William Darby 0 Posted May 8, 2009 09 May 2007Delia: No chance of any foreign takeoverDelia Smith insists Norwich City are not about to join the growing list of clubs reliant on foreign investment.TheCanaries majority shareholder - who resisted the overtures made bycontroversial Italian businessman Giovanni di Stefano six years ago,says foreign money is still not welcome at Carrow Road.A wholehost of Premiership clubs - including champions Manchester United,Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa and West Ham - are in foreign hands,although Championship clubs could well be in the sights of the world''srichest men.Leicester City are owned by Serbian Milan Mandaric,while Southampton have reportedly been targeted by Paul Allen,co-founder of global software giant Microsoft and the owner of theSeattle Seahawks American football team.But Delia says she would risk the anger of City supporters before selling out to someone “without passion in Norwich City”.Deliawas speaking on the day that business couple Andrew and Sharon turnerjoined the Carrow Road board, relieving the financial tension with a£2m interest free loan.For a club which has debts of £20m it may seem a small amount, but City''s leading lady insists it''s about more than money.“Let''snot allow the money to cloud what is more important,” she said. “Theyare very, very passionate, number one, and number two, they are very,very ambitious. Their business is flying and they want Norwich City tofly and I think that is more important in the end than this investment,although it is welcome and wonderful. “It is wonderful to increase that amount of ambition and passion that we think we have all got here.“Ithink it is one of the greatest joys of all, because we would neverwant to sell any of our shares to a foreign investor - ever. “But we probably would get hung, drawn and quartered by the supporters if somebody came along with that big money and wantedTo buy Norwich and we said no, they''d hate us, wouldn''t they?“We''d upset them.“Ijust feel all the investors who are coming in now - they see Man Unitedon the telly and Chelsea on the telly and see these big brands. Theycan go and take a club and make it into a brand, but there is only roomfor two or three, there isn''t room for 10 brands around the world andso they are not all going to make it.“We truly need some foreign investor to go belly up and everybody will go back to normal.”Husband Michael Wynn Jones is joint majority shareholder - and shares his wife''s opinion.“What possible interest have they got in Norwich City Football Club?” he asked.The fact that the Turners are lifelong City fans holds plenty of sway with Norwich City''s first couple.“InAndrew and Sharon we have two of Norfolk''s most dynamic andforward-thinking business people who are also fans and who are veryambitious for the football club and passionately want it to develop andsucceed,” said Delia. “After the AGM many people have asked ifwe were actively seeking positive new investment into the club andtoday provides an answer to that question.“The board now hasthe benefit of two fresh voices with bags of enthusiasm, businessexperience and loads of ideas and passion to help us move forward and Ithink it''s a very exciting time for all of us who care about this greatclub.” Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Iwan is God 0 Posted May 8, 2009 But Delia says she would risk the anger of City supporters before selling out to someone “without passion in Norwich City”.Well, you''ve certainly made me angry, love! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites