Premiership = $$$$$

Today, one of Fulham's rivals in terms of gunning for the top ten and out of the relegation zone, Manchester City, was bought out by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In addition to that, he appointed Sven Goran Eriksson to be the City manager.

While the idea of Eriksson does not necessarily scare me, hearing that Shinawatra is giving him 50 million pounds to spend does scare me. While money cannot buy you everything, spending a large amount as City seems set to do will go a long ways in solidifying the club and making them a potential force in the next few seasons.

Now, I am not saying that the top four need to worry, but teams like Fulham, Wigan, Reading and the promoted sides should be a bit worried. Money seems to be taking over the Premiership. If you don't have it, you can't spend it. If you don't spend it, it is very hard to improve from one year to the next.

I would guess if City does spend 50 million this summer they will NOT be in the relegation picture come April and May of next year.

Whether Shinawatra sustains this spending over the course of 5-10 years remains to be seen, but he seems deadset on getting City moving in the right direction and he actually wants to compete with their city rivals Manchester United.

Money is running this league for better or worse. Fulham is improving some this summer and we all know we will never see 50 million pounds being spent in a given year, but now we can likely count Manchester City out of the potential relegation picture. There are NOT many teams left in the league who don't spend much money. There are some and will likely always be a few, but the gap between the big spending clubs and the rest of the teams like Fulham continues to widen and widen and frankly that scares me as a supporter of Fulham and of the Premiership.

 

I share the fear of the growing gap of spending between the "haves" and the "have nots". Fulham has the funds as Fayed is quite wealthy, but he has resolved to not invest more than 10-15 million quid in transfers.

While the prospect of Citeh having huge spending power in the Prem is a bit scary, I believe Citeh, at this time, have dug themselves in a huge hole and the massive spending of funds is needed just to salvage their season. They have sold the majority of their most talented players in Weaver, Distin, Barton and failed to resign a dangerous Beasley. They have also failed to make a single signing. They have a mountain to climb...50 million quid will never hurt though.

 

I agree City is by no means headed for the Champions League in 2008-2009, but with 50 million to spend, a big name manager in Eriksson and an owner who is willing to spend, I imagine this ship will get turned around in a hurry. Expect the spending to commence next week for City.

 

Never rated citeh as a club and now that they will have massive spending power in transfers bothers me. Money was inevitably going to evetually take over football, but I hope that Fulham won't be one of the clubs thrown under the bus because they failed to invest.

Do you see Fayed selling the club anytime soon?

 

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I think if in the next season or two if he does not see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel in terms of making a consistent profit, he will think about and seriously consider selling.

Fulham would be a very desirable club to own. It is in the Premiership, it is in a very nice neighborhood, has very little debt, outside of that owed to Al Fayed and is in the city of London. While the stadium is small and the fanbase is small by Premiership standards, there is money to be made if the right people come in and work their marketing magic.

That being said, I am sure there will be interested buyers in the club and probably are right now. The only thing that might be keeping Mo from selling is the fact that his two youngest sons, in their early to mid 20's are big football fans and now are part of the Fulham board. They have told their dad they really enjoy being part of the club and they want to run it someday. Now, I have no idea if that will have any bearing on Al Fayed's eventual decision to sell or not to sell.

My gut says Fulham will have new ownership in two years or less.

 

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Of course, the flip side of all the money flowing into the Premiership is what happens if you spend as if you'll have that income stream and then it doesn't work out for you: the continued struggles at Leeds.

BBC: Leeds "may not start next season"

 

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Tom...I agree that Fulham will not be owned by Fayed for much longer. He has essentially strapped LS with a lack of funds, 10 million quid is a joke, and he realizes that football isn't a money making machine for club owners.

One owner I would love Fulham to have...Robert Kraft...Up the Fulham.

 

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There are definitely downsides to having loads of money, like plastic fans and having idiots at your cluib that spend it poorly, but more often than not, having money will get you somewhere in this league. It may not get you a title although you could use Chelsea, Manchester United and even Blackburn back in 1996 as examples of titles being bought, but it will all but guarantee you of a higher finish and make you steadily move up the table.

Look at what Portsmouth has done in the last two seasons. They went from nearly relegated to a decent, top-ten side in that time. It was not because of Harry Redknapp as many people think, it was because of the deep pockets of new owner Alexander Gaydamak. He has decided to spend a good chunk of change on getting new players in and pay higher wages than most other clubs. Thus, if Gaydamak continues to spend at his current rate, Pompey will perhaps be in contention for a UEFA Cup spot this season and who knows after that.

 

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I am actually shocked at the number of American and foreign owners getting into the Premiership. To be honest with you, other than the big four and perhaps one or two other clubs, owning a club is NOT a money-making venture. My guess is that most of these people fall into the Abramovich category in that they simply want to own a club and run the show because they have so much money.

Not to say any other owners have nearly the amount of cash Abramovich has, but you can't tell me that clubs like Portsmouth, Bolton, Manchester City, Blackburn, Everton, Sunderland and West Ham are making loads and loads of money. They are NOT making much, if any money.

I would guess this trend of foreign ownership looking for quick, easy cash to make will die down in due time when they realize that the Premiership is not the cash cow they originally thought it was.

 

I would have said the same thing about Portsmouth two years ago. I am not sayinhg Fulham will ever be bought out by Daddy Warbucks, but never say never.

 

I know Kraft is a pipe dream. Trust me I know that wouldn't even happen in the Twilight Zone.

Hopefully Fayed's sons will choose to invest more into transfers. Fayed has been burnt in the past, but you can't saddle the manager with an unreasonable transfer kitty.

Citeh will probably follow the Pompey mold and begin to improve slowly and signing players at overpriced fees. Competition is getting thick and Fulham needs to keep up.

 

Fulham's debt owed to MAF cannot entice the club to outside investors, on top of the fact it's allegedly a losing concern with a small stadium. If new ownership arrived, you could definitely bet that it would be a "Daddy Warbucks" type and a new stadium would not be far behind.

 

Spot on Don. I am not hoping for a Daddy Warbucks down the road, just more investment in the side Fulham puts on the Craven Cottage pitch.

 

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just started reading this thread and after the first post I thought about Portsmouth. I'm glad I checked to see if someone else would mention them...nice job Tom!

Now I wonder...with City getting that money...and Erikkson definitely looking to improve the squad...are there any players we might be able to poach that he would get rid of? I admit I didn't watch them often last season.

 

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Chelsea Jr. = Not Something I Might Be Interested In

 

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The cupboards are mostly bare at Manchester City. I would like center half Richard Dunne, but he is only 24 or 25 and it would be crazy if Eriksson were to get rid of him. The strikers are overrated as the team scored a total of 11 home goals last season. Unfortunately, three of those were against our pourous defense. Goes to show you we need to improve that area huh?

Back to the topic....Dunne would be nice to get, but it won't happen. Outside of him, there is not much there. Eriksson has his work cut out for him, but as mentioned in my first post, he will have a load of cash to improve the club. I am sure he will get some band-aids for now and over time he will build a team to his liking.

 

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Not a single player I would like to see from Citeh at Fulham besides possibly Dunne. Eriksson has a big overhaul ahead of him...lets see if he attempts to make the popular decisions with the fans and media or ruffle feathers and actually change the side for the better.

(Irish not Aussie)