49ers in our future?

[danhirons]

Nothing good comes from being owned by venture capitalist funds.

Their very business plan is to spend as little as possible and make as much.

On what planet would that be good for us?

As i said the last owner like that was GFH, exactly the same, different names but business plan is identical.

People keep getting hung up on the 49ers franchise and the billionaire owners behind them.

This isn't them.

Aren't Liverpool owned by someone similar? They're not doing too bad...

[SG90]

We need the Bundesliga model in the English game to save it. Unfortunately it means scum will be back on top, but where would it end exactly? Someone even richer than the Saudis buying a club?

[Mountain]

Aren't Liverpool owned by someone similar? They're not doing too bad...

Suspect ManU would be fairly handy if they had anything resembling a competent manager.

[John in Louisiana]

But what we need is a strong salary cap and a more balanced league

A salary cap in the EPL would be meaningless if none of the other top leagues didn't also adopt the same salary caps.

Plus, if I were a player who had dedicated his life to the game, and my career was going to be over in my early 30's, I would be very unhappy with a system that kept me from making as much money as I could. Here in the US we have salary caps when players' unions have been involved and have negotiated them. Owners agreeing among themselves to cap the salaries of their employees is called restraint of trade.

It's a tough balance because players and owners both want to make money, and their desire to do so quite often makes it more difficult to maintain a competitive balance within a given league. Both the players and the owners do care about the fans as the fans buying tickets (and kits, and polos, etc.) is what keeps the money flowing.

As for the 49ers taking control, I suppose the best way to view what that would mean for Leeds United is to see what it has meant for the 49ers. Since the current group have taken over, the team has a new state-of-the-art stadium and have returned to competitiveness after a number of years of being quite poor. I also know that the most profitable way to run an English football club is to ensure that it remains competitive in the EPL, so if an owner wants to come in caring about profit first, that will likely work to our advantage as fans.

I honestly don't care about the nationality of the owners. What difference does it make whether the billionaire who makes the money is Italian, American, or English?

What matters is that the owners, whoever they are, pay attention to what the fans want for their club. I'm confident that the 49erw, were they to assume ownership, would do at least as well in that regard as Radz has.

[Mountain]

I'd much rather an American taking a profit out of the club than a brutal dictator taking the whole soul out of the club.

I don't like greedy owners, I'm not the biggest cheerleader for the excesses of capitalism...but I can understand it. I just cannot understand the Man City and PSG model, where billions are thrown at random clubs solely to rehabilitate murderers and torturers. City and PSG were nothing clubs until some genocidal despots threw darts at a map of Europe, and they got hauled out into the spotlight blinking, like the ugly kids at the disco.

[WhiteRose]

It’s tempting to say if you cant beat them join them but honestly it’s not really what I’d want. as much as its pretty miserable at the time the ups and especially the downs are what makes it interesting to be a supporter, what a story we have had over the last 25 years, I honestly wouldn’t swap it as it’s what’s made my support so fierce and that sense of pride and elation when we finally triumphed and got back to the prem, nothing like it - that’s something to be proud of, not having owners with the wealth of an oil state who can buy up the best players in the world - after this latest takeover I hope the whole football structure implodes and we can start again.

[Mountain]

It’s tempting to say if you cant beat them join them but honestly it’s not really what I’d want. as much as its pretty miserable at the time the ups and especially the downs are what makes it interesting to be a supporter, what a story we have had over the last 25 years, I honestly wouldn’t swap it as it’s what’s made my support so fierce and that sense of pride and elation when we finally triumphed and got back to the prem, nothing like it - that’s something to be proud of...

Great post. As Leeds fans we know...

We've been through it all together,
And we've had our ups and downs

Younger City fans, who only know the down of finishing 2nd in the Premier League, will never understand.

[Cjay]

Aren't Liverpool owned by someone similar? They're not doing too bad...

Aside from being a driving force with the Glazers in not 1 but 2 attempted hostile takeovers of football?

The Premier League proposals during the pandemic which were basically " we will give this to the EF but we want this this and this, take it or leave it". A move it should be remembers that was cooked up with Liverpool fan and ex board member Rick Parry.

And then of course the European Super League which again its well reported that Manure and Liverpool drove on this side of the channel.

Ultimately owners of American franchises only want that, a copy of American sport where the haves have and the have nots, who cares.

The bigger picture here is just that, you let enough of these American franchise owners into the Premier League and they will steal away the sport and nobody will be able to do a thing.

FSG may not be as blatant as the Glazers but they ultimately want the same thing, the 49ers would be no different and anyone who believes differently is sadly very much mistaken i suspect.

English football has a long history of American football owners, you would be hard pressed to find one that didnt alienate its fanbase eventually.

Randy Lerner, Ellis Short, Stan Kroenke, Glazers, Tom Hicks and George Gillet, Shahid Khan, not a single one of them popular with their fanbases.

[SG90]

It’s tempting to say if you cant beat them join them but honestly it’s not really what I’d want. as much as its pretty miserable at the time the ups and especially the downs are what makes it interesting to be a supporter, what a story we have had over the last 25 years, I honestly wouldn’t swap it as it’s what’s made my support so fierce and that sense of pride and elation when we finally triumphed and got back to the prem, nothing like it - that’s something to be proud of, not having owners with the wealth of an oil state who can buy up the best players in the world - after this latest takeover I hope the whole football structure implodes and we can start again.

Well said. The emotion and elation we all felt last summer will never be matched by some billionaire buying trophies.

[John in Louisiana]

What I want is an owner who understands why he can't let Kalvin phillips leave the club, no matter how much is offered for him. An owner who understands why it's imperative to sign him to a long term contract as soon as possible.

If an owner understands why that's necessary, then he understands the team's place in the community and responsiveness to the fans.

[The Subhuman]

What I want is an owner who understands why he can't let Kalvin phillips leave the club, no matter how much is offered for him. An owner who understands why it's imperative to sign him to a long term contract as soon as possible.

If an owner understands why that's necessary, then he understands the team's place in the community and responsiveness to the fans.

You'd actually force a player to stay against his will? Long term contract would make little difference if he wanted to go and a new contract might allow Kalvin to negotiate a release clause ...

[John in Louisiana]

You'd actually force a player to stay against his will? Long term contract would make little difference if he wanted to go and a new contract might allow Kalvin to negotiate a release clause ...

Where did I say I would force him to stay if he wanted to go?

But if an owner doesn’t understand why it’s so important to keep him, I don’t want that owner. As long as Kalvin wants to stay we should keep him no matter how much is offered for him.

[Cjay]

Any more votes ladies and gents?