Would you sell your soul for £100 million?

[Graham Humphrey 13]

Or, rather, would you be happy for Norwich City Football Club to do just that?As everybody knows by now, Cardiff City''s Malaysian investors were proposing to change the club''s colours, badge and nickname to "appeal to the Asian market",  investing £100 million into the club as part of the ''deal''.  In a rare outbreak of common sense, these rebranding plans have now been dropped following outcry from their supporters - but possibly losing the intended investment as a consequence.Purely hypothetically, if something like this was to happen at Norwich City (not that I ever think it will), what would your reaction be?  If it was announced tomorrow that if our club colours, nickname and badge were all to be changed beyond recognition in order to "strengthen the brand" but it was promised that £100 million would be put into the playing side of the club, how would you feel about that (bearing in mind that these plans would be drawn up without the consultation of the supporters first)?  Does tradition and identity mean anything in 2012 or is it really all about the money and instant success?Personally, I would hate for us to lose our identity in that way.  We may not have the same level of success as a number of clubs in the league but nevertheless we have a history and tradition we should all be proud of.  Some things are more important than cold, hard cash and being a Norwich City supporter is priceless.  We are unique.  To me it would be the first step to becoming a franchise.  It would be terrible.I would imagine that the vast majority of us feel the same way; indeed I imagine most genuine football fans across the country do too.  But judging by some comments I''ve read on here recently, I think there are several people who would be very tempted indeed by such an offer.  Does anybody really believe that marketing strategies like this one (for that''s all it is) have a place in our game, and even it is necessary for a club like ourselves to seriously compete in the Premier League over the long-term?

[Tetteys Jig 830]

TBH what would we do with £100m?! we''d have to spend an inflated amount on players inc wages, i don''t think it would massively improve us. Look at QPR.

Sorry to say this, but i think we should live within our means, i don''t think we could ever have as much of a fanbase of the likes of Man U and the like.

If we were to fall on hard times if we got relegated, then i suppose i''d sooner see us play in red shirts than not at all though.

[BroadstairsR 2,163]

I couldn''t accept that either, but back to a long-ago thread, I would accept re-naming the stadium for dosh. There has to be limits with all this and, as I said before, I wouldn''t mind the Carra being called the Mickey Mouse Stadium as long as Disney paid millions, but shirts etc.? No way. 

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Remember, £100m is probably only enough for 2 Andy Carrolls plus wages, agent fees, signing on fees, bonus, restructuring current squads wages as a result of such a deal. £100m really isn''t much these days.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

Just to play devil''s advocate, surely the other side to that is if the whole "rebranding" excercise is a success, it will bring in more money for the club as it opens up an entirely new market who will be interested in shirts, other merchandise, coming over for matches etc.  On top of that, if managed correctly, investing that initial £100m to begin with (which is a huge amount for a club like ours, remember) would surely improve our league position, maybe win a cup etc, with all the extra TV and prize money that would bring.Not that I''d want to see it happen, ever, you understand [:D]  Just trying to fathom the business reasons behind it.I wouldn''t want to see our stadium being renamed, either.

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

I''m all for maximising revenue streams etc but I can''t support a club that sells it''s identity.

[priceyrice 123]

O interesting question Graham, and think i will be the first to support the financial investment and re-branding of the club if the situation was as black and white as your hypotehtical question.for £100 M investment directly into the squad the club would be able to build a much stronger squad which is going to have a better chance of staying up in the prem long term. Obviously the money would not all get spent as once as we don''t have the infrstructure to sustain enormous wages, but imagine 20-30M invested in the playing squad this summer instead of 8-10 M, the dividends to the squad would be huge and i trust Lambert and co would spend it wisely, not do a QPR.But i did touch on the problem which you guys have mentioned, expensive players and high wages are only sustainable in the long term if the club has the infrastructure to maintain it. At the moment i doubt whether our stadium is big enough to sustain us long term in the prem- each year expenses go up, wages increase, more money is spent on players, while additional sponsoring and all that marlaky generates revenue, by far the biggest revenue generator is match day income.But if we were offered 100M to do with it what we wanted i am very confident our board will use that cash very wisely and our team would have a much better chance of establishing themselves as a prem side with the chance of achieving a European spot on a yearly basis- something which is going to take  many many years without investment. Now i think that greatly offsets the negatives about having to rename the stadium, change colours, change the badge. Despite it going against traditions (specifically the kit colour one, i am sure the badge has been changed a few times already as have the names of the stands in the stadium, over time people forget and the new brand is remembered, that''s how marketing works) but i would much prefer the chance to increase our competitiveness in the prem and reach a financial level which we are not going to probably ever reach without serious investment

[. 0]

For a few years I''m afraid City did sell it''s soul by allowing a ''celebrity'' to become bigger than the club itself.Fortunately that''s been reduced somewhat these days due to McNally and Bowkett having none of it.

[......and Smith must score. 1,342]

A good question Graham, and one that in this brand orientated age cannot be dismissed out of hand.I certainly wouldn''t want to see our colours changed. Any supporters who actually saw us play during the very brief stint in our original colours are all now long gone. Altering the badge although not welcome it would be less of a concern to me as the present one has been in existence for only around 40 years and I can of course remember the previous design. I suspect younger supporters would strongly object though.Re-naming the stadium is also something that wouldn''t really bother me in that the ground will to me always be Carrow Road. I think supporters of a club such as Newcastle will always think of their stadium by it''s original name so in that respect it doesn''t really matter to them as long as they are sufficiently financially rewarded.The biggest problem would be if the hypothetical £100 million was plonked down on the CEO''s desk. It sounds a lot of money but established players don''t come cheap, especially on the wages front, and as priceyrice said on here our present stadium is of an insufficient size if we were looking to seriously compete with the heavyweights in this division. None of these things come cheap and I have a fear that it could easily go pear shaped very quickly indeed even with the present extremely capable CEO remaining at the helm.On balance I think I''d leave things as they are and we''ll just try and struggle along on the £40 million plus that we annually pick up right now......

[Edmund 0]

Again, Jeremy has it spot on. Our club was being sold down the river for far less than 100m, thankfully Mr Bowkett forcibly grabbed the reins and now we are making some minor inroads into recapturing some of our former glory. The fact that this has only happened since Delia was relegated to the back seats seems lost on some of you.

[Ruddygore 0]

Boring predictability isn''t lost on us.

You carry on, I enjoy a car crash as much as anyone.

[TIL 1010 4,738]

[quote user="Jeremy Cluckson"]For a few years I''m afraid City did sell it''s soul by allowing a ''celebrity'' to become bigger than the club itself.

Fortunately that''s been reduced somewhat these days due to McNally and Bowkett having none of it.
[/quote]

Soooooooooo glad that you seized your opportunity for yet another dig at Delia.The all new singing and dancing Cluck could not resist reverting to the old objectionable,boring,predictable poster.They do say a leopard never changes its spots and here we have it for all to see. [:''(]

 

[blahblahblah 2]

If you''re selling your soul to Asia, you don''t need to rebrand. They love the little yellow bird.

[. 0]

How strange that Plod''s obsession with Cluck doesn''t allow him to react sensibly to the comments made rather than the usual personal attacks on the poster.....I''m sorry to say that whatever you post is of no interest to me... so it''s a rather one-sided stalking issue isn''t it?

[Edmund 0]

When one is always right, one has no need to change.

Whether it be spots, stripes or in your case a lack of pips on the shoulders Plod.

If you''d been brought up in the nest of my family Plod, you might at least sometimes be right.

[. 0]

What Edmund said...... x 2.

[......and Smith must score. 1,342]

Why am I not surprised we didn''t even reach the second page before the slanging match started......Perhaps a '' You''re A Stupid T**t Because....'' sub-forum is on the agenda SDP ?

[Graham Humphrey 13]

Oh well, at least I had the right idea.

[. 0]

[quote user="......and Smith must score."]Why am I not surprised we didn''t even reach the second page before the slanging match started......Perhaps a '' You''re A Stupid T**t Because....'' sub-forum is on the agenda SDP ?[/quote]

I can''t control others asms...........Plod may disagree, but is that the way to behave?

[Ruddygore 0]

You know what Graham - you did and it is such a shame that we have to be bored to death by the same two or three idiots constantly subverting decent debates.

For what it is worth I imagine the current state of top flight football to only being a ticking time bomb. I''m so glad that our club has such comparatively little debt, that living within our means and still competing will stand us in such good stead when the bomb goes off. There will be thousands and thousands of devastated fans wanting to slash their wrists when they can no longer believe in the hype that money and they have created for themselves but I still can''t wait for the day when football returns to honest promotion on merit and not on a big wallet.

[TIL 1010 4,738]

[quote user="Jeremy Cluckson"]How strange that Plod''s obsession with Cluck doesn''t allow him to react sensibly to the comments made rather than the usual personal attacks on the poster.....

[/quote]

How strange that Clucks obsession with Delia doesn''t allow him to react sensibly to the comments made rather than the usual personal attacks on the majority shareholder.

 

[Mister Chops 7]

If it was down to me/the fans, which it never is - And if it was "take the deal or the club goes under" - then yes.Otherwise, no.

[William Darby 0]

[quote user="blahblahblah"]If you''re selling your soul to Asia, you don''t need to rebrand. They love the little yellow bird.[/quote]And they love you long time, only $5.

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

I have thought about this already and never mind my soul, I wouldn''t sell my pussy for £100 million![:O]

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

[quote user="Mister Chops"]If it was down to me/the fans, which it never is -

And if it was "take the deal or the club goes under" - then yes.

Otherwise, no.

[/quote]

 

But it would no longer be Norwich City!

[Robert N. LiM 4,341]

No. Not even if the club was going under. I''d rather see it go out of business and be reformed as an AFC Wimbledon-style phoenix club than be taken over by outsiders as a purely money-making exercise. Following that club from the Norfolk Senior League to the Premier League would be a great ride. Watching a bunch of mercenary idiots prancing around in an all-red strip would be completely meaningless.

[First Wizard 0]

[quote user="Jeremy Cluckson"]For a few years I''m afraid City did sell it''s soul by allowing a ''celebrity'' to become bigger than the club itself.

Fortunately that''s been reduced somewhat these days due to McNally and Bowkett having none of it.
[/quote]

 

I disagree mate, she''s still a major force here and she''s now added ruddy Fry to the mix too. [:@]

[morty 0]

I think, given our current position and circumstances, it has to be a no for me.I think had the question been asked a few seasons ago, when the wolf was at the door, people would have perhaps given this more consideration.

[Trawlerboy 0]

I think that a number on here would sell their souls for less than tuppence!

[Graham Humphrey 13]

Please can we at least try and keep this on-topic, thanks.