In Conversation with Kevin McCabe (Octagon)

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Well, if the rich Saudi has lost interest it’s disappointing, particularly so given the interview from barely weeks ago (September ? October ?) where he appeared to reaffirm his commitment to the club, albeit while claiming that he’d misplaced his wallet.

All that said, it’s not really surprising, is it ? Since our national game became a corporate brand back in the 1990s, I’m sure we’ve all collected our ‘favourite’ worst examples of businessmen owners / vanity moguls who know bugger all about football, but assume there’s gold to be easily dug, discover quite quickly that they know bugger all, become bored or disillusioned, then piss off back to their castles counting the money they’ve lost, trailing false hopes and broken dreams in their wake. (Our friend across the city may be approx 75% of the way across this arc).

It’s replacing the old Roy of the Rovers stuff as the archetypal narrative of the game in our time.
 
One aspect of our low budget acquisitions in January is that the liabilities to an incoming consortium/billionaire suitor are peanuts. One or two top rated players cost and wages would buy and fund our whole squad. To get rid of them would be a meh decision if the buyers are rich enough.

If this threads implied rumour has any truth we (the fans) have got a Brexit type outcome to get used to (because we are not part of the decision making process). Are we in or out of the corporate football model? Are we a Wolves, Brighton, Watford etc (or potentially a Pigs, Dirty Leeds, Coventry) or are we a cottage industry club just surviving on the scraps of the best we can afford from the lower leagues hoping to find a gem that we can cash in on to cut the owners costs?

I've seen United in many guises in my 60 years of support. For the time I've got left I would like the owners go all in and see where it takes us, but then again I've always been a risk taker. In McCabe I believe if he sells he will try to maximise his investment but try and protect the club from a whim buyer or a reckless consortium. Whichever, I would be surprised if he sold and walked away which could be a good thing or a bad one. If he tries to retain to much control it could stifle any investment or progressive changes.

Then again, it could just be a bullsh*t rumour.
 
McCabe will continue down the road of ownership whilst trying to attract new money to fund a promotion push. Ultimately this would be the best of both worlds as we have a Blade in charge with spending power. However most businessmen want total control for major investment so this isnt going to be easy to achieve.

What now looks.likely is the unwinding of the relationship with the Prince. It's been noticeable that his associates have been absent from Twitter the last few months. Whether this didn't work out due to the changing political situation in Saudi, a lack of funds or willingness to commit them or his heart not being in it is hard to tell.

I think Blades56 post sums our position up nicely...No idea what the right answer is but it would be nice to have a Neves and a Costa in the team !
 
Ricky said:
Would Wilder have a say on it?

If they oppose it I can see why because what's proposed isn't an ideal, complete solution. It would lack flexibility and create a rigid formula within stadiums.

Why not just enable standing in seated areas, maybe with a rail along every row?


This, by the way, is a typical example of where we could do with an effective supporters' group, but we have nothing. Safe standing is something the fans should have a huge say in.
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CW may just have an opinion.
 
Foxy said:
It's not them that will need convincing, though it would vastly reduce capacity if we looked to retrofit. It would be SAG, in Sheffield, where Hillsborough still hangs over.
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That’s certainly one hurdle, but it’s even less likely to happen if the man at the helm of any development isn’t particularly passionate about it in the first place.
 
Is there any audio/video of this event available?
 
LoughboroBlade said:
That’s certainly one hurdle, but it’s even less likely to happen if the man at the helm of any development isn’t particularly passionate about it in the first place.
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Sale of the club apart the only way he gets any return for development is by putting the rent up, which he effectively pays half himself anyway. Which affects the FC budget. I'd guess its less to do with a lack of passion and more to do with cold financial common sense.
 

Sean Thornton said:
Sale of the club apart the only way he gets any return for development is by putting the rent up, which he effectively pays half himself anyway. Which affects the FC budget. I'd guess its less to do with a lack of passion and more to do with cold financial common sense.
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There are probably creative ways that this could be looked at for funding. I happily parted with my own money to help the Shrewsbury crowd-sourcing and I’ve got zero connection to that club – I would predict that plenty of people would do that for the Kop (or portion of it) were this presented to them.
 
LoughboroBlade said:
There are probably creative ways that this could be looked at for funding. I happily parted with my own money to help the Shrewsbury crowd-sourcing and I’ve got zero connection to that club – I would predict that plenty of people would do that for the Kop (or portion of it) were this presented to them.
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However "creative" one wants to be, we aren't talking a few grand here are we?
Criticising a man for spending money he hasn't got access to is ridiculous. The figures shown in the Rich lists aren't in cash in a teapot behind the icing sugar in the cupboard.

Maybe some would chuck money in, it's a grand idea, but would they moan when ticket prices went up?
 
Jim Chimmerney said:
It does seem strange to me that the Prince sticks with it in League 1 then when we're actually gaining momentum he bottles it, if that's the case of course.
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I agree. Although we had the Cup runs in that time and to an overseas owner the kudos of getting your team on worldwide TV for those semi-finals must have kept his interest. However, not only are we now in the Championship (a step he mentioned as progress) but we went top, are playing great football and TV loves to show our games. Even discounting our promotion, I think we've gained enough of a reputation (via Sky) for the Prince to feel satisfied.

Maybe 6 years to get out of League One might make him think to get out of the Championship may take longer.
 
Jim Chimmerney said:
It does seem strange to me that the Prince sticks with it in League 1 then when we're actually gaining momentum he bottles it, if that's the case of course.
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Could be closer to the truth than you think. I have similar thoughts, McWobblegob & HRH was happy to fund us in L1 and even since he came in has been looking for additional investors for McCabe to depart. That's not happened (investors) and now we're in the Championship where the money needs to be spent in bigger sums, he's up the creek.

But like all speculation, I could be WAY off the mark.
 
Jim Chimmerney said:
It does seem strange to me that the Prince sticks with it in League 1 then when we're actually gaining momentum he bottles it, if that's the case of course.
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I think the problem is the higher up the leagues you get the more money that needs to be spent to continually improve and the change is more logarithmic than linear. With the recent increases in Championship transfer market prices even McC would've been surprised let alone HRH. And as we've seen you can spend any amount of money for it all to fail.
 
When all's said and done about the Prince he's probably put in about £20m (which he isn't going to see again). This means that KM has put in about £20m less than he would have had to, and that £20m has helped drag us out of the abyss that was L2 that was staring us in the face. If I was him I would have the feeling that I was sold a pup. Think about it for a while, pile in your money and you don't gain any tangible asset in return, which remains 100% with your partner in crime. Would you?
 
Jim Chimmerney said:
It does seem strange to me that the Prince sticks with it in League 1 then when we're actually gaining momentum he bottles it, if that's the case of course.
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Except that the costs increase substantially with each and every promotion. P’raps our Prince is more a Pauper back home?
 
snootyfenooty said:
When all's said and done about the Prince he's probably put in about £20m (which he isn't going to see again). This means that KM has put in about £20m less than he would have had to, and that £20m has helped drag us out of the abyss that was L2 that was staring us in the face.
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It also means that KM put in £20m too. Probably about £19.999m more than you have put into the club.

snootyfenooty said:
If I was him I would have the feeling that I was sold a pup. Think about it for a while, pile in your money and you don't gain any tangible asset in return, which remains 100% with your partner in crime. Would you?
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He knew from the start he was 'investing' in the team and not assets. He had advisors and he did due diligence. Do you really think that KM told him he'd own London Bridge at the end of it all?

He has had a punt and so far it hasn't worked out. It may still or he may leave. I would expect his investment would be repayable on promotion to the PL (and only on that), so he may well break even in the end.

He is a grown up and came into the deal with his eyes open, but let's not miss another opportunity to put the boot into McCabe eh?
 
snootyfenooty said:
When all's said and done about the Prince he's probably put in about £20m (which he isn't going to see again). This means that KM has put in about £20m less than he would have had to, and that £20m has helped drag us out of the abyss that was L2 that was staring us in the face. If I was him I would have the feeling that I was sold a pup. Think about it for a while, pile in your money and you don't gain any tangible asset in return, which remains 100% with your partner in crime. Would you?
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The tangible asset was never part of the original deal. HRH was fully aware of that. I'm presuming he and his advisors went into it with their eyes wide open so I'm not going to feel sorry for him if he thinks he's had his leg lifted. I'm grateful for his financial input though, which has assisted us in being where we are today.
 
S64 Blade said:
Went along tonight and it was really interesting, particularly so as McCabe evidently had a bee in his bonnet about the Prince's role at the club. When probed he said the Prince had been brought on board to bring in investment and that the ownership model needed review.

I took this to mean and/or the Prince is not putting his hand in his pocket - is not courting further investment in Saudi Arabia.
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Strange that he seems upset with Princey's contribution as he appears to have put in exactly the same amount as McCabe whilst they've been joint-owners...
 
snootyfenooty said:
If I was him I would have the feeling that I was sold a pup.
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I am happy that the Prince knew this when the deal was struck, he was gonna be putting money into someone elses Football Club

Sounded odd at the time, and still does now, but that was the deal, and that is what I think has happened .....

Yep, I agree its crackers, but there you are............
 

Sean Thornton said:
The tangible asset was never part of the original deal. HRH was fully aware of that. I'm presuming he and his advisors went into it with their eyes wide open so I'm not going to feel sorry for him if he thinks he's had his leg lifted. I'm grateful for his financial input though, which has assisted us in being where we are today.
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Yeah but don't you think the sales pitch went something like:

"You get half the club for nowt but put in a couple of million short-term, we piss this league, couple of years in the championship then you can cash in when we reach the promised land, what can possibly go wrong".

Sympathy I don't have either but you do get the feeling he went in with one eye shut and Kev pulled one over him.
 
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