The All New Takeover Thread | Vital Football

The All New Takeover Thread

Echo these words from Ian Taylor. Time to put the clubs long term future as a priority and not place it's stature and existence on a roulette wheel of fortune.

I have found this interesting youtube channel that looks at clubs finances, this looks mainly at the Lerner era but is a warning to any future custodians of this precious historic club.
 
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The thing for me though is you can almost see some of the reckless spending. To be fair to Bruce, in the past season we’ve got players quite astutely but we have paid £30m for three strikers of which two are not up to it (McCormack & Hogan) and the third is a huge talent but always injured (Kodjia).

We need to rebase as a football club, we must have by far and away the highest revenue of any club in this league, we’re not based in the capital paying high costs for things like policing yet we’re not far enough north for the foreign footballers to not be attracted to playing for us.
 
We've written off players / assets at will ,
Curtis Davies £10m , sold for £250k
Darren Bent £23m , sold £200k
Etc
It's no wonder we are bankrupt


Paying big money for players of questionable talent (and not forgetting the associated ridiculous salaries), whom we are unable to use effectively and turn into assets is precisely why we are here. The overpaying strategy began with MON (who agreed turned a profit on one or two, but sat many on the bench) and has continued ever since.

In perhaps the cruelist twist, ironically, the only playing asset we have who is worth anything, is a local lad who cost nothing and loves the club that he will have to leave in order to help save it, instead of delighting in leading us back to former glories on the pitch.

We are a shambles, a laughing stock and a testament to what years and years of incompetence can do to the largest and most famous of clubs. An absolute footballing tragedy to those of us who care about it.
 
Surely the title of this thread is based on the theory that the fans are subordinate to anything else and must just take whatever comes there way. Could not the fans be proactive? An example could be right now not buying any season tickets until we get a seat on the board/ Xia goes or some such thing. A stadium in a run down area of Birmingham is worth nothing unless about 30k people turn up to watch games there. Uniting as a fan base is the only way to get something done..
 
It's difficult to organise, only some would make the effort and you'd never get a boycott of any kind in a manner large enough that actually sent a proper message.

ST's for example, and certainly not saying this perspective is wrong, but that was proposed before and few were for it because they've spent years getting 'their' seat and a group around them that boosts a match day - potentially throwing that away isn't something they are willing to do.

It's difficult as everyone is different and what one fan feels right doing, you can't impose on another if it doesn't feel right.
 
Yes. I guess that is the Faustian bargain. You get the seats you want in exchange for letting the club be run by dodgy owners and putting the entire club at risk. I’m not a season ticket holder so for me maybe it’s easy to say. I would say that the threshold for doing anything is low this summer. Villa are hungry for cash and any campaign as suggested is asking people NOT to do something rather than be proactive and would hit them where it hurts. So if we cannot do it know we never will. Slaves to the rhythm. Maybe that is the difference between a good football club and a bad one.
 
Very much catch 22 as fans out live owners.

Move it away from ST's and go to a game boycott. For some that's their release after a long week at work, the proper day out with the boys so if you're willing to miss a game, you can't dictate to others as a match day could be their social life to use a phrase.

The mood is certainly lower than it's been but is it tipping point? I don't think so to be honest. I'd also imagine a backlash of any suggestion of starving the club cash to make a point as for many that would be counterproductive. But again, I don't think it's tipping point where you'd get much traction for anything symbolic.

Truth is we're no different from other clubs. Look back to the Man U protests over the Glazers and the formation of FC, it was the coverage that seemed to make that massive. The reality was much different. Even Liverpool's recent ST protest, even with better coverage it was one protest in the stand that took the headlines in reality.

You always get better traction if you lean on 'being there' as opposed to bucking the trend as it removes the greater complications.
 
Let’s face it. Vitalfootball and it’s writers are significant. Mr Fear gets to go on tv radio, knows Steve Bruce etc etc. And yet it has absolutely no traction that you refer to in your last paragraph. I am realistic to know the pitfalls of trying to get supporters motivated but couldn’t vitalfootball at least run a long term campaign to get a seat on the board for fans? It might take years but I think it should be there. The senior people at Vitallfootball always tamp down on any ideas of this ilk. So I wonder, are you unwittingly part of the problem?
 
I don't think they are part of the problem. I think the views come from years of experience from the Ellis/ Lerner days.

We are represented on the FCG whom meet fairly regularly and I think the minutes are documented somewhere on the forum. You will see from those that fans concerns are vigorously aired , we may not get the answers we like , but it is a platform to use.

By the way the questions at these meetings are drawn from ideas on this forum and elsewhere.
 
The senior people at Vitallfootball always tamp down on any ideas of this ilk. So I wonder, are you unwittingly part of the problem?

Why are Vital part of the problem any more than you are? It's very easy to say: "Someone should do something about this! It's an outrage!" and then leave it at that - expect someone else to carry the fight.

As sirdennis has said, their is the Fan Consultation Group which meets frequently throughout the year, where questions from a range of sites and fan groups (Vital, MOMS, Heroes and Villans, etc.) are put directly to high-ranking board members.

Why should there be a fan on the board? There is no requirement to have random individuals on the boards of privately owned companies, why should a football club be any different? We don't have the model of fane membership or ownership like they do at, say, Barcelona.

I'm struggling to understand you point quite honestly.