UCF2008

Couldn't agree more. Obviously it needs to be a long term plan, but we should be constantly looking to improve. Going back to the shirt sponsor, our previous deals brought in significantly more revenue (the Carling one especially) compared to Tennents. That deal's up in 2013 and we should be looking at much bigger fish for their replacement. As for kit manufacturer, if we can attract an unknown sports manufacturer from the far east (most of them are made there anyway) who would offer even a fifth of the £25m per season deal Liverpool recently got with Warrior sports, it would be a huge increase. These are avenues we should be exploring and doing so without limitations.

I thought that was the reason for televised fixtures being moved to suit Sky & ESPN's schedule. Like I was saying before though our hands are tied with the TV deal. We could probably get more TV money for our product, but not much. Sponsorship on the other hand is one area that a club of our size could generate much more income if we were to be looking further afield for investment than our own backyard. We've got digital advertising boards that seem to spend most of there time displaying 'Advertise Here' messages. We've got a shirt sponsorship deal with a Scottish brewery. Of course it's good to be promoting Scottish business but that doesn't mean we should be giving ourselves a pat on the back for securing a deal with Scotland's biggest piss (sorry, lager) manufacturer. My point is that looking at our product as one that already has global reach and trying to expand and capitalise on that isn't necessarily akin to 'chasing rainbows'.

To the best of my knowledge there's no reason whatsoever we couldn't have extended contracts, but I suppose the last people you'd expect to know that would be Duff & Phelps. I guess that would have been one of many benefits we may have had from appointing administrators who had previous experience of dealing with a football club.

It's OK to be the trusting sort you know. You'll probably live longer ...less stress. :cheers:

The other obvious reason of course is the one that CG himself has stated in that the investors involved will vary dependent upon the CVA. Either way, naming investors to only have them drop out is bad PR. It's one thing for the rags to do it, but another thing entirely if it comes from the horses mouth. Regarding what I was saying about influencing the CVA before though, this reason would suggest that the names we're given on Thursday (household or otherwise) won't have the financial clout to leave creditors thinking they could have afforded more ...additional investors could still be waiting in the wings though for completion. Of course, there's also the possibility that CVA approval was never an expected outcome and it's just an easier (albeit slightly costlier) way of bringing the newco eventuality upon us. It goes without saying that much like this thread and the multiples that have come before, this is all just speculation and we'll just have to wait and see.

I'm just hoping that reason is the obvious one in that it could influence the CVA. That said, I do have doubts about that myself because if the CVA is accepted on Thursday, Green has committed to naming those involved ...then we have the 28 day cooling off period.

Depends which point you're referring to mate. USA 28th, Scotland 41st, Northern Ireland 103rd

Well said Gribz

You don't get to be 103rd in the world if you're fcuking brilliant do you?

Amongst those 160 or so nations are Northern Ireland who are 80 odd places below us and we've got 6 of their players in our squad ...OK make that 4 if you want to nitpick.

Yes that's the same Terrence Boyd that the Fox Sports commentators wouldn't shut up about the other week. Appears that Klinsmaan really rates him. As for Onyewu, you don't get signed by AC Milan as an established pro unless you've got something to show for it. In fact he was a standout in the 2009 Confederations cup. Granted, he didn't make any impression at all at Milan, largely thanks to a serious knee injury that resulted in him agreeing to have his contract extended by a year with no salary. Then Sporting signed him. Limited ability and sub or not, it's a better CV than most players we could attract

As much as our National squad is poor by our standards, I'm sure there's at least the 160 or so nations below us in the rankings that would beg to differ.

How many games have they played this year? Strange because he played against us and then again in the WC qualifier the other night. Apart from the Gers in the squad ...Dempsey, Donovan, Jones, Boyd, Onyewu. I'll admit I had to check the spelling of Onyewu :grin:

...continuing to be picked by Klinsmaan in a squad of mediocre players that just humped our National team 5-1.

Not so sure about that. I never have seen Edu as a defensive mid. I also think both we and Edu himself have failed in his development as a player. If you look at his first season and just beyond, Edu was an exciting player to watch - You don't get the honor of being an outlet for TBB just because your name is a convenient replacement for 'hullo'. He was never the most visionary or the best passer of the ball, but he was a box to box nightmare for the opposition. He's been stifled by our system of play and his confidence to perform to that same level has been stinted, but I wouldn't write him off just yet. Whether he could fit into a system that includes Gatusso remains to be seen.

Have to agree with that. My own worst fear's always been that the money involved to get preferred bidder status was so low that the bheasts might just be able to afford it. Beyond that, can anyone have much of a worse character reference than the likes of Whyte, Murray and King?

I'm sure that all 2,281 of Gersnet forum members could exert an influence on some situations regarding the club if we were to actually agree on something, but the takeover isn't one of them.

In fairness we do all have some decent footie on the telly for a change to keep us pre-occupied

Not sure if I agree he'd be the best in the SPL, but if it's not a gamble financially then I'd like to give him a shot at it. As for the 'player of his calibre' thing, I'd maybe agree if you said stature, but I don't see why we can't bring and haven't already brought even better players to Ibrox

You only have to look at the collapse of the Bill Miller deal to see how fractured TBK alliance is in dealing with this. On one hand we had AJ and BK giving him their cautious backing .BK even said in TBK press conference that he approached Miller with a proposal to try and get the CVA pushed through. On the other hand, you had the RST trying to put a stop to it. Of course they succeeded and if you look at what CG's saying there regarding offensive emails and intrusions into his private life, you can well understand how a foreign outsider like Miller was persuaded to pull the plug on the deal. IMO, we actually should be doing exactly what CG asks of us here and be lobbying the politicians to exert pressure on HMRC in order to get the CVA across the line. You can be sure they'll have been getting no shortage of enticement to do the opposite.

That's what I gathered from those interviews as well. From what he's been saying all along it looks as though the job he's been tasked with in fronting the consortium is to complete the deal and secure x amount of investment. Once that job's done he'll leave the running of the club to the board or possibly even new ownership that's been instated. The way I see it, it's fair enough for the fans to be skeptical and I have to admit that I find Green a little bit of an awkward character to trust through the way he carries himself in interviews, but I do at least think he's been fairly consistent in his statements. Personally I would prefer to give him my backing at this point in time ahead of those who appear to be putting there own interests ahead of the club and using media spin in such a disruptive fashion.

Absolutely. You need to have the infrastructure - The right people with the vision and wherewithal to make the most of it.

That partnership deal was brokered and managed by a 3rd party - FMMI. Interestingly enough Schenzen won the inaugural Chinese Super League in 2004. Quite like that shirt

Hey I'm not saying it's easy. There's a lot more to it than signing a household name from that neck of the woods and then jetting over there for a few friendlies. First and foremost, I think we would need to establish a network of contacts in a variety of key industries surrounding the game in the region. That's not something that would necessarily take any significant amount of funding or cause any distraction from the footballing side of our business. The Sevco consortium might be able to create that sort of foundation. If they are, then would we be able to benefit from it? That's another story, given our situation with merchandising and TV rights. I would imagine sponsorship is one option we could still take advantage of. What was our Chinese tie-up BTW?

It's that kind of attitude that's played a big part in negating our ability to reach our potential. Throwing money aimlessly at 'moonbeams' while neglecting key areas of our business to the point that it's profitable to contract them out to 3rd parties because we weren't capable or interested in running them properly ourselves.