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Saudi Prince Considered Investing


Chris Peduck

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From Addicks Champoinship Diary-see what you make of this,boys and girls

Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the new co-owner of Sheffield United, turned down the chance to invest in three Championship clubs, according to The Times. The Saudi industrialist, who bought a 50 per cent stake in United from Kevin McCabe, the club’s former outright owner, said he looked at investing in Leeds United, Charlton Athletic and Derby County.

Leeds is understandable as it has real Premiership potential, but needs more investment. Derby County is in a reasonably prosperous area of the Midlands (engineering remains strong in the area) and has a good catchment area with no other major clubs in the vicinity (I discount Burton Albion). It is also near the national football headquarters.

But what about Charlton? It's located in a world city and its catchment area is likely to increase in population. The stadium can cope with the Premier League and there is a good training ground.

It has been suggested, but not corroborated, that the club was holding out for £43m from a recent credible investor. One also has to remember that any investor would acquire quite considerable debt which is likely to increase further in the course of the present season. League rules would prevent any short-term splashing of cash.

If the club is not being offered at a realistic price, and it has to be emphasised that these claims are not verifiable, then one would have to ask why not. As one fan remarked to me, 'It doesn't add up.' I don't have an answer and perhaps we shall all be pleasantly surprised by an announcement of new investment.

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I think if we do get promoted. The satisfaction of knowing we did it on a tight budget will be nice.

Ie we didn't have money from premier league parachute payments.

Or an Arabian prince spending his pocket money on a football club.

Having said that I would just like to be promoted to be honest so if we had got taken over by this dude and he bought us promotion I would have welcomed it.

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Like I said in the Sheffield Utd thread, I'm very suspicious of foreign investors promising major investment. For every Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour, there's another 10 shysters who have splashed the cash initially only to disappear/asset-strip/destroy the club after the initial honeymoon period.

 

That said, if you were looking at clubs outside of the Premier League capable of improving considerably & yielding a "return on investment", Derby & Leeds would be at the top of most people's list.

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i'd rather us get promoted with little money, and a squad based around graduates from our academy than us get promoted under some big investment, and everyone saying we're only in the prem because of Saudi owners.

 

that being said, at the moment we might not do either and i'd take promotion and success for this club with (breath) Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (breath) over no promotion or success with the yanks. by a mile.

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The yanks have said several times they are not looking to sell.

There was a survey a couple of months back which said around half the clubs in the league were looking to sell in the next few years.

Plenty of clubs are available so there is no point trying to buy one not on the market, it's not like we stand out particularly compared to any other club when it comes to a foreign investor with no affiliation to the club.

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Is it me or do most Derby fans underestimate the size of the club/potential we have? We own our own Premiership standard ground, own our own 1st class training ground, been in the top 3 for average attendances for God knows how many years (and that's without having a lot to shout about!). And also have an excellent football tradition. What wouldn't be attractive to a foreign owner? Anyone with any common sense would surely be looking at Derby, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday as great investments. The advantage with us is our facilities I would have thought.

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Why?

I know at least 4 people who haven't renewed ST's and will refuse to do so until they've left because of their own views on what they see as a lack of investment from them.

As far as they're concerned, they have not delivered what they said they would and as a result decided to vote with their feet.

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Is it me or do most Derby fans underestimate the size of the club/potential we have? We own our own Premiership standard ground, own our own 1st class training ground, been in the top 3 for average attendances for God knows how many years (and that's without having a lot to shout about!). And also have an excellent football tradition. What wouldn't be attractive to a foreign owner? Anyone with any common sense would surely be looking at Derby, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday as great investments. The advantage with us is our facilities I would have thought.

Do we own our own stadium? In the same way that I own my own house even though am paying HSBC bank back every month on  the money I've borrowed against it?

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I know it's unrelated but does anybody know the highest ranked club that is fan owned?

 

Highest ranked partially owned club is Swansea City - 20% stake in the club

 

Highest ranked fully owned club is AFC Wimbledon but Exeter, Pompey & Wycombe in the same division are also fully owned.

 

I'd love to see that kind of ownership structure for Derby. No idea how practical it would be at this level of football or what stake a fan group could realistically have to make a positive contribution to the club.

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