Rams ownership group

[USA Rams fan]

What is the general feeling concerning the ownership group of The Rams? Supportive or not? I live near GS&E offices in the US and was wondering what Ram fans them.

[curb]

After a very poor start, which was probably down to their naivety and lack of understanding of the game, they seem to be sorting it out.

We don't care too much for gimmicks over here, if they get the football right the rest follows, while the ex CEO Tom Glick was a very good businessman and commercial manager, I personally think it was a mistake that he was in charge of football matters.

That's just my opinion, asking this question you'll get a hundred different replies, and this this time tomorrow you'll wish you hadn't bothered

How did you get to supporting Derby by the way?

[USA Rams fan]

Football in the US leaves something to be desired. I followed Tottenham along with my son but got tired of the arrogance of The Premier League so I started following The Championship League. I found players in this league to be more hungry. They seem to play harder so they can move up. I find players in these types of lower level leagues more fan friendly. They are similar to lower league baseball and hockey players in the US that I follow; very approachable. Derby caught my eye several years ago so I just started to follow them. They let me down in the past but I really felt this was their year. Appleby also owned baseball team I use to follow & we are from the same city in the US. That was another reason I started to follow The Rams.

[Cisse]

Football in the US leaves something to be desired. I followed Tottenham along with my son but got tired of the arrogance of The Premier League so I started following The Championship League. I found players in this league to be more hungry. They seem to play harder so they can move up. I find players in these types of lower level leagues more fan friendly. They are similar to lower league baseball and hockey players in the US that I follow; very approachable. Derby caught my eye several years ago so I just started to follow them. They let me down in the past but I really felt this was their year. Appleby also owned baseball team I use to follow & we are from the same city in the US. That was another reason I started to follow The Rams.

You chose wisely mate.

[Tricky1884]

If we go up it it will be intresting to see what they do! I think they have done a good job of rebuilding what could of have been a nightmare like leeds etc. Some people don't like that they have done it overtime but that doesn't matter to me we are now solid. Now they have a manager they seem to like and trust I hope they invest which ever league we are in next season but we don't need loads of money spent on overated players we need wise people to spend wise money on good players like we have been doing so far!

[Boycie]

Is anyone going to claim an easy £5?

[Animal is a Ram]

You are Andy Appleby and I claim £5 off a baseball ticket.

 

Back on topic - echo the first reply. Seemed a bit naive, then got their fingers burnt a bit early on. The appointment of Rush was (in my opinion) a masterstroke. Someone who knows the game from a totally different perspective. He's proved shrewd in his movements, and while I didn't particularly like the way the Clough situation was dealt with, it was important that it was done, and its been the turning point to our season.

 

They are eager to hear the fans - support for Safe Standing, the release of those South Stand season tickets, moving away fans from behind the goal - all ideas from the fans, and very well implemented.

[Ewetube]

Is anyone going to claim an easy £5?

 

Where there's blame, there's a claim.

 

I blame you!

 

£5 please. 

[Duracell]

Thing you need to know US Ram is when your team is winning, you won't find anyone complaining anyway. Still, as Daveo once said, they pay the bills on time, don't get involved in affairs on the field, and they're not going to leave us in a heap of debt. Beggars can't be choosers and I'm happy with our owners.

 

Did annoy me the other week when Mallet called us a "franchise". But to be fair, he's Canadian.

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

The club is/has been showing a loss of about £8m per year. The ownership group have covered the loss. From that perspective alone they are to be commended. This season the team is doing well so as basically, as Duracell said, everything in the DCFC camp is happy.

[McRamFan]

I like the fact that the ownership group have put themselves in a position that prevents them from selling us on a whim, also I like its a group and not a potentially fickle single owner.  They let the management team get on with things and after a poor start they showed caution during the recession and seem to be quite willing to make big calls for the long term benefit of the club.

[CornwallRam]

So far they have avoided any of the mortal sins of club ownership (liquidation, administration, moving the club to a different town, changing either the name or the home shirt colour and trying to pick the team) so the worse they can be considered is average.

I think that they made quite a few mistakes – most of which now seem to have been corrected. In addition, they have kept prices reasonably low and avoided anything shameful – eg failing to pay local rivals for tickets sold. The debt conversion is also quite impressive. So off-field, I’d say that they are now doing well.

On field they, whether by accident or superb judgement, are delivering an awesome season. It must be said that this improvement is long overdue and I think that their past misjudgements were largely responsible for several uncompetitive years. They tried to impose an American business model in a situation that could not sustain it. However, at this point they are certainly doing a brilliant job where it really counts – on the pitch. OK, Nigel Clough, Sam Rush and Steve McClaren, Eric Steele and Paul Simpson are the ones who really deserve that credit – but the owners sanctioned their appointments.

So from my point of view, if the club is doing well on the field and is stable off the field, then the owners are doing a good job. As that seems to be the case then it is a thumbs up from me Andy.

[GlastoEls]

Hi Andy!! (Waves)

[ladyram]

Is anyone going to claim an easy £5?

Brett Wilson

[needles]

The late great Lionel Pickering apart, and with an honourable mention for the LoG, we haven't had owners who've covered themselves in glory in many years. This group will do just fine for me. They keep us out of the sport gossip columns, stay out of the limelight and let the manager and CEO run the show. They've been pretty sound and innovative for since they got here off the pitch and seem to be getting the football right now too. Top show.

 

Ask fans of Cardiff, Portsmouth, Coventry, florist, leeds, Blackpool, Birmingham etc if they'd have our lot and watch them jump at it.

[Guest]

Do GSE own us?

I think they manage the ownership on behalf of off our investors, of which I challenge anyone to name them all :-)

GSE appear to be doing a good job, they have a good marketing strategy, and installed steve M so it cant be all bad, however thats what they get paid for and its also the USP, so no surprise.

[eddie]

The late great Lionel Pickering apart, and with an honourable mention for the LoG, we haven't had owners who've covered themselves in glory in many years. This group will do just fine for me. They keep us out of the sport gossip columns, stay out of the limelight and let the manager and CEO run the show. They've been pretty sound and innovative for since they got here off the pitch and seem to be getting the football right now too. Top show.

 

Ask fans of Cardiff, Portsmouth, Coventry, florist, leeds, Blackpool, Birmingham etc if they'd have our lot and watch them jump at it.

 

Many of the Florists still believe every word Fridgy says (Three stars). Then again, the are idiots.

[USA Rams fan]

No I'm not Appleby, though I wish I had half his money. I was asking about his group because there was talk at one time of his group trying to bring a MLS team to Detroit., Michigan. Some members of his group were involved with bringing World Cup games to Detroit when the US hosted them some years ago. For some reason those talks stopped. I was trying to figure out why. His group owned a minor league baseball team in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That team was voted as one of the best run and most profitable minor league baseball teams in the US. I was hoping he would have brought a MLS to Detroit and run them as he had the baseball team. If he still could bring a team here I was hoping he would associate them with The Rams. Other MLS teams here are associated with Premier & Championship League teams.

[USA Rams fan]

Appleby runs GS&E which I believe runs The Rams. I also believe he is the primary owner of the investment group. GS&E has a marketing division that works with many sport leagues and organizations. This includes teams in all major sports, F1, golf and stadium management. It comes as no surprise when someone here mentioned they market the team well.

[uttoxram75]

The Rams ownership group are lucky that they happened to be owners when Jake Buxton decided to join us.