finance UK Fans Worry American Owners Will Tarnish Their Football

[Badger 2,405]

“In Europe, owners are not expected to make a profit—and criticized if they do. In the US, it’s set up for owners to make a return on capital. That’s a significant culture clash.”

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-18/epl-s-chelsea-arsenal-american-owners-reflect-new-league-money?sref=Xka7aNox

[cambridgeshire canary 6,704]

GO GO SOCCER SPORTS BALL KICK THAT TOUCHDOWN FOR THE HOME RUN! 🇺🇸

[lake district canary 4,531]

Americanisation should be resisted as much as possible in every field of human endeavour. It is not a great country, it is not a great example on how to live your lives, it doesn't look after it's people and is responsible for a huge amount of what is bad about modern western society.  Keep them out of the structure of our football clubs.

[CirclePoint 200]

6 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Americanisation should be resisted as much as possible in every field of human endeavour. It is not a great country, it is not a great example on how to live your lives, it doesn't look after it's people and is responsible for a huge amount of what is bad about modern western society.  Keep them out of the structure of our football clubs.

May I recommend that you play to your strength of being an eternal optimist and leave the humour to Cambridgeshire?

[Grant Holts Moustache 105]

32 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Americanisation should be resisted as much as possible in every field of human endeavour. It is not a great country, it is not a great example on how to live your lives, it doesn't look after it's people and is responsible for a huge amount of what is bad about modern western society.  Keep them out of the structure of our football clubs.

Unfortunately we are already too far down that path. Think it is 9 or 10 premier league clubs with the new Chelsea owners. Plus others lower down the pyramid. 

[FenwayFrank 2,458]

I still find it ridiculous when anyone says “ from the get go “

[Son Ova Gunn 165]

Y’all think da Liverpool Reds would consider a swap for our chef?

[chicken 2,624]

11 minutes ago, Son Ova Gunn said:

Y’all think da Liverpool Reds would consider a swap for our chef?

I think it's worth pointing out that it has taken Liverpool's owners a fair bit of time to get the balance right. They haven't always been popular with their fans, and have admitted to making some quite horrendous mistakes. Most recently having to admit that they were out of touch with their own fanbase who were overwhelmingly against the European Super League. 

Say what you like about the Scousers, the one thing they don't like is people with lots of money saying they speak for them, and they are happy to stand with other fans for other clubs. More than can be said of a number of other teams fans.

[Kenny Foggo 1,116]

1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

Americanisation should be resisted as much as possible in every field of human endeavour. It is not a great country, it is not a great example on how to live your lives, it doesn't look after it's people and is responsible for a huge amount of what is bad about modern western society.  Keep them out of the structure of our football clubs.

The world without America

1. No internet - US circa 1985 (You'd not be posting this)

2.  No Cell phones = US 1973 (I guess you don't own a phone)

3. No Machine Guns 1862 /1884... er maybe not that one

4.  No Panama Canal - US 1914 (World trade)

5. Submarines - US 1900 

6. Trans-Oceanic Cable Communications - US 1858 (Making the world a village)

7. First Nuclear Reactor - US 1942 (clean cheap energy see French energy bills)

8. Model T Ford - US 1908 (owe a car?)

9. First Flight - US 1903 (Ever flown?)

10. Men on the Moon - US 1969 (ground breaking)

Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, 

Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Nirvana, Metallica, Miles Davis and on and on and on....

No NYC one of THE Greatest Cities in the world...

To say America is not a great Country is bizarre but hey, that just my view...

 

 

 

 

 

[Kenny Foggo 1,116]

15 minutes ago, chicken said:

I think it's worth pointing out that it has taken Liverpool's owners a fair bit of time to get the balance right. They haven't always been popular with their fans, and have admitted to making some quite horrendous mistakes. Most recently having to admit that they were out of touch with their own fanbase who were overwhelmingly against the European Super League. 

Say what you like about the Scousers, the one thing they don't like is people with lots of money saying they speak for them, and they are happy to stand with other fans for other clubs. More than can be said of a number of other teams fans.

I hope our owners find that balance soon...

[chicken 2,624]

31 minutes ago, Kenny Foggo said:

The world without America

1. No internet - US circa 1985 (You'd not be posting this)

2.  No Cell phones = US 1973 (I guess you don't own a phone)

3. No Machine Guns 1862 /1884... er maybe not that one

4.  No Panama Canal - US 1914 (World trade)

5. Submarines - US 1900 

6. Trans-Oceanic Cable Communications - US 1858 (Making the world a village)

7. First Nuclear Reactor - US 1942 (clean cheap energy see French energy bills)

8. Model T Ford - US 1908 (owe a car?)

9. First Flight - US 1903 (Ever flown?)

10. Men on the Moon - US 1969 (ground breaking)

Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, 

Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Nirvana, Metallica, Miles Davis and on and on and on....

No NYC one of THE Greatest Cities in the world...

To say America is not a great Country is bizarre but hey, that just my view...

Hmmm.

1. Whilst the first part of this argument is true, the 2nd isn't so much. Without the world wide web you wouldn't be posting on here. You couldn't post on here using the internet as it was before really. This is why Tim Berners-Lee gets so much credit and why the www. led to a much bigger online revolution/evolution with forums and websites etc before social media came along and ruined the party...

2. Cell Phones... very debatable. Mobile phones were things many people were looking at and working on. The US may have patented the first "cell phone" but there is no evidence to suggest that the success of mobile phones was dependent on that as much as other inventions that were only being worked upon by one group of people etc.

3. Sad that it took US citizens fighting US citizens over slavery to get the Gatling gun. Not sure that is the best thing to brag about really. Is the world a better place for it? And again, wasn't the only person or nation working on such things, just the first one to produce it - there is a big difference.

8. The model T itself is unspectacular. The bit you missed about this was the modern production line which was so efficient that it reduced the cost of cars to be more affordable to the point that people other than the very wealthy could afford them. Other car manufacturers existed, but Ford's approach to the production line was really what was the gamechanger.

9. First Flight - incorrect. Actually, this is one of those ones that is largely misrepresented. First of all, the Wright brothers flight was claimed to be the "first powered flight". People had managed to glide, some had a decent understanding of the aerodynamics already required such as wing shape etc. Not only that but flight was also possible via hot air balloon... However, even if you correctly break it down to just "first powered flight of an aircraft" it still isn't clear cut. Just to give you an idea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claims_to_the_first_powered_flight - doesn't detract from the Wright brothers at all, but again, other people were coming close to it so if they hadn't succeeded.

However despite all of that, I don't disagree entirely with the sentiment and point you are making. However, I do think it is worth noting that if you judge a country purely on their representatives you have to be willing to accept the same judgement.

The USA seems a bit marmite in England. I remember growing up with both sets of grandparents and my best mates grandmother warning us youngsters of the influence of US culture eroding our own traditions. Guy Fawkes being replaced by Halloween and trick-or-treating. US slang from the movies replacing our own terms. Us politics sneaking into our own.

Many of these are pretty much undeniable now. Bannon visited prominent vote leave campaigners both before and after the referendum. Farage was paid a great deal of money to tour the US delivering speeches to Republican gatherings for example. Even political language has crept into the UK with terms like "liberals" being used as a left wing insult which doesn't apply in the UK where the Liberals are a centric party.

I think this is somewhat unavoidable as people on both sides of the pond seem to think because our language is largely the same (we won't go on about the missing 'u's from words such as colour or the missing 'i' from aluminium 😅) the US and UK do differ a hell of a lot.

Lastly, I will just add that the vast majority of East Coast cities with any sort of real age were originally under British rule. And the chances are, if the British had not have been there, the US would most likely be either a series of different countries or split between the French in Canada and the Spanish in Mexico etc.

History is a funny thing. The victors and those who can shout loudest write it. One has to be careful to trust any of it.

Would I prefer a US owner? Not sure. I think if they came with an open mind it could work in the same way as anyone else coming in with an open mind. There have been some non success stories with US owners too, it is worth noting that Lerner at Villa really struggled and probably would have gone sooner had Lambert, Culverhouse and Karsa not worked their magic on a relative shoe string budget. Fulham have been relegated twice despite spending around three times as much as us in the process.

Edit: Just to say, I love the US as a country in terms of geography. Even the die-hard 2nd amendment brainwashed can be welcoming and great hosts. NYC is wonderful - however, it is worth noting that NYC is largely as wonderful as it is because it has remained in touch with it's roots. It knows and owns it's mixed heritage, it being the first place migrants came to. It is rich in history. It very much remains in touch with the world and whilst it may pump it's fists in the air to chants of "USA, USA, USA!" most citizens of NYC hark back to their European heritage and try and stay up to date with worldly affairs and can be humble when it comes to foreign affairs and critical of poor governance and foreign policy. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by chicken

[Naturalcynic 629]

1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

Americanisation should be resisted as much as possible in every field of human endeavour. It is not a great country, it is not a great example on how to live your lives, it doesn't look after it's people and is responsible for a huge amount of what is bad about modern western society.  Keep them out of the structure of our football clubs.

How very inclusive of you.

[Bannana Boy 30]

21 minutes ago, Kenny Foggo said:

The world without America

1. No internet - US circa 1985 (You'd not be posting this)

2.  No Cell phones = US 1973 (I guess you don't own a phone)

3. No Machine Guns 1862 /1884... er maybe not that one

4.  No Panama Canal - US 1914 (World trade)

5. Submarines - US 1900 

6. Trans-Oceanic Cable Communications - US 1858 (Making the world a village)

7. First Nuclear Reactor - US 1942 (clean cheap energy see French energy bills)

8. Model T Ford - US 1908 (owe a car?)

9. First Flight - US 1903 (Ever flown?)

10. Men on the Moon - US 1969 (ground breaking)

Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, 

Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Nirvana, Metallica, Miles Davis and on and on and on....

No NYC one of THE Greatest Cities in the world...

To say America is not a great Country is bizarre but hey, that just my view...

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry Kenny, and not wanting to cause an argument.  I'm just a bit of a pedant...

Internet: 1960s - it grew out of ARPANET (and the WWW, which is distinct from the Internet, was created by Blighty's own Sir Tim Berners-Lee )

Mobile/Cell Phones - much earlier.  1920s Germany and 1940s USA

Machine Guns - the Gatling Gun is what you're thinking of, but there were earlier ones - they either weren't as good or they were overlook because reasons (crusty old generals not liking new things, for example).

Submarines - French (if we're talking non-human powered), Greek if we're stretching the definition and allowing human power

Sub-Sea Cable - UK (and US tbf - for the atlantic one)

Model T Ford - Not the first car, but the first affordable car.  If not Ford, then someone else would've had the same idea.

First (Powered) Flight - 1850s France.  Non-powered flight, probably China but if not 1780s France

NYC - Is older than the US (New Amsterdam and all that)

Apologies all for the tangent.  I'll get back in my box now.

[Son Ova Gunn 165]

Adding to Chicken’s corrections, always thought submarines were a Dutch invention.

don’t think we should really care where owners come from, just judged on the origin  of their money and their actions. The best owners act like custodians regardless of their nationality 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Son Ova Gunn

[CirclePoint 200]

48 minutes ago, Kenny Foggo said:

The world without America

1. No internet - US circa 1985 (You'd not be posting this)

2.  No Cell phones = US 1973 (I guess you don't own a phone)

3. No Machine Guns 1862 /1884... er maybe not that one

4.  No Panama Canal - US 1914 (World trade)

5. Submarines - US 1900 

6. Trans-Oceanic Cable Communications - US 1858 (Making the world a village)

7. First Nuclear Reactor - US 1942 (clean cheap energy see French energy bills)

8. Model T Ford - US 1908 (owe a car?)

9. First Flight - US 1903 (Ever flown?)

10. Men on the Moon - US 1969 (ground breaking)

Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, 

Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Nirvana, Metallica, Miles Davis and on and on and on....

No NYC one of THE Greatest Cities in the world...

To say America is not a great Country is bizarre but hey, that just my view...

 

 

 

 

 

Praise be! Well said!

And the fact that Europe is not speaking German. - No offense to modern day Germans.

The list is endless. Sometimes I feel that people have lost appreciation for what America has created, which includes a country built on free speech, which didn’t really exist prior.

What is born from free speech has it’s pros and cons, but I’ll take it over the alternative.

Edited May 18, 2022 by CirclePoint

[Badger 2,405]

3 hours ago, chicken said:

I think it's worth pointing out that it has taken Liverpool's owners a fair bit of time to get the balance right. They haven't always been popular with their fans, and have admitted to making some quite horrendous mistakes. Most recently having to admit that they were out of touch with their own fanbase who were overwhelmingly against the European Super League. 

Say what you like about the Scousers, the one thing they don't like is people with lots of money saying they speak for them, and they are happy to stand with other fans for other clubs. More than can be said of a number of other teams fans.

Their US owners are not very popular with Liverpool fans - taken from the article:

Peter Hooton, a committee member at the Liverpool supporter group Spirit of Shankly, says that as recently as this season supporters have been chanting, “The Reds [Liverpool] have got no money, but we’ll still win the league,” from the terraces of the famous Anfield Stadium.

“It’s almost like a backhanded compliment,” he says. “If we hadn’t got Klopp in place, there would have been many more protests.”

[CowboyCanary 37]

2 hours ago, chicken said:

Hmmm.

3. Sad that it took US citizens fighting US citizens over slavery to get the Gatling gun. Not sure that is the best thing to brag about really. Is the world a better place for it? And again, wasn't the only person or nation working on such things, just the first one to produce it - there is a big difference.

 

Not sure where you pulled this from, but it pongs

[chicken 2,624]

2 hours ago, CirclePoint said:

Praise be! Well said!

And the fact that Europe is not speaking German. - No offense to modern day Germans.

The list is endless. Sometimes I feel that people have lost appreciation for what America has created, which includes a country built on free speech, which didn’t really exist prior.

What is born from free speech has it’s pros and cons, but I’ll take it over the alternative.

It's literally not... nice to see the "US the war" stuff as well.

Although perhaps not popular at this time particularly, the Russians had a very large part to play as well, not forgetting that their number also included the likes of Ukrainians too.

"which includes a country built on free speech, which didn’t really exist prior."
🙄
Two things about that statement. First of all, historically, the US Constitution is recognised as having basis on the Magna Carta. I think you will find that it wasn't built on free speech as such, but rather freedom from the throne of Britain. And to suggest freedom of speech didn't really exist prior... is historically inaccurate. The second point I would add, is that for a country based upon freedom of speech, it banned slavery after most of the world powers at the time, and it remained to have deeply ingrained segregation and racial bias/hatred for much longer than other countries too. You only need to see the riots in the UK during WW2 where racist GI's took issue with African American servicemen and English locals came to the aid of the African Americans.

I'm not sure many European citizens would view the US as being more free and less oppressive than theirs when you have armed insurrections taking place at the building that houses US democracy with members encouraging it and even taking part in it.

The biggest single issue I have seen other nations citizens take with the US in general is this sense of infallible "we did everything first" and the re-writing of history to say that.
 

[chicken 2,624]

12 minutes ago, CowboyCanary said:

Not sure where you pulled this from, but it pongs

The American Civil War took place from 1861-1865. The Gatling gun was invented/designed in 1861 and first produced in 1862 where upon Union forces used it.

Usually, military developments come as a result of a demand for them. The American Civil War saw the first for a lot of things, sadly, not enough were taken note of elsewhere in the world, like England. If they had, they would have known come WW1 that you couldn't march massed ranks of men, or even charge them, at enemy lines that included entrenched enemy forces supported by machine guns.

[sgncfc 1,227]

I have worked with and for US owners and companies for years. Like most people, as individuals they are thoroughly nice people. As a nation, again like most, they are sadly delusional about their "freedom" and their "democracy". As a professionally trained and state system educated Brit, I was able to completely dominate and manipulate pretty much every educated US person I came across in business simply because they always think they are right, even when they are so wrong it's embarrassing. This includes luminaries from almost all their Ivy League colleges, who to a man/woman simply assume that no one is capable of being as bright as they are. Their exposure to the world beyond the US is generally very poor and therefore their experience of anything else is very limited. On the rare occasions where a US colleague finally "got it" it was illuminating to then see them take off.

Having said all that, their morality is usually quite sound (other than lawyers!) and they tend to do what they say they will. So in terms of having them as owners of a football club I don't see a problem.

In terms of inventing things, I think Scotland has had a much greater impact on the world than anyone else, including the US.

 

[essex canary 495]

6 hours ago, lake district canary said:

Americanisation should be resisted as much as possible in every field of human endeavour. It is not a great country, it is not a great example on how to live your lives, it doesn't look after it's people and is responsible for a huge amount of what is bad about modern western society.  Keep them out of the structure of our football clubs.

Much better then the kleptocracy associated with the likes of Chelsea than the profit motive associated with Manchester United? You are right to say American society has many weaknesses but how that translates into top level sport isn't clear.

Edited May 18, 2022 by essex canary

[essex canary 495]

5 hours ago, Kenny Foggo said:

The world without America

1. No internet - US circa 1985 (You'd not be posting this)

2.  No Cell phones = US 1973 (I guess you don't own a phone)

3. No Machine Guns 1862 /1884... er maybe not that one

4.  No Panama Canal - US 1914 (World trade)

5. Submarines - US 1900 

6. Trans-Oceanic Cable Communications - US 1858 (Making the world a village)

7. First Nuclear Reactor - US 1942 (clean cheap energy see French energy bills)

8. Model T Ford - US 1908 (owe a car?)

9. First Flight - US 1903 (Ever flown?)

10. Men on the Moon - US 1969 (ground breaking)

Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, 

Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Taylor Swift, Jay Z, Nirvana, Metallica, Miles Davis and on and on and on....

No NYC one of THE Greatest Cities in the world...

To say America is not a great Country is bizarre but hey, that just my view...

 

 

 

 

The Submarine - Isaac Peral (Spain).

Inventing Bob Dylan is a great claim to fame.

[essex canary 495]

35 minutes ago, sgncfc said:

 

In terms of inventing things, I think Scotland has had a much greater impact on the world than anyone else, including the US.

 

If they can lay claim to inventing Golf but it could be disputed?

[Ken Hairy 3,771]

8 hours ago, lake district canary said:

Americanisation should be resisted as much as possible in every field of human endeavour. It is not a great country, it is not a great example on how to live your lives, it doesn't look after it's people and is responsible for a huge amount of what is bad about modern western society.  Keep them out of the structure of our football clubs.

Nice spot of xenophobia there Lakey..... 😉

[Son Ova Gunn 165]

3 hours ago, sgncfc said:

 

In terms of inventing things, I think Scotland has had a much greater impact on the world than anyone else, including the US.

 

You were doing so well until then 🤣. In terms of population size to contribution there may be some argument but I can think of a fair few countries that would rank higher, Greece, Italy (Roman) China spring to mind but even without rose tinted glasses many important advances are British or have British contribution. Certainly can’t be America anyway because Britian invented America therefore all of their inventions are owed to Britian by default 🤣🤣🤣

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

26 minutes ago, Son Ova Gunn said:

You were doing so well until then 🤣. In terms of population size to contribution there may be some argument but I can think of a fair few countries that would rank higher, Greece, Italy (Roman) China spring to mind but even without rose tinted glasses many important advances are British or have British contribution. Certainly can’t be America anyway because Britian invented America therefore all of their inventions are owed to Britian by default 🤣🤣🤣

The Sumerians had a pretty good record of inventing stuff, such as writing, and arguably mathematics, and bringing in mass production, as with pottery and bricks.

[By Hook or Ian crook 917]

8 hours ago, chicken said:

Hmmm.

1. Whilst the first part of this argument is true, the 2nd isn't so much. Without the world wide web you wouldn't be posting on here. You couldn't post on here using the internet as it was before really. This is why Tim Berners-Lee gets so much credit and why the www. led to a much bigger online revolution/evolution with forums and websites etc before social media came along and ruined the party...

2. Cell Phones... very debatable. Mobile phones were things many people were looking at and working on. The US may have patented the first "cell phone" but there is no evidence to suggest that the success of mobile phones was dependent on that as much as other inventions that were only being worked upon by one group of people etc.

3. Sad that it took US citizens fighting US citizens over slavery to get the Gatling gun. Not sure that is the best thing to brag about really. Is the world a better place for it? And again, wasn't the only person or nation working on such things, just the first one to produce it - there is a big difference.

8. The model T itself is unspectacular. The bit you missed about this was the modern production line which was so efficient that it reduced the cost of cars to be more affordable to the point that people other than the very wealthy could afford them. Other car manufacturers existed, but Ford's approach to the production line was really what was the gamechanger.

9. First Flight - incorrect. Actually, this is one of those ones that is largely misrepresented. First of all, the Wright brothers flight was claimed to be the "first powered flight". People had managed to glide, some had a decent understanding of the aerodynamics already required such as wing shape etc. Not only that but flight was also possible via hot air balloon... However, even if you correctly break it down to just "first powered flight of an aircraft" it still isn't clear cut. Just to give you an idea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claims_to_the_first_powered_flight - doesn't detract from the Wright brothers at all, but again, other people were coming close to it so if they hadn't succeeded.

However despite all of that, I don't disagree entirely with the sentiment and point you are making. However, I do think it is worth noting that if you judge a country purely on their representatives you have to be willing to accept the same judgement.

The USA seems a bit marmite in England. I remember growing up with both sets of grandparents and my best mates grandmother warning us youngsters of the influence of US culture eroding our own traditions. Guy Fawkes being replaced by Halloween and trick-or-treating. US slang from the movies replacing our own terms. Us politics sneaking into our own.

Many of these are pretty much undeniable now. Bannon visited prominent vote leave campaigners both before and after the referendum. Farage was paid a great deal of money to tour the US delivering speeches to Republican gatherings for example. Even political language has crept into the UK with terms like "liberals" being used as a left wing insult which doesn't apply in the UK where the Liberals are a centric party.

I think this is somewhat unavoidable as people on both sides of the pond seem to think because our language is largely the same (we won't go on about the missing 'u's from words such as colour or the missing 'i' from aluminium 😅) the US and UK do differ a hell of a lot.

Lastly, I will just add that the vast majority of East Coast cities with any sort of real age were originally under British rule. And the chances are, if the British had not have been there, the US would most likely be either a series of different countries or split between the French in Canada and the Spanish in Mexico etc.

History is a funny thing. The victors and those who can shout loudest write it. One has to be careful to trust any of it.

Would I prefer a US owner? Not sure. I think if they came with an open mind it could work in the same way as anyone else coming in with an open mind. There have been some non success stories with US owners too, it is worth noting that Lerner at Villa really struggled and probably would have gone sooner had Lambert, Culverhouse and Karsa not worked their magic on a relative shoe string budget. Fulham have been relegated twice despite spending around three times as much as us in the process.

Edit: Just to say, I love the US as a country in terms of geography. Even the die-hard 2nd amendment brainwashed can be welcoming and great hosts. NYC is wonderful - however, it is worth noting that NYC is largely as wonderful as it is because it has remained in touch with it's roots. It knows and owns it's mixed heritage, it being the first place migrants came to. It is rich in history. It very much remains in touch with the world and whilst it may pump it's fists in the air to chants of "USA, USA, USA!" most citizens of NYC hark back to their European heritage and try and stay up to date with worldly affairs and can be humble when it comes to foreign affairs and critical of poor governance and foreign policy. 

England has invented almost everything by proxy. If you really want to get into it if it wasn’t for English colonisation of the americas none of those inventions by Americans would of occurred. 
 

opinions on colonisation are varied but there is a reason that 6 of the 10 largest economies in the world originate from the old British empire or it’s descended countries. We forced progress on the world with technical advances either directly or by proxy.

[Nuff Said 5,119]

8 hours ago, Naturalcynic said:

How very inclusive of you.

There is a difference between punching up and punching down. Those who don’t recognise that are coincidentally often to be found doing the downwards punching.

[dylanisabaddog 4,911]

1.5m Americans were killed with guns between the mid 60's and 2020.

Rachel Burden on Radio 5 recently interviewed an American Senator about that statistic and his response was to say that if you took out the black on black killings the figures weren't too bad. 

She left a long silence after his statement which I thought was to add emphasis to what he just said. The next day she admitted that she remained silent because she was so shocked she didn't know what to say. 

If this is truly the greatest country in the world I despair. I don't want anything to do with them at all. 

PS. Black American soldiers involved in the invasion of Iraq were statistically safer in Iraq than if they'd stayed in America..... 

[Badger 2,405]

An diverse range of views, although not entirely related to football finance as I had envisaged!

The point of the article is that US investors, not unreasonably, seek to profit from their investment - either by capital growth of their asset/ taking an income or a combination oft he two.

Capital growth is far more likely if you buy an asset cheaply, which would not apply to City, at present. Even if it were, the level of investment required to ensure City were a premier league team for a sustained period (to enable a sale to profit from said capital growth) makes a profit unlikely. A regular income a la the Glazers, means taking money out of the club on an annual basis, rather than putting it in.

So do we add the US to list of countries from where a multi-billionaire investor is not desirable?*

*(Current list includes Saudi Arabia, Russia but not yet, for some reason other owners with links to questionable regimes).