West Ham sold

[Alf Garnett's (Ex) Missus]

I do not object to the colour, creed or nationality of our 'billionaire' owners, but to the insistence that we need to solicit them via a unofficial, and frankly amateurish manner and indeed the need to do it at all?

I am not poo pooing the effort you have put in, however, I do feel it smacks of childish desperation - Please Mr Billionaire.......... and I certainly would hate to see anything connected to this appear in the media - embarassed beyond comprehension.

[Ironball]

guys, do you really think that any individual or organisation large enough to buy the club really need us to point out the opportunity?

that'll go down as the worlds greatest impulse buy.

That's a good question. But in the end, why buy Man City rather than Everton? They wanted to buy a club, they bought the former simply because Shinawatra's people approached them, while Bill Kenwright was still in the blocks.

The blog shows that before Chelsea received financial injections West Ham had larger crowds than Chelsea in the majority of the previous 15 seasons and it shows that West Ham's club website is more popular in the UK than Chelsea's. It makes a good case that West Ham has the constituent fundamentals to rival Chelsea. I don't think that that is common perception at all, either in public or in gilded boardrooms, where the tyranny of the now suggests that Chelsea is some inexorable strata above West Ham.

And in any event, while it could help it can't hurt, apart of course from offending the morals of fans who are grandly above the whoring and the grovelling and the snivelling and the scrambling.

[Ironball]

I am not forcing anyone to do anything and ok then, I won't even exhort anyone to do anything. I'll do my own thing and if others wish to do likewise then that's their affair. And those others who don't wish to do likewise, don't - that's your affair.

And let's agree that any contempt you may feel towards my attitude is personal to you no less or more than any contempt I may feel towards your attitude is personal to me.

[Arch Dandy]

And let's agree that your contempt for my attitude is personal to you no less or more than my contempt for your attitude is personal to me.

If that's aimed at me, I have no contempt for you what so ever. I just see flaws in your idea and vision and my main problem is the contempt you show for those who don't hold the hold the same ideas as you.

[Ironball]

If that's aimed at me, I have no contempt for you what so ever. I just see flaws in your idea and vision and my main problem is the contempt you show for those who don't hold the hold the same ideas as you.

I would much rather simply get on with what I believe in undistracted by accusations of whoring for investors or embarrassing childishness. I think in the contempt stakes, the evidence of the thread shows that the preponderance of the contempt has been in quite the opposite direction from that which you suggest.

[Arch Dandy]

I would much rather simply get on with what I believe in undistracted by accusations of whoring for investors or embarrassing childishness. I think in the contempt stakes, the evidence of the thread shows that the preponderance of the contempt has been in quite the opposite direction from that which you suggest.

..and no-one is stopping you getting on with anything but I'm afraid some fellow fans will see trying to sell West Ham to the richest investor as whoring the club around and spamming an info email address with a generally unreferenced amaetur website is a childish manner.

[Denby]

Amanda Staveley
Senior Partner
PCP Capital Partners LLP
31 Hill Street
London W1J 5LS

Sadly I know of the Stavely Family (after working for years under Robert Stavely at Lightwater Valley, and still working there under his successors) and I very much doubt anything will get done if you do send her a letter.

She is after very obvious and easy money, and while her bartering skills are brilliant, what with her brokering a very lucrative deal to get Man City, she knows where money lies and I just don't see her getting the sort of money she got out of the Man City deal.

DIC will be looking to run as a business, where as the consortium that took over city are just like Abramovich (sp?) and have money to just throw around and doesnt affect there business interests.

However, I am hopeful that something will happen.
Everything Amanda has been a part of has been successful, and should your letters and emails work, it will definately be a VERY exciting time for the club.

[west ham dancing shoes]

These are successful, multi-millionaire business people, They are not going to invest in a football club because they recieve a few e-mails from fans of the said club saying that they should.

It's ok to say that we could be as big or as successful as Chelsea. Last time i heard, Chelsea were operating at massive losses to achieve that success and these people wouldn't even entertain the thought of that.

[Ted Fenton]

This is the address for Amanda Staveley, who represented DIC in their negotiations with Liverpool.

Where is Hugh Jargon?

[CologneHammer]

Some people here act like our club is a cheap whore:

"Please buy us, we are more sexy than the North Londoners. We have more to offer..."

You sell the clubs tradition and values from over 100 years, when you want investors from wherever as the "big spender".

I'm very thankful that over here in Germany there is this 50+1 rule, that a club can't be owned by a business company or a single person.

Some clubs like Hamburg are "owned" by the supporters, so that they could never decide to do something important about the club without the votes of the so called "Supporters Club". And nonetheless they can spend money on players and have a brilliant new stadium etc.

There are no external financial interests, as the club does not need to pay out dividends or whatever. You can invest all the money you earn in players or facilities or your youth team and there is no owner who could take the money into his own account.

I'm no fan of the Icelanders here but I rather have this guys that pretend that our Club is "something special" for them than some guys from the east, that just want a new toy and are bored by there racing horses.

So I rather finish between 10 and 15 and have ticket prices, where I can afford to fly over to London for about 2 or 3 times a year and see some blokes from our academy play than probably finish 6th with players from all over the world who have no identification with West Ham at all.

Just my 2 pence.

[bumpkinhammer]

Some people here act like our club is a cheap whore:

"Please buy us, we are more sexy than the North Londoners. We have more to offer..."

You sell the clubs tradition and values from over 100 years, when you want investors from wherever as the "big spender".

I'm very thankful that over here in Germany there is this 50+1 rule, that a club can't be owned by a business company or a single person.

Some clubs like Hamburg are "owned" by the supporters, so that they could never decide to do something important about the club without the votes of the so called "Supporters Club". And nonetheless they can spend money on players and have a brilliant new stadium etc.

There are no external financial interests, as the club does not need to pay out dividends or whatever. You can invest all the money you earn in players or facilities or your youth team and there is no owner who could take the money into his own account.

I'm no fan of the Icelanders here but I rather have this guys that pretend that our Club is "something special" for them than some guys from the east, that just want a new toy and are bored by there racing horses.

So I rather finish between 10 and 15 and have ticket prices, where I can afford to fly over to London for about 2 or 3 times a year and see some blokes from our academy play than probably finish 6th with players from all over the world who have no identification with West Ham at all.

Just my 2 pence.

Shouldn't that be 1 euro.
I agree with you on some points about acting like whores but its either get rich quick or stagnate.
I reckon that West Ham have got to get on the Olympic bandwagon in the next few years, try to get in the stadium, try to make West Ham global and then eventually take over the world. Everyone made to wear claret and blue and swear alligance to NWO (New Westham Order)

[Ted Fenton]

Everyone made to wear claret and blue and swear alligance to NWO (New Westham Order)

Tut, tut. On your Icke!

[QuintonNimoy]

I think some of the attitudes on this thread are interesting. It seem to go right to the heart of the level of disillusionment that a lot of fans feel with the way the premier league in particular is going, and what it means to be a supporter these days.

When you're turning up at the stadium or shelling out for your season ticket, what is it that you're supporting? I think Ironball's reaction to the current situation, selling our players, having no money and the Duxbury running the place is one based on accepting that West Ham should have a place at the top table and that Premier League football means something despite it's unpleasant side. That the status of the club is something important and that you support partly at least to maintain that status.

The competing view, that the sacred flame of West Ham is kept alive in the support but that it isn't related to status but is something less easily defined and that the spectre of money in itself actually damages that identity, sees the pursuit of league status as secondary to keeping alive tradition or maintaining what the club is outside of money.

I think Ironball's approach is entirely rational from his point of view. If the resources he's committing to it stretched to it then he'd be building a much slicker approach, but they don't. Having said that, if you don't try every avenue then you will never know if what you seek can be achieved. I don't mean to try and put people in boxes or cast them as hero or villain, clearly there's a lot of shades of grey in between. If 'spamming' an email address won't produce a positive reaction, how would the influence ever get high enough to produce a negative one from the people that matter?

I don't think that the essence of West Ham support could be damaged any further by a different group taking over. In my view, once the icelanders completed their takeover from the outside looking in we were just like any other club. That's not to say that what the supporters keep alive isn't what it once was, but that the corporate shell surrounding it is no longer related to it - the link with history from an ownership point of view is gone and had been replaced by a totally business driven entity. It seems to me that the protests about Ironball's activities don't really have a focus beyond not agreeing with them and that in some sense they're 'not West Ham'. To me, I think they're two seperate concerns these days, I don't really see anything wrong with any given fan or supporter trying to operate in one sphere or another. I don't think any one attitude or mix of the two can be defined as being a supporter any more. Too many people think that someone posting an opinion or asking for help is telling them what to think.

There's no doubt Ironball's attempts are far from a corporately slick effort but nevetheless perhaps it makes more sense for fans to protest in this way than what they're doing at Newcastle? They have no idea who they will end up with, they could well be worse than Ashley. Making an attempt to pick or choose a successor to the icelanders is in some ways a better way to protect the club's league status at least, and at most it's taking ownership of the club despite what the contracts say and making things happen.

I'm questioning how much my support is tied to the club behaving in a dignified way and having a dignified image, and how much it's tied into status. Not dependent on it - you can't just walk away, but what hurts the most. Loss of status or loss of face and are the two the same, and should I be trying to have an active role in controlling it?

I'll probably be ****ed off now for posting such poncey tosh, or by people thinking I'm telling them who they are or what they think, or that I should f*** off and support Chelsea, but I'm not doing any of those things. As a supporter I've never felt quite this confused about what my role is in the club. Ironball's approach has it's attractions because at least he's leading, and we'd be steering the ship to a certain extent.

[Ironball]

The blog is a perfectly standard, well presented blogger site. The spelling and grammar is fine, unlike some of the barely literate criticisms of it on here, and the points made are sensible. The link has been forwarded to Ambani Junior, a perfectly polite personalised acknowledgment of receipt has been received from a wealth fund, and a polite, professional letter has been sent to the Abu Dhabi/DIC broker, referring the website to them.

What more do you expect? Sorry for not setting up a investment advisory brokerage over the weekend.

http://westhaminvestment.blogspot.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[QuintonNimoy]

The blog is a perfectly standard, well presented blogger site. The spelling and grammar is fine, unlike some of the barely literate criticisms of it on here, and the points made are sensible. The link has been forwarded to Ambani Junior, a perfectly polite personalised acknowledgment of receipt has been received from a wealth fund, and a polite, professional letter has been sent to the Abu Dhabi/DIC broker, referring the website to them.

What more do you expect? Sorry for not setting up a investment advisory brokerage over the weekend.

http://westhaminvestment.blogspot.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And the ****ing off begins! Sorry, I have a disproportionately high knowledge and professional involvement when it comes to websites. Blogger is OK. I was only pointing out that it could be more impressive and that vast sums of money would make it so.

[Ironball]

Well, thanks for Digg-ing it. And that was neither a "****ing off" nor exclusively directed at you.

I did not suggest it was the greatest website ever created in the history of mankind, but it was reasonable and professional enough for the purpose. If you wish to apply vast funds to create something better, go crazy!

[Arch Dandy]

The blog is a perfectly standard, well presented blogger site.

But that's it, it's a perfectly standard blog and with all the best will in the world that means it's an unreferenced amateur effort with little in the way of reasoning or conclusion, that I can see, and as such I fail to see what benefit it would offer to anyone looking to invest upwards of £100m in a business.

A properly thought out, referenced and relevant website would have been better than forwarding that on, although not as good as your investment advisory brokerage idea....

[QuintonNimoy]

But that's it, it's a perfectly standard blog and with all the best will in the world that means it's an unreferenced amateur effort with little in the way of reasoning or conclusion, that I can see, and as such I fail to see what benefit it would offer to anyone looking to invest upwards of £100m in a business.

A properly thought out, referenced and relevant website would have been better than forwarding that on, although not as good as your investment advisory brokerage idea....

I would be interested in what you think is lacking, what references you'd like to see and where you feel it's conceptually weak. Purely from a professional point of view of course. Other than the Ghandi references obviously.

[Scrambled Egg]

DIC: "We ain't interested"

Live on Sky Sports News.

[west ham dancing shoes]

DIC just released a statement on SSN saying they are not interested in buying Liverpool or any other football club.

Great idea lads..... Not. :lol: