QSI interest and potential investment discussion thread

[Deleted User 728]

As requested, this is a thread for all discussion of ownership and investment in the light of the breaking news about QSI talking to AR about buying a stake in the club ...

[Wigwam]

Really don't want this to happen. It's so far away, in my view, from what football is supposed to be. I know everything is money driven these days, but getting states and governments involved just seems so wrong. It's so bad I actually found myself pleased that ManU knocked PSG out of the Champions League this year and that can't be right!

[isrodger]

This is posted in response to a question posed by Rigger. It may just be educated (or uneducated) guess work however I do think it puts the recent takeover rumours into context.

When Radz bought LUFC it was reported he was worth between £300 & £500m - paper wealth, based largely on estimates of the value of his digital Sports rights TV businesses, Aser & MP & Silva, the latter which he had sold off to Chinese investors. I believe a significant proportion of the proceeds of the sale of Silva were earmarked for the purchase of LUFC and the ground.

Eleven Sports his digital platform has had a mixed performance recently securing and relinquishing la liga rights in the UK. It’s probably running at a loss.

In terms of LUFC he is in for Circa £60/£70m. Probably the value he could sell the ground for (which is not owned by LUFC). I don’t believe he’s prepared to invest anymore cash in the club. The club runs at a loss as do all championship clubs. Owners like Morris & Lansdown invariably inject circa £10m of capital into their clubs annually in order to shore up the losses - the Max permitted under FFP. Both of these owners have invested significantly in the infrastructure of their clubs which is permitted & is outside of the FFP rules.

Last summer rather than injecting cash as capital into the club Radz chose to allow the 49ers to do so. The £11m went into the club, for 11% of the company. I believe this equity stake increases 2% per annum for 3yrs, up to a max of 17% should promotion not be achieved. I believe the 49ers stake is now 13%. On sale of the club I believe they are guaranteed £11m or their equity stake whichever is the higher.

This summer there is the ‘need’ to inject additional capital to shore up the losses & invest in loans like last season (he could just sell a player Clarke & not replace). If he is able to sell say 10% for £10m (with no add ons) and this investment results in promotion, whilst he is diluted by a further 10% he’s saved 4% he otherwise would have had to transfer to the 49ers, and he owns 77% of a club that’s worth 3 times as much.

Transfers - the Viera transfer was the first indication of how tightly managed the cash flow of the company was. Bielsa & Radz wanted to keep the player. Bielsa indicating he’d be worth double in 12 months time. James - the deal was agreed at £5m then a loan to buy at £6.5m. £750k in January the balance in July. Both of these deals highlight short term thinking as a result of short term financial pressures.

I honestly believe QSI will acquire us. When is the question. They would like control now, but Radz wants to exit once premiership football is achieved (with a significantly greater bounty). The question is does he have the cash to deliver promotion? He probably deeply regrets not finding or rather having the funds in January to give us a greater chance.

Qatari links are all over the club already, as we know Nasser Al Khelaifi is big mates with Radz.. It’s not impossible that it the pair will work together and a soft entry is preferable to QSI. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Radz stay as chairman once he sells. Hopefully then QSI choose to turn us into the next City not a glorified Charlton .... knowing our luck it will be the latter !

[Deleted User 728]

I know exactly what you mean and also felt the same way, the weirdest thing about it all was that Man U felt like the plucky underdogs

I've got an Everton-supporting mate who's been banging on for years about how the game is corrupt across the world and when states are getting involved and the PR machine starts whirring and the Sky deal still goes up and the Champions League music is playing and even the sponsors can't be bothered to go to Baku and they still can't fill the stadium and there's a penalty to Liverpool in the first minute of the match and ..

I keep saying it, I know why people are turning their backs to watch non-league football.
I went to watch Eastleigh this season and had a great time. They played Hartlepool, it was a cracking 4-3 win for the home side, I had Bovril from a little hut at half-time and spent the first ten minutes of the second half leaning on a pitch-side railing as the tackles came crunching in, yards from my feet, the crowd was passionate, knowledgeable, friendly and entirely mixed - loads of family groups and lots of women watching - and I was sitting in a brand new stand that had been opened that day. It cost about £12.

.. and that's one of the "rich" non-league clubs who've had a lot of investment.
Imagine a proper, run down ground ?
I'd probably explode with joy

[Davycc]

One view saying it's not happening.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 43451.html

[ChilwellWhite]

I believe this story is more than rumours and has legs, to me there’s definitely something in it. It’s my understanding that Radrizzani is currently in Doha holding talks with NasserAl-Khelaifi, now is this regarding investment or ownership ?

[PhoenixUnited]

Remembering the Revie era where there was a deal of success, and also too much that we were so close to getting but missed by a whisker I hanker for those days again. I want to be at the top table once more.

I feel sorry for the younger tykes who have never had those experiences and wish the good times for them too.

It's not all about money but without it in shed loads we don't stand an earthly chance of getting on and being stable enough to stay up if and when we do. If we had got to the Promised Land with our current financial envelope and even with Premiership income we'd be up against it is the reality IMHO.

[isrodger]

Remembering the Revie era where there was a deal of success, and also too much that we were so close to getting but missed by a whisker I hanker for those days again. I want to be at the top table once more.

I feel sorry for the younger tykes who have never had those experiences and wish the good times for them too.

It's not all about money but without it in shed loads we don't stand an earthly chance of getting on and being stable enough to stay up if and when we do. If we had got to the Promised Land with our current financial envelope and even with Premiership income we'd be up against it is the reality IMHO.

Your right .... Perversely I wanted to go up last season but didn’t want to end up in the premier league! The reality being the likes of Watford could rock up at Elland road and beat us 4 nil.

[Deleted User 728]

If we had got to the Promised Land with our current financial envelope and even with Premiership income we'd be up against it is the reality IMHO.

Of course, but if we're sensible and plan to come back down then go back up again within a couple of years, I think we'd have a much better chance of remaining in the EPL for the long haul.
There's only so long clubs like Bournemouth, Brighton and Burnley can stay up there. Bournemouth actually have a lot of money, while Brighton have a great new ground and a massive catchment area, but Burnley without Dyche would plummet and stay down like Swansea, Cardiff, Huddersfield, etc.
We would have a great chance because of our own fan-base, the worldwide name (I'm not using the word "brand") the ground and room for expansion thereof, the training facilities and - for now at least - Mr Bielsa.

[NottinghamWhite]

Personally what ever it takes ( well apart from Red Bull ) to get us back to where we belong. Footballs all about money these days whether we like it or not. Let’s see what happens here but the story isn’t coming from a “red top” newspaper it’s the Financial Times so I believe Radz is playing it down. In reality what’s another £10m going to get us in the grand scheme of things ?