You've missed the point, I'm afraid.

Not wanting some Glazer-type megalomaniac running the affairs of the club isn't about levels of ambition, it's about identification with the club, and (on some level) a sense of belonging and soul.

Let's say a Paul Allen type buys our club, and gets in a high-profile manager and simply buys lots of expensive players. Ticket prices would rise even further, meaning lots of long-standing fans wouldn't be able to attend.

The team would inevitably be filled with foreign imports whom, unlike players like Robert Green (for example), the fans wouldn't be able to identify with as much, which, if taken to its logical conclusion, would make the club unrecognisable.

I think you'll find a lot of Chelsea fans aren't excited by what's going on at that club, and nearly all Man Utd fans despise Malcolm Glazer, to the point where many have switched their allegiance to a break-away club. All the Fulham fans I've met feel far less close to their club for all the money Fayed has put in, too.

Yes, a Paul Allen type COULD, theoretically, buy (some) success, but so what? The terms on which it's offered are tremendously unpleasant, and in any case, so many other clubs are pouring in money that it's no guarantee that a foreign billionaire could buy success anyway - look at Portsmouth.

We'd still have the same geographical problem in trying to attract players, and (for a while at least) the same unproductive Academy. So why bother?

The Board have stuck with Worthington because he's done a good job in the past, and they like him personally. It's frustrating, because he obviously needs to go, but (in my eyes) it's forgivable. I'd much rather have a Board like ours, who are genuinely trying to achieve a level of success without potentially bankrupting the club or divorcing it from its identity than some soulless, passionless foreign entrepeneur who views the whole thing solely as an extension to his business empire.

I want the club to be successful, of course, but not on the terms you're suggesting - it wouldn't be fun, at the end of the day.

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot on February 12th 2006 at 18:13:28

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