The elephant in the room

[ron]

In terms of takeovers, we have been spectacularly lucky with MAF, who,viewed 15 years down the line has obviously shown regard for the unique culture and history of this club. 

What's the chances of lightning striking twice? 49% purchases normally (as has been said) often are the precursors to bids for the controlling interest with all that that might entail in using the club's premier league status to turn it in to a 'cash cow'......or worse.... having the club used and fiddled with as a plaything for multi-billionaires who already have everything they need...except expertise.....?

[MasterHaynes]

...an interesting thought SP, and one I can understand, but I accept fans who have followed the cause in the last 15 odd years will find incredible that some of us have fond memories of the good old bad old days when we were crap and had no money.


I cannot explain it other than a sense of being part of a small band of brothers in the face of adversity. I have no desire to see Fulham spectacularly fail and return to those dark days, however, if we ever did, it would hold no fears for me...

Spot on, Band of Brothers fighting the big guys. If we beat Chelsea, Utd and QPR because we spent more than they did it will just not give me any where near the same satisfaction and elation I get when we beat them now.

If they come in to by converting the Debt owed to Mo into shares and allow the Jol youth revolution to continue then I'm all for it

[ImperialWhite]

ron

Our expertise, in the sense of 'how to run a football club' comes from Alistair Mackintosh, not Al Fayed, right?

I share your concern but while we have Mackintosh I feel like we're in safe hands.

White Noise

Do you still have those articles about Man City and how it gives the owners a good profile?

[cmg]

" Something big is going down, long staff hours, giant hush hush #ffc #fulhamfc


.... "friend of a friend" at the club, been working all day everyday and not allowed to say anything (& therefore has done by silence!)"


Working long hours? So they bloody well should be. Not only do we have half of the Eredivisie poised to join us, but if we don't get all those contract renegotiations done with we'll end up with no one but Schwarzer who knows where the ground is.

[jarv]

I do not want to return to the bad old days but I was lucky to see Haynes, Leggat etc and really enjoyed the 70s when we were a promotion chasing 2nd division team. Barret, Slough, Mullery, Best Moore Marsh etc... single and living in Putney. happy days. 092.gif

[BalDrick]

" Something big is going down, long staff hours, giant hush hush #ffc #fulhamfc


.... "friend of a friend" at the club, been working all day everyday and not allowed to say anything (& therefore has done by silence!)"


Working long hours? So they bloody well should be. Not only do we have half of the Eredivisie poised to join us, but if we don't get all those contract renegotiations done with we'll end up with no one but Schwarzer who knows where the ground is.

Well even if it's not the Qatar investment, something must be afoot. Surely they wouldn't need excessive overtime to release a thoroughly horrible shirt?

[fulhamben]

" Something big is going down, long staff hours, giant hush hush #ffc #fulhamfc


.... "friend of a friend" at the club, been working all day everyday and not allowed to say anything (& therefore has done by silence!)"


Working long hours? So they bloody well should be. Not only do we have half of the Eredivisie poised to join us, but if we don't get all those contract renegotiations done with we'll end up with no one but Schwarzer who knows where the ground is.

Well even if it's not the Qatar investment, something must be afoot. Surely they wouldn't need excessive overtime to release a thoroughly horrible shirt?

wouldnt be so sure, it will take a lot of man power and working hours to try and come up for a positive spin to try and shift it. the lets take a photo of riise in black and white to show the shirt makes him look less special one, one just did not cut it for me

[White Noise]

ron

Our expertise, in the sense of 'how to run a football club' comes from Alistair Mackintosh, not Al Fayed, right?

I share your concern but while we have Mackintosh I feel like we're in safe hands.

White Noise

Do you still have those articles about Man City and how it gives the owners a good profile?

I can't locate the main one, which I think was FT or Bloomberg, but it profiled Sheikh Mansour and talked about his love of sport and how Man City has enabled him to raise the profile of the country and open doors in business. They see lots of good things flowing from being associated with top class sport and for the country itself to be seen as a home of the same.

Here are some of the others -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2144359/Manchester-City-The-real-Premier-League-winner-Abu-Dhabi-United-Group-Development-Investment.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/14/sport/football/football-manchester-city-middle-east/index.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/13/manchester-city-sheikh-millions-triumph

[fulhamben]

stolen from the tiff.. http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Qatari_Royal_Family_And_Fulham

[Gozorich]

When you have supported Fulham for 50 years through thick and thin and thin and more thin, it is difficult not to sound like a Luddite when warning against a mega rich takeover. I know MAF spent a fortune on getting us to where we are but if someone like the Qatariis take a 49% stake and pour in lots of millions it isn't because they think Craven Cottage is a pretty little football ground.
Of course there's nothing we can do about it except suck it and see. I for one would be very nervous indeed and if I had a vote(!) it would be no.

[HatterDon]

Hate to say it but the elephant in the room is nostalgia. Not just for the club but for bad old days that I thought I hated but compared to now were great. Information has become easy to find and has become rumour and Fulham are trapped between the stone of keeping the Cottage and keeping the club connected to the past and the future of pushing on and becoming even bigger than they are.

I miss the bad old days. But I don't want to take it out on Fulham. They deserve the success they will have.

Although AlFayed is the strongest link and I fear the change if the link is ever broken. Us old people fear change. I was fearful the day AlFayed took over. I need not have been.

Spot on Mr. Lighthouse! The good old days aren't good because the game was better or the players friendlier or the community tighter. The good old days are good BECAUSE WE WERE YOUNG THEN.

From time to time I remember going to Kenilworth road to watch 3rd or 4th division Luton Town with nostalgiac fondness. But when that happens, it's because I used to do so with my father-in-law who left us all in 1974. It's certainly nothing to do with the ground or the quality of football.

[BalDrick]

Hate to say it but the elephant in the room is nostalgia. Not just for the club but for bad old days that I thought I hated but compared to now were great. Information has become easy to find and has become rumour and Fulham are trapped between the stone of keeping the Cottage and keeping the club connected to the past and the future of pushing on and becoming even bigger than they are.

I miss the bad old days. But I don't want to take it out on Fulham. They deserve the success they will have.

Although AlFayed is the strongest link and I fear the change if the link is ever broken. Us old people fear change. I was fearful the day AlFayed took over. I need not have been.

Spot on Mr. Lighthouse! The good old days aren't good because the game was better or the players friendlier or the community tighter. The good old days are good BECAUSE WE WERE YOUNG THEN.

From time to time I remember going to Kenilworth road to watch 3rd or 4th division Luton Town with nostalgiac fondness. But when that happens, it's because I used to do so with my father-in-law who left us all in 1974. It's certainly nothing to do with the ground or the quality of football.

Wise words indeed. As exhibited for me (who prefers music to football by a factor of several hundred thousand) by bands from my youth reforming. Doesn't automatically make you 26 again. See also, in lonely moments pining for one particular girl I went out with for quite a long time. Yeah she was gorgeous, was being the key word I suspect, but I ended it for a damned good reason and even if I did run into her again, we wouldn't be early/mid 20s anymore, we'd be early/mid 40s with no stamina to do the things we used to do all night long. And probably not very many things to talk about. Still.

Doesn't stop me wondering from time to time mind...

[Hammer Smith]

I was just checking back to the original sale of Harrods to the Qataris and what was said then. It's clear that Mo had a good relationship with them at the time and he also remained in an honorary position to continue promoting the store; here's a quote from the 8th May 2010 BBC News report on the sale of Harrods: "He will continue to promote the store in the role of honorary chairman."

The other interesting thing is that Mo is said by the adviser that he used to broker the sale that he had specifically chosen the Qataris: "The sale, said Qatar Holding had been "specifically chosen" by Mr Al Fayed because he believed it had the "vision and financial capacity" to support the long-term growth of the store." "In reaching the decision to retire, he wished to ensure that the legacy and traditions that he has built up in Harrods would be continued, and that the team that he has built up would be encouraged to develop the foundations that he has laid." I think it's very credible that an ageing Mo is likely to harbour a similar ambition to help to secure Fulham's legacy for future generations.

Also add to this the fact that we market ourselves as an historic football stadium - which certainly helps us pull in the tourists - and this also could have some resonance in relation to us being a potential future target for purchase: "Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, who is also Qatar's prime minister, said of the sale," "It's a historical place. I know it's important, not only for the British people but it is important for the tourism."

Bearing in mind their close links with Mo at this stage and a seemingly warm relationship and the fact that they have already been reported by the Mail as considering us alongside Newcastle, the above quotes add credibility to the current rumours, even though the most recent chat lacks much substance.

[Scrumpy]

It's been great reading everyone's thoughts on this. I too, occasionally pine for the old days. The boisterous away followings, the demonstrations against the board, the whip-rounds for Fulham 2000, trips to Aldershot, Colchester etc. But it is mostly rose-tinted spec syndrome. Just by way of balance, I also remember...

1 - Wondering what the ground would look like full?
2 - Wishing that we could put some seats in the Riverside Stand
3 - Watching sadly as the Club I loved slowly went out of business. Very few people cared.
4 - Getting so, so frustrated that players couldn't do the simplest things (trapping the ball!) properly.
5 - Never being on TV
6 - People genuinely not knowing who we were

I was fearful and excited when Mo took over. He has done a superb job, and we could not really have wished for better. If we could guarantee that the Qataris had the same motives as Mo, then I would snap your hand off. But as things stand, I'd be happy for the Club to stay in the Fayed family for years to come.