If there was a takeover in the next 12 months...

[Mr Popodopolous]

What downside risks would you be willing to accept if bigger money investment did not work out as hoped..I suspect we would have 2-3 years of it was a go for it type

May as well put it out there, a specific thread for it. There are arguments cor a takeover while the financial position a sounder one.

If there was a takeover in the next 12 months, what would you do differently.

How much might you want fo see invested, over what timeframe. Think we all know the limitations of new owner in this regard, as in we can go bigger but no blank cheque, clean slate or fresh start or 3 year cycle.

This time next season, Covid allowables or add-backs will be but a memory.

Money spent, plans, idealism v realism. Etc.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[eardun]

Genuine Q as I don’t know the detail on how it works: Would any new owner be able to pump more money into the playing squad without falling foul of FFP? Just trying to understand whether having a new owner would make a lot of difference to what we can do. 

[Mr Popodopolous]

Short answer is a new owner inherits the existing financial position however a new owner would inherit quite a good one.

What with the Scott sale and the cuts. Some RPTs could boost revenue a bit but not hugely.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Just asking how far would people want a new owner to push it. SL could do likewise btw if he so chose. Especially those who want a takeover in the here and now.

To the limit? Bit below?

2 year plan or 3 at most knowing you're into firefighting or fire sale mode if it goes wrong.

£20m in fees, wage bill up to £40m?

Save up another year and make the big push next season and the Year after? This is a bit more promotion or bust.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Port Said Red]

9 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Just asking how far would people want a new owner to push iL could do likewise btw if he so chose.

To the limit? Bit below?

2 year plan or 3 at most knowing you're into firefighting or fire sale mode if it goes wrong.

The trouble is @Mr Popodopolous as @eardun alludes to, there are loads of ordinary fans out there who think that a new owner means multi-million pound strikers and top players from abroad, I spoke to an old guy in our local the other day who genuinely seem to believe that the money from selling Scott had gone into SL's back pocket.

Are there areas where a new owner can spend money without affecting FFP, I am thinking cheaper home tickets and subsidised away travel, further investment in the Academy, Cat1? for example?

[Sir Geoff]

Why would anyone want to blow the last 2/3 years of steady financial re alignment to just blow it all again. FFP and parachute payments are all stacked against us. We have to continue building slowly and hope we get lucky with building a squad organically that is good enough to compete around the play offs for a couple of years and then hope we get to a play off final and actually win it.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Just now, Port Said Red said:

The trouble is @Mr Popodopolous as @eardun alludes to, there are loads of ordinary fans out there who think that a new owner means multi-million pound strikers and top players from abroad, I spoke to an old guy in our local the other day who genuinely seem to believe that the money from selling Scott had gone into SL's back pocket.

Are there areas where a new owner can spend money without affecting FFP, I am thinking cheaper home tickets and subsidised away travel, further investment in the Academy, Cat1? for example?

Absolutely yep. Category One for sure, could you put thst kinda thing ie subsidised away and cheaper home in the Community expenditure? Maybe, that provides a greater good arguably.

Perhaps if there is a Fair Value sponsor willing to do so, you could have Free Away travel like Stoke I dunno.

[tin]

If new owners were to show ambition and really go for it, the onus falls on the recruitment team to get it right. We can’t afford to have the reckless clubs-in-the-bag approach of LJ and Ashton again.

If we’re to increase costs significantly, we must go either gain promotion to the PL and get the riches that come with it or at the very least not allow record purchases like Fam, Kalas, Palmer or Dasilva to leave without any return on investment. 

Edited August 27, 2023 by tin

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

Why would anyone want to blow the last 2/3 years of steady financial re alignment to just blow it all again. FFP and parachute payments are all stacked against us. We have to continue building slowly and hope we get lucky with building a squad organically that is good enough to compete around the play offs for a couple of years and then hope we get to a play off final and actually win it.

Play-offs are our best hope I agree.

Just see a lot of discontent and some constructive solutions from the discontented would add to the debate.

My preferred solution and SL could provide is 2-3 players in priority positions. Yes it'll cost but has to be sensible and not exceeding the rise in T.V. money next year.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Ska Junkie]

IF there were to be a potentially interested buyer for BCFC, how would that work if that potential new buyer didn't want the Bears / basketball etc? Would we suddenly become tenants in our own stadium?

[Bristol Oil Services]

If there was a takeover in the next 12 months, I would expect the new majority share owner to find a handwritten note on his/her desk saying: "I'm afraid there's no money." Plus some additional details from @Mr Popodopolous.

[Lrrr]

11 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Are there areas where a new owner can spend money without affecting FFP, I am thinking cheaper home tickets and subsidised away travel, further investment in the Academy, Cat1? for example?

City aren't interested in Cat 1

[Mr Popodopolous]

That's another problem, disentangling good point @Ska Junkie

Would SL want to sell as a package or individually- ie each sporting club. Would a buyer want to buy the club not the ground- thereby potentially not owning said ground.

If it's the American investment maybe as rugby they are making a push there but beyond that.

If it was Bristol City Holdings that was purchased then I assume the ground would come with but then what of the rugby.

[Mr Popodopolous]

3 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

City aren't interested in Cat 1

Costs outweigh the positives presumably? A new owner may have different ideas though as Category One surely confers some advantages and a new owner may want to invest big in this area as it is surely FFP exempt.

[Glen hump]

We’ve been for sale for a couple of years now, apart from some interest from the USA nobody’s overly interested.

[Mr Popodopolous]

2 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

We’ve been for sale for a couple of years now, apart from some interest from the USA nobody’s overly interested.

Price too high? Structure too complex?

Mix of the two maybe. They would have inherited a difficult financial position or hemmed in anyway had they taken over but now they won't.

[sh1t_ref_again]

2 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

We’ve been for sale for a couple of years now, apart from some interest from the USA nobody’s overly interested.

Do tell more as you seem to have inside knowledge 

[W-S-M Seagull]

New owners wouldn't change anything. Lansdown invests the max amount that he's allowed to under FFP. 

The only thing that could change is the structure of the club and how we do things etc. A new owner may wish to increase the wage budget using some of the 25 million. 

A new owner could do a Coventry and do what their new owner has done and that's just throwing money around in the hope of getting to the Premier league. 

I don't want us to do that. It's too risky as we know. However I do feel our approach is a bit too conservative. I'd like us to continue signing players like Jason Knight etc but seems we can't even do that now.

[Glen hump]

Just now, sh1t_ref_again said:

Do tell more as you seem to have inside knowledge 

No inside knowledge, I thought it was out in the open the yanks had been looking at us for a while 

[Glen hump]

2 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Price too high? Structure too complex?

Mix of the two maybe. They would have inherited a difficult financial position or hemmed in anyway had they taken over but now they won't.

Like you say I’d imagine it’ll be a bit of both.

[BUTOR]

5 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

We’ve been for sale for a couple of years now, apart from some interest from the USA nobody’s overly interested.

At the same time it is to the absolute credit of our current owner that not just any interested party has been allowed to go beyond just interest. How many owners in the EFL could you say the same of? 

[Mr Popodopolous]

I struggle to see how we are investing the max under FFP now. Maybe the wage bill is much higher than predicted but I really doubt that. 

Agree @W-S-M Seagull is a bit too conservative atm. Two or three more players in the £2-3m bracket for priority positions on wages not exceeding £10-15k per week would be easily within FFP.

[Ska Junkie]

8 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

We’ve been for sale for a couple of years now, apart from some interest from the USA nobody’s overly interested.

What's for sale though, all of it or just BCFC?

I thought SL was looking for investors rather than buyers?

Edited August 27, 2023 by Ska Junkie

[Simon bristol]

55 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

What downside risks would you be willing to accept if bigger money investment did not work out as hoped..I suspect we would have 2-3 years of it was a go for it type

May as well put it out there, a specific thread for it. There are arguments cor a takeover while the financial position a sounder one.

If there was a takeover in the next 12 months, what would you do differently.

How much might you want fo see invested, over what timeframe. Think we all know the limitations of new owner in this regard, as in we can go bigger but no blank cheque, clean slate or fresh start or 3 year cycle.

This time next season, Covid allowables or add-backs will be but a memory.

Money spent, plans, idealism v realism. Etc.

I think everyone knows there are ways to do it,,,, bournemouth basically ignored ffp and got themselves promoted so the fine imposed is either not levied or is of no financial impact… whether we could trust anyone to do with bristol city to actually get us promoted at any cost is another matter…

[Mr Popodopolous]

4 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

I think everyone knows there are ways to do it,,,, bournemouth basically ignored ffp and got themselves promoted so the fine imposed is either not levied or is of no financial impact… whether we could trust anyone to do with bristol city to actually get us promoted at any cost is another matter…

Well that was under the old rules.and there was no such thing as present or future Monitoring or points deductions for failing FFP then.

The EFL and PL had different FFP systems and didn't exactly assist each other certainly with fines or sanctions.

Less clearcut now about assistance but again present and future Monitoring are now a factor.

E.g. if you lose between £x and £y in prior 3 years you have to submit the following 2 years of Future Financial Info including FFP/P&S returns to the EFL by end of March.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

Takeovers only work for me if the new owners are genuine sports fans with a vested interest in the sport. From a business perspective in 99/100 cases football is a lousy investment. SL hasn't seen a return on his investment, in cash terms he's owed millions. Even with domestic and some European success did Abramovich ever see a real return on his spending? Are Manchester City's owners in the black on their investment? Let's be honest, even if someone came in now we're still at least a decade away from where the real money is. If you love the club fine, stick your hand in your pocket. As a business venture run away. 

[Glen hump]

3 minutes ago, Ska Junkie said:

What's for sale though, all of it or just BCFC?

I thought SL was looking for investors rather than buyers?

Not sure what the deal is but I think he’d sale the football club if a deal could be done, you have to ask why a billionaire would want or need new investment and why there hasn’t been more interest, big city, huge catchment area, stadium ready to go, is the whole thing to complicated or is sl asking too much 

[Port Said Red]

I am not a businessman or even a Euromillions winner, but if it was me, any deal that didn't include the ground would be a no deal. Especially under FFP, it's the only external revenue stream we have really apart from TV money which could either increase or disappear completely in the next few years. 

Buying a club or a team is far too limiting for a serious investor.

[Lrrr]

18 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Costs outweigh the positives presumably? A new owner may have different ideas though as Category One surely confers some advantages and a new owner may want to invest big in this area as it is surely FFP exempt.

No its just the basis to be competitive in cat 1 we basically couldn't send any players out on loan and even then it could be a struggle, the people at City believe the best pathway for players is to get experience of adult football, pretty much just been Alex Scott who hasn't gone out on loan before playing a significant part for us, Conway and Bell both having non-league loans

[Ska Junkie]

8 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

Not sure what the deal is but I think he’d sale the football club if a deal could be done, you have to ask why a billionaire would want or need new investment and why there hasn’t been more interest, big city, huge catchment area, stadium ready to go, is the whole thing to complicated or is sl asking too much 

Imagine trying to untangle BCFC from the rest? No idea how that would work but we could end up tenants / homeless in the worst case scenario, a la Coventry City.

Very concerning if we are sold outside of the Bristol sport umbrella IMHO.