AFC Wimbledon JPT thread.

He wanted to sell the club but to keep his pension fund car-park, I think Damon knows more about the offer and what Mr Brent wanted for the club.

Hugh Watt wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

The only thing creditworthy that can be attributed to Brent is his and the Boards appointment of Shez and Adams.

Brent's initial involvement at Argyle was based 100% around his belief that he could make a property developing killing for Akkeron, whilst palming PAFC off with the absolute minimum - a ministand of less than 5000 capacity. Boxing in the ministand with a minimum capacity ice rink was the next Brent master plan. The deliverance of this would open up the door to big money making development at Millbay.

Crucially for the future prosperity of Argyle, he flatlined spectacularly.

I just wish he'd drop the 'football fan' charade and actively look to exit, now that his plans are stone dead.

ISn't he already actively looking to exit but just can't get any one to cough the unrealistic money he wants.

As a far-fetched theory, perhaps it all depends on if the side get promoted to League One. For all we know, someone (or some individuals) may be lined up already, but only if Argyle go up at the end of the season. If that were to be a valid theory and Argyle indeed get promoted in May, then both parties would be ideally placed to get what they wanted from a sale of the club.

I did hear something similar at the Wycombe Wanderers Play-Off Semi Final first leg at Home Park.

tigertony wrote:

I'm confident that if we remain in the top 5/6 and the gates hover around 9 - 10K then JB will release some more cash for January. I reckon that Del Bhoy can be quite assertive when needed. Similarly if we are going well in Jan with a good chance of promotion then I'm sure Del Bhoy will start contract talks - lets hope so. In the meantime it remains a very strange feeling being 2nd with a very good start to the season. Bleedy odd?

If attendances regularly get towards 10k then we'll probably be averaging about 9k. Given that it is likely we've budgeted for 7k that's 2000 extra punters all paying cash. If we assume that each of those punters bungs £10 into the pot then we're making £20k per match over projections. That'll be a cool quarter million quid by Christmas and, should it continue, half a million by the season's end.

There's no reason more cash couldn't be found. It's just a question of where it goes.

If crowds hold up as you suggest then we'll know for certain where Brent's priorities lie because that money will almost certainly end up either in the team or in his pension pot.

VillageGreen wrote:

Hugh Watt wrote:

Czarcasm wrote:

The only thing creditworthy that can be attributed to Brent is his and the Boards appointment of Shez and Adams.

Brent's initial involvement at Argyle was based 100% around his belief that he could make a property developing killing for Akkeron, whilst palming PAFC off with the absolute minimum - a ministand of less than 5000 capacity. Boxing in the ministand with a minimum capacity ice rink was the next Brent master plan. The deliverance of this would open up the door to big money making development at Millbay.

Crucially for the future prosperity of Argyle, he flatlined spectacularly.

I just wish he'd drop the 'football fan' charade and actively look to exit, now that his plans are stone dead.

ISn't he already actively looking to exit but just can't get any one to cough the unrealistic money he wants.

As a far-fetched theory, perhaps it all depends on if the side get promoted to League One. For all we know, someone (or some individuals) may be lined up already, but only if Argyle go up at the end of the season. If that were to be a valid theory and Argyle indeed get promoted in May, then both parties would be ideally placed to get what they wanted from a sale of the club.

I did hear something similar at the Wycombe Wanderers Play-Off Semi Final first leg at Home Park.

Im pretty sure he just wants his loans back plus the value of the club although I suspect if the club is promoted he will probably think the club is worth more! there have been interested parties.

What is the asset-stripped club worth though?

It has no assets other than the playing staff. Their value depends on length of contract and they are nearly all on short contracts (getting shorter every day).

Plus the brand name/goodwill etc, I suppose.

Whatever that comes to offset by debts and liabilities. Whatever they are.

If you are Brent then the club must easily be worth the £2m which he needs to get his loans back and then some for a splash of gravy. If you are buying? Hmmmm. Nowhere near as much. Hence it not having been sold yet.

Argyle will not change ownership for as long as Brent's loan is significantly out-standing unless somebody makes a completely illogical/outrageous valuation for the club.

As a football investment there are a lot more attractive propositions than Argyle. We need someone with money and a love of Argyle, if such a person exists.

I'm not so sure about that, Pete.

A club's value is partly dependent on its income. Right now season ticket sales are lowish, attendances are lowish, TV money is almost non-existant and we're in the bottom division. Get promoted, as we one day will, and along the way attendances will pick up, the next year's season ticket sales will be higher, we'll be on the TV more often, more sponsorship will arrive... In short the club's value will rise. Get promoted again and it'll rise further for all the same reasons but more so.

In business terms the question of when to buy Argyle is a no-brainer. You buy it when it is in Div 2 because for us, from there, as long as we are not grossly incompetent/negligent/corrupt, the only way is up. The time to sell is when we hit the CCC because at that point there will be guaranteed profit for the stake involved - and decent profit too. Obviously even more profit is grabbable should we get into the PL but that would need huge further investment - and success would not be guaranteed.

90% plus of football clubs will never be seen as an investment with a profit in mind.

I don't know about that. I think nearly every owner wants to make money it's just that few of them do.

Then again most clubs are sold to cash-in. If you owned, say, Palace or WBA or Norwich as an investment then now is the time to sell. If you want to make money the teams to be bought are Us, Portsmouth, Bristol Rovers and Luton.

If you buy a Man Utd then the sale/purchase prices really don't matter much because you can milk plenty out along the way as the Glazers have.

The AFT need to wake up to the fact that Brent won't be here for ever, much as I dislike him he may sell out to someone with some real clout who picks up the baton and runs with it complete with Ministand and Nandoes, I just hope they have their fighting fund ready to move with the asset of community value and don't miss it because they're painting the toilets that week.

zyph wrote:

90% plus of football clubs will never be seen as an investment with a profit in mind.

Stapes and co did OK -what was Phil Gill's return-£700k from Kagami on a £30k original stake? Nice work if you can get it.

Kagami bought in at championship level, and look what happened to him. Mind you, he did have that character Campbell as a financial adviser.

Can't someone go and try to convince that geezer who owns the Range that footy is a good investment.

I do know him and he would not give you his left over's from his use of the toilet.

Tgwu wrote:

I do know him and he would not give you his left over's from his use of the toilet.

I know a few people who've worked for him. Good people who I trust. People who moved on to better things and have no real axe to grind.

Suffice to say he doesn't sound like a good person, and I don't think I'd trust him.

I went to Elvira's for breakfast one Saturday morning maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Parking is always tricky around there but I got lucky and parked on the corner by the shop. Everywhere else is double yellow lines. Parked up immediately outside Elvira's but on the other side of the road was a Bentley with a personalised number plate. Inside Chris Dawson was enjoying a full English and a cuppa.

Although it may have been coincidence that his initials matched the letters on the personalised number plate, I suppose.

I wonder how rich you need to be to not give a flying one about a parking ticket?

MikeWN wrote:

Tgwu wrote:

I do know him and he would not give you his left over's from his use of the toilet.

I know a few people who've worked for him. Good people who I trust. People who moved on to better things and have no real axe to grind.

Suffice to say he doesn't sound like a good person, and I don't think I'd trust him.

My son worked for him when he was at six form now he 41, Chris and his wife had their breakfast at the East End or is it West End cafe in Sutton RD

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

I don't know about that. I think nearly every owner wants to make money it's just that few of them do.

Then again most clubs are sold to cash-in. If you owned, say, Palace or WBA or Norwich as an investment then now is the time to sell. If you want to make money the teams to be bought are Us, Portsmouth, Bristol Rovers and Luton.

If you buy a Man Utd then the sale/purchase prices really don't matter much because you can milk plenty out along the way as the Glazers have.

Football clubs are of interest regardless of their financial situation if there is a reasonable amount of cash coming in, I'd love to know what Peter Ridsdale proposed paying himself when he planned on owning the club. Plymouth Argyle because its fanbase and floating fanbase will always pick some interest