Ricardo's report The AGM 2022

[ricardo 7,345]

17 minutes ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

Change is coming. I think it’s probably time. 

We were only one Attanasio away from keeping Buendia, sweet-talking Skipp and - who knows? - even engaging an Eriksen. 

I think Attanasio  understands Weapons and ‘special teams’ pretty well. 

 

Parma 

Attanasio struck me as a man who is unlikely to countenance mediocrity or drift. I suspect we will quickly see sparks fly if we fail to move forward.

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,219]

1 minute ago, ricardo said:

Attanasio struck me as a man who is unlikely to countenance mediocrity or drift. I suspect we will quickly see sparks fly if we fail to move forward.

We talk about ‘corporate leverage’. Who has it, when and why. 

Timing when you ‘exercise your leverage’ is an art. I would bet good money that Attanasio is a master. 

In that sense the tables are not turning, they have already turned.

Parma 

[TIL 1010 4,722]

3 hours ago, Mello Yello said:

Surely we the supporters are the actual mushrooms?....Kept in the dark and fed a load o' bullsh!t....

Certainly not kept in the dark with those new fangled floodlights.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

20 hours ago, Pyro Pete said:

That article reads like one of CC's threads on here citing Twitter as a source.

Daft of the club to even react to something so trivial.

They are not. They are just using stuff like this as an excuse to justify their stance which really flows from Webber throwing his toys out of the pram after his interview re his new contract backfired. 

[Mello Yello 2,280]

26 minutes ago, TIL 1010 said:

Certainly not kept in the dark with those new fangled floodlights.

Are we easily LED?....

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Talking about reforming the club under new owners or investors is fine but ultimately there are only three promotion places available. And no matter what, a good coach is more important than any Emi or Teemu.

[Mello Yello 2,280]

Marky Mark has now got more than his foot in the Boardroom Door....Now he's assessing those in the upper echelons of the club....Interesting times ahead, methinks....

[Canary Wundaboy 1,358]

3 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

The flipside to that is that I suspect the more 'corporate' NCFC with the harder edge will become the norm. I'm not sure some are ready for that.

We’re already there, the club are behaving like a closed shop mere months after shrieking loudly about family values and community ownership. It was crap then, just easily digested because we were winning games and things were cosy with the local media. Now the facade has clearly dropped, the club is just like every other modern football club and should be judged as such by the supporters, on results.

[A Load of Squit 5,128]

Another good interview with MA.😀

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1591110215092473856/vid/720x720/SnPD_lIX1EuJYDnu.mp4?tag=14

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

On 10/11/2022 at 22:54, The Raptor said:

I'm also pretty sure sitting just behind me were Mark Attanasios family. There were a couple of teenage kids who looked bored and out of place. 

Think his two sons are adults.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

15 hours ago, Norfolk Dan said:

Got some for sale ? 

Just check this page regularly?

Also, add yourself to the 'seeking to acquire' list.

https://www.canariestrust.org/ncfc-shares

 

[shefcanary 2,385]

Woah Parma. Now if we have passed a turning point, and if Smith can get us promoted, perhaps Smith & Jones can bow out with dignity, hand over to Mark & Co. and the new era can take off unburdened. Wouldn't that be great? Long straws perhaps, but perfectly graspable if we pull together? 

[Midlands Yellow 3,935]

6 hours ago, shefcanary said:

Woah Parma. Now if we have passed a turning point, and if Smith can get us promoted, perhaps Smith & Jones can bow out with dignity, hand over to Mark & Co. and the new era can take off unburdened. Wouldn't that be great? Long straws perhaps, but perfectly graspable if we pull together? 

A decade too late but would be marvellous. 

[Capt. Pants 4,195]

12 hours ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

We’re already there, the club are behaving like a closed shop mere months after shrieking loudly about family values and community ownership. It was crap then, just easily digested because we were winning games and things were cosy with the local media. Now the facade has clearly dropped, the club is just like every other modern football club and should be judged as such by the supporters, on results.

I think 'closed shop', family values and community ownership are all different things. The first is not something to aspire to and I'm not even sure what the other two are. However, I am sure NCFC under whatever ownership/leadership will continue to have a high social standing but it will be run very much as a business, even more than it is now. If Attanasio and his mate (can't remember his name now) are to invest $ millions it can't be anything else.

[nutty nigel 7,509]

10 hours ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Think his two sons are adults.

Pretty sure that's the case.

Like all us old duffers at the AGM Mark looks a sprightly young man but he's actually 65.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

31 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

Pretty sure that's the case.

Like all us old duffers at the AGM Mark looks a sprightly young man but he's actually 65.

All this talk of him being rich is obviously nonsense. Chap can't even afford a razor to give himself a decent shave.😎

[Monty13 2,229]

16 hours ago, ricardo said:

Attanasio struck me as a man who is unlikely to countenance mediocrity or drift. I suspect we will quickly see sparks fly if we fail to move forward.

Arguably what we may need as well as his money and experience? That little touch of unsentimental ruthlessness which is the key to often making the right decision when stakes are high.

Put it this way, if we were looking for a new manager I doubt he’d want Russell Martin unless objectively he was considered the best candidate. 

Everything I’ve read and seen of him so far makes me think if you need to have a rich (probably foreign) owner to be competitive, we could do a lot worse.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

31 minutes ago, Monty13 said:

Arguably what we may need as well as his money and experience? That little touch of unsentimental ruthlessness which is the key to often making the right decision when stakes are high.

Put it this way, if we were looking for a new manager I doubt he’d want Russell Martin unless objectively he was considered the best candidate. 

Everything I’ve read and seen of him so far makes me think if you need to have a rich (probably foreign) owner to be competitive, we could do a lot worse.

Yes, you don't stay successful in the US finance industry if you're a soft touch. That said, from the comparitively little there is to go on so far I get the impression he realises that there is a particular history and a community spirit associated with Norwich City (as there is with other clubs) that needs to be preserved, while trying to be as successful as possible.

[Monty13 2,229]

1 minute ago, PurpleCanary said:

Yes, you don't stay successful in the US finance industry if you're a soft touch. That said, from the comparitively little there is to go on so far I get the impression he realises that there is a particular history and a community spirit associated with Norwich City (as there is with other clubs) that needs to be preserved, while trying to be as successful as possible.

I don’t doubt it Purple. I didn’t watch all of the Welcome to Wrexham series as I didn’t think it was that good to be honest, but what struck me about it is they know what they are doing in managing a sports team.

They understand what a club is to a community, why it’s important to maintain and nurture that but that doesn’t mean sentiment on the business aspects. Reynolds is an incredibly savvy business man despite (in some ways because) of his joker personality.

Put it this way, I’d be surprised if our new Director thinks anything is the supporters fault.

[Robert N. LiM 4,241]

On 10/11/2022 at 21:59, ricardo said:

Finally there was another plea for peace with the local press from another old guy who used to read the EDP in the outside bog with a candle.

I love this club. Fantastic to think of the culture shock that Attanasio is in for.

[chicken 2,604]

On 11/11/2022 at 13:26, benchwarmer said:

My guess is there's more to it than that, and that 'mushroomgate' is a distraction.

Both. I think it's probably a mixture of all of the above.

The same as the "story" from the other side is it is only about one thing - and Davitt painted it as being about breaking a story before the club was happy with them to do so.

I suspect if it was about any one thing, it would have to be bigger than most of the things we have been informed about.

In my head, it's a bit like one of those yellow cards where the ref points around the pitch to various misdemeanours before brandishing it above his head. Which ever event was the one that made the biggest impression is only really known to the ref, but clearly he's had enough.

There is a fair bit of evidence for that. Lots of things were happening around the time the Attanasio story broke, much criticism of the club, of Stuart Webber, a lot of harsh words, articles like the "mushroom" one... objectively we can point at a number of possibilities. It is likely to be all of them.

Not that it is excusable. Though this isn't something where freedom of the press generally extends to, it has in our clubs history. The club, arguably, would be better off issuing statements about said articles whilst allowing press access still, perhaps giving priority of stories to an alternative press company. 

[chicken 2,604]

22 hours ago, ricardo said:

Attanasio struck me as a man who is unlikely to countenance mediocrity or drift. I suspect we will quickly see sparks fly if we fail to move forward.

The interview with him on BBC Radio Narfolk today is well worth listening too if you can access it at a later date. I would say that it is pretty diplomatic and gives a good global picture of where the club is at.

I don't think he is going to be a bull in a china shop but he also seems to have a very good sense of measure. Combining what you wrote up from the AGM about him and todays interview makes for some good material to think about him and what he is looking at. I think he sees the similarities between Milwaukee an us.

I would say that his comments about the training ground etc are a good indicator too. It's not that those things don't matter, but that they don't matter to fans if we're not winning. He's previously said that the training ground and academy was important to his interest in the club... I partly wonder if that's in a business sense. Largely it doesn't need any attention, it's there, it's good and doesn't require massive investment as is the case with other clubs.

In that sense, it's not a concern. And as he says, fans want success. 

[Robert N. LiM 4,241]

Thanks to @ricardo, @Parma Ham's gone mouldy and others for very helpful reports. You need to be careful: much more of this and the club will ban you.

[chicken 2,604]

Just to add, found a link to the interview, it's now here.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

9 hours ago, nutty nigel said:

Pretty sure that's the case.

Like all us old duffers at the AGM Mark looks a sprightly young man but he's actually 65.

Well here's one of them: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/meet-dan-attanasio-photos-of-mark-attanasios-son-with-wife-deborah--807199933220052883/

Looks like he was a young adult in 2008 when he played a festival for a band on bass guitar... so I'm guess at about 32+.

The other one is younger, but looks to be at least in his mid 20s to me... https://twitter.com/MikeAttanasio/photo

Edited November 12, 2022 by TeemuVanBasten

[nutty nigel 7,509]

1 hour ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Well here's one of them: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/meet-dan-attanasio-photos-of-mark-attanasios-son-with-wife-deborah--807199933220052883/

Looks like he was a young adult in 2008 when he played a festival for a band on bass guitar... so I'm guess at about 32+.

The other one is younger, but looks to be at least in his mid 20s to me... https://twitter.com/MikeAttanasio/photo

Don't stalk him TVB,

He's from The Bronx...

🙃

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

1 minute ago, nutty nigel said:

Don't stalk him TVB,

He's from The Bronx...

🙃

Pah, that's got nothing on Mile Cross.

Where I lived.

For a few months, when I was 6.

[nutty nigel 7,509]

1 minute ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

Pah, that's got nothing on Mile Cross.

Where I lived.

For a few months, when I was 6.

Lived in the towers in the 70s. 🙃👍

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,219]

On 11/11/2022 at 18:45, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

We talk about ‘corporate leverage’. Who has it, when and why. 

Timing when you ‘exercise your leverage’ is an art. I would bet good money that Attanasio is a master. 

In that sense the tables are not turning, they have already turned.

Parma 

 

 

On 11/11/2022 at 18:41, ricardo said:

Attanasio struck me as a man who is unlikely to countenance mediocrity or drift. I suspect we will quickly see sparks fly if we fail to move forward.

Just further to this @ricardo from your AGM thread. 

Attanasio’s primary source of wealth and access to possible further funding comes from Crescent Capital Group.

It probably hasn’t escaped the attentions of @PurpleCanary @shefcanary @essex canary and others that Crescent Capital Group that typically focuses its operations on the less traditional, higher-risk, higher yielding forms of alternative investments. 

To simplify they go into companies and places that more traditional scale lenders would not touch, investments or funding that these traditional lenders may wish to exit, or areas of finance excluding stocks, bonds and cash.

There are areas of operation including distressed securities (lending from other institutions that they-are consider(ed) distressed and-or at risk of bankruptcy. Or lending where collateral may be weak or even unsecured financial products (‘lending on belief’). 

That Attanasio used the term ‘win…winning …winner’ several times in his short AGM speech might well be indicative. His business approach seems to rather vault over ‘prudence with ambition’ or ‘self-sustainability’ into a wilder jungle whereby forensic homework, granular market knowledge and a huge belief in the superior skills, knowledge and judgment of yourself and your team over the market appears to drive decision-making. 

His jovial appearance, accommodating nature and laid-back approach is no doubt genuine. Though his business acts and operates at the high risk sharp end. His skills are hiding in plain sight. 

Your statement is - I think - prescient. And not far into the future either. 
 

 

Parma 

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

40 minutes ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

 

 

Just further to this @ricardo from your AGM thread. 

Attanasio’s primary source of wealth and access to possible further funding comes from Crescent Capital Group.

It probably hasn’t escaped the attentions of @PurpleCanary @shefcanary @essex canary and others that Crescent Capital Group that typically focuses its operations on the less traditional, higher-risk, higher yielding forms of alternative investments. 

To simplify they go into companies and places that more traditional scale lenders would not touch, investments or funding that these traditional lenders may wish to exit, or areas of finance excluding stocks, bonds and cash.

There are areas of operation including distressed securities (lending from other institutions that they-are consider(ed) distressed and-or at risk of bankruptcy. Or lending where collateral may be weak or even unsecured financial products (‘lending on belief’). 

That Attanasio used the term ‘win…winning …winner’ several times in his short AGM speech might well be indicative. His business approach seems to rather vault over ‘prudence with ambition’ or ‘self-sustainability’ into a wilder jungle whereby forensic homework, granular market knowledge and a huge belief in the superior skills, knowledge and judgment of yourself and your team over the market appears to drive decision-making. 

His jovial appearance, accommodating nature and laid-back approach is no doubt genuine. Though his business acts and operates at the high risk sharp end. His skills are hiding in plain sight. 

Your statement is - I think - prescient. And not far into the future either. 
 

 

Parma 

Parma, I had noticed that, without being certain what to make of it in relation to NCFC, apart from reinforcing my previously stated view that you don't stay successful in the US finance sector generally if you're a soft touch. I did come across this recently in what it only the FT's second reference to Attanasio (the first dating back to 2009):

“US investors have a fundamental thesis that European football is undervalued commercially”, said Tim Bridge, lead partner of the sports business group at Deloitte, adding that teams in smaller leagues come at a price many find “quite compelling”. Last month Mark Attanasio, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, purchased a minority stake in Norwich City, a second-tier English club..."