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

[davieG]

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.

How many clubs have entered into admin in recent years?

You're assuming our owners are the public face of KP, we don't know for sure who owns LCFC. How do we know what they might do if we know nothing about them. The investment in the infrastructure is minimal in comparison to the overall apparent debt so I take that with a pinch of salt.

[breadandcheese]

...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.

I agree.

The problem comes back to the gulf in finance between the leagues. Blackpool got £39m last season in TV revenue. We got about £5m. I would not know how to run a football club when your major source of revenue could increase by 780% within a year if you get promotion. Our current owners are going for the spend big and gamble on promotion approach.

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that the top clubs should go and set-up their European league and leave a more competitive field for the rest of us where you don't have to talk about footballing projects, international branding, 5 year business plans (that are just gambling on promotion by increasing the wage bill).

[dave the caveman]

How many clubs have entered into admin in recent years?

Two or three championship clubs. A handful of clubs in the lower leagues. None of them in a comparable situation to us. The fact that we are receiving investment makes us less likely to go into admin, not more. I'm sure you remember when we went into admin and how that happened. We had no money. Now we have money. Portsmouth were a red herring and a complicated one at that. Our position is not the same, not by a long shot.

[OzFox]

Interesting thread.

No doubt this has been discussed elsewhere, but is it really that difficult to find out the true owners of Asia Football Investments? It's name and the fact it is a holding company implies they have fingers in other pies. All this murkiness is a bit dubious.

[davieG]

Two or three championship clubs. A handful of clubs in the lower leagues. None of them in a comparable situation to us. The fact that we are receiving investment makes us less likely to go into admin, not more. I'm sure you remember when we went into admin and how that happened. We had no money. Now we have money. Portsmouth were a red herring and a complicated one at that. Our position is not the same, not by a long shot.

The only difference between us and the lower league clubs is scale as I said above they were receiving comparable investment which eventually dried up when the owners gave up but left them selves well covered. We went into admin because the owners didn't forsee us getting relegated and spent like they thought the PL money streams would continue, We that is Taylor/Elsom blew millions both in transfer fees and wages on the basis. We're spending it on the assumption that we'll get promoted.

[Guest BlueBrett]

Definitely buying a football club one day. If you can loan the club money and set your own repayment terms you're onto a winner surely? And even if 'the club' doesn't progress the way you want it to you can just bugger off and be owed all the money that was spent on enforcing the decisions that YOU made. Seems bloody mental.

[davieG]

Definitely buying a football club one day. If you can loan the club money and set your own repayment terms you're onto a winner surely? And even if 'the club' doesn't progress the way you want it to you can just bugger off and be owed all the money that was spent on enforcing the decisions that YOU made. Seems bloody mental.

And we have a potentially massive asset at Belvoir Drive which would go along way to reimbursing large parts of any loan to AFI / KP if it all goes tits up leaving LCFC on the brink of extinction.

Do we even know the exact ownership of Belvoir Drive is it a separate ownership of AFI?KP so couldn't be used as an asset against other potential creditors, certainly Mandaric was planning to use it to cover his losses if he failed to find a lucrative buyer.

[breadandcheese]

The only difference between us and the lower league clubs is scale as I said above they were receiving comparable investment which eventually dried up when the owners gave up but left them selves well covered. We went into admin because the owners didn't forsee us getting relegated and spent like they thought the PL money streams would continue, We that is Taylor/Elsom blew millions both in transfer fees and wages on the basis. We're spending it on the assumption that we'll get promoted.

Elsom was an idiot. Under his stewarship, the club took a loan when building the Walkers/KP stadium that was based on a projection of us finishing no lower than tenth for the next three seasons. That's blind optimism/stupidity for you. Of course we went on to get relegated the very next season.

[dave the caveman]

We're spending it on the assumption that we'll get promoted.

You don't know that. You don't know how much money we have available. You don't know anything about it, and neither do any of us. You're assuming the worst based on a tiny number of largely irrelevant examples of what has happened elsewhere.

[davieG]

You don't know that. You don't know how much money we have available. You don't know anything about it, and neither do any of us. You're assuming the worst based on a tiny number of largely irrelevant examples of what has happened elsewhere.

The Thai's were quite open about their intentions when they took over and when they signed Sven the aim was promotion and they would do all they could to support that aim which was through cash investments. Of course I don't how much they have or how little but the fact is by any standard our expenditure exceeds our natural means of making it without getting promoted, we're not even paying off the stadium loan whilst in the Championship.

Of course I'm assuming the worst mainly to counteract the blind faith being shown by so many just on an assumption that 'they know what they are doing'. Well frankly I've heard it all before and and it's way more than a few or irrelevant examples. There's been many clubs going into admin since the 10 point penalty came in and of course they're relevant most of them had owners who threw money at the clubs trying for and failing to get success why is that not relevant to situation?

[Guest BlueBrett]

And we have a potentially massive asset at Belvoir Drive which would go along way to reimbursing large parts of any loan to AFI / KP if it all goes tits up leaving LCFC on the brink of extinction.

Do we even know the exact ownership of Belvoir Drive is it a separate ownership of AFI?KP so couldn't be used as an asset against other potential creditors, certainly Mandaric was planning to use it to cover his losses if he failed to find a lucrative buyer.

It's a worry for sure. The thing is with the stadium as well, while it may seem like a really valuable asset, if it is in the name of the club then it is pretty much impossible to value. You're supposed to value assets at the amount you could get for them should you sell - but the club could never sell the stadium because the instant they did they would no longer be a viable going concern. The only way to unlock any of its value that I can think of would be by entering into some BarryFryesque arrangement whereby we sell the heart and focal point of our club to somebody on the understanding that we can lease it back, no doubt for an extortionate amount (I think Posh pay the council over a million a year for the privilege of playing on their own pitch in front of their own supporters once a fortnight). Obviously this is an incredibly short-sighted way forward. If the stadium is owned by some 3rd party then obviously there is a whole set of different issues there too.

Basically we had better just cross our fingers and hope for the best on the money side of things whilst continuing to do our best to get behind the boys on the pitch.

[Guest Col city fan]

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.

This...

Very true and you're right, it is often forgotten.

[hackneyfox]

The Raksriaksorns own the Club and the parent company Asia Football Investments its their own debt just a legitimate way of moving capital if the club was making money and paying corporation tax I would be very concerned!

This was what I believed.

Is this wrong?

[Neil_LCFC]

Definitely buying a football club one day. If you can loan the club money and set your own repayment terms you're onto a winner surely? And even if 'the club' doesn't progress the way you want it to you can just bugger off and be owed all the money that was spent on enforcing the decisions that YOU made. Seems bloody mental.

This is exactly what is wrong with football, fair enough if they want to waste there own cash on us, but making us take a loan from them which could cripple us is putting the club at risk..

[unreachable]

This was what I believed.

Is this wrong?

Asia Football Investments Pte Limited is a private limited company registered in Singapore under reference 201013260R. Records appear to be available by paying $5.5 dollars but I doubt that any individuals will be named but just a web of companies.

Perhaps The Guardian or The Leicester Mercury or even the Foxes Trust could obtain whatever information is available and have it analysed professionally so that thenewspaper articles provided information which the ordinary fan could understand.

The Football League should be satisfied with the information provided but look what has happened to Portsmouth.

It's a joke that "transparency" has become a buzzword but is totally lacking when it comes to the ownership of Leicester City.

I'm not aware what individuals are the ultimate owners of the club or whether the Raksriaksorn family are exclusively the owners or whether other individuals are included. Many clubs provide such information on their websites which the Football League at one time had said was compulsory but maybe this requirement has now changed.

The Leicester Mercury, The Guardian and Radio Leicester may not have the resources or willingness to investigate such matters in case their journalists are banned from the club.

[davieG]

Two or three championship clubs. A handful of clubs in the lower leagues. None of them in a comparable situation to us. The fact that we are receiving investment makes us less likely to go into admin, not more. I'm sure you remember when we went into admin and how that happened. We had no money. Now we have money. Portsmouth were a red herring and a complicated one at that. Our position is not the same, not by a long shot.

There were 53 incidents of clubs entering administration from 2000 until November 2011, and already this year Portsmouth, Port Vale and Darlington have entered administration, as have Rangers.

Source - http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2012/03/25/revealed-the-39-6m-in-unpaid-football-taxes-and-thats-only-part-of-it-250301/

[Libertine Dream]

Asia Football Investments Pte Limited is a private limited company registered in Singapore under reference 201013260R. Records appear to be available by paying $5.5 dollars but I doubt that any individuals will be named but just a web of companies.

Perhaps The Guardian or The Leicester Mercury or even the Foxes Trust could obtain whatever information is available and have it analysed professionally so that thenewspaper articles provided information which the ordinary fan could understand.

The Football League should be satisfied with the information provided but look what has happened to Portsmouth.

It's a joke that "transparency" has become a buzzword but is totally lacking when it comes to the ownership of Leicester City.

I'm not aware what individuals are the ultimate owners of the club or whether the Raksriaksorn family are exclusively the owners or whether other individuals are included. Many clubs provide such information on their websites which the Football League at one time had said was compulsory but maybe this requirement has now changed.

The Leicester Mercury, The Guardian and Radio Leicester may not have the resources or willingness to investigate such matters in case their journalists are banned from the club.

I tried to do this when the results were announce but I don't have a mastercard, if I could use paypal I'd do some investigating. I'd guess K Power Sports Investment Ltd would be named as owners of AFI but it may give clues as to who owns that or where that can be found. There must be a trail left somewhere. Not that I'm concerned about our ownership, just want to investigate it.