Al Fayed sells Fulham

[Bianchi on Ice]

If it makes you feel better, he is an awful owner. They all want him out. He only bought the team with the hopes of moving it to Los Angeles.

Did you kmow that he isn Pakistani as well?

part of me would feel better if he got rid of that statue

[mcfc1632]

Another American owner. We need some new rules to stop these fucking spongers taking over the whole league and ending relegation/splitting up the TV money etc.

Fuck me.

a very kind offer, but.........

[Blue Since 76]

The mentality of the most profitable and successful sports league in the world? One where more than 3 or 4 teams have any shot of winning every year? And where the top players earn way more than prem league players? Yeah that would suck for everyone. You can bitch about american football ticket prices for sure but the league is the top model going.

You've got a league the size of the premier league and an audience the size of Europe - profit and high salaries are hardly surprising.

I do like the way any team could be successful, but that's due to the draft system, but that wouldn't work here - to get to university here, you have to be clever, not just good at football. Hence, no footballers go.

The banning of relegation/promotion is a real risk though, mooted by several American influences, including Cook. I'll never agree with that and if any City fan thinks it's a good idea, they have a very short memory.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

The mentality of the most profitable and successful sports league in the world? One where more than 3 or 4 teams have any shot of winning every year? And where the top players earn way more than prem league players? Yeah that would suck for everyone. You can bitch about american football ticket prices for sure but the league is the top model going.

You've got a league the size of the premier league and an audience the size of Europe - profit and high salaries are hardly surprising.

I do like the way any team could be successful, but that's due to the draft system, but that wouldn't work here - to get to university here, you have to be clever, not just good at football. Hence, no footballers go.

The banning of relegation/promotion is a real risk though, mooted by several American influences, including Cook. I'll never agree with that and if any City fan thinks it's a good idea, they have a very short memory.

It's been mooted for a long while that both the glasers and the people at liverpool would like to end the TV deals giving relatively equal shares to all clubs. If that happens it's the rags league every year which won't bother the liverpool owners who'll be coining it in. That'll only happen if they can put an end to relegation, though.

[Ted Hughes]

Another American owner. We need some new rules to stop these fucking spongers taking over the whole league and ending relegation/splitting up the TV money etc.

If it makes you feel better hes Pakistani I believe

Why would that make me feel better? He owns an American sport franchise. I don't want that mentality taking over professional football in this country.

I agree entirely. If they get enough influence they will change everything to suit themselves. We have seen the Glazers & that cunt at Liverpool driving through the ffp bollocks. A cartel of American sport owners controlling the Prem is an absolute nightmare scenario.

[JamieMCFC]

If it makes you feel better hes Pakistani I believe

He moved to the U.S. when he was 16 (1968 ) to go to the Univ of Illinois. He is a U.S. citizen has been since 1991.

[paulh]

Any American influence is usually bad whether it be sport, politics or anything.

[bluebananamilksheikh]

The new owner looks like the American porn star Ron Jeremy !!!

[DoomMerchant]

If it makes you feel better hes Pakistani I believe

He moved to the U.S. when he was 16 (1968 ) to go to the Univ of Illinois. He is a U.S. citizen has been since 1991.

..and he's still Pakistani. He can be both. We allow that.

Also, i disagree with the bullshit about American influence. No one who's a true fan of football would want to eliminate relegation, or restrict trade....in fact most of us see things like relegation in sports like Baseball or Basketball, where you could have lower leagues and teams, as a really positive thing which could elevate both sports.

However, you cannot deny the success of the NFL and the parity that it's financial controls and system has created. It's been a great thing for the league and the sport.

I don't know much about his guy who owns the Jaguars and now Fulham...if he invests and does something then how can it be a bad thing?

I hate the anti-American sentiment in this thread. It's as ridiculous as if some had an anti-Muslim bent about football ownership. Would people stand for that?

cheers

[Im_Spartacus]

..and he's still Pakistani. He can be both. We allow that.

Also, i disagree with the bullshit about American influence. No one who's a true fan of football would want to eliminate relegation, or restrict trade....in fact most of us see things like relegation in sports like Baseball or Basketball, where you could have lower leagues and teams, as a really positive thing which could elevate both sports.

However, you cannot deny the success of the NFL and the parity that it's financial controls and system has created. It's been a great thing for the league and the sport.

I don't know much about his guy who owns the Jaguars and now Fulham...if he invests and does something then how can it be a bad thing?

I hate the anti-American sentiment in this thread. It's as ridiculous as if some had an anti-Muslim bent about football ownership. Would people stand for that?

cheers

It's a generalisation, but I would say that there is a difference between US owners and those from elsewhere

The US owners tend to come here with a specific plan for profit, for example the glazers are long said to have come here seeing untapped reenue potential of the club and have come in and to be fair to them have done what they said they were going to do. The end game for them now is either to corner the global tv rights or sell up at a huge profit.

Owners of other nationalities seem to have slightly more diverse motives such as enhancing a personal or business reputation to open doors, protection (in the case of abramovich), or marketing a small country.

I think somebody coming in wanting to make a profit just naturally scares football fans, hence the sentiment against Americans.

I think city need to hang in there for a few years more and grow out global fan base, and I would bet that our board will be up with the american owners calling for individual tv deals which would fuck the smaller clubs.

[Beefymcfc]

Who said FFP would stop people coming in? Seems that FFP has benefited the sale of a club here, knowing that clubs like Fulham can be more profitable than before.

[BlueinBosnia]

The new owner looks like the American porn star Ron Jeremy !!!

Expect a merger with West Ham...

[Im_Spartacus]

Who said FFP would stop people coming in? Seems that FFP has benefited the sale of a club here, knowing that clubs like Fulham can be more profitable than before.

Only if they can balance the necessity to stay in the league, with a necessity to fund a squad by thrift

It's a fine balance and if they get it wrong, the riches of the premier league could be lost forever for a club like Fulham with small support who would then fall foul of the ffp measures in the championship restricting their ability to bounce straight back.

I can't see the benefit in somebody buying a mid table club at all, the risks seem to far outweigh the benefits

[JamieMCFC]

Has any owners come out and said they want individual TV deals? The only difference between he PL and NFL model is the NFL package is sold by conference. So the regular Sunday games are split between 2 channels by conference. The AFC is on CBS and the NFC is on FOX.

Doomie I know he can be both. But I would say he has more of an American in his business sense than Pakistan. Since he has been here for the majority of his life. I will check with my brother to see what the feeling down there is as far as how the fan base feels about him. He lives in Jacksonville.

[Im_Spartacus]

Has any owners come out and said they want individual TV deals? The only difference between he PL and NFL model is the NFL package is sold by conference. So the regular Sunday games are split between 2 channels by conference. The AFC is on CBS and the NFC is on FOX.

Doomie I know he can be both. But I would say he has more of an American in his business sense than Pakistan. Since he has been here for the majority of his life. I will check with my brother to see what the feeling down there is as far as how the fan base feels about him. He lives in Jacksonville.

I think more than one has said that they are aware of the possibilities, but for the time being nobody is breaking ranks and stating their case.

United have specifically said that in backing ffp, they are committed to fair play by not seeking to get their own tv deal hence protecting the other clubs - to me a clear threat of what they could do if the league didnt sign up to ffp, especially when the main protagonists in forcing ffp through we're the ones with the most to gain from individual tv rights

The current ffp is a shot across the boss from them clubs, and ffp is the compromise to stop them breaking up the collective negotiating of the premier league

[BlueinBosnia]

He lives in Jacksonville.

Relative in Jacksonville? Bosnian.

[Slim]

Let's say City were midtable and on the same sort of budget as Fulham, would anyone here actually begrudge Fulham a huge cash injection and the chance for them to break up the Sky Four?

I have tried to look at this from the perspective of City having no money because I know now that no other team can follow us to the big boys table and it makes it sort of difficult to not be magnanimous as a hollow gesture in the hypothetical.

Ironically I wonder if Liverpool start suffering fans drifting away if they'll go crying to the FA to lift domestic FFA so they can put themselves into debt again to compete.

[Beefymcfc]

Who said FFP would stop people coming in? Seems that FFP has benefited the sale of a club here, knowing that clubs like Fulham can be more profitable than before.

Only if they can balance the necessity to stay in the league, with a necessity to fund a squad by thrift

It's a fine balance and if they get it wrong, the riches of the premier league could be lost forever for a club like Fulham with small support who would then fall foul of the ffp measures in the championship restricting their ability to bounce straight back.

I can't see the benefit in somebody buying a mid table club at all, the risks seem to far outweigh the benefits

You could have a point but on this one I'll go with the bloke who has 2.5 bn in the bank after working is way through the system.

Fulham are a club that don't seem to have a huge amount of support but they do get a lot of social supporters from other clubs who probably can't afford the likes of Arsenal et al, plus they can get to see the big clubs when they come along. That's a niche market that is ever growing. There's also the upgrade in TV revenue.

The smaller clubs know they'll be playing second fiddle when it comes to FFP but to compensate that they are being given a really good deal from the media and could easily live within their means, on and off the pitch.

There's also the scope for investment within the constraints of the FFP which could see them fighting for cups or even a spot in Europe. You just never know.

[Twobob]

..and he's still Pakistani. He can be both. We allow that.

Also, i disagree with the bullshit about American influence. No one who's a true fan of football would want to eliminate relegation, or restrict trade....in fact most of us see things like relegation in sports like Baseball or Basketball, where you could have lower leagues and teams, as a really positive thing which could elevate both sports.

However, you cannot deny the success of the NFL and the parity that it's financial controls and system has created. It's been a great thing for the league and the sport.

I don't know much about his guy who owns the Jaguars and now Fulham...if he invests and does something then how can it be a bad thing?

I hate the anti-American sentiment in this thread. It's as ridiculous as if some had an anti-Muslim bent about football ownership. Would people stand for that?

cheers

You are correct DM, there are worse examples in football of non-American owners really fucking things up; Hearts, Notts County, Malaga to name a few. Its a kind of uneducated biased view mostly promoted by journalists who didn't like their beloved 'pool or Scum being ran by septics.

However i would say singling out Anti-American is more akin to being Antil-Bosnian as opposed to 'muslim'.

;-)

[gillie]

On the subject of foriegn owners fucking things up i think the the winners hands down are the Venky's they have turned Blackburn into a complete laughing stock.