Spurs owner shows interest in Mariners

[cbowden9000]

CENTRAL COAST Mariners could soon be owned by one of the richest men in Britain, Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis, with the club hopeful of landing a deal some time in the next month.

Majority owner Peter Turnbull has no plans for a fire sale but has been searching for an investor capable of ploughing greater funds into the club, which has long-prided itself on being competitive despite operating on one of the league's thinnest budgets.

One potential owner of the club is the Tavistock Group, the company Lewis runs, which officially owns English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.

A British newspaper report recently estimated him as the 22nd richest person in Britain, with a private worth of £2.8 billion ($3.6 billion).

Lewis himself has not visited Australia but with Tavistock holding business interests in 15 different countries, it is understood to be interested in expanding itself here in the next year or so and football is high on their expansion agenda.

However, talks with Tavistock have been ongoing for some time and with no resolution as yet the club has also been fielding interest from another investor, also based in Europe.

The Mariners were previously in talks with the Bakrie family of Indonesia before they decided to invest in Brisbane Roar.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/spurs-owner-shows-interest-in-mariners-20111031-1ms97.html#ixzz1cOURkC2Q

 

[Muppet]

This is not the first nor the last time we will perhaps hear of potential suitors. I am in sales. My boss always tends to get excited when we have had a positive meeting with a client. My response to him is always the same. It means jackS&*t until I see them hand over the money.

I hope for the sake of the club that we find a decent benefactor before the end of the season and the ACL campaign. While it is great to be in the ACL and in a position to give it a good shake the costs of competing in the comp are prohibitive for a club of our size. I fear that competing in it may put us on the threshold of falling over. The question would be then would the FFA come to our rescue as they did with a number of other clubs?

 

[midfielder]

This is not the first nor the last time we will perhaps hear of potential suitors. I am in sales. My boss always tends to get excited when we have had a positive meeting with a client. My response to him is always the same. It means jackS&*t until I see them hand over the money.

I hope for the sake of the club that we find a decent benefactor before the end of the season and the ACL campaign. While it is great to be in the ACL and in a position to give it a good shake the costs of competing in the comp are prohibitive for a club of our size. I fear that competing in it may put us on the threshold of falling over. The question would be then would the FFA come to our rescue as they did with a number of other clubs?

My concern with a FFA rescue package is it may come with strings.... FFA have made two things clear, taken together they don't make sense ... 1) keep to 10 teams, 2) they want a WS team...however they could move a team if they were in charge...

 

[dibo]

They want more than 10 teams, they won't want to bail out of any more markets. They'll be staying on the coast.

 

[Marquee]

Wouldn't this be nice. Great to think there could be a light at the end of this tunnel.

 

[kevrenor]

The Sheffield connection worked out real well didn't it!

Show us the money.

 

[adz]

Yep, show us the money. As said already, let's not get excited until a deal is done. Anyone involved in the "occupy" protests might not want to read this guy's bio on Wikipedia... I think it's pretty much the definition of "the 1%" right there...

 

[BrisRecky]

yep...agreed, watch the cheque get banked first, then go WOO HOO

 

[true believer]

im a green bay packers fan .it's the closest thing the states has to a publicly owned team.

make a share offer, mariners .if it's a genuine issue

over to you.

 

[Blackadder]

The Sheffield connection worked out real well didn't it!

Show us the money.

Similar with Crystal Palace and Glasgow Rangers for Northern Spirit FC. :-[

 

[midfielder]

im a green bay packers fan .it's the closest thing the states has to a publicly owned team.

make a share offer, mariners .if it's a genuine issue

over to you.

Could not agree more ... we have over 3, 500 members and a fairly large number of small business on the coast...

Make a 5 million share offer ... but include the COE in the offer... deep down I think this is the major issue ... the COE has real tangible assets and a future ... but has been built out of the promise of being part of the Mariners FC ...

 

[Muppet]

Lets be realistic here about the community model and share offer thing. As Daryl Kerrigan from the Castle said "tell him he's dreaming". It is not realistic or practical to have either of these scenarios for the team.

The Central Coast as a region is not large enough to support either of these models. As passionate as some of us are (myself included) about the team the majority of the Coast population is apathetic.

As much as I love and support the club if they offered shares I would decline the offer. Why?

A. I am not in a financial position to do so, and
B. Why buy shares in a company that is almost always going to lose money (lets be realistic here folks) and offer no return on my investment.

 

[dibo]

Lets be realistic here about the community model and share offer thing. As Daryl Kerrigan from the Castle said "tell him he's dreaming". It is not realistic or practical to have either of these scenarios for the team.

The Central Coast as a region is not large enough to support either of these models. As passionate as some of us are (myself included) about the team the majority of the Coast population is apathetic.

As much as I love and support the club if they offered shares I would decline the offer. Why?

A. I am not in a financial position to do so, and
B. Why buy shares in a company that is almost always going to lose money (lets be realistic here folks) and offer no return on my investment.

You'd be buying a nominal stake, and frankly it'd be about the cash injection for the club more than anything. You'd set up a foundation or trust, have people buy units in the trust and then encourage business to top it up. It'd be like a gift to the club.

 

[Muppet]

You'd be buying a nominal stake, and frankly it'd be about the cash injection for the club more than anything. You'd set up a foundation or trust, have people buy units in the trust and then encourage business to top it up. It'd be like a gift to the club.

I know what you are driving at but it would be an incredibly tough sell to get anywhere near the amount of capital that the club would perhaps be after. Can't say it wouldn't hurt.

What would be a novel idea is to have supporters buy a brick for the clubhouse and facilities at Tuggerah. $100 per brick with your name placed on the brick. Every player who plays at the club would then see how much this club means to the supporters. your name is then there until they tear the place down.

Another fund raising option. Supporters bid to have their name stitched on the individual match day jerseys for each player. Whoever wins has their name embroidered on the jersey for the game which is then presented to them by the player after the game.

 

[dibo]

All good ideas

 

[style_cafe]

Would you be willing to pay $1,000- for a lifetime membership?
Just a thought.

 

[dibo]

Yes.

 

[true believer]

Would you be willing to pay $1,000- for a lifetime membership?
Just a thought.

payed $500 for my season tickets . as would alot of families . offer a warrent for $1000 at $20 a week
with a yearly option to buy more .land a few flathead and a couple of whales . i had a non football family member talking box (thats 25K) make it 30k and 5 shares . it's do-able

 

[Jesus]

most clubs in the counrty are fueled by volunteers and raffles etc, not just football clubs,m but league/alf/rugby.

The numbers may be bigger, but if shitty clubs survived the nsl with shitty crowds due to suh measures, surely a loyal fan base equal to nsl top crowds could secure a team.

Key is the COE which it seems the current board are certain will make money, but dont have the funds to fund it, so are trying to get investors to fund it, while keeping their slice.

I dare say there are 1000 mariners fans who would put 100-300 into the club to keep it a float without any concern whatsoever.

Ofcourse at the top end that is everyone on the coast putting in $1.

Hell if all members paid an extra 100 to save the club it would still be cheaper than a roar membership

 

[awaba]

thing with these supporter share issues is its all fine to do once ... might inject some funds even if it were taken up widely enough.

but then subsequent years how many will back up and continue to pour money in year on year? (Additional to their season ticket fees.)

best to utilise what they have which is the member base. I'd rather see them give the existing members a seat on the board, elected from the fans. Gives a degree of reward and feeling of input to the club, sense of ownership etc. Which can help drive the connectedness with the fans.

Though i do love the idea of a pure member-owned club as a principle ... professional sporting clubs for the most part have to rely on the largesse of media conglomerates, individuals, sponsors and the like.