southampton new owner

[lake district canary 4,544]

45 minutes ago, City 2nd said:

Where have you been. Talk about being out of touch! By car I am twenty minutes from Carrow Road, and London I can drive within two hours (keeping within speed limits too)!
How is Norwich a tourist area, so Lotus (current sponsors) are not big industry, Aviva (a past sponsor is not a large corporation)? ITV, BBC, Laurence Scott, Rhône Poulenc, (formally Bryant and May), not to mention Gt Yarmouth and Kings  Lynn ports and other industry outside the city like St Ives Group (printers) as well as many others! You  are way adrift LDC, and have been away far too long it appears!

From Norwich to the M25 it is around 2 hours drive, but that isn't London. It depends on which part of London you are going to. West London is another hour added to the journey and if you are going to central London, anything is possible from one hour to three hours added to the journey. If you could get to, say, Fulham in 2 hours by car, you would need Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.....

[TheGunnShow 5,993]

Maybe that nice Marcus Evans chap has some spare cash he can lob in our di..... wait a minute.

[Disco Dales Jockstrap 1,898]

I'm not surprised that no-one wants to invest in us when a chunk of our own fan-base are so very quick to run down Norwich and Norfolk at the slightest opportunity. Sad really.

OTBC

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

15 minutes ago, BigFish said:

And that is the point @Jim Smith, well made, someone buying out S&J are already c£100m in the hole without any benefit whatsover to the club. Baring in mind we need a new stand that goes up by further tens of millions and still we have no new investment in the squad.

If you were a billionaire and wanted to build a EPL club you wouldn't start in Norwich.

If you think about the ground. We sold Reeves to build the River End. The Main Stand was an insurance job and the Barclay was a grant. And the Jarrold cost £8M. No owners have gone overboard on making the ground better for the paying public.

 

[hogesar 9,736]

I tend to think it's worth waiting to see how an owner turns out before bemoaning the fact we haven't been bought out by said owner.

People on here were jealous when Ipswich were taken over by Evans

More so when Leeds were taken over the first two times (we bypassed them and took all their best players during this time, of course).

Even when Barnsley got recently bought out there was jealousy.

Remember, it was less than 2 years ago people on here were desperate for us to be Sheffield United.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

2 hours ago, lake district canary said:

You've essentially backed up what I was saying. Norwich is largely a tourist destination, lots of smaller businesses. , but where is big industry and large coroprations?  Less than 2 hours from London?  Really? Maybe on the train, but from many parts of London, it is a four or more hour drive.

I think you are painting the worst scenario to prove a point.

There is a train station. An Airport. At least dual carriage all the way to major international airports.

Even with the poor roads in Cornwall, which will be completely dualled by the next year or so anyway, it is about a 6 and half hour journey to Norwich from Redruth and that is sticking at 80 top speed on the motorway. If you are counting the M25., have you ever been on the M3?

Norwich is a fine city with still plenty of scope for development as is Norfolk. Its a tourist area. House prices are much cheaper than down here in Cornwall for instance.

Instead of painting a bleak picture, talk of the good points.

[Crafty Canary 497]

2 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

Not necessarily. Investors can be majority or minority investors, and I don't believe Delia has ever specified only the latter.

Alias Smith and Jones may be looking for investors (😭😭) but nobody is going to be a major investor without having a considerable say in how the club is run. That is something our comedy duo will NEVER countenance.

[king canary 7,664]

20 minutes ago, hogesar said:

I tend to think it's worth waiting to see how an owner turns out before bemoaning the fact we haven't been bought out by said owner.

People on here were jealous when Ipswich were taken over by Evans

More so when Leeds were taken over the first two times (we bypassed them and took all their best players during this time, of course).

Even when Barnsley got recently bought out there was jealousy.

Remember, it was less than 2 years ago people on here were desperate for us to be Sheffield United.

I agree about waiting and seeing but I do agree with the wider point Jim and Co make that the fact other clubs have seemingly little issue finding people who want to buy them does somewhat undermine the constant insistence that nobody is out there. The fact people are now baselessly tieing this takeover to Southampton's shipping industry highlights the backflips and contortions people need to do in order to make the case our owners are actually really open minded when it comes to invesent/selling.

[Disco Dales Jockstrap 1,898]

4 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

I think you are painting the worst scenario to prove a point.

There is a train station. An Airport. At least dual carriage all the way to major international airports.

Even with the poor roads in Cornwall, which will be completely dualled by the next year or so anyway, it is about a 6 and half hour journey to Norwich from Redruth and that is sticking at 80 top speed on the motorway. If you are counting the M25., have you ever been on the M3?

Norwich is a fine city with still plenty of scope for development as is Norfolk. Its a tourist area. House prices are much cheaper than down here in Cornwall for instance.

Instead of painting a bleak picture, talk of the good points.

Alas Keelansgrandad, that wouldn't fit the negative narrative he's trying to spin.

Of course our fine club, city and county are desirable. A football club investor isn't going to be worrying about where the nearest bl00dy port is or how long it takes to get there from friggin' London. Leicester seemed to manage to get investment OK. I don't think they're a port. Or near London. But they do make nice crisps. Maybe that swung it?

OTBC

[Kingston Yellow 222]

3 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

 

You see the thing is Southampton are an established Premier League club and have been for almost a decade.

I hope that’s tongue in cheek. The difference is, they have an incredibly hardworking and diligent CEO who has worked tirelessly for 18 months, looking for global investors, marketing the business to wealthy potential partners.  It’s taken a lot of hard work and effort.  

Meanwhile, we’ve had idiots like Ed Balls, Stephen Fry and Delia Smith over seeing our club.  The likes of whom you might expect to see on I’m a Celebrity. 
 

[canarydan23 4,060]

37 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

From Norwich to the M25 it is around 2 hours drive, but that isn't London. It depends on which part of London you are going to. West London is another hour added to the journey and if you are going to central London, anything is possible from one hour to three hours added to the journey. If you could get to, say, Fulham in 2 hours by car, you would need Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.....

Horse ****. You can get to Fulham in 2 and half hours if you avoid rush hour.

Hell, an elite level cyclist could bike there in 5.

Four hours? Are you going via Coventry?

[Jim Smith 2,339]

57 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

If an investor bought all the 1m shares voting-rights shares that can currently be allocated then they would have a 62 per cent majority holding - 1m out of 1.6m.

I stand corrected. So how would an investor acquire those shares? Presumably it would need the approval of the board and how would the value be set? 

[Jim Smith 2,339]

1 hour ago, BigFish said:

And that is the point @Jim Smith, well made, someone buying out S&J are already c£100m in the hole without any benefit whatsover to the club. Baring in mind we need a new stand that goes up by further tens of millions and still we have no new investment in the squad.

If you were a billionaire and wanted to build a EPL club you wouldn't start in Norwich.

Sorry Purple has corrected me Bigfish. It would appear that someone could, in theory, buy a controlling stake in the club by buying the unallocated shares and thus putting that cash into the club itself. Presumably though it might trigger the obligation to offer to buy out other shareholders although if S&J and Foulger didn’t take that up how many other shareholders would us open to debate.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Jim Smith

[Jim Smith 2,339]

39 minutes ago, hogesar said:

I tend to think it's worth waiting to see how an owner turns out before bemoaning the fact we haven't been bought out by said owner.

People on here were jealous when Ipswich were taken over by Evans

More so when Leeds were taken over the first two times (we bypassed them and took all their best players during this time, of course).

Even when Barnsley got recently bought out there was jealousy.

Remember, it was less than 2 years ago people on here were desperate for us to be Sheffield United.

I wasn’t personally bemoaning the fact we’ve not been bought out by this owner. Just making the point really that it’s just further proof that there are people out there who want to buy premier league football clubs like ours, if you look for them or make it known you are open to offers. 

[TheGunnShow 5,993]

Just because they want to buy doesn't mean they'll be good owners. I'd be VERY worried if the main owner was an equity fund or similar as they will want a guaranteed return on investment. Burnley have been heavily leveraged as a result of their deal, Newcastle thought they'd hit the big time when Ashley came in, but he basically tried to make them somewhat financially self-sufficient. This thread showed that Southampton's old owner didn't put much in after buying out.

An obvious question re. the City Stand and a rebuild, we know that the £5m investment in the Nest was subscribed very quickly due to the return it offered. Sure, a new stand would be considerably more. Brentford's new stadium apparently cost around £70m. If we say £30m for the sake of argument, could that not stick with our fanbase?

[Big Vince 319]

3 hours ago, Jim Smith said:

And Southampton is not a provincial city? Utter nonsense. People are so desperate to belittle our club and city at every turn aren't they. 

Norwich is bigger than it was in the 80s and 90s even though it was more successful for most of those decades. Norwich is potentially massive due to the large catchment area with no other professional clubs close by. This is a unique advantage that has gone unrealised. The size of the club has never been truly tested due to the stadium being too small. Who's to say they couldn't have sold 50,000 tickets for the recent Manure game?

To claim that Norwich is small is just ridiculous and borne out of Socialist propaganda. Delia & Wynnie out. 

[Badger 2,412]

This has to be really bad news for Southampton presumably? The new owner Dragan Solak, is reportedly worth just over £1 billion less than half the new worth of the outgoing owner Gao Jisheng!

Because the net Worth of the owner is the determining factor in football success this means that Southampton's stay in the Premier League will end soon and they will be relegated along with Everton. With only a billion it is unlikely that they will ever be promoted from the Championship.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/17217249/dragan-solak-net-worth-southampton-telecoms/

[Kenny Foggo 1,116]

5 hours ago, hogesar said:

I tend to think it's worth waiting to see how an owner turns out before bemoaning the fact we haven't been bought out by said owner.

People on here were jealous when Ipswich were taken over by Evans

More so when Leeds were taken over the first two times (we bypassed them and took all their best players during this time, of course).

Even when Barnsley got recently bought out there was jealousy.

Remember, it was less than 2 years ago people on here were desperate for us to be Sheffield United.

But if our current owners are as good as we keep getting told and did due diligence then it should not be an issue. Failure of other clubs does not mean failure here...  

Edited January 4, 2022 by Kenny Foggo

[Kenny Foggo 1,116]

2 hours ago, BigFish said:

And that is the point @Jim Smith, well made, someone buying out S&J are already c£100m in the hole without any benefit whatsover to the club. Baring in mind we need a new stand that goes up by further tens of millions and still we have no new investment in the squad.

If you were a billionaire and wanted to build a EPL club you wouldn't start in Norwich.

Hold on... I thought the owners only have the interests at heart and surely would not want to massively profit from a sale?

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

1 hour ago, Crafty Canary said:

Alias Smith and Jones may be looking for investors (😭😭) but nobody is going to be a major investor without having a considerable say in how the club is run. That is something our comedy duo will NEVER countenance.

It seems the one thing that will certainly never change is you getting wrong the name of this comedy duo you keep referring to in a supposedly hilarious piece of word play.

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

1 hour ago, Jim Smith said:

I stand corrected. So how would an investor acquire those shares? Presumably it would need the approval of the board and how would the value be set? 

From memory every few years the AGM votes to allow the directors to put up to 1m shares up for sale, to avoid the necessity of calling an EGM. I imagine the number of shares so allocated and the price would be decided by the directors.

[corbs 147]

It is a puzzle to me that more potential investors are not interested. Any City with no Tory Counsellor has got to be special. 

[Mello Yello 2,302]

13 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

It seems the one thing that will certainly never change is you getting wrong the name of this comedy duo you keep referring to in a supposedly hilarious piece of word play.

'Alas' it is fairly apt I'd have thought....Both are Cowboy outfits.....

[priceyrice 123]

Not sure where I sit on the change of ownership topic. I'm not one who thinks we have hit our ceiling under the self-sustainable model and I do think with some savy leadership and good transfer business we could cement our stay in the premier league for a good few seasons. 

I also wouldn't be against new owners, with some serious caveats, but the truth is Smith and Michael have no desire to sell, and why would they!? At their age what are they going to do with 100m? I'm sure owning a football club brings them more joy than anything else they could spend that money on. I think the only chance we have of Smith selling would be of a very wealthy local businessman came along who allowed Delia and Michael to keep a small stake and some board positions. 

[lake district canary 4,544]

1 hour ago, canarydan23 said:

Horse ****. You can get to Fulham in 2 and half hours if you avoid rush hour.

🤣🤣

[Crafty Canary 497]

3 hours ago, City 2nd said:

Where have you been. Talk about being out of touch! By car I am twenty minutes from Carrow Road, and London I can drive within two hours (keeping within speed limits too)!
How is Norwich a tourist area, so Lotus (current sponsors) are not big industry, Aviva (a past sponsor is not a large corporation)? ITV, BBC, Laurence Scott, Rhône Poulenc, (formally Bryant and May), not to mention Gt Yarmouth and Kings  Lynn ports and other industry outside the city like St Ives Group (printers) as well as many others! You  are way adrift LDC, and have been away far too long it appears!

RP were formally known as May and Baker in the UK. Bryant and May were (are) safety match manufacturers. We could certainly do with strikers now.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Crafty Canary

[Iwans Big Toe 312]

5 hours ago, lake district canary said:

We've had all this before. Southampton is way more attractive a proposition for an investor. Norwich is a privincial city, well off the beaten track, no major industries to speak of. When I think of Norfolk, I think of agriculture and tourism - maybe that's wrong, but that is my perception and I don't think that has changed much since I left.  Fabulous city and surroundings, but not hugely exciting a prospect for an investor.  Brighton would be in a similar position to us, just a nice place/tourist resort, if they hadn't happened to have a local fan who had pots of money to throw at it. That has always been the case at Norwich - we need a fan to have the money to put in - and they simply don't exist. 

 

You're right the south coast, Hampshire and their "non" provincial towns and sprawling metropolis cities are a hotbed of industry where many of the world's elite are currently flocking too.

 

 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

5 hours ago, lake district canary said:

Southampton is a major port, for passengers and cargo. 

That will be why all those billionaires keep trying to buy Portsmouth and Hull.

Or not.

[aBee 151]

5 hours ago, BigFish said:

To be pedantic The Sun is reporting the actual owners are BC Partners, a private equity company.

BC Partners own United Group which is where Dragan Solak made his money (and from whom he’ll have extracted it when selling to BC). Southampton is being bought by Sport Republic a sports investment company (presumably managing funds invested by Solak). Co owner of Sports Republic is Rasmus Ankersen, who knows a bit about running football clubs to overachieve without overspending.  

[Iwans Big Toe 312]

2 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

That will be why all those billionaires keep trying to buy Portsmouth and Hull.

Or not.

TBF, don't bite. A Carlisle native is trying to explain what it's like to live on the south coast.