39 replies to this topic

[F1Fanatic.co.uk]

Bernie Ecclestone is close to David Dein, who was chairman of Arsenal football club until April when he was pushed out.

Now there are suggestions Ecclestone might buy Arsenal. He's quoted as saying, "I'm interested in anything if it's cheap enough."

What he does with his money is up to him. But as F1 commercial director I'd rather see him sort out some of F1's promotional shortcoming rather than get involved in owning a football team. Like why I can't watch the races in HD at home in 2007.

[AFCA]

I understood there was some American bloke that wanted to buy Arsenal for some 650 million dollar/pound, but then Ecclestone immediately reacted with a greater offer...

I'm a big Arsenal fan but quite frankly I don't know what to think. It's good Ecclestone knows Dein (so there's some connection at least), he's been very imporant for the club.

[jonpollak]

Will the price of my oldest son's season ticket go through the roof then?
Jp

[fifi]

what a way to publicise your own site btw

[Jacquesback]

Just another reason to hate Bernie.

[F1Fanatic.co.uk]

Autosport has a piece on it now

[lil'chris]

If he does buy Arsenal, it'll be good to see his face when Eggert Magnusson & the boys have 6 points off the Gooners again this season

[qwazy]

It's a shame he won't have Thierry Henry to grope in photo's like he did with Michael.

[JR]

Or as they should be known, Arsenhole.

• The Premier League association of clubs would have to come up with a new TV rights agreement
• Max Mosley would be elected chairman of the Premier League and then eventually the FA
• Tackling would be banned to improve safety but the offside rule would be scrapped to allow overtaking
• The major sports manufacturers would start to come in and buy teams. Nike United, Reebok Wanderers, Addidas Hotspurs
• Martin Brundle would be brought in to speak to obscure dignitaries and not so obscure celebrities 20 minutes before kick-off
• "So Delia, can you tell us how you think it's going to go today? Anymore half-time booze-ups?"
• Ted Kravitz would become a touchline reporter like they have in American Football!
• "Yes Andy, Ronaldo has come off the bench and is warming up so I think he may be coming on soon. With 20 minutes of the match left I'd say he should be on for about 20 minutes."
• "Sir Alex with 10 minutes to go and United being 3-0 up do you think you have a good chance of winning the game from here?
• "Well I'm down here on the touchline Andy and now that Liverpool have just scored to get it back to one goal behind, Jose Mourinho is starting to get very nervous."

[Bloggsworth]

As Bernie has just bought into Queens Park Rangers along with Flavio and others, I doubt he will be buying into Arsenal because he wouldn't be allowed to. Given Ecclestone's high profile on the the footballing front (?), I can only assume that planning permission is about to be granted on the land on which the stadium stands.............

[scheivlak]

Originally posted by JR
Or as they should be known, Arsenhole.

[JR]

AFAIK it's only Briatore involved with the takeover of QPR, not Ecclestone. In any case I'm not sure if there are any laws preventing individuals from owning or having shares in more than one club.

[F575 GTC]

Wouldn't it be a conflict of interest with them owning two or more clubs? Especially if the two ended up playing each other - There'd be accusations of match-fixing flying about all over the place.

[Bloggsworth]

Originally posted by JR
AFAIK it's only Briatore involved with the takeover of QPR, not Ecclestone. In any case I'm not sure if there are any laws preventing individuals from owning or having shares in more than one club.

http://news.bbc.co.u...qpr/6941056.stm

[jonpollak]

Originally posted by JR
Or as they should be known, Arsenhole.

Screw you and your Man U loving bandwagon.
Jp


PS...http://forums.autosp...&threadid=95858
You are too late anyway

[JR]

Originally posted by Bloggsworth


http://news.bbc.co.u...qpr/6941056.stm

There is another news story on the BBC site that plays down the Bernie and QPR link and says that he has denied being interested in QPR.

Why would Bernie Ecclestone have any interest in QPR?

[jonpollak]

http://www.autosport...ne.php/id/61491

More jabber about this now.
Jp

[Andy Donovan]

Originally posted by F575 GTC
Wouldn't it be a conflict of interest with them owning two or more clubs? Especially if the two ended up playing each other - There'd be accusations of match-fixing flying about all over the place.

Sky own small stakes in several clubs, until the recent takeover they owned 11% of Man City for example.
Owning the TV rights and bits of several teams - now that's a conflict of interest.

[David M. Kane]

JR:

For the same reason he might buy the Paddock Club. He wants to be the richest man in England on paper.
Somehow he feels that will validate him despite everything else, i.e. totally screwing up F1.

[COUGAR508]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
JR:

For the same reason he might buy the Paddock Club. He wants to be the richest man in England on paper.
Somehow he feels that will validate him despite everything else, i.e. totally screwing up F1.

Buying QPR might be a smarter move for Bernie and/or Flavio. Dragging QPR from their current level up to the Premier League would give them more kudos than the potentially fraught business of managing Arsenal. Also, the initial outlay would be considerably less.

It strikes me that Bernie is seeking some form of recognition and vindication from his peers in the sports/business world.

[COUGAR508]

Originally posted by lil'chris
If he does buy Arsenal, it'll be good to see his face when Eggert Magnusson & the boys have 6 points off the Gooners again this season

If he is buying Arsenal, it is possibly not the ideal timing. The team is in a state of transition after the departure of Henry and Ljungberg, and a major cash injection would be required in order to strengthen the squad and pay for the new stadium.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Or he just wants PL tv money.

[Flynnie]

Originally posted by COUGAR508


If he is buying Arsenal, it is possibly not the ideal timing. The team is in a state of transition after the departure of Henry and Ljungberg, and a major cash injection would be required in order to strengthen the squad and pay for the new stadium.

There won't be a major cash injection because Wenger doesn't spend cash.

The money is there, always has been. Arsenal took something like £30m off their debt this year.

In other words, we don't need the little shrimp anywhere near us.

[AFCA]

Originally posted by Flynnie

There won't be a major cash injection because Wenger doesn't spend cash.

The money is there, always has been. Arsenal took something like £30m off their debt this year.

Just what I was about to say. Unlike many of his collegues Wenger spends little money although it is available to him to bring new players in...

Really enjoyed the last ten minutes today

[Ross Stonefeld]

Originally posted by Flynnie

There won't be a major cash injection because Wenger doesn't spend cash.

The money is there, always has been. Arsenal took something like £30m off their debt this year.

In other words, we don't need the little shrimp anywhere near us.

Wow, you're on the Arsenal board?

[Hacklerf]

The thing is Arsenal don't need to sell out, and they don't want to sell out, so Bernie doesn't have much chance to get in,

but if someone was to buy the club, i would prefer it to be Bernie than the American bloke.

[se7en_24]

Originally posted by Bloggsworth


http://news.bbc.co.u...qpr/6941056.stm

Narrowly avoided relegation... yeah right, that wasn't narrow at all!

[Flynnie]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld


Wow, you're on the Arsenal board?

See, you think you're being funny.

One of my friends in a shareholder, so I get copies of all the financial documents. Arsenal don't need the money. Now go away.

[Flynnie]

Originally posted by Hacklerf
The thing is Arsenal don't need to sell out, and they don't want to sell out, so Bernie doesn't have much chance to get in,

but if someone was to buy the club, i would prefer it to be Bernie than the American bloke.

Bernie would be even worse than the American bloke, because both will buy it with leveraged debt, but only one of them is a Chavs season ticket holder and friend of Roman Abramovich.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Originally posted by Flynnie

See, you think you're being funny.

One of my friends in a shareholder, so I get copies of all the financial documents. Arsenal don't need the money. Now go away.

No I just find the 'we' of football fans more annoying than the 'we' of racing drivers.

[Jacaré]

football players know where most of their wages come from -- money from season tickets, money from match day revenue -- and this gives the football fan legitimate ownership of their team.

f1 drivers wouldn't have a clue where their money comes from.

Football teams perform best when given vocal support from their fans.

f1 drivers wear earplugs -- the fans are mere spectators.

[schtix]

I think Flav is buying Queens Park Rangers also.

[Andy Donovan]

Originally posted by Jacaré
football players know where most of their wages come from -- money from season tickets, money from match day revenue -- and this gives the football fan legitimate ownership of their team.

Apart from being a major source of revenue, they're also the only constant at most clubs nowadays with managers, players and owners constantly coming and going.

[AFCA]

Antonio Caliendo, chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd: ''Recently there have been a lot of rumours in the papers about QPR. The club isn't for sale. At this stage the club will not give any further comments.''

[SpamJet]

There are murmurrings in the paddock that Ron Dennis will be buying shares in Fulchester united.

[AFCA]

Originally posted by AFCA
Antonio Caliendo, chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd: ''Recently there have been a lot of rumours in the papers about QPR. The club isn't for sale. At this stage the club will not give any further comments.''

This time Gianni Paladini from Queens Park Rangers stated that Briatore is indeed interested in taking over the club. ''Briatore would like to do with QPR, what Mohamed Al Fayed has done with Fulham and would like to turn us into a Premier League club. For all the fans a dream becomes true ad it saves the club from ruination.''

Briatore is said to take over the club for £ 17 million (€ 25 million) and in a space of time of three years would invest £ 100 million (€ 147,6 million) in the club. The last time QPR was in the Premier League was in 1996.

[Hacklerf]

surely it would have just been easier to buy a premiership club like Reading or something.

Reading chairman said he is actually open to offers
Good location, good stadium, good support

[Ross Stonefeld]

Yeah but it's Reading.

[se7en_24]

Originally posted by Hacklerf
surely it would have just been easier to buy a premiership club like Reading or something.

Reading chairman said he is actually open to offers
Good location, good stadium, good support

No atmosphere, no history, ground out in random nowhere-land on a trading estate. A few glory hunters have recently jumped on the bandwagon but crowds were awful when outside of the premiership. Not fit to wear the hoops.

[JR]

Reading well supported? On what planet?

Even when they were doing well in the Championship they struggled to get crowds of 16,000 in a 24,000 seater stadium and their Icelandic sugar daddy talked of upgrading the capacity to 40,000.

Sure, they're starting to get capacity crowds now but that's only the casual fans and families coming to see glamorous Premiership football. Reading don't have a large core support, they have no history, no tradition and no soul...pretty much sums up the town itself. The only reason they're overachieving is because of the brilliant Steve Coppell who doesn't get the recognition he deserves as one of the best homegrown English managers.