Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
The corridors of power at your club
Thursday 1st April 2010, 9:05AM BST.
Albion blogger Jarrod Hill wonders what can really be done to halt the escalating number of clubs financially going to the wall in the modern era.
Nine points and six games to go, and tomorrow we have a chance to make it a 12-point gap. Like many of you I am enjoying being an Albion fan at the moment and the two Easter games coming up could all but confirm our promotion if Nottingham Forest continue to fluff their lines.
Neither game against Leicester or Watford can be taken lightly, but they do represent an opportunity to continue our march towards the Premier League.
Unusually for this season we do not have a midweek game to reflect on, so I have taken the opportunity to discuss the current hot topic in football – club ownership.
Everyone within the corridors of power in football are discussing making changes to the way football clubs can be owned in the future.
The financial collapse at a number of clubs and the high profile situation regarding Manchester United’s purchase by the Glazer family has had the FA, FIFA and the Premier League all looking for future solutions through a change in the current rules.
I have listened to endless phone-ins and articles where fans of various clubs who have suffered due to less than frugal ownership going on and on about how the FA or Premier League have let them down.
Their point has been the haphazard manner in which prospective purchasers of their clubs have been screened by the ruling bodies and are pushing for a system that would eradicate unsuitable people from owning football clubs.
Portsmouth have become the point of focus due to their Premier League status and I do feel sympathy for their fans left behind to pick up the pieces.
But can they really place blame at the door of anybody other than the people who brought these people into their club?
I agree that the FA can possibly do more to protect the integrity of the game we all dearly love, but in truth is it really their job to ensure that any person or persons wanting to purchase a football club is going to do a good job?
If we take two recent examples of clubs attracting new owners, and I know I will receive some stick for this but here goes. A while ago we had two clubs both looking for new investors to take them hopefully to the next level, Portsmouth and Wolves.
Pompey were bought by Alexandre Gaydamak in 2006 who, along with new manager Harry Redknapp, went about rebuilding a playing squad to acquire success.
Success was achieved when they won the FA Cup and had an excellent season in the Premier League, but the cost could not have been any greater.
The club was haemorrhaging money due to a wage bill that could not be managed and was quickly sold through negotiation via Peter Storrie to Sulaiman Al Fahim.
The finances of the club meant the new owner then sold the club to Ali Al Faraj due to insurmountable debts, again negotiated through Storrie.
Administration soon followed and with relegation a certainty due to the nine point deduction, fans at Fratton Park now face a rather uncertain future.
Our near neighbours and rivals Wolves, having been owned for a number of years by Sir Jack Hayward, also looked for a new owner who could offer future investment.
Many offers came and went with time tickling by, as Sir Jack stuck to his guns that anyone new coming into the club must agree to certain stipulations.
Eventually the club announced that Steve Morgan had become the new owner.
His investment has never matched the early expectation but, through careful planning and a shrewd purchasing policy within the player transfer market, promotion from the Championship was achieved last season.
His first Premier League season under his stewardship has again seen the continuation of investing in the playing staff without taking financial risks and, with only a handful of games remaining, their target of avoiding relegation look increasingly likely.
OK, Wolves haven’t won the FA Cup under Morgan, but that is no small consolation to Portsmouth fans who fear for their clubs future.
I suppose the point I am alluding to is would FA sanctions on who is allowed to own our clubs have changed anything in these two cases?
Surely the difference between the two clubs was the role played by both Storrie at Potsmouth and Sir Jack along with Jez Moxey at Wolves.
Ambition is something that drives us all on as football fans and I am sure that same ambition burns even more fiercely within our clubs chairman, owners and directors, but should we really be making it the FA`s responsibility to ensure our club carries out its business in a correct manner?
I am lucky enough to be a shareholder in my own business and the thought of having to be policed into not making catastrophic errors in the future seems a little silly, but I suppose football clubs are not just businesses, they are an integral part of our communities and thus must be treated with greater care.
I will view with great interest what new rules come out of the corridors of power and, for the sake of the future of the game, I hope they can prevent some of the situations that currently dominate the back page headlines.
Personally I have mixed feelings on the matter, part of me believes clubs should be able to not only run themselves but also protect themselves from inadequate ownership.
Let’s face it most clubs have managed to do it for well over the past 100 years, but these are uncertain times and no football fan wants to witness their club add their name to the list of Leeds, Crystal Palace or Portsmouth.
In truth it us the fans who ultimately pay the price anyway, as always.
My learned friends, I am keen to hear what your opinion on the matter is, and what if any new rules you would be keen to see.
Always and forever, up the Baggies!
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Jarrod.
Great blog.
On the surface it doesn’t concern us. Or does it? How many people want JP to go down the lines of these clubs? What they say is that they don’t want him to go as far as Portsmouth or Leeds did but here lies the problem.
As you will know you can have a solid ‘little’ unspectacular business that turns a profit, offers a living but doesn’t make anyone rich.
On the other hand you can go for it by investing your forecast profits thereby gambling on the future. This can work but once on this treadmill you cannot stand still because your future profits depend on your current success.
The problem is that this may not matter too much when it’s MFI, you can buy your furniture elsewhere, it does matter if you support a football club and nowhere else will ever do.
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An excellent blog mate. Thought provoking and sensible.
I probably will get slaughtered for my opinions. I dont want arussian billionaire, i dont want a foreign business to take us over. I’m a baggie, i grew up in west brom, and came back a while ago. I support my local club and am proud of my club. I want us to be the best we can be, but on the backs of who we really are, and not some front for a wealthy man who has more interest in his yachts, women and shares. I dont beleive that means we cant stay up next year and i do believe that as a financially sound club we will attract some decent players at sensible money and sensible transfer fees. I know and appreciate that a premiership goal scorer or a premiership defender will cost money, but i want platers to turn out in our shirt because they want to, not because they get paid huge salaries. I would agree that the responsibility has to be with the club, unfortunately some clubs have not been careful enough, thats a big reason i support fully Jeremy Peace, under him there will always be a west brom. It doesnt bother me one bit that he pays himself £500k this season, or £600k in a premiership season, i believe he earns every penny. Like you i want success, and i do believe thers enough quality in place at our club to secure a premiership future, but you know what mate ill be ther in two years time(god willing) and if its the prem great and if its the championship, great.
As i said super super blog, cant wait for tommorrow, or monday or next saturday
BAAGGGGIIIIEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS
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Its a shame when we have to read our blog and talk about how well Wolves are doing. We are doing well financially to only be 7 million in debt, which we have under control. We will never go under with JP running the club but we will never be more than a yo-yo club either.
Two loan signings have looked class acts in our midfield and they cannot get into Wigan or Blackburns squads respectively. Shos the huge task we have at hand if we are promoted.
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The financial systems used in American sport and also F1 where there are salary caps or budget limits should be introduced to prevent so called wealthy clubs from expoiting the sysytem because no-one at the premiier league or FA has the ba**s to stand up to them.
How can you owe £800 million pounds and be the 2nd wealthiest club in the world ??
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Great Blogg and good replies. I agree with Hilltop. Thats a great summary as how it is as a Baggie fan. But also how it is in most fans eyes, and they haven’t had the great times we’ve had in the last few seasons. Pompy fans had no choice in whats happened, and we would have no choice either. Our only choice is whether to turn up or not. Theres no way the authorities can dictate who buys a club, because legally the current owners can sell to whoever they want. The league, the government, the queen,even Sir Terry, no one can stop an owner selling his shares. So enjoy the ride we’re on.
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Bomber,
The best blog you have ever written. I have stated before and believe the F.A. and F.I.F.A. should make ground rules that make professional football fair for all clubs. Rules I would like, to make football ameliorate.(1)No more than £10,000,000 debt at any one time. (2) No selling
a player before a selling club have paid for him.(3) 50% of players in any one club to be from country of origin.(4) No breakaway leagues,back to the original divisions 1, 2, 3, 4.(5) Any manager appointed has to see out the current contract. (6) All players must see out current contracts THEY have agreed to.(7) Pro-football
referee rules adhered to and not to be altered at a referees whim. I’m sure there are lots more rules that ought to be made,but I’d like these to be mulled over by the powers that be.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Crossing a stream, you can step one stone at a time and reach the other side. You can try to cross quickly by jumping on every other stone. The
risk is should you slip on landing you’ll end up
with a wet butt. Same with football finance.
(post 3)
Dudley, Sometimes a player moves to another club and is a better player for it.
(post 4)
Happy,Smack on the nose.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~Jth.
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Thanks guys for the well thought out replies and the praise for the blog. I do like to write these type of themed blogs, however as you can see they do not generate as much of a debate as others that are specifically Albion related so i keep them to being few and far
between.
Hope see some of you tomorrow, ill be in the Sportsman from about 2.30ish.
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Jack – Nice rules. But first of all you’d have to amalgamate the League and Premiership. I’m afraid turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.
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Good blog Jarrod, very thought provoking. You can also add Hull to the list of teams that have been financially mismanaged hence their auditors offering a very nervous going concern opinion on their recent audit report.
If the FA is really going to step up to the plate the two areas it needs to focus on are as follows:
1) Wages and salaries, as this is the biggest outflow for any club. Imposing some sort of cap will certainly help in this regard. However, the challenge will be structuring a tiered cap system for each division.
2) The level of debt incurred by a club. The best way to deal with this would be to impose some sort of leverage covenant i.e. the level of debt has to be commensurable to the cash flows generated by each team. For example, if a club generates 5 million of free cash flow each year and the leverage covenant is 4.0x then they can and should be able to comfortably service 20 million of debt. This can also be applied across the board as a team like Man Utd generates far more cash than us and so can obviously carry and service more debt.
The FA should also have a stringent interview process for all prospective new owners that encompasses a comprehensive diligence and background check. Only when the FA signs off on this can the person/s move forward with their acquisition.
Finally, I think recent events just highlight for me what a fantastic job JP is doing at the Albion.
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I think the way JP has run our club has been excellent. Not least because he has to stand up to many Baggies fans critisising and screaming at him to invest more money than we have. He has stuck to his guns and I hope he goes on to get the benefits and the appreciation that he deserves. I suppose the only way he is going to be judged a success is if we can establish in the prem, which is still a possibility. I will be so proud of our club to have done it on our own terms without a sugar daddy feeding us. Hail JP!
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I think we’re lucky in this country due to the relative freedom that clubs have to run themselves Jarrod. I fear however that it’ll be the Portsmouths of this world that will ruin this freedom for us all. For instance all french football teams have to adhere to strict government financial regulations = they can’t go into debt. But then they can’t afford to attract top players like in England. Every top european league has its financial difficulties but it seems it’s only in England where the heritage of our country’s sport of choice is at a risk of being reduced to rubble.
We ultimately want to see the best players & unadulterated glory but like hill top, I agree it’s about being responsible, living within your means and achieving success on your own back without a cash-crazy billionaire.
If english football clubs continue to sacrifice prudency we’re only encouraging FIFA and UEFA to adopt a european style of financial governance- an extension of the french model- a model which both Blatter and Platini are trying to edge Europe and esp. England closer too.
Phew!…that said, all I’m really thinking about is a demolition job of the foxes tomorrow- 3 points is my definition of a good friday :)
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Good blog Jarrod, very thought provoking.
If the FA is really going to step up to the plate the two areas it needs to focus on are as follows:
1) Wages and salaries, as this is the biggest outflow for any club. Imposing some sort of cap will certainly help in this regard. However, the challenge will be structuring a tiered cap system for each division.
2) The level of debt incurred by a club. The best way to deal with this would be to impose some sort of leverage covenant i.e. the level of debt has to be commensurable to the cash flows generated by each team. For example, if a club generates 5 million of free cash flow each year and the leverage covenant is 4.0x then they can and should be able to comfortably service 20 million of debt. This can also be applied across the board as a team like Man Utd generates far more cash than us and so can obviously carry and service more debt.
The FA should also have a stringent interview process for all prospective new owners that encompasses a comprehensive diligence and background check. Only when the FA signs off on this can the person/s move forward with their acquisition.
Finally, I think recent events just highlight for me what a fantastic job JP is doing at the Albion.
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Well said warandpeace. JP is a star and has been from the beginning. He is a supporter and if we can’t be in Prem his way, I don’t want any other. No sensible multimillionaire can finance a Prem club now.
Carru on JP
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To paraphrase what a wise man once said … How do you build a million dollar business?
Simple; buy a 100 million dollar business, and run it like a Football Club!
Ownership is not the issue, Operating it is, or should I say specifically, the unsustainably high operational gearing ratios.
No business can be viable long term when for every 100 units it takes in, it forks out 110. Very soon, liquidity will be called into question.
Short term, a false sense of viability is sustained by topping up with debt, via loans from rich sugar daddy owners (not you Tell :)
However, when finances dry up as we’ve seen these past 12 months, that creates the spectre of the Club, its Players & us Fans, all peering into a large black hole (eg, Portsmouth, West Ham & Hull {see article in Guardian this week on Hull’s finances})
Assuming that financiers keep funding, operational gearing also squeezes profits, when top line revenues decrease, as clubs still need to pay those fixed salary commitments.
On this latter point, yesterday’s Ofcom decision may result in pushing Premier club revenues down, and consequences of a reduction in future earnings were clearly evident when the ITV digital rights deal fell apart a few years back.
As the key operational issues seem to stem from Player purchases & salaries, tackle this cause of poor liquidity, and just focus on that activity. I see little value in policing who does/does not buys a club.
For better governance, I’d rather there be some industry wide agreement on what are sensible ratios, at the P&L and Balance Sheet levels. There are relatively easy ways to gauge liquidity.
Use of ratios automatically factors in club size, as Man U could commit larger amounts than the Baggies for instance, as they bring in much higher revenues, and, have a much stronger asset base.
When a club decides to go out of band on these key ratios, it usually is as a result of transfer activity. As the powers that be always have to sanction this activity already, failure to pass some simple liquidity tests would lead to an embargo of the transfer; simple.
Whilst one cannot change history, at least you can provide some limited protection to the fans going forward, by preventing a club digging itself deeper into a hole.
Bomber, there you go, good blog, and my hat’s off too to JP :)
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Now that is a proper blog. Bomber applaud you for yet another great effort.
Im sure we have all sat there at times and thought what if a Rusky billionaire came in and through millions at the club. Where could we end? I have but then my senses kick in and to be honest love the position we are in. Stable and successful (for a size of our club). We have a tradition and most of us have values. I dont like using the word family club but we are a club that is doing things the right way.
I look at what the Greed League/Sky/Champions League has done to our game and various clubs and I thank my lucky stars our club still has a soul.
Pompey spent all that money for what? An FA cup win! The money is so top heavy now but it will not change any time soon.
I dont know what the answer is to be honest but im proud of my club and always will be.
Onto Friday and im doing something I never thought I would do and thats taking the Mrs to the game. Trip to the Vine 1st and then 3 points will be just the tonic ahead of Forests game.
Lets get vocal again and support our stars in stripes
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Apologies for the poor grammar and spelling. I can read and write usually !!
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2 Hilltop.
Wish I’d written that as it exactly mirrors my feelings. Do I envy Man City fans? Honestly no, not one little bit. Like you I’m almost as proud of what our club has achieved off the pitch in recent years as I was when we won the Cup in 68.
The only downside of our lack of a sugar daddy is that if Graham Dorrans fulfills his promise next year then we will probably lose him, along with any other top quality players we unearth. There is something that stinks in this system. Not that he leaves us for a better club as happened in the past but that only clubs with rich owners can compete at the top end of the market.
This would be addressed by some of the excellent ideas put forward by JtH, Happy, NYB and Allez but as Baggietastic says, ‘it ain’t gonna happen’ because the big clubs run football not the FA or PL.
Jarrod.
Quality not quantity. Anyone wanting different there’s a site adjacent to this one.
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Quite the best blog and set of replies I’ve ever had the privilege of reading. I have no knowledge whatsoever of financial dealings along the lines stated by NY 10 so can add nothing. But I do have views on the mess that is the Premiership. Mr.Money-mad Murdoch began the rot back in 1991 by pouring millions into Division 1 but nothing into 2, 3 and 4. You cannot have a healthy tree at the top if the roots are dry. Allowing billionaires like Abramovich may be fine for Chelski fans, especially the ones who can never stand losing, but it is NOT sport betweeen equal competitors. Would any of you pay to see a top heavyweight fighting a feather weight? Oh it might be fun for a couple of rounds until the big man scored a hit. In my simplistic (French?) approach, ALL clubs would have to balance their books each season or be deducted points. The uproar would be like an explosion, but to Hell with that. I don’t give a toss if the John Terry’s of the football world have to ‘manage’ on £10,000 a week instead of £170,000. Frankly, I wouldn’t give a toss if the expensive mercenaries all left tomorrow. Football is bigger than any individual and should remain a sport between equals, or as near as dammit. Trust me on this, the excitement of a ‘don’t know’ outcome beats the ‘shall we win by 6-1 or 7-1 today’ that attracts folks from Devon to travel to Man.U. every week.
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Great read on which we could debate on till the cows come home.I think that Jeremy Peace is a minature version of Doug Ellis in that the club is run properly but limited into what can be achieved.Doug vetted all interested potential buyers and sold to who he thought was right for Villa and as I have mentioned before maybe Jeremy should do the same if he really has the club at heart!
I do note the many responses to your blog in favour of how the club is run but I wonder if they would be the same this time next year if we were on the verge of being relegated again?
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Music to my Ears….Blimey mate, I could understand every word you’re saying, but I know positively why I have no knowledge of finance. Your brain is wired differently from mine. Fascinating without doubt, but I’ll leave you to worry in that direction. Whenever I am asked by the bank/building society to ‘come in for a chat about what I should do with my cash’, we don’t get anywhere. They like high percentage, long term, somewhat risky ventures. I like annual, guaranteed growth, however small, with MY cash available if I need it. I can buy my season ticket without a worry in the world, food always on the table. Strictly 2nd Division me. But content and don’t owe a penny.
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That’s a great blog and some really well-scripted responses. I could agree with most parts of all of them, but to pick on one point, I think Hilltop puts across an excellent argument re: billionaire owners.
I don’t know where the term ‘Real football club’ came about or absolutely how it’s defined, but I think we have something close to that at the Albion. A long history, great affinity between club and supporter and a real sense of identity. I’d hate for that to be taken away, and for me, long may the JP reign continue.
Final point. A lot of talk on here about spending that ‘bit extra’ next season to ‘give us a chance’ of safety, not spending enough etc. Where is the correlation between spending £15m and going down and spending £30m and staying up?
There’s abslutely no dispute that when you start talking £70-80m (something only the big clubs can afford), it makes a difference, but asking JP to gamble an extra £10m-£15m?
An extra £10m this summer gets us another Meite, Moore and Valero. Another £12m could get us Afonso Alves or Sergey Rebrov. Perhaps another £11m for Koumas and Kamara?
Or we could keep looking for another Olsson, another Tamas……Cech, Koren, Dorrans, Mulumbu, Jara, Morrison, Miller……who between them cost less than £8.5m.
Birmingham spent £16-18m last summer and are in the top half…..it can be done. It’s not what you spend, but how you spend it. We can get up there, and we can stay up there. Come on you Baggies!!!
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The biggest problem bar none is players wages
if you have squad of 25 on £20,000 a week each thats 25 million a year in players wages
alone its not rocket science but it seems beyond many premiership chairmen.
If we have a salary cap what would it be set at…? would it be based on turnover of each club or just a fixed amount say £50,000 p//w
per player max.that wouldn’t help most clubs because most cannot afford more than £20,000 p/w anyway (if they could the wouldn’t be going bust)and also the big clubs would complain they are missing out on the better playes because of wage restrictions.
The answer is at the end of the day common sense and a good buisness model, we have both so lets just watch the others fall and believe me they will
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Cyril,
Thanks, though if you understood my every word, then our brains are wired the same, and we both understand the problem :-)
It is not about borrowing today to pay out excessive amounts for things we don’t own tomorrow, with the need to pay back that debt next week and on into the future.
Rather, it is about ensuring our daily affairs are managed, so that our past & current actions secure sufficient cash, to have on hand when we need it, to do the things that we choose to do, and, enjoy those things that we do own when we spend.
Or, putting it in another way, it means keeping an eye on the missus when she goes shopping ;-)
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Streetly – in answer to your question “would we feel the same if we were on the verge of relegation” ?? This is the point many of us are making – we believe that it is better to play CCC or league 1 ect with a healthy well run club than throw everything at a season in the prem, fail and crash out of existance.
There is however a difference between mis-management and a criminal investigation due to fraud. If Pompy officials are found to be guilty I would drop Pompy down 2 divisions – and the same to any other club who cheats.
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20 Streetly.
Why not ask the question ‘how would you feel if the club was on the verge of bankruptcy.’
We’ve been down this road so many times but each time you or like minded individuals talk of JP gambling a bit. I ask you how much? I’m still waiting for the first answer so don’t feel obliged.
If we buy a PL striker you’re probably talking of £12 mill but a £12 mill striker wants a £12 mill strikers wages on a 3 year contract. How much of our PL money would that eat up? And that’s on one player, I guess you’re talking of bringing in 3-4 of these quality players but I don’t want to steal your thunder so tell me if I’m wrong.
As JP said the other night, we spent £23 mill on transfer fees in the PL and £24 mill on wages. There are still staff wages, upkeep of the ground and training facilities, the myriad everyday costs of running a football club not to mention paying the taxman which Portsmouth forgot to do.
Your 3-4 players would cost a conservative £30-£50 mill for the first year in fees and wages. This is on top of the money already going out. I’m sure Music To My Ears, New York or Warren could tell us what a debt like this would cost to service but is that what we want?
One other thing. You mention that like Doug Ellis JP should sell to someone that is right for the club. Please enlighten us on who this is. There aren’t too many Randy Lerners out there but there are plenty of predatory sharks that would love to gobble up a fat little well run football club and strip it of all it’s assets.
Keep up the good work Mr Peace.
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The RealBully Hoo,
Jeremy Peace cannot hack it in the premier league, has proved on the previous 3 attempts.He is a very astute business man and can run a company.He invited offers in July 2008 for a month only,he now has 4 months to look at serious offers(if there would be any).He indicated in July 2008 that we needed serious investment to give ourselves a chance and nothing has changed.If he was serious about looking for investors and it is a big if then I would certainly back his judgement on his decision for the good of the club.
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I wrote this to Jeremy Peace in November last year:
Hello Gentlemen,
I have been an Albion fan since 1964 and have had to settle with following from a distance since my move to Canada in 1996.
In all my years following the fortunes of my home team ( I was born in Dudley Road Hospital) I have to say I really have never had more optimism than I do right now with this current Chairman, this current coach and his management team, and the core of this present squad.
You deserve praise for your fiscal attitudes and policies, your commitment to pure football, your attention to the fans and sheer determination to gain stability in the Premiership the right way.
I admire the Green Bay Packers as a small town team who, even though non-profit, have succeeded in the NFL, I admire the Budesliga for their outstanding recovery and commitment to fans despite near bankruptcy some time ago, and I admire my beloved “baggies” for sticking to what is right in a time when many clubs are hurtling towards financial disaster.
Good luck in the Premiership next season and long may Roberto be our latest Johnny Giles or Osvaldo Ardiles. You have my support for what it is worth.
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but if we read tomorows morning daily press to discover that a multi billionaire had the baggies in his sights,then what would be your thoughts,oh no? or would you be rubbing your hands with anticipation?
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Streetly, what are you talking about? So, you think there’s a multi-billionaire out there born in West Bromwich who’s an Albion fan? You think that someone else with the same resources as JP can do a better job? You think that you have a better solution than JP? Streetly, you come on here and criticize and never offer any plausible or even remotely reasonable solutions or suggestions. By the way, you’re also in the minority if you haven’t noticed Shadrag, I mean Streetly
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JP is probably too much of a gentleman to read the book by one Jonas Olsson on “Hand Signals For Dissidents”. But he may well think it. I do hope so.
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(post 9)
Baggietastic,
Sorry pal, when I stated “No breakaway leagues”,I should have said “Reform the Pro-football league to its former state of 1 2 3 4 with the Premiership with others forming a European-
league”. Players moving into the Euro-league can do but would forfiet the chance of returning to the Pro-league. Lets see how many matches the glory hunters would see in a season. then they can leave the proper football to the proper fans. The likes of Man’ Utd would accrue massive debts
and would be glad to return to the Pro-football league. Let them have their “Hollow” league, and see how far they get. they would want us before we wanted them. Sorry for going over old ground.
But I did mislead you.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Streetley – as far as I am aware jeremy Peace has never played in the premier league let alone “hacked it” !
If you mean he can’t run a premier league side – what a stupid thing to say. He runs West Bromwich Albion – we have no god given right to be in the premier league and yet here we are on the cusp of our fourth promotion in less than 10 years.
I really can’t be bothered to discuss the details of running a club with a fan base of around 22-27 thousand and but why don’t you ring up Simon Jordan or Peter Ridsdale or Peter Storrie ect ect and ask them for their premiership tips ??
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27 Streetly.
Great reply except for one thing. You still don’t answer the questions. I wonder why? You seem so certain that you know where JP is going wrong but you’re so reluctant to reveal the secret to the rest of us.
As for your suggestion that JP can’t hack it and should hand over the reins to this mystical multi-millionaire who is dying to pour money into our club for no return. Where is he? Who is he?
The time has come. Put up or shut up. Sorry if that sounds rude but you can’t keep blackening a mans efforts without revealing your solutions.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for an answer.
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(post 8)
Bomber,
You were saying about the response to your blog?.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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