Would you accept Foreign Investment?

I've been currently contemplating the idea of "What if Grimsby had foreign ownership"?

I must say, I wasn't 100% sure a few months ago, but the recent turn of events and the board's unwillingness to do what's right has swayed me towards a yes.

Of course. I would prefer a local investor, possibly a fan, but this is unlikely ( for now at least )

So. With some of the higher leagues, we keep seeing foreign investors coming in ( Suadi Arabia and China mainly ) and throwing money at the cause. Would you welcome this if it meant the club would be able to go forward instead of backward?

Or would you prefer to wait for a British investor who may not be as willing to part with chunks of cash?

Or, are you happy with the current ones?

I only ask because I've gathered a list of contact details for 20-25 foreign businessman/woman who have invested/purchased UK and European football clubs. It's a long shot but i will send an email to all of them with the proposal to purchase the club and offer the current board and Fenty's contact details.

Again, Long shot, but you never know. Maybe it will seem interesting to take a small club to the Premiership which would cost a lot less than to buy an actual prem league club.

What are your thoughts?

**UPDATE**
If the voting for yes continues at it's pace. I will send the email too all "Potential" Investors.

I even have an email for a Suadi Prince...

With the current outlook, things couldn't get any worse under forsign ownership

We'd get Munto.

I'd rather an owner be good, than be from a certain place.

It's worth a shot, go for it.

Yes from me, it's time for new beginnings

Yes, subject to the usual due diligence taking place.

Why not give Kim Jong-Un a call...........he'd give Slade a rocket.

Quoted from wigworld

Yes, subject to the usual due diligence taking place.

But it very rarely does. And it's even more difficult to undertake when they're not UK resident. It's bad enough with some of the shysters from this country to find out where the money's come from, who they are, what their history is.

The correct answer from me is 'it depends'. Not on the transfer budget but on being able to establish that the investor is a fit and proper person, which is really hard to do. And that wasn't an option on the survey.

Most foreign investors in British football teams seem to come from countries who are shaded darker on those maps of the world which you see from organisations like Transparency International, and that corporate business conduct departments get more nervous about. You very rarely get investors from prosperous but low risk countries like Sweden say, because British football clubs do not give them a realistic prospect of a legitimate return.

So it's a nyet, لا, ไม่, 没有 from me.

A definite no-no to a foreign owner or even a foreign manager for that matter. Superficially attractive but too much danger of ending up as a financial pawn like Leeds, Birmingham, Reading etc.

I don't mind Fenty being the owner, at least he's local. I just don't like him running the club. My stance on this has always been that if he cannot or will not sell the club he should recognise that he might have been a good fish merchant but he has proved time and again he is lousy at running a football club. Common sense should tell him he is paying through the nose for his own mistakes.

He should  step back from the day to day and employ or partner with a proper football person as chairman/chief executive. Just because you own a club does not mean you have to iron the kit and be the tea lady.

You don't think anybody whether English,French,Chinese or Pekingese would invest in a club with Slade as manager and Dixon at left back

Voted yes because I can’t think of anything different that bad foreign owners have done that we havnt already had apart from logo/name changes and at this point im past caring.

Quoted from promotion plaice

Why not give Kim Jong-Un a call...........he'd give Slade a rocket.

Tried. Just got an email back from someone called no Foo kin wa

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

Voted yes because I can’t think of anything different that bad foreign owners have done that we havnt already had apart from logo/name changes and at this point im past caring.

Leyton Orient?

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

A definite no-no to a foreign owner or even a foreign manager for that matter. Superficially attractive but too much danger of ending up as a financial pawn like Leeds, Birmingham, Reading etc.

I don't mind Fenty being the owner, at least he's local. I just don't like him running the club. My stance on this has always been that if he cannot or will not sell the club he should recognise that he might have been a good fish merchant but he has proved time and again he is lousy at running a football club. Common sense should tell him he is paying through the nose for his own mistakes.

He should  step back from the day to day and employ or partner with a proper football person as chairman/chief executive. Just because you own a club does not mean you have to iron the kit and be the tea lady.

He was a nutty as a fruit cake and loved sacking managers, but ask any Leeds fans and they'll tell you that Ridsdale and Bates did far more damage to the club than Cellino ever did..

There's good, bad and indifferent foreign and homegrown football club owners, we just need to find a good one from anywhere in the world not exclusively with a British passport or born on the tiny piece of land called NE Lincs..

Updated.

WIll send emails if the Yes vote continues as it does.

Quoted from Bigdog

He was a nutty as a fruit cake and loved sacking managers, but ask any Leeds fans and they'll tell you that Ridsdale and Bates did far more damage to the club than Cellino ever did..

None of the clubs I mentioned have had a trouble free ride from foreign investment. In between Risdale and the current owners there was chaos at Leeds. Bates had at least stabilised the finances but the fans were spoilt by the transfer budget they were used to and he got stick from the terraces for lack of results. Then all hell broke loose with the Middle East based lot and then Cellini etc. I think you would struggle to find many Leeds fans who are happy with the current set up either.

That said, the main reason I am against foreign owners is that it becomes a small step to having a foreign manager and an even smaller one to getting foreign players. At our level they will not be very good ones either.  It is hard enough for young UK players to make it as it is without clogging the team with a load of Menno Willems.

Agree RRFC, especially with the bit about Menno Willems!

What we ideally want is a set up like Scunthorpe's - a wealthy local person who is articulate, affable, easy to work with, good with the media, sets and demands high standards, and good at running the club and appointing managers, and who will invest money in the club and not loan it.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

None of the clubs I mentioned have had a trouble free ride from foreign investment. In between Risdale and the current owners there was chaos at Leeds. Bates had at least stabilised the finances but the fans were spoilt by the transfer budget they were used to and he got stick from the terraces for lack of results. Then all hell broke loose with the Middle East based lot and then Cellini etc. I think you would struggle to find many Leeds fans who are happy with the current set up either.

That said, the main reason I am against foreign owners is that it becomes a small step to having a foreign manager and an even smaller one to getting foreign players. At our level they will not be very good ones either.  It is hard enough for young UK players to make it as it is without clogging the team with a load of Menno Willems.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I think narrowing down search criteria for inward investment would mean that we'll be having the same conversations in twenty years, and in all that time, the fans in the footballing hotbed of Bournemouth will be having the times of their lives..

Call me selfish, but I want to have a bit of fun again being a Town fan and I don't mind if it's the English pound, American dollar or the Dubai dirham that facilitates it, as long as the club is being run properly, progressing and everyone is being entertained..

So here’s the thing.  We were all born in a sea port, very high likelihood of being a descendant of ‘foreigners’.  Irish in my case.  So why would we be averse to foreign investment?  Foreigners have been investing in Grimsby for years.  Now this may or may not be true, but I was very recently told that even the site owner started life as Grim Scrob.

Quoted from Grimsby2012

Tried. Just got an email back from someone called no Foo kin wa

Tremendous, if I’d posted that I’d have a torrent of red crosses and all sorts of racist accusations.  What’s the secret?

Agree that it depends on the owner being subject to due diligence, would be worried about a leyton orient situation (altho I understand we are not that much better off with Fenty, who despite being a genuine fan is simply not competent at running a football club). Also would worry about them screwing us over and leaving us without a ground somehow in order to get their hands on property sales money.

What we need is an Adam Pearson figure - not necessarily a person with the money but the person with knowledge of the game who knows how to get it.

The best period for the club financially was under the Ramsdens, not because they were putting millions in but because the employees at the club know about things like sponsorship and local fundraising. After that we started to rely on TV cash and spending before we got it.  Probably the one individual we have missed the most over the last generation is Alec King who set the club in the right direction financially and involved the grass roots community in supporting the club. The fact that he was headhunted away speaks volumes for his ability.

I’m not saying we go back to the days of the Mariners Lottery and all that, but we need help to raise investment from somebody with contacts who knows what he/she is doing. Graffiti writers won’t be much use at that.

Iv'e sent 34+ emails as of today. I will keep gathering investors credentials and obviously do some research on their business exploits.

Quoted from 139914

So here’s the thing.  We were all born in a sea port, very high likelihood of being a descendant of ‘foreigners’.  Irish in my case.  So why would we be averse to foreign investment?  Foreigners have been investing in Grimsby for years.  Now this may or may not be true, but I was very recently told that even the site owner started life as Grim Scrob.

How very dare you, never call our beloved Grim Rob a Scrob, ban him forthwith Rob, Grim the Viking demands it!

Quoted from Grimsby2012

Iv'e sent 34+ emails as of today. I will keep gathering investors credentials and obviously do some research on their business exploits.

I'd be interested to see what your DD methodology is.

What's his bra size got to do with it?

Quoted from ginnywings

What's his bra size got to do with it?

About the only success we're gonna get in the cups.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

About the only success we're gonna get in the cups.

Haha! Nice retort.