Are the Chien Gang really interested in football ?

[Exiletyke]

"Have you excluded the possibility that the real USP was that the club was owned by someone who had a compelling (and very tragic) reason to want to sell".

Now who said that?
Bet no-one on here spotted that
The real question is what is the compelling reason to want to buy?
Should be an easy one for someone who knows a bit about football finance

[SBRed48]

Correct, Venture Capitalists invest in existing business they dont buy businesses. Most businesses that VC invest into are successful businesses with sound and solid Management structure with realistic plans to grow. Whilst most VC investments in this country are successful for the businesses, they get bad press, as they will asset strip on the rare occasion the business invested in is failing.

Your good self and Kerr Avon may well be correct in stating our owners are not venture capitalists. I got my information from Chien's Linkedin account which reads---

"Chien Lee is founder, Chairman, CEO of New City Capital, formed in 2013, a private investment company focused on technology, hospitality (hotels and leisure), sport and real estate businesses.
Chien's skills/ areas of expertise are listed as--Start Ups, Entrepreneurship, Investment, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Hotels, Banking, Retail, Real Estate Development, Budgets, Negotiation, Executive Management, Finance, Restructuring, Financial Analysis."

[KerrAvon]

"Have you excluded the possibility that the real USP was that the club was owned by someone who had a compelling (and very tragic) reason to want to sell".

Now who said that?
Bet no-one on here spotted that
The real question is what is the compelling reason to want to buy?
Should be an easy one for someone who knows a bit about football finance

Erm, I said it, Exile. You must be able to see that to be able to quote it...

I think people buy football clubs for a host of reasons, but those who do it thinking that they will make money are wishful thinkers, at best.

Some people do it for kudos - and putting Barnsley on an electronic hoarding in New York may point to that for your club.

Tony Stewart recently said that he took on Rotherham as an alternative to sitting at home doing crosswords, which I take to mean that it is something of an expensive hobby, which, I think is another common reason for taking a club on.

An intention to engage in asset stripping has been a reason in some isolated instances, but, with all due respect to Barnsley, I can't see that being the case here as the potential sums involved wouldn't make it worth the effort.

[SBRed48]

I think Chien and the rest of the busy directors spent weeks getting the Barnsley bid through so they can then pour millions of pounds of their own money down the drain.
This is what all successful business people do.
Lol !!!
Jeez - yer couldn’t make it up!!!
Is Chien Lee interested in football - lol !!!

I started this thread about the Consortium's interest in the football side of things as both OGC Nice and Barnsley FC have declined under Chien's stewardship. Some months ago I did a few posts about Chien's reluctance to invest any of his own money into the transfer/ wage budget of OGC Nice, instead relying on transfer income and Champions League income to balance the books. With no European income at all next season ( a loss of £17 million) the club is now looking to sell its top players. Balotelli is out of contract so there will be no income there but Jean Michael Seri is now being touted round Europe's top clubs.
Chien's much vaunted new training facility was built on a gift of land from Nice Council as part of a new leisure development. The centre consists of 47 bedrooms, catering facilities, gym, meeting rooms, reception and admin areas together with outdoor sports facilities currently marked out as football areas. Call me an old cynic but that sounds like it could easily be transformed into a hotel/ leisure complex.
Similarly at Barnsley there is little evidence of Consortium money being spent on wages/ transfers. instead there is the same reliance on transfer income and existing balances.
I too wonder what the motives of the owners are in buying Barnsley and they seem to show little interest in the football side of things.

(Just as an aside does anybody else remember the issue of buying land in and around Oakwell being kicked into the long grass to get the Takeover over the line (Brexit negotiation style) but with an option to buy in six months? That six months deadline must be approaching fast. Anybody heard owt? )

[KerrAvon]

Your good self and Kerr Avon may well be correct in stating our owners are not venture capitalists. I got my information from Chien's Linkedin account which reads---

"Chien Lee is founder, Chairman, CEO of New City Capital, formed in 2013, a private investment company focused on technology, hospitality (hotels and leisure), sport and real estate businesses.
Chien's skills/ areas of expertise are listed as--Start Ups, Entrepreneurship, Investment, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Hotels, Banking, Retail, Real Estate Development, Budgets, Negotiation, Executive Management, Finance, Restructuring, Financial Analysis."

To my horror, I see that I was imprecise in my use of words - they were not acting as venture capitalists when they took on Barnsley.

[KerrAvon]

I started this thread about the Consortium's interest in the football side of things as both OGC Nice and Barnsley FC have declined under Chien's stewardship. Some months ago I did a few posts about Chien's reluctance to invest any of his own money into the transfer/ wage budget of OGC Nice, instead relying on transfer income and Champions League income to balance the books. With no European income at all next season ( a loss of £17 million) the club is now looking to sell its top players. Balotelli is out of contract so there will be no income there but Jean Michael Seri is now being touted round Europe's top clubs.
Chien's much vaunted new training facility was built on a gift of land from Nice Council as part of a new leisure development. The centre consists of 47 bedrooms, catering facilities, gym, meeting rooms, reception and admin areas together with outdoor sports facilities currently marked out as football areas. Call me an old cynic but that sounds like it could easily be transformed into a hotel/ leisure complex.
Similarly at Barnsley there is little evidence of Consortium money being spent on wages/ transfers. instead there is the same reliance on transfer income and existing balances.
I too wonder what the motives of the owners are in buying Barnsley and they seem to show little interest in the football side of things.

(Just as an aside does anybody else remember the issue of buying land in and around Oakwell being kicked into the long grass to get the Takeover over the line (Brexit negotiation style) but with an option to buy in six months? That six months deadline must be approaching fast. Anybody heard owt? )

I doubt whether there would be enough money in redeveloping around Oakwell to make it worth the effort for someone of Chien's financial calibre.

Pleasant as it is, Barnsley isn't Nice.

[SBRed48]

To my horror, I see that I was imprecise in my use of words - they were not acting as venture capitalists when they took on Barnsley.

"I was imprecise in my use of words"

Luvvit.

I'll use that one myself in the future if that's o'reyt wi thee Kerr.

[SBRed48]

I doubt whether there would be enough money in redeveloping around Oakwell to make it worth the effort for someone of Chien's financial calibre.

Pleasant as it is, Barnsley isn't Nice.

Once he gets a foothold/ base camp in Barnsley the world is his lobster.

[EastStandRed]

I started this thread about the Consortium's interest in the football side of things as both OGC Nice and Barnsley FC have declined under Chien's stewardship. Some months ago I did a few posts about Chien's reluctance to invest any of his own money into the transfer/ wage budget of OGC Nice, instead relying on transfer income and Champions League income to balance the books. With no European income at all next season ( a loss of £17 million) the club is now looking to sell its top players. Balotelli is out of contract so there will be no income there but Jean Michael Seri is now being touted round Europe's top clubs.
Chien's much vaunted new training facility was built on a gift of land from Nice Council as part of a new leisure development. The centre consists of 47 bedrooms, catering facilities, gym, meeting rooms, reception and admin areas together with outdoor sports facilities currently marked out as football areas. Call me an old cynic but that sounds like it could easily be transformed into a hotel/ leisure complex.
Similarly at Barnsley there is little evidence of Consortium money being spent on wages/ transfers. instead there is the same reliance on transfer income and existing balances.
I too wonder what the motives of the owners are in buying Barnsley and they seem to show little interest in the football side of things.

(Just as an aside does anybody else remember the issue of buying land in and around Oakwell being kicked into the long grass to get the Takeover over the line (Brexit negotiation style) but with an option to buy in six months? That six months deadline must be approaching fast. Anybody heard owt? )

Their training facility was planned before he bought the club

[SBRed48]

Their training facility was planned before he bought the club

The site was identified as part of a large development in the valley to the west of Nice burrit wo Chien's money wot did it---or so we were told by Chien's PR people as part of the hype about the consortium during our takeover.