Can we, the fans, buy the club?

[DaHongDe]

I've been reading all the posts on here about the problems with the owners etc and been getting quite worried. I used to dismiss everything thinking that it was all a very clever and elaborate attempt to divert attention from the team (a la Chelski/Mourinho a couple of years ago), but it seems to be going on far too long.

To most of us, its obvious, that we have the best manager in a very long time and an excellent chance of prolonged success if we stick by him (maybe not this year, but we're definitely getting closer). However, if rumours are to be believed the owners do not see it that way. Very worryingly, I have heard Klinsmann and Mourinho have been approached as potential successors.

This, coupled with the rumours of adding debt to the club and backtracking on a truely world class stadium could all point to serious problems.

All of which got me thinking, what could we do to turn this situation around (if rumours do in fact turn out to be true)?

I'm not any sort of financial expert, but could the fans not buy the club? Or at least set up a fund/company to buy the club? There must be millions of supporters worldwide and if each of us invested a small sum (and some of the richer fans invest larger sums - for more shares of course), I'm sure we could build a fund worthy of buying out G+H. I cant remember how much G+H paid for the club, but surely this is possible???No?

Apologies if this has been posted/suggested before.

[Nic83]

I think this happened a while back with a very small club. It's totally run by the fans...

[der_Fuchs]

I don't think it would help. Moores was a fan but couldn't fund the necessary changes, which is why we fell behind in the first place.

[captainfog]

no.

[Red Chilli]

It would be just about conceivable that we could buy the club, just about. But we couldn't fund anything year on year, it needs someone with billions (literally)

[DaHongDe]

Ok, so in your opinion, 5 questions:

How much to buy out G+H?
How much debt is there?
How much needed to finance the debt?
How much to fund the new stadium?
How much needed each transfer window for player purchases?

[Rich]

How are Ebbsfleet doing by the way?

[Norbs]

I think this happened a while back with a very small club. It's totally run by the fans...

It did, Ebbfleet (formerly Gravesend & Northfleet) of the Conference.

[Tom]

It'd be very difficult. Ebbfleet is tiny, imagine the complexity of multiple ownership of a club the size of liverpool. Barca would be the nearest model possible of emulating but that structure has been in place a long time. Would it be possible to replicate in today's complex economic environment? I don't know maybe others on here more informed could give an opinion.

[bazza76]

It'd be very difficult. Ebbfleet is tiny, imagine the complexity of multiple ownership of a club the size of liverpool. Barca would be the nearest model possible of emulating but that structure has been in place a long time. Would it be possible to replicate in today's complex economic environment? I don't know maybe others on here more informed could give an opinion.

I remember the question been put befoe on the koptalk forums back before the mass exodus. I also remember it came to the conclusion that it would never be a runner. It is far too complex, and I would assume it would have to be made up of alod of wealthy fans more so than millions of fans.
Would we really want to be electing presidents like Real and Barca every other season anyway and having these people buy the players and not the managers?
I suspect the turnover of managers would be far greater too.

[Gazmo1]

We could at least buy it and give it back to Moores so he can start again with representatives from fans on the board. At least then we can look for worthy investors.

Gaz.

P.S. For those who think Moores is a **** business man should consider you don't get rich like he has by being a ******.

[Resu]

We could at least buy it and give it back to Moores so he can start again with representatives from fans on the board. At least then we can look for worthy investors.

Gaz.

P.S. For those who think Moores is a **** business man should consider you don't get rich like he has by being a ******.

Moores grand-father (I think it was) was a very good businessman. DM hasn`t made any money by himself, it`s all in the family. The only money DM made was by selling LFC. He loves the club, but he isn`t a business man. As people have allready said, he`s tge reason the club lags behind.

[DaHongDe]

What about 50% Moores / 50% other fans?? I'm sure the Real/Barca model isnt that bad. Plus there's nothing that says we'd have to elect presidents/change managers every few years (we could just have a normal board of directors).

[Guest]

Fans aren't known to be rational types, I mean there's a select few of them. You need a cold calculated sense to be successful and you won't want your heart get in the way of certain decisions. I'm not saying it isn't the way forward but that can be difficult.

Sameer Al Ansari (DIC Chief Exec) is a renown fan of the club and he's been interested in buying the club in the past. That would not mean he isn't up to the task of running the club but he'll have a board to answer to anyway.

So I guess, a mixture of fans, stakeholders etc... might be achievable, probably based on Barca's model. But, we don't really know how it's been run and which problems they've encountered in being run like that.

We've been pretty successful anyway ourselves, isn't it ?

[Resu]

The barca/Real models has been around for years. The chairmen usually wins the election by promising to by certain players/use £xM from their own pockets. Ìt`s not like the "common" people runs the club, the bigwigs just tells them ehat they want to hear to get elected.