Mandaric wants to turn Leicester City into an international brand

[Fosse Boy]

I find it depressing that it's even necessary to consider doing such a thing.

It's times like this that I think football has become a steaming pile of shite

Yup.

[MPH]

Or he welcomes extra finance to work with him and is trying to do what is best for the club in the current football climate...Oh sorry forget what I said. It is not negative enough so I must be a disabled that believes everything he reads.

All negative posters do not actually know one way or the other though do they? Perhaps having a little faith in the man that saved our club may be a good thing for a change.

I have faith in his abilities as a chairman completely.... but you would indeed be the disabled if you thought he wasn't interested in making a profit out of Leicester City - i mean, lets be realistic here, he is a business man who has no emotional ties to Leicester Cty whatsoever...

[The Doctor]

Why just laugh? What is funny about the statement?

the idea that we are in a very good financial situation.

[Guest Basildon Fox]

I have faith in his abilities as a chairman completely.... but you would indeed be the disabled if you thought he wasn't interested in making a profit out of Leicester City - i mean, lets be realistic here, he is a business man who has no emotional ties to Leicester Cty whatsoever...

I never said he didn't want to make money on us in the long term. I don't care if he does or he doesn't as long as he does what is best for the club.

the idea that we are in a very good financial situation.

Based on what?

[The Doctor]

I never said he didn't want to make money on us in the long term. I don't care if he does or he doesn't as long as he does what is best for the club.

Based on what?

well if i was to take a guess it would be the fact that despite his promises earlier in the season that he would put up money for transfers should we be around the play-offs in january (which we are) and yet we haven't seen any hint of that money.

[Daggers]

Brands?

I never used to enjoy football because of the fucking brand.

The big four are global brands - and they can suck cocks in Hell as far as I'm concerned. I don't give a fuck if it makes good "business sense" - I want to watch a team not be part of a brand's matchday experience.

In other news: everything used to be better when I was young and I remember when all this forum was nothing but fields.

[davieG]

No you weren't. You also said we were relegated anyway so what was the difference which is why I asked you if it would have been better or worse to have gone down in administration or as we did not through lack of finance. Leeds and Southampton both went down in admin. It cost leeds an automatic promotion spot and may well do the same to Southampton.

As I said Tim Davies has already commented on the financial mess Leicester were in at the time and we have certainly signed better players under MM. Do you think with the financial commitment he has with the club he would just walk away and leave us in the crapper? Also what double talking is there when he says he wants to hopefully bring further resources into the club from America, Asia etc? Do you think he really means he is going to sell on any debt to the Taliban or something? I am confused as to what double meaning you can take from what he said.

You said he saved the club and I said from what - the worst case scenario would have been administration, although that's still speculation and relegation, well we got relegation so he didn't save us from that. So it's not a question of whether we are better or worse off it's a question of being saved or not.

We were in a mess but it wasn't insurmountable as far as I could tell from the same statements you mention and from what the Foxes Trust said at the time.

The simple fact is we don't know the financial structure of the club, where all this 'investment' has come from or is sourced or how and when it needs to be repaid. There are plenty of examples of 'businessmen' taking over clubs to make a profit and have not only failed but left the clubs in the lurch there is absolutely no guarantee that wont or can't happen to us despite Mandaric's promises, all those other clubs left in the lurch were given similar promises.

Mandaric is the owner of the club I accept that but I don't know him from adam and his reputation at football clubs prior to Portsmouth don't make for good reading. So as I say I'll remain sceptical if you want to believe every word he and the Merc spout that's your choice as is mine to sceptical.

Yours faithfully

Victor 'davieG' Meldrew.

[Jordan]

The world is a huge place, but methinks the global market is already oversaturated with football "brands" and this will be much more easily said than done for Milan.

[samjohnson]

If we do get promoted to the Premier League, we would need to spend a fair amount of money to stay there...

And why was he using Aston Villa in comparison o_O

[Guest Basildon Fox]

Yours faithfully

Victor 'davieG' Meldrew.

[Edmund]

Mandaric said City are now in a good financial condition

He warned that may only be possible if City win promotion back to the Premier League.

= Buy a couple of class players during this current transfer window

[Bellend Sebastian]

Brands?

I never used to enjoy football because of the fucking brand.

The big four are global brands - and they can suck cocks in Hell as far as I'm concerned. I don't give a fuck if it makes good "business sense" - I want to watch a team not be part of a brand's matchday experience.

In other news: everything used to be better when I was young and I remember when all this forum was nothing but fields.

But brands are so important if you have no values or emotions of your own.

I can remember when this forum was streams of molten lava and wandering Brontosauri.

[Kilworthfox]

I think he is looking to sell up

[davieG]

I think he is looking to sell up

Hence the we're as big as Villa comment.

[Simi]

I think he is looking to sell up

No shit.

The word brand =

[FantasticMrFuchs]

Can talk the talk but never walks the walk.

Wasn't it only a few months ago when he came out saying "if were pushing for promotion,il put more money into the club" or words to that effect? Seems odd that he would tout for buisness on the back of the mercury,like someone else said probley a Merc Mountin out of a molehill.

[Hitesh]

My first thought was that he'd sold The Walkers to developers to build a Tesco

Wal-Mart! - He said American!

[leicesterseddon]

Why just laugh? What is funny about the statement?

I dunno, perhaps becuase it's an incredibly disingenuous statement about the state of the club's finances. Maybe also the irony of it, coming as it does from a man who's been the subject of a HMRC investigation for over two years.

Or perhaps I like the word 'good'. Up to you to decide though.

[lcfc_jme]

What a bag of shit. We're not a range of fucking beans, we're a football club for fuck's sake. If football gets more Americanised, I swear to God I'll have to walk away.

[Salieri]

well if i was to take a guess it would be the fact that despite his promises earlier in the season that he would put up money for transfers should we be around the play-offs in january (which we are) and yet we haven't seen any hint of that money.

= Buy a couple of class players during this current transfer window

The guy needs to put up or shut up.

It's all very well spouting about the dizzy heights he wants to take us to, but here we are in the transfer window and there's little sign of any activity. I can't believe that if NP was told he had a couple of million or so available to improve the squad that he wouldn't utilise it to try to push on for promotion.

We've done very well to be in the positon we are in at this stage of the season, but realistically we are a million miles away from the Premier League in terms of quality.

[Legend_in_blue]

MM choose your investors wisely. We can't go through as many investors as you have picking managers.

So, take care. Please?

[Thracian]

From the Merc

Leicester City owner Milan Mandaric wants to turn the club into an international brand.

Mandaric is looking to attract investment into the club through business links with foreign companies and has targeted markets in America and in Asia.

Earlier this season, an American consultancy firm was hired to advise the club to identify new revenue streams and Mandaric believes the club has to raise its profile overseas.

Several English clubs have shown what is possible and Birmingham City yesterday announced a new five-year kit deal with Xtep, the biggest sportswear firm in China.

Mandaric said City are now in a good financial condition and he believes the club could be an attractive investment option for foreign companies, and he plans to use his business contacts in the United States.

He warned that may only be possible if City win promotion back to the Premier League.

Mandaric also insisted that the failed bid to sign Dutch legend Edgar Davids earlier this season was not an attempt to make a high-profile signing just to help attract investment.

"We need to build a bigger brand internationally and be recognised as a club, because this club is as good as Aston Villa and other clubs," he said.

"This is not a smaller club by any means.

"We need to get some partnerships and some stronger international marketing allies in countries such as America and in Asia. We need to bring some international sponsors in.

"You can accomplish that when you are in the Premier League, because you can provide exposure for those people.

"Edgar Davids is a global player, but it isn't one player that will make the difference, it is more in the business world we need to build up.

"Of course, when you are in the Premier League you have exposure from the television. Sky TV has done a tremendous job and they are good allies. The exciting thing for us is that we are building now and we are not just fighting for survival like we used to be.

"We are not patching things up with a bandage now. We are healthy and we are trying to keep improving."

Like umpteen more club owners Mandaric is following the blueprint of others for whatever satisfaction it will give him apart from swelling his bank balance.

Trouble is, no matter how many multi-millionaires buy into football there will still be one League Champion, one Champions League winner, one FA Cup winner and the rest will be losers to a greater or lesser extent.

No doubt the rich chairmen, egged on by their sponsors, will try to doctor the rules to ensure they all keep supping from the gravy train to the exclusion of others - in a kind of self-protection racket - but the competition will increasing have no romance, no excitement and no great purpose. It might be more fun to watch the chairmen playing each other at ping-pong.

Smaller clubs will lose any local relevance in their misguided efforts to keep up, and the talk will continue to be about buying success rather than building it from within.

Yes, it all seems inevitable but no I don't see any joy in it as a fan nor any reason I'd support Leicester rather than going along to "support" whichever top team was playing nearest to my home at any one time. One group of expensive, mostly foreign mercanaries is much the same as another.

What will we have? One from each main sponsor's home continent? Perhaps the club's will all be re-named...Leicester Globetrotters, Arsenal Globetrotters etc.

Indeed I wonder if football will go the way of Formula One racing and matches will be staged in countries where they offer the best terms before, eventually, club's themselves will be based in whichever country offers the best deal. Didn't Chandler once warn along the lines of this happening?

Liverpool are perhaps the most glaring example of a once glorious club which is losing its soul on the altar of globalisation. You've only got to see the despair on the faces of home-grown Gerrard and Carragher to realise what a supposedly good foreign coach and a bevy of foreign players have produced.

Anfield was once a place which was feared by allcomers. A place where you were likely to leave the field black and blue, quite apart from shamefaced at the extent of your defeat. Now a visit to Anfield is just another fixture. The team no more represents the tough port City of Liverpool than if would the more gentile surroundings Richmond or Edgbaston if it were sited in those places.

Liverpool FC seems to be just just a source of inflated wages to many players, not of the fierce pride which was etched into the teams of Shankly and Paisley's time. United will likely be the same when Ferguson leaves.

Mandaric, of course, can and will do what he likes. Me, I'll be just as happy watching the Academy as I once used to enjoy watching the reserves before that opportunity was withdrawn. Games where everyone seemed to be trying their hardest to score and to win rather than being overly concerned about the consequences of losing and of corporate over-reaction.

I genuinely wish Mandaric the best of luck as I always have. He's put his money where his mouth is and has to compete in the circumstances of today not of 50 years ago.

I'd get no joy to see him come a financial cropper. I may be wrong but just don't think I'll want to watch the football. It will be about as interesting to me as watching Inter Milan versus Juventus in Serie A or whatever it's called. If, of course, Pearson somehow surprises me and leads us out of this division.

[lou]

What a bag of shit. We're not a range of fucking beans, we're a football club for fuck's sake. If football gets more Americanised, I swear to God I'll have to walk away.

I'll smack your legs! How could you!

[Webbo]

Nice to see that nobody's over reacting again.

[davieG]

Nice to see that nobody's over reacting again.

In response to Mandaric's over=posturing, it's all hot air unless we get promoted so why even bother coming out with it. Frankly it gets the response it deserves and only goes to show what Mandaric really craves - publicity.