Would PCP actually be a good owner for NUFC?

[Dave]

Okay I'll be honest it's probably a bit weird this but almost immediately after the excitement of the news of this bid, I started wondering about whether PCP would actually be any good for NUFC. Everyone is understandably getting carried away by the propect of getting rid of Ashley and that would definitely be a step forward but we're all kind of ignoring questions about who would be taking over and what their plans are. It's similar to when Ashley bought the club in the first place, the overwhelming numbers believed it was high time for a change and that nobody could do a much worse job than the Halls and Shepherd and I was part of that. Turned out to be completely fucking wrong. There's a huge difference between not being as bad as Ashley and actually being any good.

 

I suppose the big difference this time is the manager we have. I can't remember a particularly massive objection to the Allardyce appointment at the time but in terms of long term prospects and growing the club in the right way having Rafa in place is obviously on a totally different level and you'd hope that he is the right man to take us forward for many years. Rumour has it that he's actually played some small part in this whole takeover, so hopefully things would start off on the right foot at least.

 

Particularly interested in the views of those who have stopped going during the Ashley tenure.

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

Have to think we’d be a more forward thinking club under a new owner.

[Darth Crooks]

Pro Ashley wank. 

[Stifler]

No one can say for certain. However them running the club badly would be detrimental to their reputation and brand, unlike what it was for Ashley and Sports Direct where bad news was still them getting their name out.

[Beren]

Stick: definite ceiling (with the potential and probability for the continued dicking over of the fans, values and heritage of the club).

 

Twist: maybe the same, but not definite.

 

Easy choice IMO.

[Darth Crooks]

You'd go some way to be less caring or more vindictive. The man is both to the point of unprofessinalism. You'd think that professionalism would be increased if not effectiveness.

[Dave]

I suppose another plus point is Staveley's involvement with the Man City takeover and previous attempts to get Liverpool. I know City weren't that big but they were a Premier League club in need of fresh impetus, just like us. The opposite of Ashley pretending to love football when it was clear he didn't have the first clue about it.

[Dave]

You'd go some way to be less caring or more vindictive. The man is both to the point of unprofessinalism. You'd think that professionalism would be increased if not effectiveness.

 

Assuming Staveley is going to be personally involved as has been reported, at least she's a proper fucking businesswoman rather than a self-confessed pisshead.

[Disco]

Does anyone really know enough about them or the individuals involved to say one way or the other?

 

My one hope would be as serious and seemingly professional people, at least Staveley is, they'd sort out the shite business and commercial side of things which would help us move forward naturally.

[Guest The Little Waster]

At the very least people like me could end their exile and return to the promised land ?

[Darth Crooks]

You'd go some way to be less caring or more vindictive. The man is both to the point of unprofessinalism. You'd think that professionalism would be increased if not effectiveness.

 

Assuming Staveley is going to be personally involved as has been reported, at least she's a proper fucking businesswoman rather than a self-confessed pisshead.

 

I personally won't do business with anyone who can't show me first how to chunder into a hearth and won't lie to MPs with a straight face and I never will.

[BlufPurdi]

I echo those fears.  I feel that whilst most obviously going to be an improvement, got the jitters it might not be the sugardaddy we hope.  And this, is obviously all complete conjecture based on fear. 

[Yorkie]

Staveley isn't buying a club for the same reason Ashley did, so that's a start. I've no idea what PCP is or what her involvement in the company is, but presumably it won't benefit from the exposure in the same way Sports Direct has.

[afar]

We don't know where the money is coming from and hence who the new owners are IF (and it's still a huge IF in my view) the deal goes through. But to answer the question, I would rather roll the dice and see what happens, we could end up like Sunderland going from a bad owner to a generous one that has no clue about who to employ and how to run a football club but this purgatory we've lived with under Ashley is slowly killing the club, it needs to end soon.

[Wilson]

I'm going with yes. Obviously it's all speculation with regards to Rafa being given x amount etc, but fuck it, most of the other speculation over the past month seems to have been close to the truth.

 

New owners coming in aren't going to want to drop straight out of/struggle to stay in the PL, which means Rafa needs to be 100% backed in January, which in turn should make the new owners realise what NUFC is capable of (assuming we finish the season strongly), hopefully making them invest again in the Summer to push on.  Blind optimism really

 

Most optimistic I've felt in years, and the season ticket is being bought asap after he's gone.

[ponsaelius]

It's almost impossible to say until we know more about the people behind it. It's clear that Staveley is leading the bid, but we have no idea who the mysterious Middle Eastern backers are.

 

I'd say there's two broad possible scenarios. The first one is the people involved are business people looking to be involved in the PL gravy train, and for a way to turn their financial assets into something that is likely to appreciate or at least retain value. This is what most of the owners coming into the Premier League are (Everton, WBA as the two notable recent examples). In this scenario you'd imagine that NUFC would be run as a business, but one that is focused on growing it's potential in line with the size of the club and the growth of the Premier League. This in itself would be an upgrade on the manner in which Ashley has been running the club.

 

The second, and more unlikely option, is that the backers are representing (either directly or indirectly) a state in itself. This is more in line with what happened at Manchester City and PSG. In this instance money is not really an object as the goal is soft-political power on an international scale. That would truly be the time to get excited, or not I guess if this is particularly distasteful to how and what you wish NUFC to be.

 

Either way I'd say it's unlikely that any new owner could truly be worse than Ashley. The fact is he has been running the club to the detriment of its progress on the pitch, and severely undercutting the potential of the club. It's absolutely worthwhile the dice is rolled.

[Beren]

You'd go some way to be less caring or more vindictive. The man is both to the point of unprofessinalism. You'd think that professionalism would be increased if not effectiveness.

 

Assuming Staveley is going to be personally involved as has been reported, at least she's a proper fucking businesswoman rather than a self-confessed pisshead.

 

Ahem, the legal documents say "powerdrinker" thank you very much.

[Pilko]

As Bart Simpson says, "I'd ride with Satan himself to get to Duff Gardens."

[HaydnNUFC]

I think so, based on nothing other than I don't feel Staveley would represent shithouse owners/be a shithouse owner, and Rafa's demeanour since the Liverpool post match interview. He's looked as happy as a pig in shit since then and he knows about these people I reckon. And if he's happy with them, that's got to be a hugely positive sign?

[midds]

Too many unknowns for me though be sure of anything really. Not exactly sure who they are or their motives for buying us nor how much they want to invest. We will not follow no out until we give it a go though and Ashley has felt like a millstone around our necks for years now and simply removing that would be a boost in itself.

 

If they want their investment they grow then the only way to do that is to be successful on the pitch and ultimately that's all I'm really concerned about. Spending £340m or whatever to see it just stumble and coast along seems pointless so logic dictates they club to punch above it's weight. That means investing in players and backing the manager. It's all there for someone to make a decent fist of challenging the current top 6 but only time will tell.

[Dokko]

We’re jumping out of the first floor window of a building that is on fire. It’s smokey and we’re not sure if it’s the pool below us or the prickly bushes and iron fencing. Either way it beats burning to death.

[jdckelly]

Until we know who else is involved its impossible to make any judgement. It might not seem likely to get someone worse than Ashley but there are lots of assholes in the world particularly people with money and it would be a typically nufc thing to manage to find a bigger asshole than Ashley

[Yorkie]

It's almost impossible to say until we know more about the people behind it. It's clear that Staveley is leading the bid, but we have no idea who the mysterious Middle Eastern backers are.

 

I'd say there's two broad possible scenarios. The first one is the people involved are business people looking to be involved in the PL gravy train, and for a way to turn their financial assets into something that is likely to appreciate or at least retain value. This is what most of the owners coming into the Premier League are (Everton, WBA as the two notable recent examples). In this scenario you'd imagine that NUFC would be run as a business, but one that is focused on growing it's potential in line with the size of the club and the growth of the Premier League. This in itself would be an upgrade on the manner in which Ashley has been running the club.

 

The second, and more unlikely option, is that the backers are representing (either directly or indirectly) a state in itself. This is more in line with what happened at Manchester City and PSG. In this instance money is not really an object as the goal is soft-political power on an international scale. That would truly be the time to get excited, or not I guess if this is particularly distasteful to how and what you wish NUFC to be.

 

Either way I'd say it's unlikely that any new owner could truly be worse than Ashley. The fact is he has been running the club to the detriment of it's progress on the pitch, and severely undercutting the potential of the club. It's absolutely worthwhile the dice is rolled.

 

I wish I fully understood either of these things.

 

To what extent does owning a PL football club protect a company's financial assets? Do they take all their investments out of whatever they're in, and shove them in the club because it's theoretically more sustainable?

 

And how does owning a PL club represent a state and how does it effect political power?

[Figures 1-0 Football]

Impossible to no either way until we hear more about who the other investors are and what Staveley’s intentions are.

 

However, I’m more than happy to take the risk when the alternative is Ashley. A bit like jumping off a cliff to eacape a tiger, I could land into the lush Caribbean sea or I could land onto rocks.

[Unbelievable]

I suppose another plus point is Staveley's involvement with the Man City takeover and previous attempts to get Liverpool. I know City weren't that big but they were a Premier League club in need of fresh impetus, just like us. The opposite of Ashley pretending to love football when it was clear he didn't have the first clue about it.

 

That's the clincher for me. She's obviously involved with some real financial hard hitters who don't mess about when they purchase a football club. Is it the future I dreamt for NUFC to become some moneybag's plaything (if that is indeed what will become of us)? Probably not, but it's a damn sight more attractive than what we've had to endure for the last decade, and objectively to get back to where we were before the wheels came off at the end of the Shepherd/Hall era and we spiraled out of control under Ashley we're probably looking at needing very, very significant investment anyway. From where we are today, a club with a piss poor squad and no (youth) infrastructure to speak of to get back to some sort of sustainable competitive level we're probably looking at at least double the investment currently being mooted.