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After all the hype over Crawley this weekend It got me thinking. Would your left things has they are, with no guarantee of promotion but if it happens then it will be well worth it and ooo so sweet. OR get taken off by some Billionaire who pumps in the money, we get promotion but everyone hates us. We get a label and it isnt so sweet doing it?

LOL at this.

As things are, it would take something extremely special to get us promoted. Last season was an astonishing effort considering our resources compared to our competitors, but we had players like Lee Tomlin, Mark Byrne, Dale Roberts and Jamie Stuart. One of them was a product of our youth system, one of them was almost a fluke IMO (Byrne), and two were bought as decent BSP players but turned out to be fantastic - good judgement from Garry Hill (dare I say it) and Justin. It was a combination of unlikely events, and yet we still finished a poor second to Oxford in the play-off semi. On our budget, we would have been incredibly lucky to better that.

Guaranteed promotion would be great but I don't think I could go through another 5 years like 2004-2009 ten years down the line.

Let's face it, everyone loves to hate clubs that have money pumped into them, but I doubt anyone would complain if it happened to their own club.

f*** morality, it'd be great to be stinking rich and plow up the leagues again.

It really depends. If the money is used to invest to build solid foundations for when the money runs out, as well as in the playing budget, to build up solid links in the community and with local business, to rebuild the fan base to a good sustainable level long term, then it would be very hard to pass on that.

My main concern would be what would be the person's motive. What would be the limit? Championship, Premiership? Champions League? As ridiculous as that sounds we would always wonder what would be the point which the investor would say enough is enough. If it is to give something to community in the manner I mentioned in my first paragraph, fantastic. But it would lead to another case of us going into meltdown, then no thanks.

Btw with Crawley, it's the manager I have an issue with, not their investors (although I think they're stupid to invest the amount of money they have due to Brighton on their way up and with cash and a new 23,000 capacity stadium to boot just down the road). Sack Evans and my opinion of them would change instantly.

Mad Dog wrote:It really depends. If the money is used to invest to build solid foundations for when the money runs out, as well as in the playing budget, to build up solid links in the community and with local business, to rebuild the fan base to a good sustainable level long term, then it would be very hard to pass on that.
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I totally buy into this, the club must generate it's own income to be self-sustaining (even without a large fanbase). The only thing Max did not do was to build this and it needs it to survive.

Two of Diamonds wrote:

Mad Dog wrote:It really depends. If the money is used to invest to build solid foundations for when the money runs out, as well as in the playing budget, to build up solid links in the community and with local business, to rebuild the fan base to a good sustainable level long term, then it would be very hard to pass on that.
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I totally buy into this, the club must generate it's own income to be self-sustaining (even without a large fanbase). The only thing Max did not do was to build this and it needs it to survive.

I'd argue that Max did do this - but some of it has been allowed to wane over the years. Max's investment in the Youth scheme is still paying dividends, but his local work took a knock with the downgrading of the DM's business.

We used to have a lot of people that focussed on the local community, as far away as Bedford and Milton Keynes - Greg Broughton is one name I remember (now at Luton), but others were around as well. The new owners made it clear in the fans forum how local initiatives had been neglected in recent seasons.

Max did a lot to attract local businesses too - perhaps he was too generous in what he offered them - but like a lot of glory hunters they disappeared as soon as the team started struggling and they were charged the going rate for hospitality.

The issue with Crawley for me is:

1. The people putting the money in are un-named, we have no idea who they are or where the money is coming from - it could be laundered drug money for all we know??
2. They have, in the past, owed many people money (small businesses etc) when they have gone into administration twice in the recent past - now they're rolling in it they have done nothing to compensate those people, its morally wrong to celebrate when you have picked people's pockets to the tune of 50p in the £1
3. Evans is a convicted cheat and fraudster - you start to add 2 and 2 together and wonder, I certainly do
4. The previous owners (the Majeeds) were threatening bullies who, I understand, are now serving time for a variety of offences......Crawley have a history of attracting the wrong kind of people

Now, if you could tell me that a millionaire with Max's integrity were to step forward, I'd be delighted to be hated for having money again. Crawley are a different case. People don't hate them because of the money, they hate them because there is so much suspicion about where the money has come from and who is spending it. Evans has cheated his way to the title before, the suspicion is he could be doing so again.

Two of Diamonds wrote:
......the club must generate it's own income to be self-sustaining (even without a large fanbase).

I would like to know, at BSP level, who is actually self-sustaining without significant injection of revenue from their directors? The only one, I can think of, is maybe be AFC Wimbledon with their large fanbase.

PigmanRDFC wrote:The issue with Crawley for me is:

1. The people putting the money in are un-named, we have no idea who they are or where the money is coming from - it could be laundered drug money for all we know??
2. They have, in the past, owed many people money (small businesses etc) when they have gone into administration twice in the recent past - now they're rolling in it they have done nothing to compensate those people, its morally wrong to celebrate when you have picked people's pockets to the tune of 50p in the £1
3. Evans is a convicted cheat and fraudster - you start to add 2 and 2 together and wonder, I certainly do
4. The previous owners (the Majeeds) were threatening bullies who, I understand, are now serving time for a variety of offences......Crawley have a history of attracting the wrong kind of people

Quite a good article on Crawley in The Guardian last Friday, which mentions all these points... and more.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/davi ... ted-fa-cup