ClaretPete001 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 10:29 am
Yes, but this is debate.....
If you say to me here is a business that makes profit, has £80 million in the bank and £100 million worth of assets but no one is interested you have to say why....? You can't just say: 'no one was interested because it said so in the media'.
Why didn't the consortium that bought Newcastle for £300 million buy Burnley for £200 million? It's obvious why - you don't need me to explain. One has the potential to be a billion dollar global brand and the other doesn't....!
People are looking to buy football clubs and the club was in a very good position in the PL with a great set of numbers and a solid recent history behind them - why would it not be an attractive buy?
It's obvious why. Quite simply, it was more attractive as an investment opportunity than as a business that can be grown into something substantive.
The previous owners created an investment vehicle - it wasn't an accident.
Clubs are equal (ish) on the pitch but wildly different in terms of business propositions that is why there are wildly different sales prices.
Burnley doesn't need to be a global billion $ brand quite simply.
I've said it before but I'll say it again -
Burnley failed to maximise its earning potential whilst in the PL.
It carried on with a small club mentality (that is sometimes exhibited on here), despite being part of a billion $ brand that was broadcast around the world to billions of people.
The club failed to sell advertising spots to national/international companies, instead preferring to sell those prime spots to local companies for what was basically low amounts of money.
The club didn't keep up with the social media side of it.
The club didn't recruit very often from outside the UK/ROI either.
There was/is room to grow the brand that is Burnley, in conjunction with the PL exposure, but it needed the right mindset and people to do it.
That's why there wasn't a huge queue round the block to buy the club.
Yes it was an investment vehicle, but it had huge potential to grow beyond what it was, anyone with a business brain could see that, even I could.
Burnley has top class training facilities, courtesy of the efforts of Dyche/Garlick.
We have a stadium that's about the right size for the fanbase as it is now and it doesn't need any major work, but if the business is grown in the correct way the stadium will need expanding, or "worst" case replacing (the owners have a parcel of land just off the accy junction which is potentially a location for a new stadium)
At the time of the sale it just needed investment in the squad and to grow the off pitch side of the business, along with some other stuff.
That was no small amount of work and it needed footballing people with a proper plan in place to do it.
Now a lot of mud has been slung at ALK, but you'd be hard-pressed to say they're not footballing people with a proper business plan in place to grow the club in all aspects, with the long term plan of recouping their investment via dividends or eventual sale of the club.
The Burnley "Brand" is already bigger than it was at the end of the Garlick era and that's despite being in the championship for the last 12mths.
This is mainly due to a few things, Kompany, the social media team and the Watts being onboard.
With the current growth rate, if the club can spend the next few years in the PL, playing good football and floating around in the middle of the table with the occasional foray into Europe, I'd expect the club to double or triple in relation to the sales price.
I forgot to add, growing a club like Newcastle requires billionaire ownership, not millionaire.
Same with other clubs that are higher up the food chain.
ALK will only be able to take us so far I suspect, before they'd have to find a billionaire to buy us.
