Club Sale | It’s done!

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westmeath

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It'll always be your club, our club. Just with owners you strongly disapprove of.
I don’t think I could do it that way. I couldn’t get behind a sportswashing project. I’m either 100% on board or I’m out.
 

TheReligion

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Yeah no, letting rationale rule over emotion is the only way to run a club or business, the outcry over that notion is a bit ridiculous.

I'm not too knowledgeable about FSGs reign of Liverpool, but would you say it's generally been a success? Feels like a lot of Liverpool fans are equally happy they're about to sell, and Klopp's tenure aside, they've been pretty shit.
I think if you look at the things the Glazers haven’t done and what FSG have then yeah they’ve had success compared to United.

* Appointed Klopp
* Good structure with Edwards etc
* Development in stadium and infrastructure
* Operating in profit
* Major trophies

FSG have come to the end of the line now in what they feel they can achieve so are looking to sell. They’ve undoubtedly run the club as a business though I’m sure you’ll agree?

Some Liverpool fans want more investment and will crave City style owners I imagine. Much like many here.

People need to remember just how much of a money making monster United is though and consider do we really need that to compete and operate?
 

horsechoker

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Hopefully this is one of your WUMs and not a genuine opinion….
At the options presented, none excite me. Getting rid of the Glazers might feel good at first but we could just end up in the same situation with another owner.

Either that or we twerk for a dictatorship
 

darioterios

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No one is holding them as a shining light.

The point is people are panicking that Ratcliffe would run United like a business. That’s exactly what FSG have done and they’ve had success.
To me I do not have a problem with business model, just that any new owner must be prepared for this capital intensive phase of the club.
 

Chief123

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Statements like the above are preposterous. If Dubai was to purchase us tomorrow, 90% of the fans would still continue being United fans. Heck, I'd be even more excited about us going forward. It's the same posturing you saw about boycotting the World Cup and look how that turned out.
So true. :lol: There was more than enough reason for these guys to cease to support United under glazer ownership!
 

Mickeza

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jim feels like glazers mk 2 - profit first.
Profit as in increase the value of the asset. That’s what they’re all going to want to do. Anyone spending 6bn plus on us isn’t in it for short term profit - we’re far too valuable for that - to get a return they will need to grow the asset through spending on infrastructure and fully unleashing the huge potential this club has globally - which will only come from being successful on the pitch. The possible downsides are moral in terms of who purchases us and competency in terms of will they sack ETH and demand star names to grow the brand for instance - I think everyone buying us will have the same goal though - making us top dog. Fanbase, name, history and the fact we’re the biggest team by far in the EPL means they’ll be a huge bidding war in my opinion.
 

Lentwood

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Some good points, but you have a pretty narrow definition of cash cow. Imo, a cash cow is an asset that returns largesse either now (dividends) or in the future (proceeds from sale).
The main reason for leverage is to leverage returns. An asset bought (with 100% own funds) for X and sold for Y provides a certain return. The same asset bought with 50% leverage doubles that return. The cost of debt is the price the club has paid to secure enhances returns for the Glazers. LBOs aren't about immediate cash returns.

Anyways, I am not convinced that the "strategic process" will yield an ownership that doesn't involve one or more of the Glazers in the aftermath.
Yeah so I totally accept that the Glazers will make a tonne of cash out of this from the sale but I was trying to highlight that some fans seem to think this '£2BN' figure that gets mentioned is money they have made in profits...which it isn't, and that a sale is the best way for them to make money.

The 'cash cow' analogy for me is about 'milking' something regularly for profit (hence milk - cow). The minute you sell that cow to the butcher...great, you get a cash lump sum but no more milk!

See my point? If the Glazers were making £100m in profit for themselves every single year I highly doubt they would sell. They have realised the "milk" is in short-supply and better they fatten us up to sell us for our meat (I think that's why we spent huge money in the Summer personally - they planned this AND planned it to coincide with the World Cup for maximum interest from middle-eastern funds)

I looked through our accounts and did a thread on it once, some fans get the idea the Glazers are holding-back, taking loads of cash out for themselves or stashing money in the bank. Actually, if you look at our books, we basically spend everything we earn on wages, interest payments and transfer fees

Also, I think they only fairly recently started taking dividends and those dividends are fairly standard as dividends go.
 

RoyH1

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Glazers are really going to make billions after years of mismanagement and neglect to invest in infrastructure :lol:

I can't think of anyone with 5 billion (let alone 10) to spend that I would really welcome.
That was the plan all along. Buy the club, spend the bare minimum to keep us "relevant" and after some years sell at a massive profit.
 

darioterios

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Profit as in increase the value of the asset. That’s what they’re all going to want to do. Anyone spending 6bn plus on us isn’t in it for short term profit - we’re far too valuable for that - to get a return they will need to grow the asset through spending on infrastructure and fully unleashing the huge potential this club has globally - which will only come from being successful on the pitch. The possible downsides are moral in terms of who purchases us and competency in terms of will they sack ETH and demand star names to grow the brand for instance - I think everyone buying us will have the same goal though - making us top dog. Fanbase, name, history and the fact we’re the biggest team by far in the EPL means they’ll be a huge bidding war in my opinion.
I just cannot stand this thought...
 

TheReligion

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It seems many of our fans want someone to buy the club, spend millions on it, not be bothered about making any money and run things with passion and not business acumen.

On the other hand these same people don’t want to be state owned due to their own morals.

So what buyers in the world with unlimited wealth are going to tick your boxes? Genuine question?

Perhaps we should just beg the Glazers to stay as it seems you all want the impossible.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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I think if you look at the things the Glazers haven’t done and what FSG have then yeah they’ve had success compared to United.

* Appointed Klopp
* Good structure with Edwards etc
* Development in stadium and infrastructure
* Operating in profit
* Major trophies

FSG have come to the end of the line now in what they feel they can achieve so are looking to sell. They’ve undoubtedly run the club as a business though I’m sure you’ll agree?

Some Liverpool fans want more investment and will crave City style owners I imagine. Much like many here.

People need to remember just how much of a money making monster United is though and consider do we really need that to compete and operate?
Glazers have been the owners since 2005 and that covers one of the most successful spells at the club under Fergie. Its only after Ferguson left that the wheels fell off the meal wagon. FSG have resuscitated Liverpool with smart management but in terms of infrastructure, have they invested in anything concrete like a redevelopment of Anfield or their training grounds?
 

TheReligion

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Glazers have been the owners since 2005 and that covers one of the most successful spells at the club under Fergie. Its only after Ferguson left that the wheels fell off the meal wagon. FSG have resuscitated Liverpool with smart management but in terms of infrastructure, have they invested in anything concrete like a redevelopment of Anfield or their training grounds?
Yeah they have redeveloped both.
 

Doctor Thrax

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Profit as in increase the value of the asset. That’s what they’re all going to want to do. Anyone spending 6bn plus on us isn’t in it for short term profit - we’re far too valuable for that - to get a return they will need to grow the asset through spending on infrastructure and fully unleashing the huge potential this club has globally - which will only come from being successful on the pitch. The possible downsides are moral in terms of who purchases us and competency in terms of will they sack ETH and demand star names to grow the brand for instance - I think everyone buying us will have the same goal though - making us top dog. Fanbase, name, history and the fact we’re the biggest team by far in the EPL means they’ll be a huge bidding war in my opinion.
That's exactly what I think.

I've made some research and I think that the main focus of future football investment will focus on growing sustainable value.

This includes:

- infrastructure (stadium, club ground facilities, academy, technical resorts)
- developing youth players from own academies (which is a great opportunity to grow player value without having to pay huge salaries like Manchester City does)
- getting rid of liabilities that cost huge interests
 

sugar_kane

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For the figures involved with a sale of the club there are only really two options here:
  • Sugar daddies (ie. oil state) with a bottomless pit of money to throw at the club
  • Owners who run the club like a business (ie, to make money - not put it in without any expectation of getting anything back)
The Glazers were closest to the latter. The main problem is they saddled the club with debt, spent the clubs own money unwisely in terms of transfers and ignoring infrastructure and generally ran the club terribly, leaving Ed Woodward to do his business and employing a non-sensical series of managers.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with that 'type' of owner (ie. businessmen) if they do their job properly (which the Glazers didn't) since the club makes enough money to compete at the top level anyway, which is shown by how much we spent on transfers over the past ten years.

Whichever scenario it is, it's irrelevant if we get owners who don't have a clue what they are doing like the Glazers and continue to make bad decisions and run the club into the ground.
 

Chief123

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If Apple buy us we can repair the stadium roof by updating to the latest iOS.
 

CallyRed

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Liverpool and City fans will throw their iPhones in the Mersey/Ship Canal respectively
 

Coops73

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Your family member is wrong. Its been reported by a pretty reputable news outlet in the middle east that they are a serious contender and are thinking of a 10.6 billion dollar bid. Your family member is wrong.
So what you’re saying is, my family member is wrong?

He may well be but he’s pretty knowledgeable with these sort of thing’s.
 

cyberman

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Apple makes sense. The branding they get out of it would be unreal but prepare for Apple Trafford etc. They’re buying a fanbase that’s 1b strong with the reach of English football.
 

LordSpud

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To compare buying a player to selling a football club is a bit of a strange one
You're right it was very early when I made that connection! I think the point I was trying to make was that the club is generally slow at everything...
 

Chief123

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Liverpool and City fans will throw their iPhones in the Mersey/Ship Canal respectively
Bit ridiculous and presumptuous to suggest Liverpool and city fans would own iPhones mate. If they did, they’ll be locked and available to buy for £10.
 

Kaos

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Colour me skeptical but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that these 'stories' of the likes of Apple, Google, Meta and Amazon being interested are unsubstantiated bollocks and lazy journalism at best, where they're simply linking every multi billion/trillion dollar corporate to us.

In short - its probably bollocks.
 
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