Is it time for a new owner?

[LeithBoozy]

Our wee Tam is a Sir, a well deserved honour. If it was within my power, he would also be a Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron of sunny Leith. I canny think of any more, but God bless him, we would have been in some mess without him, thats for sure.

[--------]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Our wee Tam is a Sir, a well deserved honour. If it was within my power, he would also be a Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount and Baron of sunny Leith. I canny think of any more, but God bless him, we would have been in some mess without him, thats for sure.

Well, we're in a right mess WITH HIM, now.


That's also for sure.

[ancient hibee]

[QUOTE=Doddie;2895116]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

There's no doubt STF done us a huge favour when buying us, but has he taken us as far as he can?

We know STF wont put anymore money into the club, why should he?

The problem i see is nobody would probably want to buy Hibs, let alone invest money into the club, or is there?


Short answer, YES.

Hibernian is the only senior football club I know where the owner never turns up at games and doesn't appear to be concerned about either the performance of the team or the results.

As far as I can see, he stepped in 20 years ago to save the club, and now wants to preserve it as an "Edinburgh institution" - in other words, a museum piece. Well I don't fancy living in an institution, and if I want to visit a museum, I'll go to Chambers Street or the Burrell Collection.

The club has been drifting from one crisis to another for far too long, but TF doesn't seem too worried. Which means RP doesn't need to worry, the board doesn't need to worry, the manager doesn't need to worry, and the players don't need to worry, because the owner (who has the clout to shake the whole boiling of them up in the air and kick their collective and several backsides, really doesn't seem to care.


I'm beginning to think that he's a hologram the board activate once a year for the AGM.




See above - 20 years is a long time. We're drifting and stagnating, and going nowhere.

What happens to the club when TF finally drops off the twig? Who inherits? Will they care any more than he does? Or do we get yet another helping of RP and the "steady as she goes" policy? It was "steady as she goes" that sank to Titanic, IIRC. SHE hadn't a clue where she was going either.

While I normally hang on your every word you're a bit wide of the mark on this one.STF is frequently at games and I spoke to him last season in Behind the Goals.

He has assured the financial well being and left it to the professionals to run-seems the best option to e.

[The Falcon]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Maybe around £30m a year i'd have thought.

Piece of piss then. Crack on

[LeithBoozy]

Why any sane person would want to have ago at STF I will never know?. He does not pick the Manager, he does not pick the team. He has used his expertise as a class businessman to clear 18million ? of debt, build a new ground and TC, as I have already stated, we would have been in some mess without him.

[JustSimplyHibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

This is the kind of nebulous statement that I have difficulty in understanding.

What exactly do you mean by "more forward-thinking."? If you mean, "people who have an infallible talent for appointing a team manager who is absolutely superb for this club", then I am with you. And so is every other supporter of every football club in the world.

Other than that, though, could you give us a job specification? .

The Club for a number of years have been very slow in brining up new ideas.

For a start look at the season ticket structure - you only get 2 or 3 options with other clubs you can get upto 10 options.

We are a club who are struggeling to get 6000 punters through the gate....one main reason the Price the board should be reviewing the price structure.

The club is very slow in bringing information to the fans....the people who pay their hard earned money only until have they started communicating and that is because they are trying to appease us.

The sponsorship deals they strike with companies....a mean come on they should be activly looking for companies willing to pump in a bit more cash to the club, instead of accepting the first lame offer they recieve....

Advertising - the club is poor in advertising. i.e. xmas nights at our fabby function suites....where is it advertised?????? on our website and matchday programmes who other than hibs fans see it????.... no papers no flyers getting sent out to business.

That's just for starters i have another 113 odd things in my head and they might be wee but they are ideas that would push certain areas of the club forward, something which the board should be doing - hence Forward Thinking a bit of Get Up and Go, we are a business as well as a football club.

[Albion Hibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The Club for a number of years have been very slow in brining up new ideas.

For a start look at the season ticket structure - you only get 2 or 3 options with other clubs you can get upto 10 options.

We are a club who are struggeling to get 6000 punters through the gate....one main reason the Price the board should be reviewing the price structure.

The club is very slow in bringing information to the fans....the people who pay their hard earned money only until have they started communicating and that is because they are trying to appease us.

The sponsorship deals they strike with companies....a mean come on they should be activly looking for companies willing to pump in a bit more cash to the club, instead of accepting the first lame offer they recieve....

Advertising - the club is poor in advertising. i.e. xmas nights at our fabby function suites....where is it advertised?????? on our website and matchday programmes who other than hibs fans see it????.... no papers no flyers getting sent out to business.

That's just for starters i have another 113 odd things in my head and they might be wee but they are ideas that would push certain areas of the club forward, something which the board should be doing - hence Forward Thinking a bit of Get Up and Go, we are a business as well as a football club.

What are these 10 season ticket options?

Do you know that we dont actively look for sponsors? I would doubt very much that they dont, in addition that they would accept the first one.

[JustSimplyHibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What are these 10 season ticket options?

Do you know that we dont actively look for sponsors? I would doubt very much that they dont, in addition that they would accept the first one.

Am sure a said at least but here goes anyway -

Cat A games
Cat B Games
League Cup top up
Scottish Cup top
Both Cup top up
Hibs TV
Priority away tickets
Discount on Club Merch - 10% for an extra £50 on a season ticket
Recomend a freind who wasn't a season ticket holder the season before - you can get a £50 discount
Early Bird

Even have a option for saturday only season tickets.

Different kind of options for all supporters, you've just gotta keep your options open!

I dont see sponsorship in our stands on the big grey areas of the stand and if we have a bet it just 1 and that will be our Shirt Sponsor!!!!! I dont see sponsorship outside the ground....so no i don't think we activly seek sponsorship.

[jdships]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

In answer to the OP I think yes.

No proof but I don't see why Sir Tom still wants to own the club and don't believe he does.

However, no billionaire from far off shores is going to be interested in us.

And if there was a very rich Hibby wanting to get involved I think we would have heard by now...

At some point we will need to move on from the ownership of Sir Tom.

It would be nice if we could look at getting ownership into the hands of the support.

Perhaps there could be possibilities within that but what return on his investment would Sir Tom be looking for?

On a Fergus McCann scale? Having saved the club for the community you would like to think not...

What a legacy he could leave if he could walk away with some return leaving the club in ownership of the supporters.

" No proof but I don't see why Sir Tom still wants to own the club and don't believe he does."

Unfortunately you forgot to add " In my opinion"
Try and spend a few minutes in STF company and you will soon know wether he still wants to own the club or not

As it happens IMO I believe there will be , in the not too distant future, some movement to change the set up at ER . Not sure if this will be the formation of a Trust ( STF often speaks of this) or if it will be a sale to a third party(s)

[Alfred E Newman]

We are more in need of an overhall of our coaching and scouting set up.

[JustSimplyHibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

" No proof but I don't see why Sir Tom still wants to own the club and don't believe he does."

Unfortunately you forgot to add " In my opinion"
Try and spend a few minutes in STF company and you will soon know wether he still wants to own the club or not

As it happens IMO I believe there will be , in the not too distant future, some movement to change the set up at ER . Not sure if this will be the formation of a Trust ( STF often speaks of this) or if it will be a sale to a third party(s)

Previous owner of a football club in Scotland by any chance

[jdships]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Previous owner of a football club in Scotland by any chance

Why not ? However can you think of anyone with " cash to burn " ?
We all know STF at some point will stand down either by intention or due to his untimely death but on the occasions I have met/spoken with him his commitment to HFC has never wavered .
I realise that those of us who remember the dark days of Gray/Duff/Mercer can get a bit emotional about the part STF played in saving this club
What is fact is he has always supported the club to the best of his financial ability.
Something for which we should all be grateful and when the time comes just hope we get a new owner with the same feelings about HFC

As they say " Be careful what you wish for "

[Holmesdale Hibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Why any sane person would want to have ago at STF I will never know?. He does not pick the Manager, he does not pick the team. He has used his expertise as a class businessman to clear 18million ? of debt, build a new ground and TC, as I have already stated, we would have been in some mess without him.

its not his fault we're pash at the moment and we're certainly in better shape now than when he took over. Can anyone name a better owner in the SPL?

I can see the logic in blaming Petrie/players/Calderwood but STF is nothing to do with it.

[Kaiser1962]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

As they say " Be careful what you wish for "

[CropleyWasGod]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The Club for a number of years have been very slow in brining up new ideas.

For a start look at the season ticket structure - you only get 2 or 3 options with other clubs you can get upto 10 options.

We are a club who are struggeling to get 6000 punters through the gate....one main reason the Price the board should be reviewing the price structure.

The club is very slow in bringing information to the fans....the people who pay their hard earned money only until have they started communicating and that is because they are trying to appease us.

The sponsorship deals they strike with companies....a mean come on they should be activly looking for companies willing to pump in a bit more cash to the club, instead of accepting the first lame offer they recieve....

Advertising - the club is poor in advertising. i.e. xmas nights at our fabby function suites....where is it advertised?????? on our website and matchday programmes who other than hibs fans see it????.... no papers no flyers getting sent out to business.

That's just for starters i have another 113 odd things in my head and they might be wee but they are ideas that would push certain areas of the club forward, something which the board should be doing - hence Forward Thinking a bit of Get Up and Go, we are a business as well as a football club.

In other words, incremental growth, which has been the publicly stated aim of the Board this last few years?

And, apart from the glaring omission on the park, I would suggest that this has, and is being, achieved.

[Lofarl]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christop...wo-miles-wide/

Lets get this gadje.

[Kaiser1962]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christop...wo-miles-wide/

Lets get this gadje.

We sending a letter or a delegation? He's obviously pretty bored.

[down-the-slope]

[QUOTE=Doddie;2895116]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

There's no doubt STF done us a huge favour when buying us, but has he taken us as far as he can?

We know STF wont put anymore money into the club, why should he?

The problem i see is nobody would probably want to buy Hibs, let alone invest money into the club, or is there?


Short answer, YES.

Hibernian is the only senior football club I know where the owner never turns up at games and doesn't appear to be concerned about either the performance of the team or the results.

As far as I can see, he stepped in 20 years ago to save the club, and now wants to preserve it as an "Edinburgh institution" - in other words, a museum piece. Well I don't fancy living in an institution, and if I want to visit a museum, I'll go to Chambers Street or the Burrell Collection.

The club has been drifting from one crisis to another for far too long, but TF doesn't seem too worried. Which means RP doesn't need to worry, the board doesn't need to worry, the manager doesn't need to worry, and the players don't need to worry, because the owner (who has the clout to shake the whole boiling of them up in the air and kick their collective and several backsides, really doesn't seem to care.


I'm beginning to think that he's a hologram the board activate once a year for the AGM.




See above - 20 years is a long time. We're drifting and stagnating, and going nowhere.

What happens to the club when TF finally drops off the twig? Who inherits? Will they care any more than he does? Or do we get yet another helping of RP and the "steady as she goes" policy? It was "steady as she goes" that sank to Titanic, IIRC. SHE hadn't a clue where she was going either.

Untrue...I have seen STF many times in BTG before games......In fact one day i was ascending the stairs with beer in one hand and burger & chips in the other when He and Rod were going down a level...Sir Tom being an man to see an opportunity asked if chips were good and as i nodded he proceeded to help himself to a few..... cheekt bugger could see i had no way of defending my grub

[proud_and_green]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Why not ? However can you think of anyone with " cash to burn " ?
We all know STF at some point will stand down either by intention or due to his untimely death but on the occasions I have met/spoken with him his commitment to HFC has never wavered .
I realise that those of us who remember the dark days of Gray/Duff/Mercer can get a bit emotional about the part STF played in saving this club
What is fact is he has always supported the club to the best of his financial ability.
Something for which we should all be grateful and when the time comes just hope we get a new owner with the same feelings about HFC

As they say " Be careful what you wish for "

You beat me too it!

It may not be brilliant, but look at some of the saviours who have come to some clubs promising ..... world domination or even smaller examples such as Dundee.

STF is a safe pair of hands and someone who will not squader the future of the club for fleeting success.

[Loopz]

What if our army of celebrity fans donated 1 weeks wages each. Surely this would provide league dominance.

[Albion Hibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What if our army of celebrity fans donated 1 weeks wages each. Surely this would provide league dominance.

What about our own fans turn up before we start asking others just to give us something for nothing!

[Loopz]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What about our own fans turn up before we start asking others just to give us something for nothing!

What about our players starting to perform for the wages that the fans that do turn up are providing at the moment for no return.

[Albion Hibs]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What about our players starting to perform for the wages that the fans that do turn up are providing at the moment for no return.

What about supporting a team because you support the team. Too many conditions from so many as to what has to be achieved before they start supporting hibs again, i.e. investment in players, certainty with the manager, lower gate prices, Andy Murray sticking in a few quid.

If you need that many reasons then your time is probably best spent at Cineworld.

[jgl07]

The last person to express an interest to buy Hibs was Brian Kennedy.

Most of the Hands on Hibs brigade seemed quite keen on him taking over.

He was only really interested in Hibs to get hold of Easter Road to host an Edinburgh-based professional Rugby Union team in the English Premiership.

Once knocked back by Hibs he moved back to Manchester and did exactly that taking over the Sale Rugby Union team and Stockport County. This wrecked Stockport who are now tenants in the ground they once owned and are down to the Conference after being spat out by Kennedy.

No thanks. We could end up with an Eastern European nutjob in control.

Petrie has made some dodgy managerial appointments but that was largely down to bringing in who the supporters demanded (Sauzee, Collins, Mixu, Yogi). He also eased out managers as demanded by the same fans (especially Mixu).

[Loopz]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What about supporting a team because you support the team. Too many conditions from so many as to what has to be achieved before they start supporting hibs again, i.e. investment in players, certainty with the manager, lower gate prices, Andy Murray sticking in a few quid.

If you need that many reasons then your time is probably best spent at Cineworld.

At the moment every Hibs supporter in the stadium is there because we support the team as there is no other reason to be there. I buy 3 season tickets every year, no strings attached. Not sure I will be able to pass on this legacy onto my two sons.

[HKhibby]

I personally wouldnt have a problem with someone new coming in to buy Hibs, as long as they would invest in the proper way, , we have the stadium and east mains etc.. and not alot of debt which would probably be attractive to someone new with money too invest in a football club, my only concern would be if it were to attract another one from Eastern Europe!!....then, where would we be going?

[basehibby]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

There's no doubt STF done us a huge favour when buying us, but has he taken us as far as he can?

We know STF wont put anymore money into the club, why should he?

The problem i see is nobody would probably want to buy Hibs, let alone invest money into the club, or is there?

God forbid anything should happen to sir Tom, but if it did, and we had to have a new owner, does anyone think we'd attract anyone decent, anyone who might want to invest?

Out of all the SPL clubs Hibs must surely be one of the more attractive to prospective buyers - low debt, good infrastructure and year on year profits have got to add up to something afterall. But I haven't noticed a queue round the block now you mention it!

I think Farmer has expressed in the past that he'd be willing to sell up if the right buyer came along and I presume by that he means some individual or group with the financial muscle and track record to ensure the future and prosperity of Hibs insofar as that's possible.

But with the current crap financial state of the nation I can't see a change of ownership happening any time soon - in the mean time lets hope that the current guardians of the club ensure Hibs remain an attractive proposition by putting a decent team on the park that will thrive in the SPL and help fill up these lovely new stands.

[Kaiser1962]

[QUOTE=Doddie;2895116]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

What happens to the club when TF finally drops off the twig? Who inherits? Will they care any more than he does? Or do we get yet another helping of RP and the "steady as she goes" policy? It was "steady as she goes" that sank to Titanic, IIRC. SHE hadn't a clue where she was going either.

History is quite clear that the Titanic sank because she ignored all the warnings and refused to drop her speed or alter her course. Had she adopted a more cautious approach all those people may not have died.

[bigwheel]

I think a key question is "why would anyone want to buy Hibs?" . There is no investment upside - it would have to be for love of the club, or for a new hobby to waste some money on.

there are very few clubs worldwide which make a return on investment. We would certainly not be one. Turnover circa 6-8M. Some debt, small in year profit potential if we make a sale or two . 68% of revenue on salaries...

There isn't a property play, which has been a stimulant for other investors in other clubs...There is not a significant enough growth opportunity for in our league which would make Hibs an investment for return. Therefore, it has to be a purchase of the heart. During the post sky deal years of 2002-2004, STF paid the interest on our debt personally every month. No publicity, no big news. 100k ish every month at the time. This burden was taken away when they refinanced through the land behind the East etc, but those opportunities are gone....

Unless we get a mad Hibby or a mad ego (like those over the city have) , it makes no sense for any investor...

[Lucius Apuleius]

[QUOTE=Kaiser1962;2895484]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

History is quite clear that the Titanic sank because she ignored all the warnings and refused to drop her speed or alter her course. Had she adopted a more cautious approach all those people may not have died.

Totally disagree. As a merchant seaman for many years I can assure you it was a Jewish conspiracy that sank the titanic.