Radrizzani

[Nic]

With the ad campaign in full swing after agreeing the contract extension, maybe the Bielsa factor will be used to full effect and bring in a few players who might not otherwise consider dropping to the championship.

[PhoenixUnited]

Just a thought boys; Radrizzani isn’t a supporter he’s an investor ... time to start investing alternately he should consider getting his black and white scarf on and going back to Turin. We’ve got a genius of a manager he needs support him.

Really? We're just getting used to the idea of a settled owner with very good signs that things are moving in the right direction for once and a ship that is being steadied.

On the back of a very decent season I can't see or understand the reasoning for setting AR ultimatums like that.

What if he does decide to leave - then what? Another leap into the abyss? Support is not just about chucking a shed load of cash at it; as has already been said, there is no guarantee that it will definitely get you success. Knowing our luck we'd get landed with another GFH, Ken Bates, Massimo Cellino!

[Selby White]

Just a thought boys; Radrizzani isn’t a supporter he’s an investor ... time to start investing alternately he should consider getting his black and white scarf on and going back to Turin. We’ve got a genius of a manager he needs support him.

Really? We're just getting used to the idea of a settled owner with very good signs that things are moving in the right direction for once and a ship that is being steadied.

On the back of a very decent season I can't see or understand the reasoning for setting AR ultimatums like that.

What if he does decide to leave - then what? Another leap into the abyss? Support is not just about chucking a shed load of cash at it; as has already been said, there is no guarantee that it will definitely get you success. Knowing our luck we'd get landed with another GFH, Ken Bates, Massimo Cellino!

Well said Phoenix, stability and keep the Club moving forward, we have that with AR

[Mr Russell]

Just a thought boys; Radrizzani isn’t a supporter he’s an investor ... time to start investing alternately he should consider getting his black and white scarf on and going back to Turin. We’ve got a genius of a manager he needs support him.

Really? We're just getting used to the idea of a settled owner with very good signs that things are moving in the right direction for once and a ship that is being steadied.

On the back of a very decent season I can't see or understand the reasoning for setting AR ultimatums like that.

What if he does decide to leave - then what? Another leap into the abyss? Support is not just about chucking a shed load of cash at it; as has already been said, there is no guarantee that it will definitely get you success. Knowing our luck we'd get landed with another GFH, Ken Bates, Massimo Cellino!

Well said Phoenix, stability and keep the Club moving forward, we have that with AR

Agreed!

I think we'd love to see Rads open his wallet a bit more and maybe he might for next season but I don't see him as a gung-ho kind of person or a maverick that we have had before.

I can't say I've agreed with everything thing he has done whilst he's been in charge of the club but he's no fool and he won't put the club in jeopardy for the sake of overspending.

[Davycc]

Well said Phoenix, stability and keep the Club moving forward, we have that with AR

Agreed!

I think we'd love to see Rads open his wallet a bit more and maybe he might for next season but I don't see him as a gung-ho kind of person or a maverick that we have had before.

I can't say I've agreed with everything thing he has done whilst he's been in charge of the club but he's no fool and he won't put the club in jeopardy for the sake of overspending.

Totally agree, leaving Elland Road would be a disaster ! And besides there's enough clubs in Jeopardy already.

On a serious note I second Mr Russell

[Deleted User 5081]

I think Radrizzani is doing an excellent job in keeping things together while pursuing his ultimate goals of getting this club back where it should be and also to make some money from the club when he does eventually sell up. ISR, I remember a few years ago you were championing about Steve Gibson the owner of Middlesbrough and how he runs that club and i agreed with you at the time because Middlesbrough had stability.

We have gone through a huge gulf of insecurities in not only having the huge debt issues and then differing owners stripping anything of value away from the club. Remember back to when Blackwell was the manager and also when Poyet and Denis wise had to constantly build teams from loans to players who were free.

Radrizzani is not a fan of Leeds United in the sense of what we have grown up to be but i can assure you he is fast becoming a huge fan of the club while he has been here. From day one when it was mentioned he was buying a 50% stake in the club from Cellino he put in 10 million of his money as an assurance even before he fully took over the club. He has his heart set in the right place mate. It's common knowledge that he can't afford to bankroll a huge amount towards the first team squad and he is running a very tight ship but is it a successful one so far.

In the two years he has owned the club, he has bought back Elland Road our spiritual home, Brought in a top class manager in Bielsa, Brought in a backroom staff that many of the so called bigger teams in England would be proud of as well as financed the upsurge in the youth squad which was decimated under Cellino and GFH etc. In the next few years there will be a lot of household names come from that investment, It's already starting to show its potential.

I do however agree we need some investment to the first team playing squad and most wouldn't deny that. How much or how little Radrizzani can invest is down to how he can wheel and deal just like every other club around the world. Does he sell another huge chunk of shares to someone to raise capital for investment? does he dip into his own wealth which is also to be considered for his other business interests? It's his call at the end of the day.

[isrodger]

We are all somewhat ignorant to the facts surrounding Radrizzani’s ownership. The Jury is out in my opinion I’m neutral, as explained in my original post.

Your right - CorkWhite I did champion Steve Gibson. 2 points here Radrizzani’s motives in owning us are a world apart from those of Gibson, secondly probably the game has moved on since then.

Radz bought the club to make money out of us, I would be astonished if he’s still around in 3 years time, when he will eventually sell up, I hope??and believe to QSI.

He knew the cost of owning a championship club when he acquired us, competing with those with parachute payments. He recognises the massive potential @ Leeds. Potentially we should be competing with the likes of City, Spurs and Chelsea. For younger readers we were ahead of them 20 years ago, the difference now being multi billionaire ownership. It is clear he lacks the funds to underwrite the maximum losses permissible within FFP & thus deliver the optimum financial support to deliver on a business plan to take us to the next level.

The evidence is highlighted below.

1. Our ownership, firstly it has to be said there is significant evidence to suggest QSI are grooming Leeds for acquisition and may already have a financial stake - This assumption is complicated by 49ers deal, which is complicated in itself. Radz need for money to support the business has as you know seen him sell between 13% and 25.1% of the equity in the company for £11m. As a result of failing to win promotion I believe that 13% voting rights equity has / will move to 17%.
2. The sale of Viera. This was done post agreement with Bielsa re the squad size and make up, despite Bielsa indicating he wished to retain his services and would triple his value.
3. The Dan James fiasco. Ignoring the value the player may have brought to the club. Fact is we could have had the player for £5m plus add ons on 1st of January. By the 31st we had agreed a deal to pay £6.5m (30% more) plus add ons in order to secure £5.75m of credit for 5 months! Clearly this would damage the immediate profitability of the business; however failure to actually do either deal jeopardised the potential £200m windfall from promotion and has cost Radz a proportion of the voting equity.

There is a popular misconception that LUFC owns the ground it doesn’t. Elland Road Stadium is owned by AR, not directly by Leeds United Football Club Limited (Leeds) but by Greenfield Investment Pte Ltd (which is the ultimate parent co. of Leeds - via an intermediary Aser co.) Had he purchased the ground on behalf of the Leeds United entity, then perhaps a sale lease back would have been an option to circumvent FFP - what Derby has done.

I am happy to give Radz the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s well intended and we are an Operating company / Property Company structure, common place which effectively allows the OP co to go bust and protect the Property Co. The deal may have also been influenced by charges GFH still have over LUFC. That said there is nothing to stop Radz / the Singapore based Property Co charging the OP co £20m pa in rent in 12 months time, a great return on an asset acquired for £19m ?

Radz for me is our best owner since Silver, but I am happy acknowledge that maybe Cellino possibly did more to put our finances in order than what he has done, so far. Whilst Cellino was Mad, it is worthy of note the club was much more profitable, costs were more in control and arguably we had a better playing squad. Our understanding of Radrizzani’s tenure can only be based on Hindsight - understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened or developed. I truly hope our owner does the right thing by the club and not the best thing for him personally. Sale of players such as Clarke & Philips at this stage would smack financial desperation in my opinion. The biggest question mark for me surrounds the 49ers deal. Maybe his reluctance to involve his mate from Qatar is based on pride & keeping the Qataris at arms length whilst retaining control to sell at a higher price, we will see.

[Another Northern Soul]

Praising Cellino for improving the club's finances is like praising a man for chopping his own foot off to save on shoe bills.

[isrodger]

Praising Cellino for improving the club's finances is like praising a man for chopping his own foot off to save on shoe bills.

Please explain ? Revenue increased significantly whilst costs were brought under control as witnessed by the annual accounts. Lost revenue streams mortgaged off by Bates were brought back under the clubs control. Whilst it’s acceptable to say you didn’t like the man or his methods I think your factually incorrect.

BTW how’s the socialist cooperative of LFU going on? Anyone got their money back yet? Like all socialist movements they ran out of other people’s money didn’t they?

[Davycc]

Praising Cellino for improving the club's finances is like praising a man for chopping his own foot off to save on shoe bills.

Please explain ? Revenue increased significantly whilst costs were brought under control as witnessed by the annual accounts. Lost revenue streams mortgaged off by Bates were brought back under the clubs control. Whilst it’s acceptable to say you didn’t like the man or his methods I think your factually incorrect.

BTW how’s the socialist cooperative of LFU going on? Anyone got their money back yet? Like all socialist movements they ran out of other people’s money didn’t they?

Ok peeps, lets take a breath shall we. It's pretty clear that we all have different views on the owners performance etc. Lets just agree to differ and move on. Don't want to close the thread but will do if things keep going. Isrodger, you're reply was fair enough but (and to my shame I know very little about LFU or it's running) that remark to anyone can only be seen as antagonistic.