Lack of interesting in buying us

[Putney Blade]

Chaps,

Just read that some US based multi-millionaire might be buying Coventry and getting them out of the shxt. Millwall, Hull and Bournemouth also recently attracted new investments/owners. None have the potential of United. Not advocating selling to some Johnny Foreigner, but am surprised there has been no sniffs (or public sniffs). Not counting the Nigerian connection, but why aren't we attracting the interest of others?

UTB

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

What potential does United have over the other teams?

 

[axel smeets]

What potential does United have over the other teams?

With regards to Bournemouth and Millwall, I have to ask: Are you serious?

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

they know mccabe would want silly money. and right now, were not worth it.

if we went bust and they could sniff a bargain, im sure theyd all circle like vultures.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

I think the fact McCabe wants to retain some interest / control might have something to do with it. A lot of buyers would want to take over completely and (probably) quite rightly, McCabe won't just let go.

 

[dingledog]

My guess is that only an interest in the football club is on offer. The ownership of all the physical assets would remain in the 'family' which makes it not that good an offer, in my humble opinion.

 

[LA Blade]

"Just read that some US based multi-millionaire."

Most people over here have never heard of SUFC, but alot of business people do visit the South of England?

 

[Foxy]

Those who make the most noise in public and pick the club most blatantly in the shit aren't the sort of new investment opportunities we are in the market for.

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

"Just read that some US based multi-millionaire."

Most people over here have never heard of SUFC, but alot of business people do visit the South of England?

Most people over there wouldn't be able to pick out the British Isles (let alone England) on a map. Beyond the handful of top clubs they may have heard of they won't give a toss about some poxy "soccer" club, unless they can turn a quick buck fleecing it.

 

[Kev Gee]

I think the fact McCabe wants to retain some interest / control might have something to do with it. A lot of buyers would want to take over completely and (probably) quite rightly, McCabe won't just let go.

Theres your answer.

 

[alcoblade]

I'm sure Coventry are about to be rescued from the brink and turned into the next ManUre - for the 3rd time.

I see Leeds' super rich new owners are not now actually super rich either. Or slightly rich. In fact, aren't they now fending off some car salesman?

UTB

 

[gavtheblade]

Maybe mcbobar doesnt want to sell at all.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

With regards to Bournemouth and Millwall, I have to ask: Are you serious?

I am serious. I think people are fooled into thinking we're a big club because we've got a larger ground capacity than the likes of Bournemouth and Millwall. We're no more worthy of investment than any other club.

I think most investors would prefer to blow their money in London or closer to London than Sheffield.

 

[axel smeets]

I am serious. I think people are fooled into thinking we're a big club because we've got a larger ground capacity than the likes of Bournemouth and Millwall. We're no more worthy of investment than any other club.

I think most investors would prefer to blow their money in London or closer to London than Sheffield.

I fully agree that investors would rather invest in clubs in London and the surrounding areas. Whether we are a big club or not is open to debate. We are a big city club with a reasonable fan base. We have not won a major domestic trophy for 88 years, nor played in a domestic cup final for 77. Since 1970, we have spent just 10 seasons in the top division.

In terms of having a larger ground capacity than Bournemouth and Millwall making us a bigger club, well, I won't even have a debate with you about that. We are still averaging 17500 in the third division, and still remain the only one of the two Sheffield clubs to have a 30000+ average in the last 40 years. We could be an investors dream in one respect. The fan base is large, does not have massive expectations, and still turns out in decent numbers both home and away.

Being 'worthy' of investment is a bit of an ambiguous statement. A club either gets investment or it doesn't. It's like a house thart is vauled at £100 000 and gets sold for £80k. If no one offers £100k for it, it ain't worth £100k. Whether it is worthy or not is irrelevant. If AFC Bournemouth or Millwall attract investment, then good for them. They have and we haven't. We certainly and undisputably have a larger fanbase and potential than either of those two clubs, but if someone decides to buy them and chuck £15815419414689164164 at them, then that is it.

 

[blade too long]

the americans buying coventry , are they like the super rich americans Strafford sorrted out to buy wednesday , for peanuts. are they like the super rich who bought notts county and led them into europe after sven took charge,, I tend to think when theyve bought their first 5 million pound player is the time to say wish we had that

 

[blade too long]

. We have not won a major domestic trophy for 88 years,

we are hardly alone in that respect ,
the league title , you need 350 million at least to be in with a set up fee
the fa cup , seen as a good stand by and by won by chelsea mostly of late except when man city spent 450 million to get it , portsmouth are paying a huge price for buying into it

the league cup , mere consolation , a well you tried cup , if the big 5/6 win it its well better than nowt
owls fans say its what keeps them above us winning that 1 trophy in their last 75 years . but its not a sign of achievement .if you look at the teams who won it 88 to 92 , wendies forest , luton oxford all have been in div 3 , 2 dropped out of the league , so its no pinter to greatness

the chances of us wolves , west brom , fulham etc winning any of these is the same as me winning the lottery
even Arsenal are 10% of the way to joining us

 

[Dkc]

Most soccer fans in the US have heard of SUFC, but mostly from our time in the PL and the Tevez affair.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

I fully agree that investors would rather invest in clubs in London and the surrounding areas. Whether we are a big club or not is open to debate. We are a big city club with a reasonable fan base. We have not won a major domestic trophy for 88 years, nor played in a domestic cup final for 77. Since 1970, we have spent just 10 seasons in the top division.

In terms of having a larger ground capacity than Bournemouth and Millwall making us a bigger club, well, I won't even have a debate with you about that. We are still averaging 17500 in the third division, and still remain the only one of the two Sheffield clubs to have a 30000+ average in the last 40 years. We could be an investors dream in one respect. The fan base is large, does not have massive expectations, and still turns out in decent numbers both home and away.

Being 'worthy' of investment is a bit of an ambiguous statement. A club either gets investment or it doesn't. It's like a house thart is vauled at £100 000 and gets sold for £80k. If no one offers £100k for it, it ain't worth £100k. Whether it is worthy or not is irrelevant. If AFC Bournemouth or Millwall attract investment, then good for them. They have and we haven't. We certainly and undisputably have a larger fanbase and potential than either of those two clubs, but if someone decides to buy them and chuck £15815419414689164164 at them, then that is it.

Our fan base is not an investors dream in any respect. It's quite good for our level.

My point is that unless you're from Sheffield, it's shit and unless you're a Blade, Sheffield United are just another team in the third division.

 

[axel smeets]

we are hardly alone in that respect ,
the league title , you need 350 million at least to be in with a set up fee
the fa cup , seen as a good stand by and by won by chelsea mostly of late except when man city spent 450 million to get it , portsmouth are paying a huge price for buying into it

the league cup , mere consolation , a well you tried cup , if the big 5/6 win it its well better than nowt
owls fans say its what keeps them above us winning that 1 trophy in their last 75 years . but its not a sign of achievement .if you look at the teams who won it 88 to 92 , wendies forest , luton oxford all have been in div 3 , 2 dropped out of the league , so its no pinter to greatness

the chances of us wolves , west brom , fulham etc winning any of these is the same as me winning the lottery
even Arsenal are 10% of the way to joining us

Well, football has changed so much in the last 20 years that we probably haven't had a realistic chance of winning a trophy since the Currie/Woodward/Salmons team of the early 70's. Look historically - Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal have won the majority of the league titles in this country between them. Forest have won the European Cup twice but wouldn't have if they hadn't hired the greatest manager in the history of football in a time before money became the overriding factor in the game.

But even when it was possible, we did not reach a post war cup final, because we weren't good enough. The fans keep turning out and coming back for more though, depsite us achieving precisely nowt.

 

[axel smeets]

Our fan base is not an investors dream in any respect. It's quite good for our level.

My point is that unless you're from Sheffield, it's shit and unless you're a Blade, Sheffield United are just another team in the third division.

We are just another team to most people, which is what we merit for what we have won and done since 1945. I wouldn't disagree with that statement, but I can't agree that the fanbase is average on that basis. As a big city club, the fact is that we can attract many people through the turnstiles on a matchday, and that gives us a bit of potential.

 

[blade too long]

We managed 3 FA / league cup semis as a championship club , in a decade not many prem teams have done that , outside the top 4

we still have the 5th best all time league record , to say we are a div 3 club is like saying wigan have always been a top division club

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

I think most investors would prefer to blow their money in London or closer to London than Sheffield.

I think it is because has Sheffield has the notorious reputation of being the capital of the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire.

There isn't a capitalist (expect a Blades supporter) that would touch us with a barge pole IMHO

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

We are just another team to most people, which is what we merit for what we have won and done since 1945. I wouldn't disagree with that statement, but I can't agree that the fanbase is average on that basis. As a big city club, the fact is that we can attract many people through the turnstiles on a matchday, and that gives us a bit of potential.

Axel, I think you're going a bit off topic. It doesn't matter what we have or haven't done since 1945.

Nobody is going to invest on the basis of potential to attract people through the turnstiles, not for a third division club in Sheffield.

 

[axel smeets]

Axel, I think you're going a bit off topic. It doesn't matter what we have or haven't done since 1945.

Nobody is going to invest on the basis of potential to attract people through the turnstiles, not for a third division club in Sheffield.

No, but earlier you felt that Bournemouth and /or Millwall would be equally as attractive a proposition.

 

[Deleted member 875]

But would the likes of Sisu, Balram Chainrai, Hicks and Gillett, the Venkys, Muntu Finance coming in be a more attractive prospect?

 

[Highbury_Blade]

post: 484746, member: 875"]But would the likes of Sisu, Balram Chainrai, Hicks and Gillett, the Venkys, Muntu Finance coming in be a more attractive prospect?

Spot on. No love for McCabe but when you look at some of the dickheads buying clubs these days....

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

No, but earlier you felt that Bournemouth and /or Millwall would be equally as attractive a proposition.

We seem to keep quoting each other but I don't think we're having the same conversation.

Let's say I'm a foreign investor looking to waste some money on a football club. I'd land in London, see some of my friends and see if there was a club there I could potter about with. If not I'd look to the south coast. Then I'd look to the west, then the east, then perhaps the West Midlands. Then I'd say fuck it, I'm going home.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

most americans have never heard of man city. in fact, most americans probably think england is just london and we all know the queen.

we dont need foreign owners anyway, we need mccabe to get his backbone back or to sell us to someone local who actually gives a toss about the club. not some foreigners just interested in making a fast buck.

 

[Princess Annes Dog]

Spot on. No love for McCabe but when you look at some of the dickheads buying clubs these days....

True, but it's a dickheads game now isn't it? Run by dickheads, managed by dickheads and in the main played by dickheads. Football sold it's soul when Sky bought the rights, simple as. Now it's not about the game, it's about merchandise and money. Not always been that way, when I was young we had a fabulous team, and there were no replica shirts, no 4.00pm Sunday kick offs, no high tech half time bullshit to try and convince you that you didn't really see what you just saw. It was a proper game played by real men and followed by rough and ready fans. Football today is an embarrassment and with reference to an earlier post, whenever I've sat down over here and tried to explain the games appeal it all goes down the pan when folks see the cheating, diving over hyped antics of the so-called Premier League superstars and they think I'm insane.

I can't understand why any foreigner would want to invest in football, let alone the Blades. It's more like pantomine now, and we're just seen as a very small part of that.

 

[Bladesway]

So you have to ask yourself why no one is interested? Or are people interested, just not at the price short arms wants to sell at? With all the strings attached. McCabe still wants to walk away with a big fat cheque AND call the shots from the background. No new owner be he Venkys comedy club or Abramovics hit men will be interested unless they have absolute power.

Until the crooked twats in the Premier League and in fact the rest of the game gets its fit and proper persons rules in order you are always going to be left with the possibility of a Mongolian war lord popping his head up at your club. But whilever you have people like Scudamore who think any publicity is better than no publicity the game as we know it will disappear down the plughole.

Is McCabe a bad owner? I believe he is because of his incompotence at hiring the right people to do the job and completely pulling the rug from under them at the first sign of an offer. Oh and the constant spinning of bullshit and change of club policy (its about youth until Reading pop up with a million quid then its about the money again) but he isn't alone in that is he now? Could it be worse? It could but lets be honest, not much.

Anyone who thinks Jacob Essan or whatever his name is will be the answer is deluded. My worry is perhaps McCabe does think he is the answer which is why we publicised it.

So we bimble along the bottom of the food chain while the possible riches at the top table get bigger but more out of reach. I'd take the risk of a shot at the big time, if I actually thought it would be worth the risk. But I'm coming to the conclusion I and many like me would be happy with the odd tilt at the Play offs in the Championship and mid table mediocrity the rest of the time.