[SmethDan]

I don't imagine the Express and Dingle will pass up an opportunity to highlight discord at the Albion. They'll be there as per given it's a match day.

Wouldn't surprise me if they sent extra camera men to record any angst from every conceivable angle. They'll definitely be trawling social media accounts for anything they miss.

[AlbionFan]

It appears that arrangements for Saturdays demonstration have been changed to:

Location: Halfords Lane (was East Stand)
Time: 12 noon (Was 1:30pm)

[BB74]

It appears that arrangements for Saturdays demonstration have been changed to:

Location: Halfords Lane (was East Stand)
Time: 12 noon (Was 1:30pm)

I'd rather fans put their efforts into forming a consortium so they can run the club themselves than arrange a pointless demonstration.

[KN22]

I'd rather fans put their efforts into forming a consortium so they can run the club themselves that arrange a pointless demonstration.

Need some rather wealthy fans methinks!

[BB74]

Need some rather wealthy fans methinks!

Or we need fans to accept that they do not always know best and should support the clubs hierarchy.

[phbaggies]

Or we need fans to accept that they do not always know best and should support the clubs hierarchy.

Why should we accept and support the hierarchy?? They are a bunch of clueless, disengaged imbeciles with as much experience as me and you at running a football club, they bought a toy for £150 million to boost their brand in China and its fell flat on its **** before it even took off!! Quicker they are gone the better!!

[skyclad99]

Or we need fans to accept that they do not always know best and should support the clubs hierarchy.

Given how the club has been run since 'business boy' disappeared to jersey, it is very difficult to blindly continue to support the club hierarchy BB

[BB74]

Why should we accept and support the hierarchy?? They are a bunch of clueless, disengaged imbeciles with as much experience as me and you at running a football club, they bought a toy for £150 million to boost their brand in China and its fell flat on its arrrrsse before it even took off!! Quicker they are gone the better!!

Well in that case fans should club together and arrange a consortium to buy GL out. I'm not a fan of his but instead of holding demonstrations (which achieve nothing) we should be targeting out efforts elsewhere such as working with Shareholders 4 Albion to find a new buyer.

This is the perfect opportunity for S4A to put up a plan in place and not bleat from the sidelines. If an official S4A campaign starts I would be happy to assist in whatever way possible.

[BB74]

Given how the club has been run since 'business boy' disappeared to jersey, it is very difficult to blindly continue to support the club hierarchy BB

The minority said be careful what you wish for. I, like many others, appreciated JP and his stabilising influences and professional way of running the club. The majority wanted him out by any means and was happy to be sold to the first real bidder who was GL. Yet those championing Lai are now the first to want him out.

Just remember, it could always be worse! GL has done exactly what he said he would which was no outside investment. You can't knock him for sticking to his plan surely?

[skyclad99]

The minority said be careful what you wish for. I, like many others, appreciated JP and his stabilising influences and professional way of running the club. The majority wanted him out by any means and was happy to be sold to the first real bidder who was GL. Yet those championing Lai are now the first to want him out.

Just remember, it could always be worse! GL has done exactly what he said he would which was no outside investment. You can't knock him for sticking to his plan surely?

I believe that Peace had other bids that did not match his greed price. Having said that I agree with you that he did make us a far more professional outfit. Many wanted the club to be sold to someone who would take the club forward. He even sold us that dream in his departing speech, and what a load of tosh that turned out to be.

I am not sure many were championing Lai. He gave us a scarf and bought us a beer but many waited to see what he was going to do with the club before singing his praises. Since he took over we have been relegated twice and promoted once. Under Peace we spent 8 years in the Premier doing virtually nothing, so I think that many fans hopes were that we can build on that and move ever so slightly forward. Makes no difference as its done now, but many fans think that the current owner/board do not have a clue how to run a bath, let alone a football club.

I have no faith in the hierarchy but I know that Lai is simply not going to pick up his bat and ball and leave. I would like to think that an new owner is already in place and is totally dependent on getting promoted, but I do live in hope.

In many ways I wish that our club was still being run by the well meaning amateurs that preceded Peace. At least they had our best interests at heart.

[beechyboy90]

Well in that case fans should club together and arrange a consortium to buy GL out. I'm not a fan of his but instead of holding demonstrations (which achieve nothing) we should be targeting out efforts elsewhere such as working with Shareholders 4 Albion to find a new buyer.

This is the perfect opportunity for S4A to put up a plan in place and not bleat from the sidelines. If an official S4A campaign starts I would be happy to assist in whatever way possible.

To get the 150m it needs 20,000 to put in £7500 each or at 175mil its 20,000 of £8750.

Obviously wealthier fans might be inclined to put in bigger amounts your frank skinners, clapton etc

But as it stands under lai ownership everytime we come down we have been worse and his approach unless it drastically changes we arent going to stay in the top league long enough for him to sell us. And everytime we get relegated its harder to get back up.

So maybe consortium is the way forward vs protesting for change

[FallOutBoy]

To get the 150m it needs 20,000 to put in £7500 each or at 175mil its 20,000 of £8750.

Obviously wealthier fans might be inclined to put in bigger amounts your frank skinners, clapton etc

But as it stands under lai ownership everytime we come down we have been worse and his approach unless it drastically changes we arent going to stay in the top league long enough for him to sell us. And everytime we get relegated its harder to get back up.

So maybe consortium is the way forward vs protesting for change

To be brutally honest, I don't think we have a fan base that is well off enough to finance a takeover. We're a mostly working-class lot, and while we have a few notable fans - Skinner, Chiles, etc., I don't think we have the funds on the whole.

Don't forget, it's one thing to buy the club, and agreeing a price with Lai and co would be no easy feat; but it's quite another to run it, and we would still be in pretty much the same boat we're in now, where we have to be self-sufficient.

We can change the balance and pay more in fees, but no matter which way you do it, it'd be tough.

[NJS]

Quite.  Even if we had 50,000 fans worldwide that would still be £3,000 each on average.  If the club were West Esher Albion then I could just about imagine it. although some on here would want the new owners to show "some ambition"

[skyclad99]

Something that occurred to me was that Lai could sell some of his shares to someone who has real intentions with the club and happy to invest. Whilst he will not get what he wants in the short term, with someone else having the 51% share holding he has the potential of receiving more for his share if we get established in the top league. That may be a better prospect than where we are now.

I am sure I am about to be told why its a rubbish idea........

[johnny Cash]

Something that occurred to me was that Lai could sell some of his shares to someone who has real intentions with the club and happy to invest. Whilst he will not get what he wants in the short term, with someone else having the 51% share holding he has the potential of receiving more for his share if we get established in the top league. That may be a better prospect than where we are now.

I am sure I am about to be told why its a rubbish idea........

Sadly you would be crazy to put any real investment in to us with only 51%. You’d be putting money in other peoples pockets and you’d need far larger growth to see a return. 

Let’s say Lai sells me 51% for £75m and he keeps 49%) valuing the club at £150m.  If I invest £50m and take the club valuation to £200m, both of us now have assets £100m. I’m still £25m down on my overall investment, but Lai is £25m better off without having put his hand in his pocket.

If we were an emerging tech company with a ceiling a thousand times the current value, buying 51% and fuelling it could be attractive and you just have to accept the prior majority owner will get rewarded for his work before you. I doesn’t really work with football club though.

If you are wanting to put hundreds of mill in, you just buy the large stake in the first place.

[baggiejohn]

Sadly you would be crazy to put any real investment in to us with only 51%. You’d be putting money in other peoples pockets and you’d need far larger growth to see a return. 

Let’s say Lai sells me 51% for £75m and he keeps 49%) valuing the club at £150m.  If I invest £50m and take the club valuation to £200m, both of us now have assets £100m. I’m still £25m down on my overall investment, but Lai is £25m better off without having put his hand in his pocket.

If we were an emerging tech company with a ceiling a thousand times the current value, buying 51% and fuelling it could be attractive and you just have to accept the prior majority owner will get rewarded for his work before you. I doesn’t really work with football club though.

If you are wanting to put hundreds of mill in, you just buy the large stake in the first place.

I doubt if any "investor" would see profit from the football club as a stand alone business as a reason for their investment.

As others have said, IMO, Lai's investment was intended as a vehicle to develop global growth of his landscaping business.

Pretty sure any future buyer, will have a similar objective, so while a joint venture is technically possible, for it to work, all the investors need to be on the same page.

[smethwickw]

Until we find someone bonkers enough to stump up a large sum of money then Lai isn't going anywhere for some time. I can accept that to some degree. However what we really need is to get some football knowledge onto the board and upper management team. Lai has done exactly what he said he'd do which is the same as what JP did for years. The difference being we had the likes of Ashworth and a decent scouting set up back then.

[baggiejohn]

Until we find someone bonkers enough to stump up a large sum of money then Lai isn't going anywhere for some time. I can accept that to some degree. However what we really need is to get some football knowledge onto the board and upper management team. Lai has done exactly what he said he'd do which is the same as what JP did for years. The difference being we had the likes of Ashworth and a decent scouting set up back then.

I'm not sure that the DoF model works for us any more.

The current model has Head Coach, Head of Academy & Head of recruitment all reporting in to the CEO.

Head Coach determines the playing style, Academy & Recruitment provide the players.

Ultimate decision (probably finance driven) is made by CEO, ........... works for me.

If we employ a DoF, it puts another level of management into the business, with conflicts of interests. The last two just haven't worked for that reason.

[NJS]

Until we find someone bonkers enough to stump up a large sum of money then Lai isn't going anywhere for some time. I can accept that to some degree. However what we really need is to get some football knowledge onto the board and upper management team. Lai has done exactly what he said he'd do which is the same as what JP did for years. The difference being we had the likes of Ashworth and a decent scouting set up back then.

So let's give this new management team a chance;  at least a couple seasons for restructuring - unless we look like we're headed for League 1 at any point (Then of course our value would further decline and GL might start a fire sale.)

[LiamTheBaggie]

Talk of a fans consortium is hilarious - we can’t get folk to Chuck £20.00 in for a game on a Saturday!

[beechyboy90]

Talk of a fans consortium is hilarious - we can’t get folk to Chuck £20.00 in for a game on a Saturday!

Until anybody really has a go at it you never know... but for the most part i agree unless wealthier fans really took 100s of shares each if not 1000s it wouldn't work. Probably worth suggesting to the S4A crowd and get them to organise it. Lai has 88% they have 12%. If lai reduced his ownership and let fans by him down to 51% at least he would have some cash back short term and perhaps we could get better direction...

Pipeline dream. If i won 200mil + on euro millions i would buy him out and then sell shares to keep my position at 49% ownership

[Albionic]

minor point he will not sell 49% as that could then align with existing minority owners (S4A?) to wrest control from him (I think)

[beechyboy90]

minor point he will not sell 49% as that could then align with existing minority owners (S4A?) to wrest control from him (I think)

I meant he sold down so he only have 51% rather than the 88% he has now. I was going to work out numbers but the maths began to hurt my head...

[baggiejohn]

I meant he sold down so he only have 51% rather than the 88% he has now. I was going to work out numbers but the maths began to hurt my head...

Whatever the value of any additional shareholding, nobody is going to "invest" a significant sum without having some control.
GL's track record isn't exactly inspiring.

[seteefeet]

I think people under-estimate just how much spare cash you need to compete in the filth that is the greed league. You could skin out every Albion fan in the country and still be worse off than we are now!
Remember, villa spent almost £300m and only escaped relegation due to a broken watch (allegedly).

If Lai goes, the next incumbent has to be very, very, very rich, to make any difference whatsoever.