- Nov 11, 2009
- 12,271
This. Big foreign money taking over British clubs is now a fact of football life, and it saddens me that a time will come when TB simply isn't rich enough to keep us competitive - and then watch the arguments on here over whether he should welcome foreign partners onto the board as Palace have, or just sell up to a Gulf state.
But the Saudis taking over Newcastle is different. Abu Dhabi and Qatar have, er, mixed records on human rights, but have they dismembered dissident journalists and bombed Yemeni hospitals?
I've always had a reasonably soft spot for Newcastle. Great city, interesting area, hilarious people. But they way so many of the club's fans have unconditionally welcomed the new regime, and wilfully dismissed legitimate objections as jealousy sickens me.
There was a rumour floating around a few years back that the Aussie James Packer, Kerry Packers son may have a silent investment?
Ultimately I trust Bloom to get this right, he is not just a businessman or mere investor, he is first and foremost a fan, he feels the pulse of fellow Albion fans and I'm sure there willl be plenty of people who would make him aware of wider concensus of Albion fans on disreputable/controversial owners like the mid east petro states or Russian Oligarchs.
If Bloom decides a large equity investor would be best for the long term future of the club, I would back his decision. Of course I would always hope that he has at least 51% under his control and remains in effective control of the club, but if it were say 10-20% equity and the investor was deemed sound and could help the longer term aspirations of the club, I'd support it, if Bloom did.
If it were anything where Bloom sold more than 50% or lost effective control, I'd sooner be the PL poor man or go back to the Championship happy in the knowlege the boss man loves the club and has its best interests at heart than take a punt on foreign owners, who after all may sell to even worse or dodgy owners within a few years.
We're blessed to have TB