If You're Going to San Francisco

[DMAA 3,703]

Excellent news. I’ve said for years fix the recruitment and you fix Rangers. An oversimplification of course, but our recruitment is consistently somewhere between mediocre and atrocious while other clubs, including Celtic, do a lot better. Access to a proper scouting network would be great for the club. Of course there are things we need to protect but you have to accept a level of risk here because Celtic are well on the way to endless dominance. 

Edited yesterday at 12:23 by DMAA

[JohnMc 3,023]

1 hour ago, Scott7 said:

What do 49ers Enterprises get out of the deal? 
 

1  A stadium site. (No idea of the development value)

 

2  Access to Champions League riches if such riches exist. There are costs involved getting there namely provision of a lot of funds to create a team capable of getting into the competition then continuing investment to get back at least two years out of three to make it worth while.

 

I wonder what US owners get out of Liverpool and other PL clubs. I doubt the Arabs get anything significant out of Manchester City.

 

Oh for a dyed in the wool, multi-billionaire Rangers man with no widows or orphans to worry about but can a drowning man agitate about the bloke throwing him a lifebelt?

That's the million dollar question. Ultimately they're a venture capitalist business, so they want to buy into/invest in businesses they believe can grow and be sold for a profit. If we look at Leeds, they bought a smallish shareholding, then increased that to 49% and then bought 100% of the club. Last year they brought in Red Bull, although what share of Leeds Red Bull own isn't clear. Ultimately, they'll want to sell some, or all, of Leeds for a profit. Currently European football clubs are seen as a good investment by American VCs for reasons that I'm not entirely sure of. So I'd guess they'll want to increase our value, that can be achieved by getting us into the Champion's League on a regular basis and increasing our commercial and broadcast income, probably our ticket income too. Or, they can gut us, cut our overheads to the bone and run us as a vehicle to support Leeds, which would be one of my worries. If they are trying to build a structure of clubs whose aim is to provide players, data, coaches and expertise for Leeds, in the hope of selling the whole 'package' to another investor, then we'd fit the criteria for that fairly well. 

 

The owners of Man City are different. They're looking for respectability, soft power in Europe, influence on culture and opportunities to expose Europe and beyond to the wonders of United Arab Emirates. 

[Uilleam 6,121]

1 hour ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

I think he has fallen on hard times, I don't think freelancing for the Dundee Courier pays well and he spends much of his time trawling budget supermarket for heavily reduced items to make soup. And I'm not kidding.

Oh dear. I am in The Horseshoe Bar, and will try not to let this news spoil my day. 

[CammyF 9,005]

1 hour ago, JohnMc said:

That's the million dollar question. Ultimately they're a venture capitalist business, so they want to buy into/invest in businesses they believe can grow and be sold for a profit. If we look at Leeds, they bought a smallish shareholding, then increased that to 49% and then bought 100% of the club. Last year they brought in Red Bull, although what share of Leeds Red Bull own isn't clear. Ultimately, they'll want to sell some, or all, of Leeds for a profit. Currently European football clubs are seen as a good investment by American VCs for reasons that I'm not entirely sure of. So I'd guess they'll want to increase our value, that can be achieved by getting us into the Champion's League on a regular basis and increasing our commercial and broadcast income, probably our ticket income too. Or, they can gut us, cut our overheads to the bone and run us as a vehicle to support Leeds, which would be one of my worries. If they are trying to build a structure of clubs whose aim is to provide players, data, coaches and expertise for Leeds, in the hope of selling the whole 'package' to another investor, then we'd fit the criteria for that fairly well. 

 

The owners of Man City are different. They're looking for respectability, soft power in Europe, influence on culture and opportunities to expose Europe and beyond to the wonders of United Arab Emirates. 

I worked with a few Leeds lads and keep in touch with them. They are worried that the focus will be on Rangers and not Leeds as even they understand that it'll be easier and cost less getting Rangers to CL on a regular basis than it would be with Leeds.

 

Let's not forget our total income last year was circa £95M - that's not to be sniffed at. Internal restructuring and getting us operating correctly should see us breaking even (at worse).

 

Ita undeniable that we require a "shot in the arm" - time will tell if this is it. 

[Frankie 8,794]

1 hour ago, Uilleam said:

Oh dear. I am in The Horseshoe Bar, and will try not to let this news spoil my day. 

Make sure you don't mention @ian1964's name. He was flung out for being 'tired and emotional' the last time he was in there with @johnnyk

 

Very unstaunchlike behaviour from two of Gersnet's more experienced members.

[Franc Ergs 1,770]

22 hours ago, CammyF said:

I suppose it would depend on what you wanted to use them for......😀

[CammyF 9,005]

[JohnMc 3,023]

2 hours ago, CammyF said:

I worked with a few Leeds lads and keep in touch with them. They are worried that the focus will be on Rangers and not Leeds as even they understand that it'll be easier and cost less getting Rangers to CL on a regular basis than it would be with Leeds.

 

Let's not forget our total income last year was circa £95M - that's not to be sniffed at. Internal restructuring and getting us operating correctly should see us breaking even (at worse).

 

Ita undeniable that we require a "shot in the arm" - time will tell if this is it. 

As you know my thoughts are complete speculation, I've no unique insight or special background knowledge on this, it's all just made up oot my own wee heid, so take it all with a pinch of salt. Your Leeds supporting pals could well be right, they could know more than me, no doubt about that.

 

For me the reason I think the focus will remain on Leeds is simply due to the access they can get to the EPL and it's money. Leeds last reported turnover was £190 million. Bournemouth, the 'smallest' side in the EPL, turned over £141 million in their last reported accounts. That's the least available in that league. That's over £20 million more than Celtic who've won the league and played in the Champion's League and who most accept are pretty well run. I think we'd need to win the Champion's League to get anywhere close to that kind of income. 

 

In reality Leeds are more equivalent to Newcastle in terms of size, location and potential than to Bournemouth. Newcastle's last reported turnover was around £300 million and I suspect that's where 49ers think Leeds can get too. For that reason I think Leeds will remain their main focus, that's where the potential profit is. Get Leeds established in the EPL, make them a top half of the table side and count the money coming in. 

 

Now, before any of that happens Leeds need to get promoted, something that seems easier said than done. They're well placed currently, but it's not a given. If they fail to go up then who knows what happens, maybe that changes things, but if they do go up then I suspect every effort goes into keeping them up and establishing them as a permanent fixture there. I don't know where we fit into that. 

Edited 22 hours ago by JohnMc

[ian1964 10,819]

2 hours ago, Frankie said:

Make sure you don't mention @ian1964's name. He was flung out for being 'tired and emotional' the last time he was in there with @johnnyk

 

Very unstaunchlike behaviour from two of Gersnet's more experienced members.

Grass!

[BEARGER 1,843]

Jordan Campbell

@JordanC1107

A deal for 49ers Enterprises to acquire a 51% majority stake in Rangers is expected to be completed in the next few months. The structure of the deal is “well baked” with enough shareholders willing to sell to give 49ers the control they seek. https://nytimes.com/athletic/6150980/2025/02/21/rangers-takeover-san-francisco-49ers/