Leicester City's owners did not invest £53m for FA Cup days at Chelsea

[davieG]

They would have a public relations nightmare on their hands and for their company they've made us the face of. It would be the exact opposite of why they bought us in the first place. Crippling a well known and historic football club isn't the sort of international recognition they want for their company. So far all the clubs that have got into trouble don't have the kind of owners whose reputations are so entwined with the clubs themselves, like ourselves and Tony Fernandes at QPR.

But as we don't know who AFI are what you're saying may not be the case. For example maybe there are people/organisations with in AFI using KP as an acceptable front and if they are the key money people (many doubt KP has the resources) what if they decide to pull the plug and leave us and KP in a mess? There are doubts also that these shadow people in the AFI are Thais so their actual relationship with KP is unknown.

Just a thought and some maybes?

[Milton Keynes Fox]

Not very happy that the owners are loaning the money rather than giving us it, it doesn't feel like they're really helping us out then

[LcFc_Smiv]

£53 million to have got revenge on Swindon (1993), get payback on Chelsea for 1997, win the FA cup, go to europe and right the wrongs against Atletico Madrid, I'd say well spent!

[dave the caveman]

The owners can't just "pull out". They would need to sell the club and any buyer would be aware of the debt and it would be reflected in the price he would be willing to pay. The Thai's would gain nothing because the money they recoup from the loan will be lost in the sale price.

[Jace]

£53 million to have got revenge on Swindon (1993), get payback on Chelsea for 1997, win the FA cup, go to europe and right the wrongs against Atletico Madrid, I'd say well spent!

We will smash Spurs in the final revenge for 1999

[dave the caveman]

Basically the club are making plans for FFP, and this has been implemented or will be implemented with cost cutting exercises big earners i.e Mills to be shown the door, if we fail to make the prem.

You've just made that up. There's no mention of that in the article or anywhere. Are even a leicester fan? Why would you make up and try to spread such fear mongering bullshit about your own club?

[Happy Fox]

You've just made that up. There's no mention of that in the article or anywhere. Are even a leicester fan? Why would you make up and try to spread such fear mongering bullshit about your own club?

No I haven't made it up NP says the club has made future provisions for FFP here you go :

He is calm, though, about how failure to achieve promotion this season may affect the club's approach. Pearson says: "Well financial fair play is not implemented this year but I think with any club there's got to be different strategies moving forward. So it's important to plan for the future with an eye on different scenarios and that's something that the club has done."

I am sorry it was my own interpretation of those different scenarios but I one expect would be to cut down squad costs, and we have done that with to a certain extent in getting the deadwood unwanted players out the club.

[sphericalfox]

People seem to forgo the investment in the youth set-up. The youth seem to be trouncing everyone and anyone at the minute. We have invested in some excellent prospects, and we'll only see the value of that investment in the years to come, but that's an area that always goes under the radar, when people have Mills to complain about etc.

[Webbo]

While we're doing newspaper articles;

Wembley was almost a second home to Kasper Schmeichel as he was growing up.

Watching father Peter and the all-conquering Manchester United team has become a fuzzy melange of childhood memories, no particular stand-out moments.

Safe hands: Kasper Schmeichel

Now it is Schmeichel senior who is the regular observer, even though he may not be able to make it to Stamford Bridge for Leicester's FA Cup quarter-final against Chelsea on Sunday.

Paternal support guaranteed but Schmeichel junior can count on close friends too and none come closer than Joe Hart, his former Manchester City colleague.

Schmeichel watched as the England goalkeeper came agonisingly close to scoring in injury time in the Europa League match against Sporting Lisbon on Thursday night.

'I hope I don't go up front late on against Chelsea,' admitted Schmeichel. 'That would mean we are behind.

'I rang him straight afterwards. He used to do that in training every single day. To be honest I was gutted for him.'

There is no hint of jealousy in the voice. At the age of 25 Schmeichel's journey to the big stage has become a circuitous route, which may yet end well at Leicester.

Having grown up at City, the young goalkeeper will not bat an eyelid at the prospect of keeping in-form Chelsea at bay.

'With the squad we have got we are capable of giving anyone a good game,' insisted Schmeichel.

'I have played with first team players since I was 15 at Manchester City. My first session was at City was with Nicolas Anelka. It is not something that I see as too much out of the ordinary.'

Leicester beat Norwich in the previous round and are 90 minutes away from a trip to Wembley, a familiar venue thanks to Schmeichel senior.

Schmeichel added: 'I went to nearly all the games but they blend into one a little bit.'

Read more:

http://www.dailymail...l#ixzz1pMskjM99

[Fez of Mahrez]

Some fans seem to want overwhelmingly positive articles about the club even when it clearly hasn't been a positive season overall.

You also have to factor in that your club will get written about if it's in an FA Cup quarter-final, that any article of that length can only ever be a vague outline of the situation at the club and, most of all, that a £53million investment at a Championship club is worthy of a headline.

Personally I found this line telling: "There are an awful lot of football clubs in the country whose finances are not probably what they would like. But I think we have the stability here in terms of the business infrastructure to be able to deal with those sorts of figures."

I can only assume these quotes have already appeared in the Mercury given the reaction so far, but the most important point here is that we should never have been involving "those sorts of figures" in the first place, never mind being "able to deal with" them.

I read "The Beautiful Game?" by David Conn recently and there's a chapter about Notts County having been in financial trouble with Scardino a few years ago. The general tone of the book is that football clubs aren't learning from these things (e.g. Munto Finance and Eriksson subsequently pitching up at Meadow Lane). There's also a brief mention of us going into administration and owing money to East Midlands Ambulance Service and the like. And now look at the kind of figures we're talking about. I'm with onecapwonder on this one, the more it's talked about and questioned the better and some people will just have to put up with Leicester being portrayed negatively in the national media.

[Happy Fox]

Some fans seem to want overwhelmingly positive articles about the club even when it clearly hasn't been a positive season overall.

You also have to factor in that your club will get written about if it's in an FA Cup quarter-final, that any article of that length can only ever be a vague outline of the situation at the club and, most of all, that a £53million investment at a Championship club is worthy of a headline.

Personally I found this line telling: "There are an awful lot of football clubs in the country whose finances are not probably what they would like. But I think we have the stability here in terms of the business infrastructure to be able to deal with those sorts of figures."

I can only assume these quotes have already appeared in the Mercury given the reaction so far, but the most important point here is that we should never have been involving "those sorts of figures" in the first place, never mind being "able to deal with" them.

I read "The Beautiful Game?" by David Conn recently and there's a chapter about Notts County having been in financial trouble with Scardino a few years ago. The general tone of the book is that football clubs aren't learning from these things (e.g. Munto Finance and Eriksson subsequently pitching up at Meadow Lane). There's also a brief mention of us going into administration and owing money to East Midlands Ambulance Service and the like. And now look at the kind of figures we're talking about. I'm with onecapwonder on this one, the more it's talked about and questioned the better and some people will just have to put up with Leicester being portrayed negatively in the national media.

Better for whom exactly? most peeps cannot be asked to discuss these topics without resorting to the defense of Top and co, as DavieG alluded to we don't know for sure who actually owns the club and this uncertainty is a hinderance we could do without.

[dave the caveman]

No I haven't made it up NP says the club has made future provisions for FFP here you go :

He is calm, though, about how failure to achieve promotion this season may affect the club's approach. Pearson says: "Well financial fair play is not implemented this year but I think with any club there's got to be different strategies moving forward. So it's important to plan for the future with an eye on different scenarios and that's something that the club has done."

I am sorry it was my own interpretation of those different scenarios but I one expect would be to cut down squad costs, and we have done that with to a certain extent in getting the deadwood unwanted players out the club.

Yes NP says they have made future provisions. You don't know what they are. You're blindly guessing that they will involve cost cutting measures and then passing it off as if it is a cast iron certainty. You have no way of knowing what the future provisions are and your own interpretation is just a stab in the dark.

[Happy Fox]

Yes NP says they have made future provisions. You don't know what they are. You're blindly guessing that they will involve cost cutting measures and then passing it off as if it is a cast iron certainty. You have no way of knowing what the future provisions are and your own interpretation is just a stab in the dark.

How else are we going to meet FFP regulations? it is a genuine question I ask, I am not entirely sure what will happen in the future but this uncertainty is worrying the loan of money we have to pay back is a lot and this is banking on the club getting promotion this year which far from certain. Surely cutting the cost of the squad will help in some way won't it?

[dave the caveman]

the most important point here is that we should never have been involving "those sorts of figures" in the first place, never mind being "able to deal with" them.

You don't think the club should be investing money in improving the playing squad and infrastructure?

[dave the caveman]

How else are we going to meet FFP regulations? it is a genuine question I ask, I am not entirely sure what will happen in the future but this uncertainty is worrying the loan of money we have to pay back is a lot and this is banking on the club getting promotion this year which far from certain. Surely cutting the cost of the squad will help in some way won't it?

I imagine most clubs will artificially increase revenue. Paying back the loan isn't banking on us getting promotion, I don't know where you've got that from either. For all any of us know there could be someone in the background with £500million set aside for us. Likewise it could just be the Thai's and they might be funding us on credit. We don't know.

[Fez of Mahrez]

You don't think the club should be investing money in improving the playing squad and infrastructure?

There is a huge difference between investing money sustainably in trying to improve the playing squad and infrastructure and spending the amounts we have. Where would you draw the line?

[davieG]

We shouldn't be relying on the lottery of promotion as a means of paying back loaned money. Didn't we end up in administration last time because some people at the club spent money like they assumed we'd be in the PL for ever?

[shade]

on a side note, does it bother anyone else that we regularly play games without any players from Leicester in the team? sadly you can't legislate to change that.

[dave the caveman]

There is a huge difference between investing money sustainably in trying to improve the playing squad and infrastructure and spending the amounts we have. Where would you draw the line?

Where I would draw the line depends on how much money I have. We don't know how much money we have so it's impossible to say. The owners, however, know exactly how much money they have and they will draw the line where they see fit. Is there any strong reason why any of us should suspect that the owners have made a terrible, terrible gung-ho business decision and have spent way more than they should have and are now in real trouble? Or would it be more realistic to expect that successful business people were capable of drawing up a sensible and realistic business plan which took full account of the risk of not getting promoted?

[jamesmilner]

the 8% is a bit strange ? the going rate is 3.5% or there abouts ? plus the more you borrow the less % . the article just confirms football clubs position in general not just lcfc !

[davieG]

Where I would draw the line depends on how much money I have. We don't know how much money we have so it's impossible to say. The owners, however, know exactly how much money they have and they will draw the line where they see fit. Is there any strong reason why any of us should suspect that the owners have made a terrible, terrible gung-ho business decision and have spent way more than they should have and are now in real trouble? Or would it be more realistic to expect that successful business people were capable of drawing up a sensible and realistic business plan which took full account of the risk of not getting promoted?

Football is littered with examples of gung ho businessmen bringing clubs to the brink of extinction, only time will tell about our unknown owners, granted there's as much chance of success as there is of failure but relying on prompt promotion to ensure success is, and has been proved to be a massive gamble.

[breadandcheese]

Football is littered with examples of gung ho businessmen bringing clubs to the brink of extinction, only time will tell about our unknown owners, granted there's as much chance of success as there is of failure but relying on prompt promotion to ensure success is, and has been proved to be a massive gamble.

I take it that you too read about Portsmouth with dread thinking that could be us in a few years.

There is no doubt that the cost base of our club is not inline with Championship level incomes.

[dave the caveman]

Football is littered with examples of gung ho businessmen bringing clubs to the brink of extinction,

This seems to be the main concern but is it really true? I can only think of a small handful of examples. Certainly not enough to describe it as a littering. I can think of more examples of good ownership and successful investment. Plus when you look at the one's which have failed and compare them to us, there are big differences. Our owners are investing in long-term infrastructure which you definitely wouldn't do if you were trying to make a quick buck. Our owners have got a brand to protect and have actually spent a lot of money on directly connecting that brand with the success of the club. The ownerships that have gone wrong have all been background investors with shady motives, while the Thai's are very much at the forefront of the club and are making no secret of the fact that their motive is to increase their brand. I was much more worried when Mandaric was in charge tbh.

[Webbo]

the 8% is a bit strange ? the going rate is 3.5% or there abouts ? plus the more you borrow the less % . the article just confirms football clubs position in general not just lcfc !

Possibly ( I don't know just guessing) they have borrowed the money themselves and have put a mark up on the loan to us to cover their costs or maybe a profit.

[davieG]

I take it that you too read about Portsmouth with dread thinking that could be us in a few years.

There is no doubt that the cost base of our club is not inline with Championship level incomes.

...and others it's just a case of scale. There's plenty of clubs in the lower divisions whose owners had illusions of grandeur and over stretched their clubs and most of them walked away leaving the clubs insolvent but with their own arses well covered.

For all those saying the Thais have avested interest in keeping the club solvent, well I'm sure they have but equally I'm sure they're clever enough to have their own arses well covered at the expense of LCFC in case it all goes tits up.