+- Sports Babble - sports forum (https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk)
+-- Forum: Football (https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: English Football Leagues (https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+---- Forum: Sky Bet Championship (https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=49)
+----- Forum: West Bromwich Albion (https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=21)
+----- Thread: What an owner should be? (/showthread.php?tid=12207)
What an owner should be? - Salopbaggie - 28-03-2023
Being pretty near to myself and 4Ever, Wrexham's new owners are I think are showing, what the passion of an club owner should be.
You have Ryan Reynolds flying over for most of the home games, when he is not filming and Rob McElhenney gets over for a fair few. They have already seen the King visit the stadium (would he have bothered if they were not there to meet him) and of course this week and more importantly have signed 'Fozzy', short term, in a bid to see the rest of the season out and hopefully see their promotion to the Football League. Today has seen a video released made by Reynolds, McElhenney and Sir Alex Fergusson promoting a friendly in San Diego, between Wrexham and Manchester United this July, (how did that happen, how many non-league clubs can you name that have their summer training camps in California?). These are just a few of the ways they have actively been involved in promoting their club, and yes I am as envious as ****)
Genuinely, can anyone remind me of anything 'positive', Lai has ever done for our club.
RE: What an owner should be? - 4evaabaggie - 28-03-2023
Wrexham very close to Shrewsbury, big rivalries between the to teams, often come to blows apparently. But yes an owner who is also a fan and doing the best for his club if not the world's environmental crisis.
Oh for an owner like that.
Nothing! To answer your question!
RE: What an owner should be? - Salopbaggie - 28-03-2023
(28-03-2023, 16:51)4evaabaggie Wrote: Wrexham very close to Shrewsbury, big rivalries between the to teams, often come to blows apparently.
Tell me about it Shrewsbury FC 20.3 miles from my house, Wrexham FC 17.6 miles, I just keep my head down.
RE: What an owner should be? - Ska'dForLife-WBA - 28-03-2023
Fun times for Wrexham, obviously, and I don't doubt the commitment of Reynolds and McElhenney and the genuine attachment to the club and town that they've developed. But a Hollywood star taking over a non-league football club is basically playing Championship Manager on easy mode, if not cheat mode. Not only do they have the capital to inject like any sugardaddy owner, they also have the necessary media contacts to instantly monetise the investment by turning it into a global TV documentary, in addition to having their own legion of devoted fans who'll fork out for club merch purely because it's associated with the star they adore. They give the club a tangible leg-up simply by being there in the first place, and that's not something even the most passionate businessman can replicate.
RE: What an owner should be? - Salopbaggie - 29-03-2023
(28-03-2023, 19:37)Ska'dForLife-WBA Wrote: But a Hollywood star taking over a non-league football club is basically playing Championship Manager on easy mode, if not cheat mode.
Sorry Ska'd I don't get the analogy, I don't really see how it makes any difference whether it is a Hollywood star, a Saudi Prince, a chainstore owner or a Chinese businessman who owns club, it not like he is managing the football side of it. You are quite right about the high profile they bring to the club and the rewards that will come with it, however I suspect your impression of certainly Reynolds business acumen may be a little misplaced. Reynolds is a considerably more successful business man than Lai is. In 2020 he sold his shares in Aviation Gin for $610 million, which he had only purchased in 2019 making a massive profit and in the last couple of weeks, he sold his majority shareholding in Mint Mobile to T-Mobile for $1.3 billion (making him a very substantial profit), so I don't think we would be struggling to to our £5 million back from him, if he owed it.
RE: What an owner should be? - drewks - 29-03-2023
I'm with Ska'd on this one.
For me, for some reason, there's a real dislike of a wealthy owner - no matter what background - taking over a club.
To me it just looks like they're using it as a 'plaything', maybe also to boost their ego too somehow.
A wealthy fan taking over? That'd be different!
It just makes me feel uneasy, no matter what the scale is - same with the Chelseas and Man Utd's of this world.
Is their interest or commitment genuine and long term? Only time will tell.
RE: What an owner should be? - Stairs - 29-03-2023
Well, if we don’t get promotion (which is an extreme outside bet) then we will soon be affordable to Ryan Reynolds 2.0.
I sympathise with Lai in that he bought the club for a large sum and it must hurt to think he could sell for a significantly less. But I don’t get why he won’t invest to ensure (as much as you can) promotion to reduce the valuation deficit.
I want promotion, naturally, but that could just extend the time he stays the owner as he might think our value will increase if we can survive the next season.
If I thought financially we can get through this by staying in the Championship and getting sold I’d be tempted to vote for it.
RE: What an owner should be? - Ska'dForLife-WBA - 29-03-2023
(29-03-2023, 02:53)Salopbaggie Wrote:(28-03-2023, 19:37)Ska'dForLife-WBA Wrote: But a Hollywood star taking over a non-league football club is basically playing Championship Manager on easy mode, if not cheat mode.
Sorry Ska'd I don't get the analogy, I don't really see how it makes any difference whether it is a Hollywood star, a Saudi Prince, a chainstore owner or a Chinese businessman who owns club, it not like he is managing the football side of it. You are quite right about the high profile they bring to the club and the rewards that will come with it, however I suspect your impression of certainly Reynolds business acumen may be a little misplaced. Reynolds is a considerably more successful business man than Lai is. In 2020 he sold his shares in Aviation Gin for $610 million, which he had only purchased in 2019 making a massive profit and in the last couple of weeks, he sold his majority shareholding in Mint Mobile to T-Mobile for $1.3 billion (making him a very substantial profit), so I don't think we would be struggling to to our £5 million back from him, if he owed it.
Not sure I disputed Reynolds' business acumen at all? In fact, I explicitly pointed out that as he can use his Hollywood contacts to make a successful TV documentary series out of the whole venture, he gets an instant return on investment, which is more than 99% of businessmen could hope for from a club purchase. It's a rock-solid commercial move, and not one that a Saudi prince or Chinese businessman can easily replicate, unless Lai has earned some Tinseltown clout starring in superhero films that we're all unaware of.
And the ChampMan analogy refers to the fact that in purchasing a non-league club, your initial injection of capital will go much further, as will the halo effect of gaining international fans. Of course that doesn't necessarily translate into immediate on-the-pitch success, but the amount of money you're putting in tilts the scales far more than it would in the Championship or Premier League, self-evidently. To return to the analogy, if you had a one-off single-use cheat code for Championship Manager that allowed you to magically put £5m into a club, would you use the cheat on Manchester United or on Blyth Spartans? And which do you think would be more visibly transformed by the cash?
So yeah, not knocking Reynolds overall, I reiterate that Wrexham have every right to love him, his commercial nous is clearly coupled with a philanthropic bent, and that's a good thing. And during their cup run, his TV series + social media presence did more for the profile of the FA Cup in thirty days than the actual FA have done in thirty years. But Prem and Championship ownership is the realm of hard-nosed business sharks looking to put the minimum in to get the maximum out (incredibly common), lifelong fans who'll bankroll the club as far as they're able (vanishingly rare), men who are wealthy enough to use a club as a status symbol without ever expecting money back (rarer still), and out-and-out crooks. All the passion in the world won't change that, sadly.
RE: What an owner should be? - Salopbaggie - 29-03-2023
(29-03-2023, 08:53)drewks Wrote: I'm with Ska'd on this one.
For me, for some reason, there's a real dislike of a wealthy owner - no matter what background - taking over a club.
To me it just looks like they're using it as a 'plaything', maybe also to boost their ego too somehow.
A wealthy fan taking over? That'd be different!
It just makes me feel uneasy, no matter what the scale is - same with the Chelseas and Man Utd's of this world.
Is their interest or commitment genuine and long term? Only time will tell.
I am totally with you on wealthy owners, but have they not always been, relative to those coming through the turnstiles. Of course in this day and age they are no longer just wealthy, now most are superrich and I don't know if there is a description for the wealth of people such as they guy who is looking to buy Man Utd, where wealth runs into many billions. On the wealthy fan, I remember an interview once with Elton John where he was saying wealthy fan owners are the worst, because either they think with their heart and that is not always in the clubs best interests or they go to far in the other direction. But not belonging to any of the groups above I don't know, happy to give it a go though if someone can provide the wealth.
RE: What an owner should be? - drewks - 31-03-2023
Wrexham....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65142947