City and Chiefs same owner.

[Grecianpasty]

It’s very telling that clubs such as Pompey, Wycombe and I think Telford have all voted to go from fan ownership to private in the last few years. Along with Chester and Hereford considering going from fan owned to private ownership.

Now if it works for them and they can get someone half decent to own them then fair play.

At the moment it’s probably not the right time for city to either be privately owned or have a minor investor for a number of reasons. The culture around city is such that it would also be a hard sell to most members of the trust, to put it into perspective I was 10 when the trust took over the running of the club so for some it’s all we have known.

It was pretty bleek before then.

 

[i8cornwall]

It was pretty bleek before then.

Couldn’t comment, have to take your word for it.

Apologies if that is very vague and this isn’t aimed at you but when people how bad it was it really has no impact on me or people I know, hence the continued calling for change and the trust and club to always better it self.

 

[lamrobhero]

Who buys little clubs that have no assets and that run at an operational loss?

I am a property developer with plans. I think that those plans are more likely to be successful if I include a football stadium. Taking over a little club with no assets and run at an operational loss might work for me.

There was a Club that from nowhere rose up through the leagues. The owner put in a planning application for a property development which was refused. The Club then went back down the leagues.

 

[DB9]

Couldn’t comment, have to take your word for it.

Apologies if that is very vague and this isn’t aimed at you but when people how bad it was it really has no impact on me or people I know, hence the continued calling for change and the trust and club to always better it self.

It was bleak pre Trust days but i8 is a perfect example of a generation who never had the "Pleasure" of remembering R&L in charge, We have come a long way since then and i8 and people of his age have seen very good owners take over clubs, Also the £1 to buy chancers too. We don't diss the Trust because of what you see but also you don't diss privately run clubs either because they ain't all bad and i8 sees that.

 

[Legohead]

Who buys little clubs that have no assets and that run at an operational loss?

I am a property developer with plans. I think that those plans are more likely to be successful if I include a football stadium. Taking over a little club with no assets and run at an operational loss might work for me.

There was a Club that from nowhere rose up through the leagues. The owner put in a planning application for a property development which was refused. The Club then went back down the leagues.

A bit like Torquay in a few years or Scunthorpe to give a current example. They were in the Championship a few year ago and behind the scenes wrangling by owner Peter Swann with North Lincs Council regarding a new stadium and property etc which hasn't come to fruition and a whole host of poor decisions later they are struggling at the bottom of League 2.

 

[Grecianpasty]

Couldn’t comment, have to take your word for it.

Apologies if that is very vague and this isn’t aimed at you but when people how bad it was it really has no impact on me or people I know, hence the continued calling for change and the trust and club to always better it self.

No need to apologise. On reflection bleek probably isn't the right word. But there are city fans who don't recognise that being in the play offs as frequently as we have been is a great achievement.

For me, getting relegated to the conference was the best thing for the club. It gave the fans a fresh start both on and off the pitch. We experienced real footballing highs and lows. Previously to that we where floating below mid table and doing nothing - hence why I said bleek. I equate it to being a Morecombe fan at present.

 

[Grecianpasty]

Another factor to take into consideration is that tisdale was largely responsible for our change in fortunes. Honourable mentions go out to inglethorpe and Eammo, but tisdale was the one who lifted our expectations for the club. Regardless of if you like the bloke or not, that is fact.

 

[Legohead]

I also agree that we have done tremendously well to reach the play offs in a number of seasons recently and possibly punching above our weight. The issue is that once you are there, no matter how you get there then you have to make it count which we didn't on 3 occasions. This is where the frustration lies mostly. Not that we didn't finish in the top 3 which I didn't expect us to anyway in any of the play off seasons.

 

[Sidey's back]

On reflection bleek probably isn't the right word.

To be fair, it isn't actually a word.

 

[Rosencrantz]

Even before R&L took over we had a more traditional ownership model of a loose confederation of board members who were invited on to the board or to buy shares as a way to plug holes rather than really invest. There rarely seemed to be any stability or dynamism in whatever combination was in control and a good deal of sniping and infighting.

Just from my time of being more aware of the board room going ons we had the FGIT scandal which led to Doble and others being banned. Then a spell under Alan Trump (with Cliff Hill the majority shareholder mainly taking a backseat) which seemed to have quite a bit (for us) of spending we seemingly could not afford. Freddie Starr turned up briefly which actually triggered Doble taking over again with more debts than first thought. So then came the crisis with plans for new grounds at Matford and Digby being rejected but not before we had sold SJP to Beazer Homes which left us at the end of 1994/95 season bottom of the league, all but homeless and all but bankrupt, wandering around Sixfields and wondering if we had seen the last rites.

A compulsory purchase order from the council with the penalty of Bernard Frowd on the board and not owning the Park, along with Bally putting Man City's money to good use and buying Buster averted the immediate danger. We then had the period leading up to R&L being given the reins where there seemed to be a spilt in the board (I'm sure Malcs could tell a few interesting stories from that time) and the botched building of the new Big Bank (the old one's still there!) and Old New Stand (which we couldn't afford).

I'm sure many on here have better knowledge than I do from those times and can go back longer. Given that all that I have described happened more or less in the preceding 15 years or so leading up to the Trust stepping in, it's not surprising that supporters who lived through this can be a bit cautious when talking about new ownership. We have rarely had an ownership which has not been firefighting at best to keep the club surviving in the lower leagues let alone competitive.