Which Championship Team Owner...

[AnOldBrownie]

...would you rather have than Shahid Khan?   Knowing full well that included with Mr. Khan's ownership comes the locked in role of Tony Khan as director of football for as long as he wants it.


My answer?  Not one.   The Khan's are premiere league level owners running a Championship side.   We are lucky.

They are going to get things wrong...and the squad may not even get promoted this season...but I've watched a lot of English football clubs over the past 5 years, and as far as owners go the Khans generally stand a class above most other ownership groups.

[Whitestone]

Agree 100%

[ALG01]

In our 7th season, two relegations, two near relegations, losing one of the best managers, chucking £100 m down the pan, not having a defence at the start of the season, not having prper full backs now.... having a nepotistic approach to a specialist role.... more like a  national league approach to management.

[Snibbo]

Agree 100%

:plus one:

[Sting of the North]

It's an interesting question in my opinion. It is also related to FFC, and just looking at the few contributions here there appears to be no consensus (I think, but no one has bothered to suggest a better owner yet so maybe all are in agreement). Sounds like a good topic on an FFC forum.

On topic, I unfortunately have to say that I know very little of most owners (also, do you mean in the Championship or anywhere?). Thus I am not sure if I have any good suggestions on the top of my head.

[AnOldBrownie]

And the evidence fails me too.
In our 7th season, two relegations, two near relegations, losing one of the best managers, chucking £100 m down the pan, not having a defence at the start of the season, not having prper full backs now.... having a nepotistic approach to a specialist role.... more like a  national league approach to management.
[/quote]

So, which of the other 23 owner/ownership groups would you prefer?  Cause if you're going to ...
1)cherry pick the bad and overlook the good
2)not say who you'd prefer as an alternative so we can strike up a discussion

...you're not devaluing my thread.  You're devaluing your opinion.

[KingofCheese]

Khan's are great - we are 3rd in the Championship and I spent years following us at the bottom end of the leagues..playing in front of a few thousand in a ground that was over grown with dodgy players that were average at best...I like this now.

[joef]

I love them. I know it opens me up for all sorts of slings and bullets but I do.

Redeveloping the ground and guaranteeing our home at the cottage is more than any owner in my 42 years of being a fan has.

For that they get my complete support. There is a big difference between ignorance but best intention, willing to keep learning, wanting better and evil manipulative greedy owners.

Ours are on the right side.

[Milo]

Regardless of what's going on behind the scenes I am very impressed with the turnaround in transfer activity this season. The output at least has improved considerably and this loan to buy option is a real bit of genius.

I think Khan Senior is a very shrewd owner. It was always the son that was the sticking point. He seems to have turned it around. No social media outbursts either.

[Statto]

Not sure how much the average poster on this forum knows about the other 23 clubs' owners, but personally I'd struggle even to name more than a couple, and couldn't tell you anything about them.

Comparing the Khans to other owners I do know beyond the other 23 in the Championship, I certainly still rank them below Al Fayed, and would be tempted by Wolves' owners, Fosun, who seem to bring just as much (if not more) money but with the added bonus of Mendes as DoF rather than the baggage of TK.   

Fundamentally, having delivered on the stadium, and with TK having done such a fantastic job this year, I suspect that even if I was to learn more about the other 23 championship clubs' owners, most (probably all) of them would be worse than the Khans. But even that comes with the caveat that it has taken the Khans 6 years to become the good owners they are now. For at least the first 3-4 years they were poor.

[Sgt Fulham]

Good question. All I know is that I dont want Khan to sell Fulham. At first we questioned his intentions for buying Fulham but I think he has answered those with his actions and willingness to spend. He has been unlucky and made some poor decisions too, but as far as owners go he is one of the better ones.

[Andy S]

A lot of people have suggested that Mr Khan Senior had no interest in the club and that the new stand would never get built. Well it's going up now. The new training ground at Motspur Park will soon be developed and soon we may well be a premier league club again. I am quite happy with the way things are unfolding and fully support the Khan's

[hongkongfulham]

In our 7th season, two relegations, two near relegations, losing one of the best managers, chucking £100 m down the pan, not having a defence at the start of the season, not having prper full backs now.... having a nepotistic approach to a specialist role.... more like a  national league approach to management.

Promotion，Wembley, Investment, New stand, Stability.

Have a day off pal, we've just won a game

[General]

As an aside I'd be fascinated in what incentivises a billionaire to buy a football team - there must be financial benefits of some sort in a tax loop hole etc amongst benefits to citizenship which make it appeal...

That said it was evident that shahid bought the club to expand his growing empire and as a way to boost the profile of himself (which undoubtedly improves business development), but also that of former investments - we were also good value for money option.

Nice part of London, in London, on the river, premier league for 14 years or so by then, a lot of history, and a lot that could be improved relatively easily..

That said though - whilst I'm fundamentally happy to have them as owners and believe one day they'll finally get how to manage a football club and things will click into place - and as things stand they're one of the better owners - they essentially had no clue how to run a football club, what to do or seemingly much about how soccer works full stop and it's taken them a lot longer to learn the lessons they should've learnt by now - 3 managers in a season? Throwing cash at expensive players with no idea of how they'll fit work ethic wise or to a league etc..

[FulhamStu]

Alfayed was wonderful for the first and middle part of his ownership but lost interest towards the end and was the reason we were initially relegated from the Premier.  Khan had his pants pulled down early doors and has been on a learning curve ever since.

Khan is delivering the new stand which is probably the most significant thing to happened to Fulham in recent history, is pouring hundreds of millions into the football side of things, and can afford to write of huge losses to maintain our current level of player.  Tony Khan is rather like a kid in a sweet shop and has certainly made mistakes, however is clear to me he loves the club, is doing his best and like his Dad is learning to make better decisions.  Bringing in players to any football club is always a bit hit and miss but the recent focus on improving the defence was the right thing to do and credit has to be given for that.

Bottom line, Khan has a lot of money, is prepared to spend it on our club, he is committed and I believe loves his investment which makes him a top man in my book.  Best owner in the championship ? most probably is, yes.

[Statto]

Alfayed was wonderful for the first and middle part of his ownership but lost interest towards the end and was the reason we were initially relegated from the Premier. 

Khan bought something with a use by date and ignored it. It's not the seller's fault Khan got food poisoning.

[colinwhite]

The khans are our owners ,and although they have made mistakes ,have their hearts in the right place and i believe we are very fortunate to have them,which is at least in part due to al Fayed . If they can learn from those mistakes we could be on a very positive course.please god .

[The Rational Fan]

Growing up in Fulham I never dreamed of owners that would back Fulham financially like "Mohamed Al Fayed" and "Shahid & Tony Khan". We are truly blessed. If "The Khans" are a two for one package, overall its a great package. :wine:

[bill taylors apprentice]

The Khans have been the best kind of bad owners at times i.e. they have invested in the club but wasted money on too many dud players.

The errors have been painful and mainly unnecessary but so many clubs have had rouge's, idiots and con men and our bad times have never looked like being as bad as many other clubs.

I think we are now in a good place and they are fast approaching being as good as MAF.

[RaySmith]

I don't think anyone could argue that the khans haven't been good owners, pumping money into the club, overseeing a promotion, even building a new stand, and still investing heavily.

As for Tony - i think his negative  influence as DOF has been  overestimated. All he's done wrong is to head a  stats and conventional scouting team, that has  bought some expensive foreign players who were unsuccessful. But he and his team team has also bought a number of players who have been very successful, while his father has financed these expensive  acquisitions, despite FFP.