Chinese Takeover

My thoughts entirely.
Would be very disappointed if new owners changed the manager, but I very much doubt that would be allowed to happen.

I think there is a business model where we may seek to keep 3-4 star players on much higher wages than the rest of the squad. Your Hourahans, Roberts of this world. You'd still sell them eventually for big money, but we'd see them at the club for another season or so. A reward for achievement. That's how I'd spend, as the bigger sell on in the long run would cover the wages.

 

So has anyone heard the rumour about a Chinese takeover at Oakwell?

 

Nah, just a figbox of the imagination. A reyt load of cobras.

 

To be honest I couldn't care less if it makes us a laughing stock to other fans (not that I think it does). There's no point building a new stand when we're 10,000 below capacity.

 

The ones I've spoken to laugh their ****** off at it. I agree the ground is never full, but broken glass on top of a red brick wall? Really?

 

The east stand and ponty end are pretty much full most games. Not quite but maybes the once in a whiles don't fancy being right in the corners. Leaving the west stand as the option. It's not an attractive proposition to new young potential fans.

I'd wager we may attract more new fans if they had a new stand to sit in, modern, with proper facilities; not a decrepit old structure fully open to all elements.

Affection aside, it is part of the history and all that and there are plenty who love it, but it is quite simply well beyond its functional life and is way unfit for purpose in modern day professional football. I'm sure it's only as loved as it is as it has been untouched for so long. Had it been sorted late nineties to early 2000's - straight after the north stand if they'd got the money, we might be getting a few more in. Maybe not but apart from the regulars in west upper who are attached to their wooden seats and floors, does anyone think it's an attractive option?

With our current setup it's not a huge priority I guess but with a few more quid I hope we finally get it sorted.

 

Stadium improvements are key to attracting the local population. Always has been always will be.

If you make an improvement to your stadium and therefore an improvement to the match day experience (regardless of how many on here say it isn't important) then people not only visit to experience the new facilities but they also view the club as a club with ambition. You don't improve the facilities if you are expecting to fail, improving them sends out a message that you are aiming for an improvement and that attracts fans.

 

If the takeover is completed I would hope that the rumours of PC retaining a small stake are true. He may not have the financial muscle needed in the modern game but he is a fan and has the club at heart. I'd be more comfortable that our future was safe if he, and the Cryne family, still had some input into decisions.

 

I've said before that maxing out the East Stand and the Ponty isn't comfortable for the punters, both in respect of adverse view and crowded use of the facilities. If the West Stand isn't going to be made fully available in its present form, it does need rebuilding.

 

I agree. I wouldn't want the club to relocate, but when clubs have built a new stadium, many have seen their crowds grow and fortunes rise on the pitch. A new stand at Oakwell might have a similar effect.

 

The obsessed like us have got wind and they is a thread about this on their board https://www.drfc-vsc.co.uk/index.php?topic=263243.0

 

Media report after Chian Lee's purchase of Nice:


Lee and his partners did not buy the Nice team just for the sake of it. “Before we bought the team, we had already laid out a plan about what we were going to do during the next five years. We did not just come in to buy a team because everybody these days says soccer is hot,” Lee emphasized.

“Can we grow the business after we acquire it? What can we bring besides money? What kind of resources and network can we bring to Nice? Those are the most important questions we asked ourselves before we closed the deal.”

OGC Nice has a fantastic management and first-class facilities, a great 36,600-seat capacity stadium and a top-class soccer academy, Lee said.

Lee, Conway and Zheng have decided that they will leave 100 percent of the soccer operation in the hands of the existing management of Nice, and only support the team financially and commercially.

Lee said he knows that in China, a lot of people are very passionate about soccer and noted that the country has mapped out a plan to speed up the development of its sports industry. It may be recalled that on Oct 20, 2014, the State Council announced a set of guidelines to boost the industry and promote sports consumption.

“Before 2020, we will have 20,000 soccer academies on the Chinese mainland to nurture young players to become professional soccer players,” Lee forecast.

“Nice has one of the top European soccer academies. We can bring their academy to China and, by working with Chinese soccer teams, China and Europe can grow the soccer industry together. There are huge opportunities in China for Nice,” Lee said.

Another plan is to bring the Nice team to China during the off season so they can play with different Chinese teams. Young Chinese soccer players can also come to Nice’s academy so youngsters from both countries can learn together.

“The way forward is not just soccer. Nice is a very beautiful city, we can bring Chinese tourists to Nice, they can enjoy their tour and watch a soccer game. We are also looking to buy a hotel in Nice. Soccer is a good platform, so you can expand to other businesses.”

Lee said he constantly searches for investment opportunities in China, and he focuses mainly on the consumer retail sector.

“I feel that with the growth of the Chinese middle class, the consumer sector still has great potential.”

 

Sounds perfect if true, but perhaps too good to be true!

 

Scrolling down chien lees twitter feed I noticed he promoting a new academy/training complex that was due for completion it sure if they financed it or what but it's an impressive building non the less

 

Well to answer your final point first... no I don't have enough money, personally, to buy the club. Maybe when the kids have grown up and I'm no longer paying for Xbox subscriptions, or £50-£80 for Nike trainers because the last pair are 'bunk', or Amazon Prime, or fidget spinners or an endless supply of USB/Mains adaptors (I swear the eldest must be selling them online)... maybe then I'll be in a position to think about making Patrick an offer... there's no way on earth a Championship club costs more to run than 2 kids!!

to answer your first point... I'll readily admit I don't really have an obvious answer. It wont happen, but what I'd really like to see is a fan based ownership, something along the lines of the German leagues. It seems to me that they are able to compete at the very highest levels but somehow still retain the essence of football. It also seems to me that we are getting to the point, with player sales, where Mr Cryne will no longer have to subsidise the club. There is a shortfall between our costs and revenue but by developing talent and selling some of it on then I think we can become self sustaining (and competitive). If we are self sustaining then I don't see why we would need an outside investors, unless of course we want to chase the 'holy grail' of being in the Premiership. I think I've mentioned that the Premiership holds very little attraction to me but I get that for some it does. I'm not saying we shouldn't try for it, just that I'd prefer to get there by developing a team rather than buying one.

I certainly don't find Americans/Chinese distasteful (not sure where you got that from) but I can't deny that having local people own and manage the club adds to the whole 'My Town, My Blood etc etc'. I support Barnsley, not because that are so damned attractive to watch, but because they represent me, and the people I grew up with. Isn't that what it is really all about when you distil it down?

 

Not as simple as that. We had a plan (Patrick's plan) to become self sustaining. You're right we have been using Patrick's money to survive, and I thank him sincerely for that, but he always intended to be a stop gap until we could develop enough talent to be self sustaining. I think we are just about there aren't we? If anything the plan has become too successful. With this latest batch of kids we have the chance to manage those sales in a way that is more advantageous to us. As I understand it Mr Cryne has been putting in somewhere in the region of £1M-2M a year in order to keep us afloat. I would be happy to sell a 'Mawson' or a 'Roberts' every other year. The only problem we have right now with the plan is we didn't sort the contracts out correctly with the last crop and so effectively lost a whole team in less than a year.
Given that we have an excellent coaching staff I fully expect this new team to be as good, if not better, than the last one, in 12 months time. It will require some patience on our part but if we can survive this season (and I think we will) then next season I expect that we will comfortably be top half.

 

Thanks for that considered reply. I share your plight in the costly business of raising children in a materialist world. There's a good discussion straight away about how football just mirrors the rest of our society. The German model for football has its obvious attractions but has developed in a society totally different from ours. Germany has always had strong worker participation in the running of companies and extensively delocalised government. Our patrician, top down way of running our affairs makes something like the 50+1 law a pipe dream. The model has its flaws as well. My team in Germany ( from having lived there for a time) is TSV 1860 Munchen. Have look at what's happened to them: relegated to a regional league and with no ground. Poor management occurs under every system.
Finally I didn't mean to single out Chinese/Americans specifically but just as our version of a foreign investor. There isn't anyone locally who will invest or they would have been identified by Cryne I'm sure. We have to look at this realistically and hope that the character of the club will be enhanced rather than totally changed. I'm optimistic that given our current set up, new investors will let that continue but with a bit more financial clout.

 

I've a history of reading that forum albeit not this season or last and believe me apart from a few posters they are obsessive towards us ( suppose that could be seen as complimentary) Yes the size and population of their town is much bigger than ours but in footballing terms they are a smaller football club than us? Don't get me wrong I'm not going all Dee Darr massive here, but that is how it is and it really irks some on that board. I used to work with a group of Rovers fans and during the time they were climbing from the conference and getting the better of us in League one shortly after our Admin days. I used to take some right stick and I always said the True size of their club would show if/when they reached the Championship. They achieved that of course. However, history shows that after an absence of 56 years at that level, they struggled to attract 10,000 home fans. I know some on there wouldn't want foreign investment and are happy with the current situation, which wasn't the case a couple of years ago. Ours is different situation now in that we need a a higher level of investment just to compete/ maintain at this this level and we have an owner who is unfortunately terminally ill. Let them hate us, it says more about them than us. Edit, forgot to mention moving to a new ground as well.

 

Randy Lerner made a pretty spectacular balls-up at Villa. Not quite Venky's style, but his tenure was reasonably disastrous.