What would you do if you were the Gao family?

You've invested 200 million or so in a football club, and it's rapidly in the process of turning into about 50 million inside the first year.

You don't know much about football and you don't have many (any?) contacts in the game.

A) What would you do if you were them?

B) What do you think they'll do?

Sit back and work out how they're going to pay back their loans I'd have thought.

A) no idea.

B) no idea.

We have had barely any communication of any sort from them and we don't really know where the purchase money came from so, who knows?

I won't be buying an ST next year without some clearer idea of what this guy stands for and what he thinks he's doing here.

Ask for a refund?

They cannot be happy at all.

Let’s hope Mr Gao, in his attempts to learn English, has been watching episodes of The Apprentice and the words ‘you’re fired’ enter into his range of vocabulary.

He’d be the most popular man in Southampton if he sacks MP by tomorrow.

I'd sack the useless prat in charge of my £200m investment.

If I didn't think I could fix the sinking ship I'd asset strip. £70m from VVD + £20m Bertrand + only need £10m each for Tadic/Forster/Gabbi/Cedric/Redmond/JWP/Boufal/Austin/Lemina/Hoedt/Romeu/Hojbjerg/Stephens = £220m. Use the parachute payments + bloated squad to build a team that would survive the championship.

I hope they invest where we need it. Sell some of our squad bloat to reduce wages and start properly strengthening our 1st XI. Start with a strong #10, a dominant CB, a better GK & a proper striker to partner Austin. The spine of a team.

If I didn't think I could fix the sinking ship I'd asset strip. £70m from VVD + £20m Bertrand + only need £10m each for Tadic/Forster/Gabbi/Cedric/Redmond/JWP/Boufal/Austin/Lemina/Hoedt/Romeu/Hojbjerg/Stephens = £220m. Use the parachute payments + bloated squad to build a team that would survive the championship.

 

I hope they invest where we need it. Sell some of our squad bloat to reduce wages and start properly strengthening our 1st XI. Start with a strong #10, a dominant CB, a better GK & a proper striker to partner Austin. The spine of a team.

Look over my shoulders every 30 seconds to see if the triads have sent someone to "demand" their money back?

Pocket the Van Dijk cash, except relegation is pretty much a certainty unless I sack the manager and spend loads of money on new players which I’m not going to do.

sell Bertrand, Gabbiadini and Cedric in January whilst their values are still high and do the same with the cash - that is pocket it!

I won’t be signing any players in January as I’m not throwing anymore good money after the bad money I’ve already thrown away.

Sell the players I can in the summer for good money once we’ve been relegated - Hoedt, Boufal, Lemina, Hojberg, Romeu - and replace them with loan signings from the big clubs.

Sack Reed, Krueger and Pelligrino - and as many of the back room staff as possible - to reduce the running costs.

Pocket as much of the cash as possible from the player sales and the first years parachute payments. Hope we can survive in the championship for a season at least and ell the club b to some other gullible idiot next summer!

A) Cortese

B) nothing

Most of the responses reflect the only answer I could come up with, after trying to see things from their viewpoint.

We are indeed at the most critical juncture that I can remember. Keep the VvD cash and sell some more assets to 'protect' my investment, or trust in the people who have created this mess to spend it wisely enough to stay up.

We have an ugly few weeks ahead of us.

Most of the responses reflect the only answer I could come up with, after trying to see things from their viewpoint.

 

We are indeed at the most critical juncture that I can remember. Keep the VvD cash and sell some more assets to 'protect' my investment, or trust in the people who have created this mess to spend it wisely enough to stay up.

 

We have an ugly few weeks ahead of us.

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If I was Gao, I would ask my DOF to hire a different manager.

Also, I would suggest the club bring in loans in the January transfer window rather than outright purchases.

I thought asset stripping in the way described are illegal?

Surely the debt is not his anyway it is secured against the club so it goes pop that 75m, the next premier league cheque, the future parachute payments and the sale of the rest of the squad will service the debt for quite some period.

I thought asset stripping in the way described are illegal?

 

Surely the debt is not his anyway it is secured against the club so it goes pop that 75m, the next premier league cheque, the future parachute payments and the sale of the rest of the squad will service the debt for quite some period.

For now it certainly is - secured against his personal assets. That is not to say it will/can not change in the future of course. Which is all the more puzzling that he is not saying/doing anything (that we are aware of at least). Didn't one of ITK say he wasn't happy after the Leicester result? If so, you need to act now sir!

It seems that when he bought his 80%, Kat persuaded him to let Ralph and Les carry on as they are.

My prediction (hope) is that he’ll now panic and decide radical change is needed to avoid losing money if we get relegated.

I imagine his first step would be to bring in a Chief Executive (as we no longer have one since Gareth Rogers was sacked) who’s worked closely with him before to manage everything/everyone at the club and bring in a Deputy who has a background in football (or maybe just sports in general as Kat did by bringing in Ralph).

He could try and bring in Cortese to get a two for one, but I’d imagine he’d prefer to trust someone who’s run one of his businesses before. I can’t see Cortese being anyone’s Deputy.

I imagine this would sideline Kat and make Ralph’s role redundant. I doubt he’d keep Les in any capacity if his aim is to change the direction of the senior leadership (as Les is the status quo).

This could all be a disaster of course (Jim Hone etc), but I can’t see a millionaire being patient with the status quo when he’s at risk of devaluing his asset by losing Premier League status.

I imagine he’d avoid hiring/firing a First Team Manager himself as he doesn’t pretend to know about football, but if he did I’d guess he’d go for Koeman as he is available and has succeeded here before (Pochettino isn’t an option and Adkins isn’t fashionable enough). I hope he doesn’t bring in his own manager and just give them free reign to sort everything himself as that’s pretty much what Everton tried with hiring Koeman.

Anyway, that’s my prediction.

By the way, I don’t see any logic in the fears that he’s just an asset stripper. Yes, he could sell all our good players and get his £200 million back, but what businessman just wants to get his original investment back with no profit?

Needs only to find about £150 from player sales, then I'd imagine club still worth 50m in championship, sell up quick 50m minus kat 20% profit, 40m in a season, happy days

Needs only to find about £150 from player sales, then I'd imagine club still worth 50m in championship, sell up quick 50m minus kat 20% profit, 40m in a season, happy days

Well, no. Kat would get 20% of the player sales income too, so selling £150m of players then selling the club for £50 would earn him £160m overall, losing him £40m on his £200m investment (but earning Kat £40m).

Spending the VVD money on transfer fees and wages for 2 or 3 players and a new manager this month so we stay up would see his £200m asset increase in value as the TV money, sponsorship etc keep increasing from avoiding relegation.

Nice try Ralph!

Asset strip. Still has a Championship club next season (might even be able to stay there, though I doubt he cares), parachute payment and the stadium. I think this was the plan all along. Mr. Gao seemingly has no knowledge of, nor interest in, football. If it is true that van Dijk's worth rose from 50m to 75m by keeping him for a few short months from August to January, the plan becomes even clearer.

No sentiment, it's just business. Ms. Liebherr might have felt some emotional pull to continue her father's legacy, but she has played a blinder by reducing herself to a minority share-holder, nothing she can do now etc.

Transfer the debt to the club and asset strip to pay it off?

Well, I've got "asset strip" and "pheonix club" so I just need "Les wants to relegate us to spite the fans" and I've got a full house. Come on, people.

.

Be proactive to protect the investment.

Sack the manager.

Make Brenda an offer he can't refuse to tempt him away from Celtic.

Give him whats left of the Vvd funds and allow him and not Reed to select his own players.

Tell Reed and Ralph to shut up or get out and secretly plan to get rid of both in the summer.

Plan a massive overhaul of the club in the summer and get rid of any dead wood on and off the field.

Open lines of communication with the fanbase in some way and start forging a relationship.

I'd look to get Nigel Pearson in from wherever he's ended up at.

Could Gao be using us a tax-deductible loss ??

A) I would invest time, effort and money in finding a proven advisor who knows what EPL success takes. Somebody to help direct the entire club, as a business and sporting unit. I would give them a short mandate to audit our operation and suggest immediate, short-term and longer-term improvements.

B) Nothing, until the last minute. I fear they will trust the internal dialogue that it'll all be OK and trust the process... until it's all but certain we're doomed, proving the process isn't trustworthy.

Could Gao be using us a tax-deductible loss ??

https://www.ontrackdiabetes.com/blogs/diabeticminds-education-emotional-well-being/acid-tripping-blood-sugar-levels

Needs only to find about £150 from player sales, then I'd imagine club still worth 50m in championship, sell up quick 50m minus kat 20% profit, 40m in a season, happy days

I realise that we are sh#t right now but surely we'll get more than 150 quid for them

The big problem is Gao knows nothing about football so what is he going to do. Other than shout a bit at Kat and Les a bit what can he do.

And Kat just wanted her Dad’s money (and her inheritance back) so she’s got what she wants and is not going do anything other than sell her 20% at some point.

And Les is blinded by his arrogance that got us here in the first place.

And Krueger just spouts American style Bull****e and lives in the same blue sky world of most Americans Rather the pragmatic reality of real life.

Like many owners I think they'd leave it up to the chairman and director of football to sort out.

For now it certainly is - secured against his personal assets. That is not to say it will/can not change in the future of course. Which is all the more puzzling that he is not saying/doing anything (that we are aware of at least). Didn't one of ITK say he wasn't happy after the Leicester result? If so, you need to act now sir!

Ahh OK someone else pointed this out too... I still can't see that he needs to panic, with no emotional commitment it's just business and the assets of the club (including the guaranteed parachute payments) probably means he can get enough to cover his debt comfortably. Just needs to cut back on the wage bill a bit (luckily we just cut that by 3 million a year plus Whatever we paid Mr Black and then covered his job with someone we already were paying) and get some money in the bank. (Luckily Liverpool just made a donation lol)

I think the plan was to use the double VD money on the squad and the premier league money for running cost, servicing the loan and whatever he wanted as a dividend but he may have changed his mind now, if it is perceived we might be better off waiting until the summer to see which league we are in before buying?

The ownership of the club is a total farce with no representation on any boards and reliance on people who the previous owner brought in.

There has been a big 'pr cover up' on the whole thing to play it all down, which merely increases suspicion.

Unless Mr Gao delivers large commercial income, i suggest the club is put back on the market to be sold.

Mr Gao as i said is totally relying on previous owner management, which to me is very dangerous ground.

His financial advisors 'Deal Globe' are naive to think results would stay the same despite the players and managers having left.

I suspect Mr Gao came here early last December and was told aload of ******** ditto to what we heard from Krueger.

1. Stop the club from this stupid idea of doing everything behind closed doors & keeping their cards close to their chests & start treating the fans as though they actually have an interest in the club & in what is going on.

2. Sack Ralph, Les, MoPe & whoever ii is who keeps deleting all the good players from the black box.

3. Bring in someone who knows about tactics & how they can influence a game & how to manage a group of under-performing footballers.

4. STOP selling any decent player we may have & replacing them with inferior types year on year.

5. try to spend money on players we need now & not just on the ones who will be worth the most in a few years time.

6. Spend some F*&king money.

7 Bring in Liz Hurley as a match day pitch-side announcer. at least that way we can all have something worth looking at instead of the dross they are providing now.

Could Gao be using us a tax-deductible loss ??

No.

Could Gao be using us a tax-deductible loss ??

https://www.ontrackdiabetes.com/blogs/diabeticminds-education-emotional-well-being/acid-tripping-blood-sugar-levels

Like many owners I think they'd leave it up to the chairman and director of football to sort out.

Damn, and there was me hoping he would give in to the pitchfork waving mob and get a forum of them together as a think tank. Dont tell hypo though, he has gone into overdrive since the Palace loss.

Damn, and there was me hoping he would give in to the pitchfork waving mob and get a forum of them together as a think tank. Dont tell hypo though, he has gone into overdrive since the Palace loss.

Just pointing out for the benefit of Always the fact that you have again decided to start mentoning me in your posts. You're weirdly obsessed.

1. Stop the club from this stupid idea of doing everything behind closed doors & keeping their cards close to their chests & start treating the fans as though they actually have an interest in the club & in what is going on.

2. Sack Ralph, Les, MoPe & whoever ii is who keeps deleting all the good players from the black box.

3. Bring in someone who knows about tactics & how they can influence a game & how to manage a group of under-performing footballers.

4. STOP selling any decent player we may have & replacing them with inferior types year on year.

5. try to spend money on players we need now & not just on the ones who will be worth the most in a few years time.

6. Spend some F*&king money.

7 Bring in Liz Hurley as a match day pitch-side announcer. at least that way we can all have something worth looking at instead of the dross they are providing now.

We tried to stop selling our best player but that didn't work out too well did it?

I think the issue may be that we may have sold the dream of joining a stepping stone club, so stopping them leaving is quite emotional territory. Also we had some really good players, who were better than us in reality so would always leave. We tried paying them more, we tried longer contracts but it changed nothing.

i think the managerial appointment is an issue, but otherwise I do believe Les and Co have been trying, in the best way they knew to keep us moving in the right direction.

I am sure they are not sat at home right now without a care in the world. I am sure They are really worried about going down...especially as they were probably involved in selling the dream to Mr Gao!

Just pointing out for the benefit of Always the fact that you have again decided to start mentoning me in your posts. You're weirdly obsessed.

Not obsessed hypo, just amused at how even more hyper you have become on here of late. Shouldn't you be back at school yet?

Tongue in cheek, and apologies for repeating myself, put the £70 odd million VVD transfer fee on Saints to be relegated (might get 4/1 if he's lucky) and he has his purchase price sorted and a bit of pocket money left over!!

Not obsessed hypo, just amused at how even more hyper you have become on here of late. Shouldn't you be back at school yet?

Thankfully no more posts from you today.

I'd sack whoever advised that Southampton F.C. was a sound investment.......

I'd sack whoever advised that Southampton F.C. was a sound investment.......

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If I didn't think I could fix the sinking ship I'd asset strip. £70m from VVD + £20m Bertrand + only need £10m each for Tadic/Forster/Gabbi/Cedric/Redmond/JWP/Boufal/Austin/Lemina/Hoedt/Romeu/Hojbjerg/Stephens = £220m. Use the parachute payments + bloated squad to build a team that would survive the championship.

 

I hope they invest where we need it. Sell some of our squad bloat to reduce wages and start properly strengthening our 1st XI. Start with a strong #10, a dominant CB, a better GK & a proper striker to partner Austin. The spine of a team.

The tax bill for asset stripping would be massive and shows you don’t understand business. The write down on the value of the club would be cripplin. Acting against the interests of the company would be unlawful. Let’s have a sesnsible debate and not scare monger

I thought asset stripping in the way described are illegal?

 

Surely the debt is not his anyway it is secured against the club so it goes pop that 75m, the next premier league cheque, the future parachute payments and the sale of the rest of the squad will service the debt for quite some period.

It is illegal to asset strip and the club and even if he could the tax man would cripple him. The loans cannot be secured against the club as he owns shares and NOT the club itself. The club is a separate entity to any individual as it is this which owns all the clubs assets.