Fan Buyout

If we raised money and bought the club then I presume the idea would then be that it would have to be self financing through season tickets and other income the big issue being what happens in the years when there is a shortfall and that is the issue that has happened at Newport and led them back to having to get an invester involved rather than the Supporters Trust.

 

The fans owning the stadium, would give us some leverage, when it comes to Rupp and his ownership of the club, the rent could be used to improve the facilities, after all it would then belong to the supporters. £400 K per year would go along way towards hot water and hand dryers in the toilets, which seems to be a common quible on here.
Nothing wrong with the stadium being owned by the community that is Bradford city supporters.
The lease also has to be re done in 4 years, which could be advantages in any discussions with the owner.
As i have said, more chance a snowball in hell, far too many are quite happy with cheap season tickets, how many would we sell at £350 8000 if we are lucky. What was the cost of tickets before the cheap deals, something along those lines.

 

If we bought the ground and left the arrangement as currently is then we wouldn't have to pay maintenace etc as the club would have to, the problem being that that wouldn't change anything. The only advantage would be that it would be possible to put pressure on Rupp but not sure what it would acheive unless we raised enough to buy the club as well.

 

Then when the fans own the club which incidentally is cloud cuckoo land,then other fans of City can demand why your not investing in players enough, demand the manager be sacked and call the new fans owner a c**t on Twitter and you’d wonder what the hell you’d taken on.

 

A fan owned club would never have the resources to progress to the level we could potentially reach. Definitely couldn’t deal with Championship costs.

The irony is that Rupp is the multi millionaire we’d longed for. The problem being he’s just no interest in football now and the money he did pump in was spoffed by Rahic so he’s unwilling to contribute anything else other than the bare minimum going forward.

 

That was my point really, there's so many more factors to it than just "buy the ground" and I'd imagine to achieve that, the legal costs alone would be eye watering.

 

So to sum up. we are stuck with Rupp and the Gibb pension fund until the multi millionaire white knight, with one brain cell arrives.

As i said my lottery ticket is in hand.

 

I can not make Monday, it could be better attended on Tuesday, pre- match. The people heading to the game that night will all be died in the wool city fans .

 

What difference would it make ? If we bought the club, who would run it and where would the money come from. Whose going to pay off Sparks, whose going to appoint a new CEO, where is the money coming from to fund transfers etc.

At best, run by supporters, we would be self sustainable. We are that now.

 

I would chip in.

We'd have to negotiate the price though.

 

if you give a discount for investors then it will not be self funding as there will be a drop in income. The club does seem to be roughly self funding normally but it is the what if… what if one year it isn’t? At the moment the owner stumps it up or bank rolls the loan etc Newport have just found out how hard that is as a fan owned club

 

The big problem is if you spend all the money in the summer, then have poor run and find yourself in the bottom two, where does the money come from to get out of it in January. Postponements, losing sponsors, poor walk up due to results, a bad manager and the fans trust are stuffed. It's a lovely idea, but it can't work in fully professional sport.

 

No, its not. Fan Ownership models can work, and at least the OP is suggesting something constructive.

I'd be willing to participate, but the logistics are difficult. I think the first step to any change, has to be an organised movement to make clear how disenchanted the fanbase is, and how seriously we're seeking change at the top.

 

Realistically a buy out should be the whole thing club and ground for a fresh new start. How would you value the Rupp asset though? In reality he actually owns nothing tangible does he?

 

I agree with your first step and it will be interesting to see what comes out of the meeting on Monday.

I'm not a big user of social media, but I get the sense now that there is the beginnings of significant shift of support away from the club's hierarchy. If that can be organised to agitate then that will be a start.

With regard to a fan's buyout, I think the growing disparity in finances between clubs in the EFL and the issues that @Dennis has highlighted, mitigates against that being a viable proposition without a serious investment from someone.