IEC | Vital Football

IEC

king_dezeeuw06

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Paul Kendrick mentioned on Twitter that IEC have been putting 1m a month in to cover the running costs since they took over and thats before any new signings. Considering we had 5m for Gallagher and 4m for Hugill accepted plus paid 2m for Robinson and hopefully 3m for Lowe on top of all the infrastrcute spending - they aren't half committing.

If the proposed signings happen added to the running costs, plus new pitch and so forth, minus the Grigg fee that would be well over 10m invested after the cost of buying the club initially in less than a year. So i hope the accusations that IEC aren't doing anything will start to die down - they have so far done everything right and seem to be showing a level of ambition in the market that we previously couldn't stretch to.

Also Mr Zhang the CEO of IEC has apparently left according to a circular from the company, not sure that has any direct bearing on us as it's Melvin and Royle in charge of us but Zhang was the other business man spotted with Melvin at the home games prior to them competing the purchase.
 
I think IEC have been great.

One of the biggest complaints when new owners come in to any club is the upheaval it causes and the fact that it unsettles players, staff and fans and the changes they make are too many and too fast.

I think IEC have got it spot on. They have maintained stability and continuity, so the transition hasn't upset a stack of people (except those who go out of their way to find things to moan about).

The investment has been sensible: they've invested in a lot of less visible things like the training facilities, ticketing system, big screen etc. and it seems like they're also investing sensibly in the transfer market. Given the Gallagher bid, alleged Hugill bid (I'm actually glad they didn't come off because I don't rate either player, but that's not the point of this post), the money we've spent on Robinson and look likely to spend on Lowe, added to whatever we're bidding for Darikwa and probably others that haven't been made public, isn't insignificant money, but it's still sensible within the capacity of our club, especially bearing in mind that those players are of the right age and potential that we'd recoup some if not all of the money we're paying, and if things go well we'll make a tidy profit.

I'd be worried in the extreme if we were considering paying big big money for players, because that would be telling me that they're not considering the long term future of the club. Even worse would be paying ludicrous wages because that's money that we'll never get back and it's ultimately what determines the bottom line on a week to week basis. Big fees don't help but can usually be at least partially recouped... Big wages are a dead weight that can bankrupt a club. I don't see that anyone we've bought or may buy will be on a stupid wage.

All in all, I think IEC need some credit. They've invested and continue to invest sensibly. They haven't rocked the boat and upset people. They haven't tried to put their stamp of authority on anything or sought out publicity. They haven't splashed massive money that we don't have and put the club into a debt pit that we'll never get out of. What they have done is quietly improve things with sensible, sustainable investment, and ensured that the general 'feel good factor' around the club and dressing room isn't disrupted. In my book, that's exactly the kind of owners I'd want.
 
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Totally agree with everything you say Pon, but as Henski says, it wont stop the knockers. No matter what DW did or what IEC do people will always want more, yet when the club announce the ticket prices they don't want to put their own hands in their pockets.
 
Do you not think they could work on somebody to do some PR as a go between for the fans and IEC. Until we brought in Robinson it was looking very worrying indeed that we weren’t going to spend. I didn’t know they were injecting a million running costs though. I will be delighted if they could deliver Lowe for us.
 
Speaking of IEC, I heard Melvin Zhang (The main man in regards to IEC purchasing the club) has left IEC, I am not sure, if that means that he is no longer associated with the club, and no longer a director, or he is still behind the scenes in association to Wigan Athletic, either way, it seems like it has made no difference in the operation, in fact, it seems like an investiment into the club over the past few months, I know they have been cashing in 1m into the day to day running of the club. Anyone got any details about this?
 
Franco, both your points (Zhang & the £1m) were made by KDZ in the post at the top of this page.

If you've heard it yourself, have you heard anything else?

By the way, it used to be about £0.5m in Whelan's day (from what I've read on twitter.
 
Franco, both your points (Zhang & the £1m) were made by KDZ in the post at the top of this page.

If you've heard it yourself, have you heard anything else?

By the way, it used to be about £0.5m in Whelan's day (from what I've read on twitter.
Quite ironic, I forgot my glasses today aswell, I guess that "might" be the reason for not seeing the original post. :help:
 
Do you not think they could work on somebody to do some PR as a go between for the fans and IEC. Until we brought in Robinson it was looking very worrying indeed that we weren’t going to spend. I didn’t know they were injecting a million running costs though. I will be delighted if they could deliver Lowe for us.

Not really, i think they are doing what all clubs do - just doing their business and only communicating when there is something to tell us. I think we sometimes believe we are being kept in the dark about what is going on behind the scenes but they can't let us in on things without letting every other club in on it too. All clubs try to keep things behind closed doors as much as possible as it's necessary to avoid being gazumped, alerting teams how much we have to spend so they will up prices, letting other clubs know your plans, getting fans expectations up only to get let down by circumstances beyond their control, etc. It has to be secretive and it's for our own good it is.

I remember a couple of transfer windows ago Coventry posted saying they are working hard on deadline day and everyone should be ready for a late night arrival. It turns out the deal fell through and the next day their fans were on the war path after they had their expectations raised - that is the thing that clubs are desperate to avoid.
 
Totally agree with everything you say Pon, but as Henski says, it wont stop the knockers. No matter what DW did or what IEC do people will always want more, yet when the club announce the ticket prices they don't want to put their own hands in their pockets.
Well season tickets couldn't be much cheaper really.
 
Not really, i think they are doing what all clubs do - just doing their business and only communicating when there is something to tell us. I think we sometimes believe we are being kept in the dark about what is going on behind the scenes but they can't let us in on things without letting every other club in on it too. All clubs try to keep things behind closed doors as much as possible as it's necessary to avoid being gazumped, alerting teams how much we have to spend so they will up prices, letting other clubs know your plans, getting fans expectations up only to get let down by circumstances beyond their control, etc. It has to be secretive and it's for our own good it is.

I remember a couple of transfer windows ago Coventry posted saying they are working hard on deadline day and everyone should be ready for a late night arrival. It turns out the deal fell through and the next day their fans were on the war path after they had their expectations raised - that is the thing that clubs are desperate to avoid.
I agree with regards to transfers. What I mean really is that now the Whelan's have gone I miss David Sharpes interaction with the fans. I don't know anything about any of the blokes running our club anymore, they are mystery men to me. I wouldn't know them if I fell over them. It's a shame really there really is a big disconnect on that level. I find it strange nobody misses that via the Whelan's, made you feel they had us and the people of Wigan at heart.
 
I agree with regards to transfers. What I mean really is that now the Whelan's have gone I miss David Sharpes interaction with the fans. I don't know anything about any of the blokes running our club anymore, they are mystery men to me. I wouldn't know them if I fell over them. It's a shame really there really is a big disconnect on that level. I find it strange nobody misses that via the Whelan's, made you feel they had us and the people of Wigan at heart.

IEC bought us as a business investment while we were a labour of love for many years for Whelan and then Sharpe so it is bound to be different. To me what we lose in Sharpe effectively being a fan who ran the club we gain in experienced business professionals who are dealing with many of the faults that we didn't fix for years. It always felt like in some aspects we'd be a bit amateur with the way the club was ran but it feels like IEC are making us into a more professional outfit.

I think Sharpe and Whelan had overall obviously done well for us but in many ways had taken us as far as they could and we weren't putting anything in place to deal with the reality of slowly piling up debt and running out of money. A fresh approach was needed to try and move the club on and IEC seem to be much more proactive and willing to speculate to accumulate. So I'm grateful and excited by what we've seen from the new owners so far rather than missing the old ones. I just feel we are evolving.
 
Hang on a minute, they've never ran a football club but the Whelan's are football people!! It doesn't make sense to say that just because they're good at business dealings that the club is better ran or more professional. David sharpe understood the fans it is also important for IEC to open up a little bit more. I don't wanna know everything about them or what they had for dinner but it's sensible to show your face every now and then and be a bit more accessible!
 
Hang on a minute, they've never ran a football club but the Whelan's are football people!! It doesn't make sense to say that just because they're good at business dealings that the club is better ran or more professional. David sharpe understood the fans it is also important for IEC to open up a little bit more. I don't wanna know everything about them or what they had for dinner but it's sensible to show your face every now and then and be a bit more accessible!

Your right IEC have never ran a football club before but they brought in the royles who do know about football
 
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Your right IEC have never ran a football club before but they brought in the royals who do know about football
What does Prince Edward know about the offside trap? Duke of Edinburgh would be interesting for signing players from abroad :gent::gent::gent:
 
Hang on a minute, they've never ran a football club but the Whelan's are football people!! It doesn't make sense to say that just because they're good at business dealings that the club is better ran or more professional. David sharpe understood the fans it is also important for IEC to open up a little bit more. I don't wanna know everything about them or what they had for dinner but it's sensible to show your face every now and then and be a bit more accessible!
We've already been told that Darren Royle is the face of IEC as far as we are concerned. They have no interest in anyone else being involved, DR deals directly with them just like many other foreign business' that are run from the UK with minimal interference. They just give us a budget and work within it and give regular reports to them.