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New takeover rumours

Just turned into another opportunity to mention the lack of pots.

It’s a little misleading to phrase it like that tbh. Someone made a claim that we were bigger than Villa. Myself, Harr and Bishop were arguing to the degree of how much bigger we are (I think we all said spurs were marginally bigger?). We pointed to the fact that our barren run of form when it comes to trophies over the last 15 years means we can’t say we’re miles bigger and that the gap isn’t as wide as was made out by some posters.
 
OK so that compares their previous owner and our current owners. However add balance here do you not also have to do the same thing and compare their existing owner? It seems that Aston Villa's trajectory has been a pretty steep upwards curve since then, no?

Are you asking: is it possible to buy success?

Abromovich and Saudi ownership of City answers that question. However, in an unfettered arms race Villas Egyptian billionaire isn’t going to outgun those with oil wells. Moreover if regulation does its job it should bring to a close this era of subsidised success.

But the biggest take away is what happens to owner subsidised clubs when the ownership changes. There so many examples of clubs falling away from Villa themselves to Chelsea, Leicester etc
 
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What do you think I meant when I said we are ahead of them in terms of infrastructure?:D

And we are talking about top level sports teams, and apparently we are a big club - yes we have achieved naff all. The 'putting the pressure on' cup, nicest stadium in Europe, some lovely experiences jn the Champions League are great - and I'm a big Levy fan. But that is not what big clubs are about, it's about winning things. These are the nice fluffy things we tell ourselves are what really matter because we are so allergic to winning trophies these days. You and I aren't top level sportsman, and to them trophies do matter.

Like it or not Villa and Spurs are comparable and it would only take Villa being in the CL for a couple of years and us not and they could overtake us. There really isn't much in it.....
There's actually a lot in it. I think the difference between Villa and us is that Villa would need to depend on their on-field performances to stay ahead of us. And that is not sustainable, unless you have deep pockets, which they don't. Their revenue is less than half of ours. We can afford a couple of years out of CL and we have the resources to get back in it. Villa don't and have to rely on finishing top 4 for the foreseeable future. With their resources I don't see that as being very likely. They might have a Poch-style purple patch, but will revert to the norm eventually. Any "overtaking" would just be temporary.
 
But we don’t give away kids tickets for free or advertise on the radio

We also report who actually turns up unlike most clubs
Yes we do (give tickets away to kids) and we also advertise (maybe not on the radio but on billboards in stations etc).

I could be wrong here but I'm not convinced that we do report how many turn up now to be honest. My experience at the Burnley FA Cup game was that there were quite a number of spare seats but the attendance reported was pretty much full capacity.
 
It’s a little misleading to phrase it like that tbh. Someone made a claim that we were bigger than Villa. Myself, Harr and Bishop were arguing to the degree of how much bigger we are (I think we all said spurs were marginally bigger?). We pointed to the fact that our barren run of form when it comes to trophies over the last 15 years means we can’t say we’re miles bigger and that the gap isn’t as wide as was made out by some posters.

TBH though mate I haven't mentioned the gap between us and Villa and none too bothered about it.

I just find so many threads and chats on here end up leading down the route of lack of pots, even the most ambiguous threads. That's not aimed at you BTW just a general moan.

We will have the same number of trophies tomorrow as today and what we had yesterday, just feeld tedious it being mentioned all the time, especially when it's not even the subject at hand
 
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Are you asking: is it possible to buy success?

Abromovich and Saudi ownership of City answers that question. However, in an unfettered arms race Villas Egyptian billionaire isn’t going to outgun those with oil wells. Moreover if regulation does its job it should bring to a close this era of subsidised success.
No I'm not asking that at all, it is plainly obvious that it is.

I'm stating that I don't think it is a balanced argument to say that having somebody other than ENIC would be a disaster based on Randy Lerner at Villa unless you also choose to consider Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens' ownership.

Some owners are terrible, some are bad, some are OK, some are good, some are great. If we happened to get new owners then those owners could end up anywhere on that spectrum.
 
There's actually a lot in it. I think the difference between Villa and us is that Villa would need to depend on their on-field performances to stay ahead of us. And that is not sustainable, unless you have deep pockets, which they don't. Their revenue is less than half of ours. We can afford a couple of years out of CL and we have the resources to get back in it. Villa don't and have to rely on finishing top 4 for the foreseeable future. With their resources I don't see that as being very likely. They might have a Poch-style purple patch, but will revert to the norm eventually. Any "overtaking" would just be temporary.

Would you still hold that view if Villa won the ECL and/or the EL next season? Resources are a factor in who is bigger but there are many factors, no one has denied we have better resources, have a better/newer ground. Trophies are also a major factor in determining who is bigger. We are bigger right now than Villa but the real big clubs finish high up in the league table AND win things as well. I see ourselves, Villa and Everton at a similar level, just below the true top clubs; United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Emirates Marketing Project, Chelsea. If we get it right on the pitch and on the recruitment side then we could absolutely join them but we’re not there yet. And I don’t think we’re miles ahead of Villa. Although I’ll say once again so I don’t upset anyone, I see Spurs as a bigger club than Villa today.
 
No I'm not asking that at all, it is plainly obvious that it is.

I'm stating that I don't think it is a balanced argument to say that having somebody other than ENIC would be a disaster based on Randy Lerner at Villa unless you also choose to consider Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens' ownership.

Some owners are terrible, some are bad, some are OK, some are good, some are great. If we happened to get new owners then those owners could end up anywhere on that spectrum.
I don’t believe I said somebody other than enic would be an automatic disaster. Staw man alert. 🔔

What is clear is the fall out post subsidy. Where football teams have been a play thing for a billionaire, the outcomes longer term seem quite consistent. Many crash and burn to some extent when they stop being subsidised. THFC don’t have that fear or problem because we are the opposite - built on lean breakeven principles.
 
TBH though mate I haven't mentioned the gap between us and Villa and none to bothered about it. I just find so many threads and chats on here end up leading down the route of lack of pots, even the most ambiguous threads. That's not aimed at you BTW just a general moan.

We will have the same number of trophies tomorrow as today and what we had yesterday, just feeld tedious it being mentioned all the time, especially when it's not even the subject at hand

Yeah I get that. But in this particular debate it was unavoidable for trophies not to be brought up as truly big clubs like we claim to be have to nick silverware to back up that claim. It just looks a little deluded to claim we’re miles bigger than a similar size club to us historically when we haven’t won’t a great deal more than they have in 20 years.
 
Yeah I get that. But in this particular debate it was unavoidable for trophies not to be brought up as truly big clubs like we claim to be have to nick silverware to back up that claim. It just looks a little deluded to claim we’re miles bigger than a similar size club to us historically when we haven’t won’t a great deal more than they have in 20 years.

It's fandom, I don't have a view TBH but I don't see Spurs fans calling our club bigger given the last few years outrageous. I've read the last few pages with real interest and it's probably more evident that people have used the opinion to stick it to Spurs more than the other way which is odd considering the outcry and end of world talk on here when we finished 8th and Villas highest place in 10 years or so is 7th.
 
I don’t believe I said somebody other than enic would be an automatic disaster. Staw man alert. 🔔

What is clear is the fall out post subsidy. Where football teams have been a play thing for a billionaire, the outcomes longer term seem quite consistent. Many crash and burn to some extent when they stop being subsidised. THFC don’t have that fear or problem because we are the opposite - built on lean breakeven principles.
"When Enic took over Villa and Spurs were absolutely comparable. What happened next is a fascinating case study as to why @DubaiSpur daydream is just that - a dreamy fixation. "

You were using Randy Learner's ownership of Villa to try to prove a point (that DubaiSpur is daydreaming if he thinks getting new owners will improve THFC). I think that argument you made is more of a straw man than mine to be honest.
 
It's fandom, I don't have a view TBH but I don't see Spurs fans calling our club bigger given the last few years outrageous. I've read the last few pages with real interest and it's probably more evident that people have used the opinion to stick it to Spurs more than the other way which is odd considering the outcry and end of world talk on here when we finished 8th and Villas highest place in 10 years or so is 7th.

I actually agree right now we are bigger, but some were making out that there is this gigantic gap between ourselves and Villa which really isn’t true. That’s how the subject slowly evolved onto silverware which is absolutely necessary when it discussing and comparing clubs of similar size. Chelsea and Emirates Marketing Project weren’t bigger clubs than us 20 years but they are now, they’ve pulled ahead because of their trophy hauls. As bishop alluded to, you really wouldn’t see anywhere near as many Chelsea shirts all over the world if they hadn’t won things.
 
I just don’t think Levy will contemplate selling until he has overseen the entire Northumberland Park redevelopment to completion.

And even then, imagine walking away from all that invested effort, creativity and doggedness - will he be able to relinquish control just for a bunch of digits on a computer screen?
 
I actually agree right now we are bigger, but some were making out that there is this gigantic gap between ourselves and Villa which really isn’t true. That’s how the subject slowly evolved onto silverware which is absolutely necessary when it discussing and comparing clubs of similar size. Chelsea and Emirates Marketing Project weren’t bigger clubs than us 20 years but they are now, they’ve pulled ahead because of their trophy hauls. As bishop alluded to, you really wouldn’t see anywhere near as many Chelsea shirts all over the world if they hadn’t won things.

Yeh and TBF I do get that, just some seem constantly intent on overreaching on why others are always better than us which I find odd against the club you support.
 
All just a waste of brain output, the biggest team is the one you support the rest are inferior.

Could not agree more, interesting conversastion over the last few pages which comes up every so often among fans but as always it ends up going round and round in circles. Personally i do not give a brick which clubs are bigger/smaller then us what i do know is that MY club is the one i support ( and always will) and i could not give a brick which is bigger or not.
 
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