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[Football] Fat cats making money out of football



Kitcatt

Member
Apr 7, 2017
79
Reading that Sunderland owner is willing to ‘give’ the club away - providing the ‘buyer’ takes on his debts. Did he see it as a potential cash cow & is now cutting his losses? It got me thinking, when did Owners start seeing football clubs as cash cows? Obviously, we had bellotti & archer but when/who was the first instance of owners trying/succeeding in putting their personal gain above the interests of the club?
 


LowKarate

New member
Jan 6, 2004
2,002
Wombling free
It's open to debate, but Ken Bates was widely thought to be an opportunist when he bought Chelsea in the early 80s for £1 (they were massively in debt so it wasn't exactly a gift). He would have benefitted when he eventually sold his shares and arguably he ran the club like a proper business, so it was a really long play.

There aren't many examples before the Sky money appeared.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patreon
Oct 8, 2003
49,337
Faversham
No.
 


beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,264
how do you make a small fortune in football? have a large fortune and buy a club.

i dont believe any prospective owner does serious due diligence on a football club and comes away thinking "i'll get rich". yes, they generate a lot of cash, but have a lot of costs. some have strucutred their ownership to benefit from that arrangment, such as the Glazer at Man U ( maybe Kroenke at Arsenal? ). normally the modern owners are buying prestige or effectily a massive marketing tool for other businesses.
 


El Presidente

The ONLY Gay in Brighton
Helpful Moderator
Jul 5, 2003
39,689
Pattknull med Haksprut
It's open to debate, but Ken Bates was widely thought to be an opportunist when he bought Chelsea in the early 80s for £1 (they were massively in debt so it wasn't exactly a gift). He would have benefitted when he eventually sold his shares and arguably he ran the club like a proper business, so it was a really long play.

There aren't many examples before the Sky money appeared.

Chelsea were losing £500,000 a week under Ken Bates, so I wouldn’t agree that he ran it like a proper business. He was very lucky that Abramovic flew over London and saw the stadium and then decided to buy the club.
 


GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,471
Gloucester
Kitcatt;8348861[B said:
]Fat cats making money out of football?[/B]

No, can't believe that. Just another pathetic conspiracy theory! Football is as pure as the driven..................
 



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