If/when we get new owners how would you like the club to change?

Snookie · October 1, 2010

There is an undercurrent of sadness, resentment and anger in just about every post on the forum at the moment. All of this can be traced - directly or indirectly - back to the vermin who own the club but lets fast-forward sometime into the future when they are gone and imagine what the club could look like?

What kind of owners and ownership model would you prefer? For example Absolutely loaded? UK based? People with a strong background in sports management? Or ones who actively encourage fan participation in the running of the club? And so on.
What would the management team look like?
Who would you like to see the club recruit?
Who should be gone?
What would be your expectations for the rest of the season?
Should we attempt to return to our traditional values or begin afresh?

Personally I'd like to see active fan involvement in the running of the club but I would not like to see them owning a majority of the shareholding for the moment. There are too many disagreements between fan groups and these could extend in to how the club is run. I'm also not certain that the union model on which SOS is based is the right one to be use for day to day management of any organisation seeking to maximise revenues. There needs to be a clear vision and an ability to respond quickly to challenges and the union model with its sub-committees and extend consultation is not the way to do not this. Having said all that I would like to see the club eventually end up in the hands of fans and while we are getting there it should be run on simple, very clearly defined principled. To paraphrase it should exist to win things and make people happy. The latter could cover things like ticket pricing, community participation and so on. Owners in the mould of Robert Kraft or Randy Learner would be ideal.

The business operations of the club should be run by sports professionals. Whether the current encumbants are the right people I don't know. Purslow is such a divisive figure that no matter how capable he is as a business man it may well be worthwhile getting rid of him just to lance a boil. Again in an ideal world I'd like to see David Dein being brought in but whether that is realistic I don't know. I would like to see the position of club president created and Kenny Dalglish given the role.

Getting rid of Roy Hodgson seems to be the obvious decision but then we're faced with choosing a successor. I cannot help but feel that this will be the most important/difficult appointment we have to make since the departure of Joe Fagan. Mourinho is an obvious choice if we want to begin winning trophies straight away but I find his attitude and behavior inconsistent with my vision of what the club stands for. Van Gaal is a reasonable shout as is Hiddink. If we were looking to build for the long term then recruiting a bright young manager could be an option. Owen Coyle stands out for me as someone with the ability to take the step up in the long term. His teams and the manner in which he conducts himself have really impressed me. The only issue might be that he has neither played or managed at the highest level and this may cause friction with some members of the current squad. That shouldn't happen but it is a strong possibility given the way in which certain players concerns appear to have been factored in to recent decisions.

We need a new left back, a centre back, two central midfielders, a winger and at least one striker. In a money no object world, Christian Chivu would be my choice for left back, Gerald Pique would slot in to the centre back position and Robben would be signed as a winger. However, with the exception of Chivu I don't think they are realistic options.

If we finish in the top third of the table I'd be reasonably happy. If we get taken over and employ a new manger before christmas then I'd love to have a good cup run also.

Over to you.

Flasher · October 1, 2010

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