time with and they haven't got a scooby doo about football and couldn't give a toss us nomarks think.

 

Yeah but his role/investment/position/influence isn't exactly clear, is it?

 

I'm not saying Beane's influence or the lack of comment on his influence is any way malign, I'm just saying, his role/aim/position, etc (if he even has one) are all unclear.

 

It is a bit strange. He is listed on here though as having a "significant interest" in the club:

https://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/company-details/

 

Agree with every word pal, I'd love to be proved wrong but I think their wealth has been vastly overstated. It's interesting that Conway still seems to be an ever present despite Dane Murphy coming on board who you would expect to be running the club on a day to day basis.

 

That just means the holding company has significant interest and they have to list the share holders, who by default are classed as significant holders.

 

Just thought id post as im sure ive read on here at points in past queries as to whether he is involved with us at all or not.

 

Look at what Alex Zheng did to German D4 side Viktoria 89. He isn't involved at Barnsley, but was part of the OGC Nice consortium.

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/sport/p...toria-89-stellt-insolvenzantrag/23758632.html

 

What about the Indian fella? Isn’t he meant to be son of a billionaire?! It’s obviously not right is it? I mean you can understand someone like Lee not from Barnsley, doesn’t want to put millions in the club, but the idea of a consortium is that Lee would put a few quid in, Conway put a few quid in, the India guy the same, billy beane put a bit in etc - other than the initial purchase of the club I can’t see that one penny has been invested by this consortium. That’s weird.

Alarm bells starting ringing for me when two things happened over the summer

1. The sponsorship deal ran out. Here was perfect opportunity for the consortium to use their international connections. I was expedited a Chinese or American or even French company. New sponsors...from Barnsley. Nice to be have local sponsor sure, but what’s point of having foreign owners and not one single international business has partnered with us. This makes me ask questions as to what connections they have

2. Second time alarm bells started ringing - the fan Zone. Now I am aware this is not a permanent erection (oh matron!) but it is the first time the club have done something visible when it comes to ground improvements / additions for a while. Again the perfect opportunity for our billionaire owners to spend a bit of cash building something nice for the fans. The set up that’s now in place, pocket change for people with their supposed wealth. And yet, they didn’t spend a penny. In fact majority of costs didn’t come out of the clubs budget at all, the fans ended up paying for it themselves!!

I’m all for not having one owner pumping millions and millions into the club

But if Conway, lee, Indian guy put say a million each in a year (again pocket change for billionaires) an extra 3 Million a year, it makes us competitive.

But not to put one penny in. Nah, something stinks

If these guys are all billionaires than Jose Morais a top quality football manager

 

As I see it, Conway is nothing but a broker who has got together a consortium to buy a business(this is pretty much what his job was/is), Grace again is an employee, seems to not have a lot money wise, Beane same again doesn’t seem to have any serious money.
Chien’s wealth is unknown, but appears to have more more money than the first three, which then leaves Parekh, who comes from a very wealthy family but with no evidence of having his own.

 

The odd million here and there from a number of business interests world wide add up to being a billionaire. There’s no evidence they are loading the club with debt , they’ve more less done what they said they would do and run the club within FPP and prudently like Cryne . They’ve got rid of relying on loan players and tied the new players on long deals , both in the past were major criticisms under Crynes reign . Wether they stick with this or relax it in January we’ll see

 

Your right with what you and other posters have quoted me on, but the odd million to an already "billionaire" and a man who's spending a helluva alot of time working at the club just doesn't sit right. I don't think the club generates anywhere near the amount of money that they'd be willing to add it to their portfolio of businesses. Again I could be wrong but to me it just doesn't add up, a billionaire consortium spending nearly every day at the club in the hope of raking in 1 million quid from the sale of a player? There's got to be another reason.

Theu appointed a CEO to do this side of the job for them, get this CEO barely says a word in comparison to Ben and Gauthier and to be honest I can't even remember his name.

We got told every penny from player sales and the TV/promotion money would be reinvested, that never happened. How much got taken out of the club? Who knows. Are they infact skint and desperate for every single penny? Who knows. Articles like this only fuel the fire though.

I think we were abit of a get rich quick scheme. Buy us for 6 million, get that money back from player sales within 18 months, put the club back up for sale for 9 million. Move on. Then this article comes out about what happened at Nice and it just draws so many parallels.

 

Am I right in thinking this consortium tried to buy a couple of other EFL clubs, including Hull City but were turned down?