This is an importamt moment for the club. We currently have the wrong owner. We need the right owner. The worry is we end up with a wronger or wrongest owner... or in limbo.
They also sponsor Espanyol. Many betting companies in the PL come out of nowhere, and often don't have a physical business when they do.
Its the dodgiest sponsor ever. Their 'presence' in China seems to be a general user profile page, abandoned looking with a few old messages, on the the countries premier social media platform. Their only website is a small - 2002 looking- brochure site with 3 small pages on; Saints, Espanyol, and a bit about themselves: "We operate mainly from Asia and having experts from the fields have us the competitive edge we needed. Graphic designers, web developers, full video production crews and more to having state of the art facilities we are confident that we are more than capable to deliver our products and services at the best quality. Instead of reporting on sports news, gossip and more like the others, we separate ourselves from the norm by crafting our own content from a different perspective of the sports with exclusive in brand game shows, youtube star appearances, live broadcast, Q&A Sessions, vlogs, unboxing, reviews and so much more."
Just found this so maybe not https://www.espn.co.uk/football/eng...-would-be-enormous-stupidity-red-bull-founder
"But the Echo understands Saints aren’t actively marketing themselves as up for sale but, as with every football club, are always open to investment."
Since GAO took over Southampton have been repeatedly threatened by relegation. Says it all really. I’m up for new investment.
Under Gao we will be nothing more than perennial strugglers. Resigned to relegation fights and bottom half finishes with occasional flirtation with the top half of the table when on good form. We have a good manager now that looks to want to build something here. If only we had the right owners that were able and willing to back him you feel that we have the potential to regularly be a best of the rest contender again...and in seasons like this one challenge even higher. I'm aware that fantasy new owners doesn't guarentee that, and we could just be in for a new face but the same story, or even worse. But the only thing I'm sure of is that if we are going anywhere under Gao, it's down. You can't tread water forever in this league.
Good luck with trying to get external equity investment, without selling a major share in the club. "I control the club. I'm not willing to put a single penny of my own money into it. But if you would be willing to pump £50m or more into the club, then I would be happy to sell you 10%. For a market value price of course, say £30m." "Hmm, so I'd essentially be paying £80m for a 10% share? Me, as a 10% shareholder doing all the heavy lifting. Whilst you, the majority shareholder just sit back, don't spend anything, and reap any rewards of my investment..." So if we are thinking of raising finance through the equity route, it pretty much has to be through selling the club. Of course it doesn't preclude external debt investment. But I'm not sure I would trust anyone presently at the club to ensure that the return on such investment exceeds the interest which would be payable to the lender. We know full well what can happen when debt repayments become unserviceable. Not to mention that it still leaves Gao as the 80% owner, successful debt investment or not.
So will Kat still be 20% owner, or is this sale for 100% of the club? Maybe Amanda Staveley will be interested after the Newcastle deal didn’t happen.