BBC Radio Leeds Fans 'Forum' 7th Feb 6-7pm

Maybe SP is also part of the problem.

 

Prob not, no!

 

No it’s common sense in one respect. Would you enjoy it if your personal finances were bankrupted and you were forced to sell your house furniture and car? For balance of course

The owner calls the tune , the CEO has to play the banjo. No matter what CeO was brought in, football experience or not, the owner STILL calls the tune and the experienced “ footballing knowledge” CEO still has to play the banjo. I can understand why, it’s lazy thinking , but you are targeting the wrong problem!

The issue is down to Rupp , if he refuses to invest in further progress , we are absolutely at his bidding unless we strike it lucky on the green stuff.

Please don’t fall into the trap thinking I’m defending any CeO, I’m not. That’s how football works in 2024. You only have to look at the winter transfer deals….or lack of!

 

If you fail to invest in your business then you probably will not grow or expand. However, although football is run on a business model it is unique. If you fail to invest or plan for the future you will be left behind and the majority of the all conquering owners know this. Sitting around waiting for a buyer to zoom in and reward you for your own inept business thinking is for the birds. In football you go backwards.

 

There are two major options to drive this club forward.

1) Convince Rupp to sell up to someone who is interested

or

2) Convince Rupp to appoint a CEO/DOF that can run the club by either replacing Sparks or completely taking over the football side of the business and answering only to Rupp.

Sparks isn't good enough as a CEO. Rupp isn't good enough as an owner if he's happy to leave a man in place who isn't good enough.

That's the basics here. Investment? Whatever, it's a bonus, but we have more than enough financial firepower to compete well above the levels we have done under Sparks, who isn't capable of making sound footballing decisions.

 

Opinions will always be divided when success on the grass is absent for sure.

 

Both statements you make are correct. A business model based on constant success , without financial backing , is doomed to fail. That is a fact in European football in 2024.

 

Correct. I came to that conclusion several years ago. I actually thought the PL would implode. It hasn’t happened, nevertheless there are serious issues re financial distress throughout the PL. with the big guns wanting to jet off and become a superstar league. Obviously it has repercussions further down the leagues. If you dissociate your club from its community base, it loses it identity and support over time.

You will remember one Geoffrey Richmond who at the time I thought he was trigger happy at getting rid of managers and anybody else who did not achieve the best for this club. I cannot imagine him not sacking RS who has a good few years to get it right. We need a fully qualified CEO who can plan and recognise where we need expertise.

 

There is an obvious flaw in the sustainable argument. We are currently sustainable simply because we have a very large and loyal, so far, number of season ticket buyers. This in turn attracts sponsors. But that will only remain the case if the product on the pitch is worth watching and we have a reasonable hope of success. If that is not there then the support base will go away and the club will become unsustainable. It is clear from Sparks' comments that there is no meaningful desire to invest, nor ambition to improve substantially, so that is the likely outcome. Then Rupp will either have to put more money in which is unlikely, sell for whatever he can get or put the club into administration.

 

Agree, I do hope he wakes up to this absolute fact. I personally think we are run on a wing and a prayer atm. No evidence as such, but just a gut feeling if I am allowed that.

 

There's an element of risk involved but the only way to force the issue is to not renew.

 

I completely agree with you, but to misuse your analogy…
A strong CEO might tell their shareholders that whilst they will happily get their banjo ready, D-I-V-O-R-C-E or 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover aren’t great tunes to play at a wedding and suggest alternatives. A very strong exec team might put their collective banjos down and say we’re not playing that tune.

FWIW, not spending more than you earn is the correct thing to do, but many of us have or had a mortgage and bought a car on finance so that we could live and get to work. That debt is ok as long as you can repay it. Relying on the good will of your mate to pick you up every day is going to leave you stranded at some point until he’s ill or moves to a new job. Just like relying on 15000 cheap season tickets to balance the books is fine when there’s success on the field.

Perhaps a shit analogy, but whilst Salford’s model of losing millions isn’t right, living pay cheque to pay cheque isn’t also likely to end in tears at some point.

 

Another major problem is the lease. Would you trust Sparks to successfully negotiate a 25 year lease. I certainly would not!!

Priority should be to purchase the stadium. Surely the loan repayments will be less than 500k pa. It has to make financial sense.

Otherwise we will be in turmoil for the next 25 years, after signing another financially detrimental lease.

 

“ The debt is ok as long as one can pay it back” Sums the issue up nicely Mike.

Mortgages are completely different as the house is the asset to pay the lender back in case of default . Remember we have no assets and the only default to pay any loan back is the man who calls the tune…… Otherwise.

 

The main problem as I see it, is that Rupp thinks we're doing ok, and Sparks thinks he himself is doing a good job in his role. We'll only see changes once their attitudes change, and I can't see that happening any time soon, especially after I heard RS waxing lyrical on the wireless.

 

The main problem is that Rupp, Sparks, Rhodes, @wetherbywhaler and all the people connected with the club think we have a fan base that are a set of mugs! It’s clear this is the case. Fans getting used and abused!

Now, until the club puts fans first then nothing will change and I don’t mean cheap season tickets. It’s basically, like 16k fans getting conned every week and accepting it.

 

Fordy unbelievably lately I think you have been making a lot of sense and posted some very pertinent messages, but I just don't get your tirade against @wetherbywhaler. Yes some of his views, particularly in defence of the club, may differ from many on here, but at the end of the day he is as much a loyal fan as you and me and the rest of us.

 

The PL will not explode as it has a guaranteed income, come rain hail or shine, as long as Sky and all the other bidders are around bidding for TV rights. If only big Geoff had waited!

The EFL are left with picking up the scraps of what ever the PL deem us to “ need”. In all honesty, as long as the closed shop of the PL and continual parachute money remains available to the merry-go-round clubs, they are absolutely laughing.

Stop the parachute money overnight and make the Sky deal fairer and not in the bidding of the Prem owners, many of which are laundering nation state money, and don’t give a toss about anyone outside the closed shop of the prem. Rant over.