Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

Comments

  • Not a problem for Roland as all his clubs are too shite to reach these levels!
  • Uboat said:

    From the comments:

    "It was in 2009 that Mateschitz’s company bought SSV Markranstädt, an obscure fifth-division club from the former East Germany"

    Common misconception. We didn't buy Markranstädt, we bought their license. The club is well alive and playing in the Oberliga right now iirc.

    Red Bull being demonized while there are so many super shady owners in the Premier League is laughable.

    East Germany finally have a strong team again fighting for Champions League spots.
    Salzburg recently won the UEFA Youth League, beating clubs like Man City, Atletico, PSG, Barcelona and Benfica on the road.

    Where Red Bull is, there is success. No oil money, no criminal operations in Post-Soviet 90s Russia etc. Just smart entrepreneurship.

    And yes, I am convinced that both clubs will play in CL next season. Not sure if Salzburg qualifies for the group stages though.

    This backs up something a German friend of mine has told me on more than one occasion: it's good for the balance of football in the country to have a team from (the former) East Germany be successful. The balance of power (in so many ways) lies almost entirely in the west of the country.

    I also think the poster brings up some very good points regarding how we view Red Bull versus numerous owners of English football club. I'll say that I'm guilty of that, in part at least because Red Bull likes to splash their logo all over things. But it's not wrong to say that Red Bull is quite successful when it comes to owning clubs.

    That said, I think this also misses the point: it's not the way Red Bull runs one club or another, it's that they run multiple clubs. Especially in European competitions. And there are all kinds of scenarios in which this could threaten "the integrity" of competitions.
  • The dream is to have a local businessman/ supporter as your owner, right? Having a corporation running the show is about as far as you can get from that - A company using your club to achieve their own ends (particularly in this case of RB, where it's about marketing)

    But that's EXACTLY what Sheikh Mansour is doing at Man City. Using the club to help change the perception of the UAE. Hence why their shirts are plastered with the state-owned/ named airline. But they didn't change the name of the club to do this so hardly anyone noticed.

    Then again, Peter Coates is a local Stoke supporter who made a lot of money in sports catering and turned it into the Bet365 empire. So he owns the club through Bet365 and sponsored the stadium accordingly. Mike Ashley tried the same thing - maybe he'd have been more accepted if he was a Geordie.

  • JiMMy 85 said:

    Mike Ashley tried the same thing - maybe he'd have been more accepted if he was a Geordie.

    If Mike Ashley were from Toon it's pretty unlikely that he would be more accepted.
    It would probably be the case that he would be despised far more than he is now for selling out his fellow Geordies and stitching up his club.
  • JiMMy 85 said:

    The dream is to have a local businessman/ supporter as your owner, right? Having a corporation running the show is about as far as you can get from that - A company using your club to achieve their own ends (particularly in this case of RB, where it's about marketing)

    But that's EXACTLY what Sheikh Mansour is doing at Man City. Using the club to help change the perception of the UAE. Hence why their shirts are plastered with the state-owned/ named airline. But they didn't change the name of the club to do this so hardly anyone noticed.

    Then again, Peter Coates is a local Stoke supporter who made a lot of money in sports catering and turned it into the Bet365 empire. So he owns the club through Bet365 and sponsored the stadium accordingly. Mike Ashley tried the same thing - maybe he'd have been more accepted if he was a Geordie.

    I think that notion of a local businessman owning a football club is now completely archaic. It's just not feasible anymore. Too much money is required, and there is too much money to be made.

    I would say the best you can hope for is an owner who embraces the community and helps expand the club's role therein. By all accounts, Sheik Mansour has done this at City. They've built out the area around the City of Manchester Stadium immensely. That used to be a completely dead area of Manchester, and they've created a lot of jobs building a world class training facility and a ground for the women and youth teams. City always had a good youth academy that provided players to the first team, but the UAE owners have invested very, very heavily in it in an attempt to make it world class as well.

    In a perfect world, yes, clubs would be owned by someone local who has always supported them, and yet somehow we'd still be able to manage having players like Alou Diarra, Rod Fanni, JBG, etc. in the second tier. But short of that, I think the best you can hope for is an owner who embraces the local area, improves the infrastructure of the club in an attempt to expand its role in the community and create jobs.
  • Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was a realistic dream!

    Still, there are some local supporters/ businessmen in top jobs at PL clubs. Brighton, Burnley and Bournemouth (admittedly with Russian financing) as well as Stoke. So it's not entirely archaic, but I do think you're right in that finding an owner who cares - and whose intentions/ actions jive with the supporters - is probably the most realistic dream.

    No matter how much the Sheikh does for Manchester, I remain totally sceptical regarding his motives. Not sure why, I'm probably being quite unfair. He's apparently not doing anything particularly dodgy. I guess I just don't trust someone with that much cash!
  • JiMMy 85 said:

    Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was a realistic dream!

    Still, there are some local supporters/ businessmen in top jobs at PL clubs. Brighton, Burnley and Bournemouth (admittedly with Russian financing) as well as Stoke. So it's not entirely archaic, but I do think you're right in that finding an owner who cares - and whose intentions/ actions jive with the supporters - is probably the most realistic dream.

    No matter how much the Sheikh does for Manchester, I remain totally sceptical regarding his motives. Not sure why, I'm probably being quite unfair. He's apparently not doing anything particularly dodgy. I guess I just don't trust someone with that much cash!

    But if his goals the supporters' goals overlap then who cares.
  • Sponsored links:


  • JiMMy 85 said:

    Sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was a realistic dream!

    Still, there are some local supporters/ businessmen in top jobs at PL clubs. Brighton, Burnley and Bournemouth (admittedly with Russian financing) as well as Stoke. So it's not entirely archaic, but I do think you're right in that finding an owner who cares - and whose intentions/ actions jive with the supporters - is probably the most realistic dream.

    No matter how much the Sheikh does for Manchester, I remain totally sceptical regarding his motives. Not sure why, I'm probably being quite unfair. He's apparently not doing anything particularly dodgy. I guess I just don't trust someone with that much cash!

    I hope I wasn't too critical of you Jimmy, definitely not my intention to be. I think I'm a little more aggressive on this because of what people want from new owners. I think it's @Leuth who has said in the past that some of the anger with RD et al is more anger with the modern state of football, and it's something I agree with at times and up to a point.

    Also, I don't think it's wrong to question his, or any, motives. Same for the Qatari's at PSG, same for Abromovich, etc. I think that's really important. I was more trying to get at that the way things are in football, particularly in England, the best to hope for is foreigners who come in and "get it."
Sign In or Register to comment.

Roland Out Forever!