Well, looks like we finally reached...

[PSumbler]

I'm probably going to regret this (the trolls will love it) but....here goes.

I don't blame the former owners for selling. We had the 3rd poorest ownership in the top 2 divisions. I know, because I sadly once spent a whole Sunday morning putting it only a spreadsheet. Sad, I know...but we were mid-table in the PL and there was only one way we would go, eventually. With all clubs like us in the PL, we are one massive managerial mistake away from relegation. That's what happened eventually but the previous owners sold to an American group who made many promises to them, and to us. They promised to have the finances to keep us there and it made me think we were safer. We can't blame the former owners (most of whom weren't millionaires) from their lottery win, especially as there wasn't exactly a queue of potential buyers, and our 'luck' on the pitch was starting to run out.

Fast forward and the Yanks have failed to deliver. I sort of like them keeping the club financially safe, but I hated the fact that they failed to back a return to the PL in the first season after relegation. I hate the fact that they refuse to speculate to accumulate and I hate the fact that we're just a distant 'toy' for them. Unfortunately, selling (at a big loss) would close that chapter of their portfolio and all of their investors will see a very big minus return. Not selling hides that performance, to a large extent. I tried to introduce a potential buyer to them 12-18 months ago but they said "thanks, but no thanks". They don't want to invest and they don't want to sell.

Without major names to sell, it's going to get tighter and tighter. I think Russell Martin's potentially one of the best managers we've had for a long time (considering the situation) and would hate to see him walk away, because of a lack of the type of investment that the Yanks promised us when they arrived. They've cheated us all, unfortunately, but at least they haven't saddled us with tens of millions of debt or skimmed millions in fees. Crumbs of comfort, I know.......

From my perspective I don’t blame them for wanting to cash in. I do blame them for doing so at the expense of the club itself and their partners. Partners that had been instrumental in the creation of their opportunity to cash in in the first place. The fact that those partners represented the people of Swansea and, ironically, we’re a huge part of the ‘story’ that they dined off for many years makes it even more unforgivable.

If the Americans made promises it would have been easy to write those promises into the contract for sale. If that stopped the sale then they were never serious in which case pretending that the sellers cared about what happened after the cheques cleared is just fluff.
Much of your latter stuff I agree with.

This

 

[waynekerr55]

I'm probably going to regret this (the trolls will love it) but....here goes.

I don't blame the former owners for selling. We had the 3rd poorest ownership in the top 2 divisions. I know, because I sadly once spent a whole Sunday morning putting it only a spreadsheet. Sad, I know...but we were mid-table in the PL and there was only one way we would go, eventually. With all clubs like us in the PL, we are one massive managerial mistake away from relegation. That's what happened eventually but the previous owners sold to an American group who made many promises to them, and to us. They promised to have the finances to keep us there and it made me think we were safer. We can't blame the former owners (most of whom weren't millionaires) from their lottery win, especially as there wasn't exactly a queue of potential buyers, and our 'luck' on the pitch was starting to run out.

Fast forward and the Yanks have failed to deliver. I sort of like them keeping the club financially safe, but I hated the fact that they failed to back a return to the PL in the first season after relegation. I hate the fact that they refuse to speculate to accumulate and I hate the fact that we're just a distant 'toy' for them. Unfortunately, selling (at a big loss) would close that chapter of their portfolio and all of their investors will see a very big minus return. Not selling hides that performance, to a large extent. I tried to introduce a potential buyer to them 12-18 months ago but they said "thanks, but no thanks". They don't want to invest and they don't want to sell.

Without major names to sell, it's going to get tighter and tighter. I think Russell Martin's potentially one of the best managers we've had for a long time (considering the situation) and would hate to see him walk away, because of a lack of the type of investment that the Yanks promised us when they arrived. They've cheated us all, unfortunately, but at least they haven't saddled us with tens of millions of debt or skimmed millions in fees. Crumbs of comfort, I know.......

From my perspective I don’t blame them for wanting to cash in. I do blame them for doing so at the expense of the club itself and their partners. Partners that had been instrumental in the creation of their opportunity to cash in in the first place. The fact that those partners represented the people of Swansea and, ironically, we’re a huge part of the ‘story’ that they dined off for many years makes it even more unforgivable.

If the Americans made promises it would have been easy to write those promises into the contract for sale. If that stopped the sale then they were never serious in which case pretending that the sellers cared about what happened after the cheques cleared is just fluff.
Much of your latter stuff I agree with.

This, in spades. If they wanted to cash in, they'd earned the right to do so. To hang on afterwards, claiming a bloody salary (double dipping) and what has subsequently happened tells us all we need to know