Re: Ground : Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:30 am  

Fishermanscap wrote:

I think the true test for any investor is not to break even but to know that all the money you lost went to the right places.

Sadly not - I work with PE a fair bit, and I can tell you with certainty that investors are looking to *make* money; the most common way being to buy an asset, increase its value, then sell it on. I see no possible way that could happen in any meaningful way with a RL club, in particular ours, and especially now that the possibility of a new stadium being gifted to the club has died a slow and painful death.

Re: Ground : Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:51 am  

bren2k wrote:

Sadly not - I work with PE a fair bit, and I can tell you with certainty that investors are looking to *make* money; the most common way being to buy an asset, increase its value, then sell it on. I see no possible way that could happen in any meaningful way with a RL club, in particular ours, and especially now that the possibility of a new stadium being gifted to the club has died a slow and painful death.

I meant an investor in a RL club, which I suppose is a contradiction in itself because as you say there is no profit to be had.

In pure business terms investing in a RL club at any level is such a poor choice as to be almost suicidal. Thank the lord there are still a fair few of these masochists about or the game would be dead by now. Yeah some take the mick whilst some are utterly destructive but most club owners are on a hiding to nothing and do their level best and certainly can’t be accused of being in it for the money or in our case not even the glory!

Re: Ground : Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:25 am  

newgroundb4wakey wrote:

Just seen an article where HKR are buying their ground and adjoining land back from the council for £1.9 million.
No other details.

£1.9 million is bloody cheap for the land, never mind including the ground. Do you have a link to the article.

Re: Ground : Thu Jan 02, 2020 11:01 am  

wrencat1873 wrote:

£1.9 million is bloody cheap for the land, never mind including the ground. Do you have a link to the article.

It’s not as straight forward as that. The land is already owned by various bodies including the club and council. I think this is more of a restructuring to allow all involved to develop the site better, the site apparently has numerous interests owning bits of it meaning development has been restricted. HKR’s part is probably quite small but will be very useful to them.

Re: Ground : Thu Jan 02, 2020 11:35 am  

Fishermanscap wrote:

It’s not as straight forward as that. The land is already owned by various bodies including the club and council. I think this is more of a restructuring to allow all involved to develop the site better, the site apparently has numerous interests owning bits of it meaning development has been restricted. HKR’s part is probably quite small but will be very useful to them.

Makes more sense now, which is why I asked if there was a link.
With the lack of future certainty around the next TV deal for SL, it would be a very brave man (or woman/other investors) to pump millions into a RL ground.
Although things seem to have gone very quiet on the additional N. American sides coming into SL (and Championship etc), IF there is any kind of grand plan to include additional expansion sides, without actually expanding the numbers in the top flight, clubs like KR, Cas and Trinity would be very brave to embark on huge investment if there is any chance of them being replaced by a plastic N. American club at any point in the near future.
It's absolutely ridiculous that our sport doesn't have a decent strategy for the future of the game.

Re: Ground : Thu Jan 02, 2020 12:22 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote: Makes more sense now, which is why I asked if there was a link. With the lack of future certainty around the next TV deal for SL, it would be a very brave man (or woman/other investors) to pump millions into a RL ground. Although things seem to have gone very quiet on the additional N. American sides coming into SL (and Championship etc), IF there is any kind of grand plan to include additional expansion sides, without actually expanding the numbers in the top flight, clubs like KR, Cas and Trinity would be very brave to embark on huge investment if there is any chance of them being replaced by a plastic N. American club at any point in the near future. It's absolutely ridiculous that our sport doesn't have a decent strategy for the future of the game. You set me a task there but I finally found it, explains it much better than me https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... rk-3690677

wrencat1873 wrote: Makes more sense now, which is why I asked if there was a link. With the lack of future certainty around the next TV deal for SL, it would be a very brave man (or woman/other investors) to pump millions into a RL ground. Although things seem to have gone very quiet on the additional N. American sides coming into SL (and Championship etc), IF there is any kind of grand plan to include additional expansion sides, without actually expanding the numbers in the top flight, clubs like KR, Cas and Trinity would be very brave to embark on huge investment if there is any chance of them being replaced by a plastic N. American club at any point in the near future. It's absolutely ridiculous that our sport doesn't have a decent strategy for the future of the game. You set me a task there but I finally found it, explains it much better than me https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... rk-3690677

Re: Ground : Thu Jan 02, 2020 12:30 pm  

Fishermanscap wrote:

I meant an investor in a RL club, which I suppose is a contradiction in itself because as you say there is no profit to be had.

In pure business terms investing in a RL club at any level is such a poor choice as to be almost suicidal. Thank the lord there are still a fair few of these masochists about or the game would be dead by now. Yeah some take the mick whilst some are utterly destructive but most club owners are on a hiding to nothing and do their level best and certainly can’t be accused of being in it for the money or in our case not even the glory!

Apologies - I misunderstood the original post.

I think there are many good reasons to invest in a RL club - but as you say, profit isn't one of them. MC's motivation however, appears to be pure; he seems to have wanted to stabilise an extremely badly run organisation, and ensure it washes its own face - both of which he has self-evidently achieved. I'm sure he also has aspirations for on-field success, which hasn't quite come off yet, but is much more likely to from a position of financial and organisational stability.

Easy to take all of the above for granted - but we shouldn't; I've seen businesses in a bad (but much less bad than WT at the time) go under - and the fact that he prevented that, then turned things around to such an extent, is quite an achievement.