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The Gao Thread


sadoldgit

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I’ve been saying it for years, it’s a joke. Like it (and him or not) Markus legacy died the day Cortese walked out. Appreciate we couldn’t go on the way we were under him, but we’ve had 2 chances to ‘push on’ and be where Leicester are now. Once when Poch left, the other when Koeman left.

 

Both would have stayed if they believed in the project, neither could be persuaded.

 

We’re a shambles of a club at present, the worst ran in the premier league... in fact, unless we spend big (and well) in Jan, which looks unlikely, we’ll go down and I think we’ll actually be in the same position as Stoke are currently..

 

I was watching stoke the other day and they are an interesting to compare us against. Overpaid average players who couldn’t give 2 ****s about the club. A load on out on loan, on high wages which they cannot shift.

 

If he’s not going to invest, then he needs to sell up. I don’t think he will and things are about to get significantly worse.

 

Exactly how I see it panning out if we go down, which we probably will. When you're lumbered with a load of sh!t players on big money and get relegated you are ****ed, it's as simple as that. Not fully across Stoke's particular squad and circumstances but have an uncomfortable feeling our situation would be worse if we go than there's was/is.

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Why do you/others feel that an owner must inject capital? Why would he? What's in it for him? What return does her get on his "investment" and when / how?

 

If he’s pot-less and relies on money generated by the club, why is he wasting it on terrible and relative expensive transfers?

 

All he has for his money is the club so he needs to make it worth more to get any profit. Better to focus on infrastructure and coaching as that has a better ROI than speculating on £15-£20m players with what seems limited background checks. Especially as there are players with lower transfer fees that have similar potential.

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Why do you/others feel that an owner must inject capital? Why would he? What's in it for him? What return does her get on his "investment" and when / how?

 

Because every other owner is doing it (since only a tiny handful of clubs are transfer spend positive or neutral). If those are the table stakes of the game, then anyone who can't afford it shouldn't be playing.

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Why do you/others feel that an owner must inject capital? Why would he? What's in it for him? What return does her get on his "investment" and when / how?

 

Moreover, since debt is converted to equity, the notional value of the club increases by the amount put in. Obviously he'd have to find a buyer willing to match his valuation, but he'd have to do that anyway, and a successful club with better players is worth more than a relegated club with dross.

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Because every other owner is doing it (since only a tiny handful of clubs are transfer spend positive or neutral). If those are the table stakes of the game, then anyone who can't afford it shouldn't be playing.

Ah, the old "entitlement" cos other owners seem to do it line. The bottom line is that throwing money at a club like ours in the hope that it leads to a return for the "investor" is not attractive. There is little or no chance of a positive return so no prudent business man would do it. I want our club to be successful but this sense of entitlement is ridiculous. In any event, the truth is that spending on players over the last few years has been there, the issue has been ****e recruitment but the owner is the easy scapegoat.

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Ah, the old "entitlement" cos other owners seem to do it line. The bottom line is that throwing money at a club like ours in the hope that it leads to a return for the "investor" is not attractive. There is little or no chance of a positive return so no prudent business man would do it. I want our club to be successful but this sense of entitlement is ridiculous. In any event, the truth is that spending on players over the last few years has been there, the issue has been ****e recruitment but the owner is the easy scapegoat.

 

Nothing to do with entitlement. It's just a simple fact that we are doomed under an owner with no plan, ambition or cash.

 

There's nothing wrong with being annoyed about that. It's sport. You understand sport, right? It's about trying to win and to do your best. This regime is not interested in competing. It is interested in surviving for the benefit of one family.

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Nothing to do with entitlement. It's just a simple fact that we are doomed under an owner with no plan, ambition or cash.

 

There's nothing wrong with being annoyed about that. It's sport. You understand sport, right? It's about trying to win and to do your best. This regime is not interested in competing. It is interested in surviving for the benefit of one family.

 

Do I understand sport, what a daft question. I want my team to compete and it saddens me to see the direction we're heading. Of course I'd prefer us to have an owner with money than sense, but the fact is that we have an owner with more sense than money. The point though is that whilst we'd like a cash throwing owner, there's no entitlement to one, and anyone with investment / business acumen can see that investment in our club will never lead to a return.

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Do I understand sport, what a daft question. I want my team to compete and it saddens me to see the direction we're heading. Of course I'd prefer us to have an owner with money than sense, but the fact is that we have an owner with more sense than money. The point though is that whilst we'd like a cash throwing owner, there's no entitlement to one, and anyone with investment / business acumen can see that investment in our club will never lead to a return.

 

Dont be ridiculous . Why would anyone want to no the facts before whinging.

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Ah, the old "entitlement" cos other owners seem to do it line. The bottom line is that throwing money at a club like ours in the hope that it leads to a return for the "investor" is not attractive. There is little or no chance of a positive return so no prudent business man would do it. I want our club to be successful but this sense of entitlement is ridiculous. In any event, the truth is that spending on players over the last few years has been there, the issue has been ****e recruitment but the owner is the easy scapegoat.

 

Your reasoning would be sound if return on investment was the chief motivating factor for most top level club owners. Since it isn't, your reasoning falls as flat as your patronising tone. It's not entitled to want your club to compete on a level playing field with everyone else.

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Your reasoning would be sound if return on investment was the chief motivating factor for most top level club owners. Since it isn't, your reasoning falls as flat as your patronising tone. It's not entitled to want your club to compete on a level playing field with everyone else.

 

What other club owners choose to do is irrelevant to what Gao should do - they don't set a precedent that Gao is obliged to follow. Gao is a business man and in his shoes if I was told that £100m would get me a fresh batch of players I'd look at what £100m spent on the likes of Hoedt, Mo, Carillo, Vest etc would yield by way of return I'd deem that a risk / waste of money and keep my cash in my pocket. Any sensible person would imo. You think differently, I get that.

 

On your last point, I want my club to compete. It's going the wrong way and I fear for our future. However, there is no entitlement to an owner who'll chuck millions at the club, especially when that owner has seen a small fortune wasted on dross.

 

Re your patronising comment, take a look at your own posting style. I have an opinion that differs from yours, don't whine when I push back against your opinion.

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What other club owners choose to do is irrelevant to what Gao should do - they don't set a precedent that Gao is obliged to follow. Gao is a business man and in his shoes if I was told that £100m would get me a fresh batch of players I'd look at what £100m spent on the likes of Hoedt, Mo, Carillo, Vest etc would yield by way of return I'd deem that a risk / waste of money and keep my cash in my pocket. Any sensible person would imo. You think differently, I get that.

 

On your last point, I want my club to compete. It's going the wrong way and I fear for our future. However, there is no entitlement to an owner who'll chuck millions at the club, especially when that owner has seen a small fortune wasted on dross.

 

Re your patronising comment, take a look at your own posting style. I have an opinion that differs from yours, don't whine when I push back against your opinion.

 

What other owners do isn't irrelevant, because we're in competition with those clubs.

 

You keep harping on about business acumen, but a competitive landscape with topography as obvious as this hardly requires a Harvard MBA to read.

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What other owners do isn't irrelevant, because we're in competition with those clubs.

 

You keep harping on about business acumen, but a competitive landscape with topography as obvious as this hardly requires a Harvard MBA to read.

 

What other owners do is irrelevant to what Gao chooses to do / would be sensible for him to do, but it is course different to what as a fan we'd all like him to do or we need to be competitive. I think we'll leave it there cos we're going around in circles, and at the end of the day it won't change a thing.

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what’s in it for him when we’re in the championship and he loses nearly 50% value in the club?

 

I think this is the most apposite quote in the circumstances. He can be blamed for some things but he got rid of Reed and I'm not sure how much blame can be thrown his way with regard to the recruitment of Carrillo, etc. But if he doesn't recognise something needs to be done with regard to our defence and midfield and our backroom staff, then he'll have to take a lot of the blame. I'm sure we all appreciate we've got to get the dross off the books so he may need to stump up or the club will be self-sustaning (hah!) in the championship.

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Our accounts show we've made £65m profit over the last 2 seasons. That means we could've bought 4 £30-35m players rather than 4 £15-20m players and still been a self funded sustainable club. Ofcourse there's no guarantee that spending more = more success but you'd expect us to be in a much stronger position than we are. As it is, we're one of the lowest spenders so we're expected to be one of the worst performers.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

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Your reasoning would be sound if return on investment was the chief motivating factor for most top level club owners. Since it isn't, your reasoning falls as flat as your patronising tone. It's not entitled to want your club to compete on a level playing field with everyone else.

 

Exactly.

 

He's desperate to sound reasonable and enlightened but the straw he's grasping at is actually a wet turd.

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Your reasoning would be sound if return on investment was the chief motivating factor for most top level club owners. Since it isn't, your reasoning falls as flat as your patronising tone. It's not entitled to want your club to compete on a level playing field with everyone else.

 

The PL (hell football in general) isn't a level playing field, never has been and never will be.

 

If I'm honest I don't want an owner who levels the field I want one who puts us on the top of the hill in the middle of the playing field. Sadly for that we need an owner who is either a dodgy Russian billionaire or an Arab prince and that's probably not going to happen.

 

For me the bigger issue is a seeming total lack of a plan or direction from the owner. Every club has budgets, and bigger budget would be great, but what every club needs is a coherent bloody plan pushed forward by an owner with drive and passion .

 

More worrying for me, more than the money, is the way we just seem to be drifting with no real direction. The club appears to be in a mess behind the scenes and processes like recruitment appear to broken. Right now you can't help feeling more money spent would be more money wasted on crap signings or pointless matchday experience crap.

 

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Edited by doddisalegend
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Under Gao we are on a near certsin path to relegation.

 

Should have been two seasons ago. Would have been last season if not for Ralph, could be this season.

 

If its not, it will be the season after or the one after that.

 

The club is directionless from the top, lacks good decision makers with experience in football, has syrong downward momentum and doesn't invest in the squad.

 

A recipe for failure. Gao out.

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Our accounts show we've made £65m profit over the last 2 seasons. That means we could've bought 4 £30-35m players rather than 4 £15-20m players and still been a self funded sustainable club. Ofcourse there's no guarantee that spending more = more success but you'd expect us to be in a much stronger position than we are. As it is, we're one of the lowest spenders so we're expected to be one of the worst performers.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

Not one of, the lowest spenders, at least in terms of net spend anyway. Every other club who has been in the premier league for 3 years or more has spent at least £50m more than they've generated from sales.

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Not one of, the lowest spenders, at least in terms of net spend anyway. Every other club who has been in the premier league for 3 years or more has spent at least £50m more than they've generated from sales.

 

look at the grief mike ashley gets for apparently not spending money!!!

what makes it worse, some of our lot applaud the club for our spending

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We would all like to see more money spent but the money is only part of the problem it needs to be combined with a clear plan of where the club is trying to go and what it is trying to achieve with a board and owner looking to implement that plan.

 

Does anyone know what the owner even wants to do with club? Even after some time in charge the fans (and it seems the board) still seem to have no idea what he is trying to achieve other than some vague idea it's something to do with impressing the Chinese goverment.

 

We are appear to be a rudderless ship right now with no plan, no leadership from the board and a lack of people with any knowledge of football more senior than the manager.

 

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Ah, the old "entitlement" cos other owners seem to do it line. The bottom line is that throwing money at a club like ours in the hope that it leads to a return for the "investor" is not attractive. There is little or no chance of a positive return so no prudent business man would do it. I want our club to be successful but this sense of entitlement is ridiculous. In any event, the truth is that spending on players over the last few years has been there, the issue has been ****e recruitment but the owner is the easy scapegoat.

 

If there is little or no chance of a return why the hell did he buy the club?. Imo he thought he was purchasing a Jag and now realises he owns a Robin Reliant.

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look at the grief mike ashley gets for apparently not spending money!!!

what makes it worse, some of our lot applaud the club for our spending

 

Exactly. Yet Newcastle have spent over £00m more than they've earnt since 2014 and they've had a relegation in that too. Newcastle and Leciester both signed players for £40m this summer, yet we have to sell to buy and people say it's all due to agents fees and bonuses

 

Here is the full list

https://www.transferleague.co.uk/premier-league-last-five-seasons/transfer-league-tables/premier-league-table-last-five-seasons

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Exactly. Yet Newcastle have spent over £00m more than they've earnt since 2014 and they've had a relegation in that too. Newcastle and Leciester both signed players for £40m this summer, yet we have to sell to buy and people say it's all due to agents fees and bonuses

 

Here is the full list

https://www.transferleague.co.uk/premier-league-last-five-seasons/transfer-league-tables/premier-league-table-last-five-seasons

 

Brighton and Bournemouth putting us to utter shame.

I await comments that bournemouth will be doing a pompey etc

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Exactly. Yet Newcastle have spent over £00m more than they've earnt since 2014 and they've had a relegation in that too. Newcastle and Leciester both signed players for £40m this summer, yet we have to sell to buy and people say it's all due to agents fees and bonuses

 

Here is the full list

https://www.transferleague.co.uk/premier-league-last-five-seasons/transfer-league-tables/premier-league-table-last-five-seasons

 

The really worrying thing about that is that you actually on need to invest £20m per season to get you fairly safe in mid table. Surely recoupable in league position money at the end of each season. At some point we have to gamble - or we are only going one way.

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look at the grief mike ashley gets for apparently not spending money!!!

what makes it worse, some of our lot applaud the club for our spending

 

We have spent money, but badly. Which is why we have less to spend now until we gets some money back in transfer fees.

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Do I understand sport, what a daft question. I want my team to compete and it saddens me to see the direction we're heading. Of course I'd prefer us to have an owner with money than sense, but the fact is that we have an owner with more sense than money. The point though is that whilst we'd like a cash throwing owner, there's no entitlement to one, and anyone with investment / business acumen can see that investment in our club will never lead to a return.

 

I'm pretty sure the Liebherr family made a huge amount from their investment in the club. So it is possible and could lead to a return!

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I'm pretty sure the Liebherr family made a huge amount from their investment in the club. So it is possible and could lead to a return!

 

It’s needs to be remember that the clubs pre tax profits dropped by £8.4m to just £35.2m last accounts so we should expect a lot of belt tightening.

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I'm pretty sure the Liebherr family made a huge amount from their investment in the club. So it is possible and could lead to a return!

 

Liebherr bought us when we were on our knees in league 1. His cash input was an investment for sure. That's very different to throwing vast sums at us now.

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Liebherr bought us when we were on our knees in league 1. His cash input was an investment for sure. That's very different to throwing vast sums at us now.

 

I take your point about not wanting to get into a slanging match, but I'm genuinely curious about something: if Gao bought us purely as a vehicle for moving money out of China and into the comparatively safe-haven of UK regulation, are you okay with that?

 

For him it might make sense to only think of the club as a financial instrument, but that creates a situation where the owner's incentives and motivations are completely opposed to the incentives and motives of the fan base - and that's a terrible foundation for the long-term health of the club.

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I take your point about not wanting to get into a slanging match, but I'm genuinely curious about something: if Gao bought us purely as a vehicle for moving money out of China and into the comparatively safe-haven of UK regulation, are you okay with that?

 

For him it might make sense to only think of the club as a financial instrument, but that creates a situation where the owner's incentives and motivations are completely opposed to the incentives and motives of the fan base - and that's a terrible foundation for the long-term health of the club.

 

That's an odd question. I have no idea if we're being used as a money moving / laundering vehicle, and speculation about it isn't necessary. Hypothetically speaking though, if that's happening, of course its not right.

 

I have no idea what his motivation is and I don't speculate - what's the point, we cabt influence him. However, you and I both want our club to succeed and compete. The fundamental difference between us is simply that you feel that we should expect an owner to throw money at the club, whereas I'd like them to but can't see that we should expect it and/or that there's anything in it for him if he did.

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That's an odd question. I have no idea if we're being used as a money moving / laundering vehicle, and speculation about it isn't necessary. Hypothetically speaking though, if that's happening, of course its not right.

 

I have no idea what his motivation is and I don't speculate - what's the point, we cabt influence him. However, you and I both want our club to succeed and compete. The fundamental difference between us is simply that you feel that we should expect an owner to throw money at the club, whereas I'd like them to but can't see that we should expect it and/or that there's anything in it for him if he did.

 

Gao has pretty much already said that his purchase was motivated by a desire to move money out of China (I can find the interview if you want chapter and verse) - we don't need to speculate. And every decision he's made since has been in line with that thinking (no fattening of the pig, as someone quoted earlier).

 

To continue the porcine analogy, most of the other club owners in the PL have bought their pigs with the intention of pampering them in the hope that they'll win a rosette at the county show (prestige, politics, billionaire entertainment). Our owner has bought a pig with the intention of making sausages.

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That's an odd question. I have no idea if we're being used as a money moving / laundering vehicle, and speculation about it isn't necessary. Hypothetically speaking though, if that's happening, of course its not right.

 

I have no idea what his motivation is and I don't speculate - what's the point, we cabt influence him. However, you and I both want our club to succeed and compete. The fundamental difference between us is simply that you feel that we should expect an owner to throw money at the club, whereas I'd like them to but can't see that we should expect it and/or that there's anything in it for him if he did.

 

The more I think about what you're saying, it really boils down to 'our owner is poor, so we can't expect him to invest money that he might not get back'. That's a noble sentiment, but cold comfort when other owners are rich enough to SPEND money and not give a sh*t about getting it back.

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Gao has pretty much already said that his purchase was motivated by a desire to move money out of China (I can find the interview if you want chapter and verse) - we don't need to speculate. And every decision he's made since has been in line with that thinking (no fattening of the pig, as someone quoted earlier).

 

To continue the porcine analogy, most of the other club owners in the PL have bought their pigs with the intention of pampering them in the hope that they'll win a rosette at the county show (prestige, politics, billionaire entertainment). Our owner has bought a pig with the intention of making sausages.

 

And owners know that there’s no better way to destroy the value of your investment than relegation. It’s like waking up and discovering that the world has converted to veganism. Your assiduous sausage-making efforts will have been in vain.

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Exactly. Yet Newcastle have spent over £00m more than they've earnt since 2014 and they've had a relegation in that too. Newcastle and Leciester both signed players for £40m this summer, yet we have to sell to buy and people say it's all due to agents fees and bonuses

 

Here is the full list

https://www.transferleague.co.uk/premier-league-last-five-seasons/transfer-league-tables/premier-league-table-last-five-seasons

 

That table shows that you generally get what you pay for so the clubs currently filling the bottom 2 places in the Premier League come as no surprise.

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Ah, the old "entitlement" cos other owners seem to do it line. The bottom line is that throwing money at a club like ours in the hope that it leads to a return for the "investor" is not attractive. There is little or no chance of a positive return so no prudent business man would do it. I want our club to be successful but this sense of entitlement is ridiculous. In any event, the truth is that spending on players over the last few years has been there, the issue has been ****e recruitment but the owner is the easy scapegoat.

 

The basis of your arguments have a no obsession with making a return much like our lack of signing players was because of the wage bill. To own a PL club is not necessarily a profitable venture. It’s become a toy, like a billionaire’s train set.

 

I don’t think fans wanting a club to compete is remotely the same as entitlement, as your patronising tone incorrectly suggests.

 

The owner is an easy scapegoat. FFS. I don’t think there’s any reasoning with you if you make such ridiculous statements like this. Gao has starved our club of funds and in turn, forced us into 3 relegation fights. The worst part is, the board haven’t learnt from their mistakes and worse still is that Gao seemingly has utter contempt for the fans by not even having the respect to lay out his plans for the future and his intentions for the club. I find this a disgusting act of ignorance & disrespect. The poor little scapegoat! He’s done so much to earn respect. Wake up!!!

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As someone earlier put it, Gao is here for the real estate close by. And rumour has it, all of the companies around the Stadium.

Contracts (Ground rental) run out some time next year or sooner, and are not being renewed. Thus opening up most of the waterfront! Just what I have heard.

 

I really doubt he took out £200m in ultra-high interest loans in order to gain access to Southampton's hyper-competitive real estate market. We're not talking about a sliver of Hong Kong here - pretty much anyone with a pot of cash and a desire to lose most of it would be welcome to regenerate any bit of Southampton they like.

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So what are we going to do? Easy enough to post embarrassing images on the Saints Twitter, as discussed above.

 

We need this clown gone.

 

The reality is not a lot. It’s not like the old days of askham where we complain about the chairman and he can step down and be replaced by another local guy. To get Goa our we need to sell and people aren’t queuing up

To buy premier league clubs these days

 

I fully expect any Goa out campaign to be quickly extinguished by the club, with banners taken down and any insubordination given banning orders. Much like they’ve ejected loads of itchen north fans for being anything other than happy clappy. it’s almost like

Our owner comes from a culture where like it or lump it is a way of life

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The reality is not a lot. It’s not like the old days of askham where we complain about the chairman and he can step down and be replaced by another local guy. To get Goa our we need to sell and people aren’t queuing up

To buy premier league clubs these days

 

I fully expect any Goa out campaign to be quickly extinguished by the club, with banners taken down and any insubordination given banning orders. Much like they’ve ejected loads of itchen north fans for being anything other than happy clappy. it’s almost like

Our owner comes from a culture where like it or lump it is a way of life

 

They can’t shut down Twitter.

 

It’s a bit lame but it’s an easy way to make a statement and if it makes life in China uncomfortable for him then he might look to sell.

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I really doubt he took out £200m in ultra-high interest loans in order to gain access to Southampton's hyper-competitive real estate market. We're not talking about a sliver of Hong Kong here - pretty much anyone with a pot of cash and a desire to lose most of it would be welcome to regenerate any bit of Southampton they like.
Absolutely. Not sure why people persist in this misconception that Southampton City Council will only engage with multi-million pound property investors if they buy the local sports club. Any developer turning up in the city with significant money and intent is in. There is no obligation to demonstrate an ability to sign a full back first.

 

This is very similar to the "he only wants us for Jackson's farm" stuff from years back.

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I really doubt he took out £200m in ultra-high interest loans in order to gain access to Southampton's hyper-competitive real estate market. We're not talking about a sliver of Hong Kong here - pretty much anyone with a pot of cash and a desire to lose most of it would be welcome to regenerate any bit of Southampton they like.

 

All this talk of him buying real estate around the stadium is bizarre as he's probably struggling to even make his loan repayments. Where do people think he's going to magic this money up from?

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I get shouted down everytime i say this but the evidence is there if you look in the right places on companies house and creditsafe accounts files and links

 

1) The club is servicing his debt to McQuarrie it 20m a year and clearly that was transferred last season into the London Parent company .

2) His debt is pure secured Debt finance , it it secured on everything including the club . stadium every asset . It is the only way a debt loan of this type can be structured .

3) Kats remaining equity holding would have represented the skin in the debt loan ( no funder gives 100 % of purchase ) which is why on the parent company accounts his purchase is represented as 100% ownership , Kat in effect lent his the other 40 M to facilitate the loan which is why she is now ****ed he has failed to pay it back because without he could never have borrowed the money to buy the club.

 

If we get relagated and the gravy train stops we are in the **** big time , he has no money , the club is levaraged to high heaven and he is sucking money out to service the debt .

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