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Episode 304: Multi Club Models - Are they better?
95 Plays3 days ago
Southampton – Time today to take a look at Multi Club Models, and whether they are a benefit or not.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hello and welcome back to the Daily Southampton, part of your global sports podcast network. My name is Greg Elliott and as always today joined by my good friend, a wonderful co-host, Zach Ingo Finch.
00:00:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
How are you doing today mate? You alright?
00:00:28
Zak
Yeah, I'm all right. I'm a bit less, um, bit less animated than i guess I was last night. Um, but that was cause I was tired and annoyed that, that, uh, you know,
00:00:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
And you know, reasonably so. It was, ah best at best, a disappointing result. but But look, we're not going to dwell on that.
Exploration of Multi-Club Ownership Models
00:00:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
I've prepared an episode for us today, and in very us fashion, it is is wonderfully timed, right? I've prepared a piece on multi-club ownership models, and what they are and whether they're good and what the benefits are and what the costs are.
00:01:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it starts off, I will spoil that, but it starts off as a really quite well-written factual essay and, uh, in true characteristics, I'll tails off into a bit of a ramble when it gets to the bit about how it applies to saints, uh, and the good and the bad.
00:01:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Um, but you know, that's just how I do things. So, uh,
00:01:32
Zak
What's first? first?
00:01:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
So yeah, I guess I will will crack on with it. I will try and leave some space, my friend, for you to interject. But but yeah, I guess let's get straight into it.
00:01:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I'll try and come up for air at some point.
00:01:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
So it feels like the most important time to have the conversation because the focus at the moment is well and truly on Sports Republic. We've seen a lot of it on the social media. We've seen Al Crag.
00:02:01
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:02:02
Global Sports Podcast Network
from Alfie House, they're not pointing the fingers at their manager, they're pointing their fingers at Sports Republic and at Johan Spors. Can we be mad with Johan Spors for not getting his decisions exactly correct on his first attempt at doing so?
00:02:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah for me, that's a very similar answer to does the blame solely lie with Will Steele? The answer is no. that but that The whole argument, whole issue boils back down to recruitment and comes back to Sports Republic and down to the reason that we do this recruitment, which is the structure, which is the multi-club, which is driven by the fact that they want to do this multi-club model.
00:02:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
And ah because our sort of buy young, sell later philosophy is sort of the key philosophy of their multi-club model.
00:03:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah So i thought I would take it right the way back to the very start and ah do a very nice piece that starts with, what is a multi-club model and why would anyone want it?
00:03:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah
00:03:15
Zak
ah Does anybody want it, Rick? That's the real question.
00:03:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah Well, that's the thing. ah The answer may surprise you.
00:03:22
Global Sports Podcast Network
Multi-club ownership is exactly what it says on the tin, right? A company or an owner owning more than one club. ah Some multi-club ownership groups are small, smaller operations with one majority shareholding in a club and a couple of minority shareholders in a separate club.
00:03:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah You know, like the Crystal Palace owner also owns minority shares in a couple of clubs across Europe. And then, of course, there's the other massive conglomerates with 10 or more different football clubs across the different leagues.
00:03:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Um... And it's become a more visible trend with the rise of well-known ownership groups such as the City Football Group, ah who use their identity and status of their flagship club, Manchester City, and the financial resources of their owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group.
00:04:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
They buy up brands like New York City, Melbourne City, Montevideo City Talk. They, you know, high-profile cases like signing Frank Lampard to a contract to play for Man City and then go off to New York and do a year.
00:04:25
Zak
immediately shipping about unloading to the MLS.
00:04:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
right? Yeah, so it's a thing. That's sort of the one of the big ones, and obviously Red Bull as well, the other sort of well-known one. But other than that, yeah, but other than that, it tends to be these sort smaller conglomerates.
00:04:39
Zak
Red Bull Leeds, as we all know.
00:04:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
But ah interestingly, this is a stat that shocked me, ah because I didn't I didn't know it. I didn't know that many teams were sort of part of it. 50% of teams in the English Premier League are part of some kind of multi-club ownership operation.
00:05:00
Zak
That is surprising.
00:05:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. ah I unfortunately didn't then dig deeper to find out which teams there were, which in hindsight would have been a a fantastic thing to do.
00:05:06
Zak
I'm sorry. I've just got to let everybody else do a quick Google. Let's figure out.
00:05:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's it. ah Well, maybe it's like a little quiz. Maybe we could do it off the top of our head, right? Like definitely Man City. Yeah.
00:05:19
Zak
And see Newcastle, Crystal Palace, apparently.
00:05:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:25
Zak
Everton eventually bought by a ah larger group most recently.
00:05:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
I believe so. Yeah, they they're part of some group as well. And then, of course, there's... <unk>s the Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
00:05:39
Zak
but can leave it at that for the time being
00:05:41
Global Sports Podcast Network
We'll leave it at that. But it shows that with that those sorts of numbers... ah There's clearly some kind of benefit to
Benefits of Multi-Club Ownership
00:05:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
it, right? like It wouldn't be that common if it was a negatively impacting thing, if it wasn't beneficial to clubs to do it.
00:05:58
Global Sports Podcast Network
So what are the benefits? Well, the obvious step is that the funding available for clubs that align themselves with these ownership groups, like the City Football Group, is is easier to find, easier to come by.
00:06:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
if you're a side who is not a sort of rich cultural club and then you get bought by them, obviously they have all of the resources to throw at it and go on to be the thing.
00:06:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah One example is Palermo, who have been bought by the City Football Group in a league where most clubs don't have other the powerful investors. So they're benefiting from that in that league and taking that investment and doing it.
00:06:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
um Obviously, there are actual like rules and laws and regulations that will prevent clubs actually sharing finances.
00:06:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right? That's not a thing.
00:06:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's not a gay... Hmm...
00:06:53
Zak
Yeah, it's Chelsea-Strasbourg, right?
00:06:56
Zak
Where they've sent out a bunch of players that they've bought on loan immediately to to basically, there go, there's another one, Chelsea, to to sort of make the numbers make sense where they've spent, I don't know, a billion pounds and apparently that's okay.
00:07:10
Zak
Yeah.
00:07:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, and and obviously that's the thing, right? These groups, you know, it's not the finances of the group that are scrutinised by these like financial fair play rules and you know the profit and sustainability. Each club has to have their own individual sets of finances.
00:07:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
However, it it has been said that just knowledge of these numbers, like you say, to balance the books here or balance books there, is enough to be of a benefit to the entire group, right? You can...
00:07:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
shift it about in a slightly more creative manner. Uh, on top of the finances, there's obviously, ah something that'll be very familiar to you and Isaac, uh, the ability to share data, obviously data in the modern world is a very powerful thing.
00:07:55
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:07:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah especially in football, uh, Obviously, in the footballing world, each club has its own allowances and its own setups within the league of what it's allowed for, like, scouting and academies and sort of projects.
00:08:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
And in a group... all of these all of these data points can be shared and benefited upon from everyone, and not just for like transfer targets, but also things like structuring game plans against an opposition, right? If they've played in the European competition against them and you come up against them domestically, there's potential there.
00:08:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
Um... But, you know, also through networks and academies that are able to set up because you could all of a sudden have someone in the, you know, the not as big and famous Palermo set who all of a sudden comes up through this academy and is like, wow,
00:08:52
Global Sports Podcast Network
there's definitely promise here, let's ship him off to Man City's academy where he'll get you know better training, better facilities because they're able to do that. Whereas as an individual club, Man City wouldn't be able to set up ah an academy and a training scout network. Every city is as far and wide as the the group can set up.
00:09:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
And that...
00:09:14
Zak
we Probably helped him get around with the weird rules with youth transfers as well, right? There a big thing for years where Chelsea were just buying up all of the under-21 players. But um just seeing another one of those clubs, Greg, because I'm just going to continually add to that list.
00:09:28
Zak
Manchester United, the IDF group, also in Nice, which I was completely unaware of as well.
00:09:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Huh?
00:09:33
Zak
So again, you learn something new every day.
00:09:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
Oh, there you go.
00:09:35
Zak
ah But like Strasbourg being in the Conference League and Chelsea being the Champions League, means that it's it's not as much of an issue. They can still technically transfer players between each other. but If you play in the same league, you can't, which I feel surely strangles the other team.
00:09:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:09:51
Zak
you know, i think we've I think I've spoken briefly to you about this in the past, right, where ah don't really perceive us being in the Europa League the same time as Gostepe at any point. However, if we were, that would be a problem.
00:10:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:10:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
well Well, maybe we'll get onto that and some of those issues. But first, let's ah let's take a little breather, ah sit back for a minute and have a little word from our partners at Bionique.
00:10:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Okay, mate. ah And we are back. So still focusing on the benefits at the moment and and thinking about that.
00:11:02
Zak
and
00:11:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
And the the biggest example really that is, ah I guess, like the go-to, the big success... of this multi-club model who really seem to have sort of nailed the art is um is the red bull group right there they have had success with many of their teams and the key to their success is their feeder system they have a clear hierarchy which becomes common as you look at these multi-club models uh and see how they work is that the hierarchy
00:11:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
is what's important, where other clubs just feed into the top club. And, ah you know, you've seen examples of this with Strasburg and Leipzig, who, sorry, Salzburg and Leipzig, who have both succeeded domestically.
00:11:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
And also fed into each other. So there are some like big players who I didn't realise had gone through and had a good season at Salzburg and then immediately been transferred up that ladder to Leipzig.
00:12:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
So we're talking Sosablai,
00:12:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
who now plays for Liverpool, right? Benjamin Sesko, Upe Meccano, they all came through this Red Bull system and they all did well at Salzburg and then immediately fed into this Leipzig team.
00:12:30
Zak
and I reckon if matt if we hadn't have got money as early as we did, that wouldn't really surprise me. I can remember, ah don't know if it was for one of our manager profiles um it was or potentially actually about a player.
00:12:42
Zak
one One of the conversations I remember having with you was one of the managers at one point, I think, was managing Salzburg and got really, really frustrated because of the fact that they basically were asset-stripping them and sending them all up the chain, obviously obviously to the German Bundesliga, meaning that they were like, well, how are we meant to sustain this position at top of the Austrian league
00:12:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:13:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:13:07
Zak
If every single time we'd start to do well and put a team together, then take that team away put them elsewhere.
00:13:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
Indeed. And so what that leads and reads to me is obviously the key to success in these systems. ah Same with the City Football Group, right? Man City is very clearly the top of that hierarchy and then they have the others underneath.
00:13:31
Global Sports Podcast Network
Is where the Saints sit in the hierarchy of Sports Republic group clubs, right? Because from what has been said and what we would believe...
00:13:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
we We should be the top, their flagship team.
00:13:46
Zak
are the flagship, right?
00:13:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. But we're yet to really see any benefit from this as the top club, right? Potentially Masuki benefited from a year on loan out at Gestepi and then came to us.
00:14:01
Zak
Yep. Not the East had a chance this season so far.
00:14:03
Global Sports Podcast Network
But was going to say, have have we seen him? Other than that, it's not really been a two-way street.
00:14:12
Zak
because more bizarrely,
00:14:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
We've seen players come into us and go out to them immediately and then stay there forever.
00:14:18
Zak
Well, Joachim Kaya-Sander is the other way around, right? He was, you know, doing quite well and in the sort of youth set up for France, played for VAFC. I'm not going to try and pronounce the French name.
00:14:31
Zak
Then we signed him, had a bit pre-season. I think he even debuted, like, it was ed last season? can't remember. He's definitely played a game.
00:14:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:39
Zak
And then was sent out on loan into the same league as that club for another team, bizarrely.
00:14:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:46
Zak
um And that, yeah, other than that, it's Matthias Liss, who came to Saints, um immediately went out on loan, and has now been permanently transferred away.
00:14:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
Baffling.
00:14:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:14:56
Zak
And Juan guy, yeah, the the Brazilian that was supposed to come in as a striker for us alongside, i want to say, Wellington, right?
00:14:57
Global Sports Podcast Network
Juan. Yeah.
00:15:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
It was Wellington. Yeah.
00:15:06
Zak
They were both pre pre-contracts.
00:15:08
Zak
He ended up signing sooner. And then we he's now gone to Giuseppe permanently. Because arguably they're doing better than us
00:15:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:15:16
Zak
You know, they got promoted and have stayed in the top Turkish league. But it's not really the same level of, like, revenue, in my opinion, that we they would be expecting us to generate, right?
00:15:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, and it's an interesting thought, an interesting point. It definitely requires a deeper dive and a better thought process to fully analyse Sports Republic's activities as a whole.
00:15:38
Zak
Hmm.
00:15:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it's something that I don't think either you or I have enough access to any of the parts of the club or the information to know for sure either the way. But what is clear is that whether we're at the top or not, we're yet to really reap the benefits of these so-called systems.
00:15:56
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. So that is interesting.
Challenges and Regulations of Multi-Club Ownership
00:16:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah going move on from benefits to shortfalls of the systems ah and then a bit later on how we can protect against those shortfalls and then a bit of a ramble about some other Saints stuff. But ah first of all, let's have a little break and have a message from our partners at Zencaster.
00:16:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform, and Zencaster came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone, and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently.
00:16:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description and learn more about Zencaster.
00:16:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
all Alright mate, so let's move on to some of the shortfalls of multi-club ownership. So there is, to me at least, as I've been doing this sort of reading and research, a very obvious grey area ah that comes to mind when you talk about it.
00:17:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
For example, in a world where the financial restrictions in leagues and in continents are such a pressing issue, right we talk about PSR and and whether that's made the Premier League less competitive.
00:17:15
Zak
Yeah.
00:17:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it's not exclusive to England. Other leagues have very strict, imp sort of imposing rules. Like Germany has the 50 plus 1 rule, which I'm sure has an impact.
00:17:30
Global Sports Podcast Network
um Another argument... can be made about the fairness of being able to pull resources and data that aren't money outside of that system, right?
00:17:42
Global Sports Podcast Network
Because if you're limiting...
00:17:43
Zak
yeah
00:17:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
a budget to do certain things. And then another club is spending 43 million pound on scouts that you're also benefiting from. Is that actually, you know, to the spirit of those rules, is that fair? Is it, is it reasonable?
00:18:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I'm assuming that's why we see such high number of people doing it, right? It's almost like you can do so much with that, that, that would otherwise not be just in the budget.
00:18:14
Zak
Same as opening owning different types of companies, right? And the same thing with, you know, if you're a big corporation and you also own another corporation in another country that harvests sugar cane and you produce rum, they're not going to get the money for that, right?
00:18:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:18:32
Zak
kisses You are able to strip that for resources much better. Like, it doesn't really work the right, like, the way it should. And that's that's kind of how I feel with these multi-club models is, as you pointed out, there is a,
00:18:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:18:45
Zak
there is a champion as such, right? So there's a, you know, a big main club and they're the ones that realistically are supposed to get all of the benefit. Whereas a lot of the smaller clubs, like, you know, i don't really, you never really see that. As I pointed out, if they, if Strasbourg made it to the Champions League and they had to pick between where they're, where they're sending resources, Strasbourg or Chelsea, you know what the answer is going to be, which means that you're always going have to,
00:19:11
Zak
live with that over the over your head that you are not the parent essentially of your own organisation and ultimately it's it's such a It doesn't work with like supporters. like I think there's been a bit of camaraderie between us and Gestepi because like it's just so distant. like We're never going to really meet them on the on the field. But you don't support multi-club model.
00:19:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, you support the team.
00:19:33
Zak
You don't support Red Bull.
00:19:35
Zak
You support your team. And I think that that's where it just feels so alien. And I don't think it'll ever quite click.
00:19:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
no and And we are seeing that, right? Because the Premier League and UEFA actually have certain ah legislation and rules within their competitions that prevent it.
00:19:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah No more visible than, of course, Crystal Palace in the Europa League, right? That was a big news story at the start of the year. um And they arguably were not even actually in a situation where it was a proper multi-club ownership, right? it just happened that one of their shareholders also held shares somewhere else.
00:20:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
There's also strict rules right between the clubs on transfers between associated clubs, and they're treated... with a much higher level of scrutiny than transfers to other parties, right? Which could actually lead to some of the benefits. Like, like if you're trying to sell a player who is worth 20 million to the club for 20 million, they, you know, if that's comments under scrutiny and actually, well, no, I just don't think they're actually worth that. Like, you could hit, like...
00:20:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
We know how bumpy of a business transfers are in general already, right? And how much goes into causing those holdups. It's just like another potential bump in the road if you're opening yourself up to that higher level of scrutiny because you're deciding to deal with someone in your ownership group, which I can only presume is like the reason that you were pointing to earlier about Kaya Sander going out on loan to someone else because presumably easier to do, right?
00:21:14
Zak
Yeah.
00:21:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Which is interesting. It's not something that I was really aware of until I did the research in this. And it's not something I was really ah sort so paying attention to. It's not the sort of thing you really think about.
00:21:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
um and But with that and UEFA being against it, Premier League being against it, and they're already being scrutiny and then bringing rules into place, are we potentially heading towards a future where it might not be allowed to exist in a model like that. we You know, it seems unlikely because I'm sure some of the key stakeholders would have a thing or two to say about that.
00:21:47
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah But even if it's not completely shut down, right, it could become a lot harder to work within that space because they want to keep the... ah competition integrity and sanctity, right? Like there's examples, like you say, if or the example I've written down, you use Strasbourg and Chelsea, but I used Salzburg and Leipzig, right?
00:22:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
If they were drawn together in a European competition because, you know, they'd managed to get through somehow... This is why these rules exist, right? How can you possibly protect yourself from saying there would be no collusion? Even if there is no intent for there to be that collusion anyway, how can you that? Yeah.
00:22:33
Zak
yeah like exactly exactly that and this is one of the things that
00:22:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
roof
00:22:38
Zak
I think is a problem. It's a huge problem.
00:22:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:22:40
Zak
And it's it's one of the things that means I don't really necessarily agree with them. And I don't just mean in the sense of Sports Republic, I just mean like as a whole. Because also, again, like I think that some of the
00:22:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:22:53
Zak
You also then get the sort of arguments that a lot of Newcastle fans made. It's like, oh, we can't spend all of the money that our our owners sort of have. Like, well, actually, I guess that's kind of a good thing.
00:23:04
Zak
But then that opens up the question to PSR, which is the whole separate issue. And I think it's just...
00:23:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:23:10
Zak
It's so much more complicated than I think anybody wants it to be. But I think it's getting to a level of complexity where it's outstripping the rules and regulation. Right. So this is like it's like with computers and and AI and all this kind of stuff is that like, you know, we're still they're still struggling to like figure out rules for social media.
00:23:28
Zak
And it's been part of the cultural zeitgeist for like 25 years.
00:23:28
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:23:30
Zak
They still don't know if it's the responsibility of the company. It's the responsibility of government. Nobody knows. And it's such a complex issue. And like you can take advantage of that. And I think that this is what is happening a lot of the time with these sort of multi-club models is that because of these different rules and stuff, there are they all going to be ways to get around them.
00:23:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. And so, like, ah yeah, because there's potential here, right, for situations that throw the entire game into disrepute, right? That is not something that any governing body really wants to put themselves in, right?
00:24:01
Zak
Hmm.
00:24:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
That's just not a position that they can get behind.
Strategies for Independent Club Success
00:24:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
um So my next section is if if this is the future we can head towards where it could be harder or, you know, not viable to be a multi-club model,
00:24:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
um How can you protect against it? And now this was maybe the most interesting part as I sat down and ruminated upon it and thought about sort of what we could do.
00:24:35
Global Sports Podcast Network
And to me, the obvious protection is to build the club to be independently successful as well as playing its part within the group. And when I thought about that and what that might look like from a financial standpoint, I couldn't help but think of things like the Dell Pub and Level 1, right?
00:25:01
Global Sports Podcast Network
Like, they're controversial, and I get it, because especially...
00:25:02
Zak
Amen.
00:25:07
Global Sports Podcast Network
These progressions being made whilst the football is not great ah is is it you know a conversation and a thought path. But these are things that are being put in place to...
00:25:20
Global Sports Podcast Network
make the club more financially successful and more financially secure going forward. And we talked at length in the transfer window about how horrible it is to follow the football club as a business instead of as a football club.
00:25:39
Zak
Yeah.
00:25:40
Global Sports Podcast Network
But we also talked about getting to the point where without one, you can't really have the other, right? Now, the example I've pulled out as an aside here is Tottenham, right? Because they built a new stadium and their new stadium was, you know, multi-purpose and they now make a shed load of money from doing absolutely nothing apart from having a top-notch stadium that can hold all of the events, right? Like in the last month, I know they've had American football and different concerts and all sorts of nonsense because it was built in a way that can handle the turnover fast enough and still be a football pitch.
00:26:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
And then, you know, they see huge business success off the back of that. And I know, you know, Tottenham are easily the butt of a lot of jokes. And for the longest time,
00:26:34
Global Sports Podcast Network
they were the butt of the joke of the team who would never win a trophy. And I know that their form in the league is not and has not been fantastic, but they did win that trophy last year, that European trophy.
00:26:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
And that's, you know, that is a big deal. And that that comes from sticking with these financial successes and building up, right? And that you know that's, I think, the future that Sports Republic see for Southampton.
00:27:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
And it's you know it's it's interesting because I get it and I want i here to have the conversation about if that investment's right and if, you know, why'd they spend all that money on level one instead of a striker?
00:27:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
Right? Sure. I'll have that conversation. But when you're thinking bigger picture and you're thinking long term, it means we're less reliant on, well, we have to feed a player up through Valenciennes and Gustepe because we don't have enough money to buy a decent player, right?
00:27:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
You following? You with me, Zach? You in agreement at this point?
00:27:41
Zak
Yeah, I get what you mean. I think it's... The problem is it's, like, as as useful and as wonderful as that would be. It's very future-focused, right?
00:27:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:27:54
Zak
And I think it's really hard after, like, four wins and i think it's like 47 games for anybody to be future-focused and think this is a good thing. Because I think that because the football has been so, so bad and in the last couple of years...
00:28:10
Zak
it's really hard for anybody to kind of look outside that and see, oh, this could be beneficial long-term. Because again, it's like you pointed out, like, okay, level one, you can't have level instead of a striker.
00:28:21
Zak
You can't have a striker instead of level one. That's not, let's not be let stop be but ridiculous here.
00:28:25
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, it's not a direct trade-off, right?
00:28:26
Zak
However, no, of course it's not a direct trade-off, but the the problem the problem is, is and it's like,
00:28:27
Global Sports Podcast Network
Like...
00:28:32
Zak
I guess what's even worse is like, well, you're able to build this. You can't even hire a striker. And that's what the business is, right? And that's where, and obviously that is summed up in a lot ah better, summed up in a shorter way than I have.
00:28:49
Zak
maybe Maybe more to the point. ah But i can I can kind of understand why people are annoyed. But like, yeah, I get what you mean. Like, this isn't how they're thinking. They're not going to think like this. um But
00:28:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:29:01
Zak
In regards to like multi-club ownership as a whole, I think that you're right. The biggest issue with us as a club as well is that like what real benefits have we seen?
00:29:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:29:11
Zak
That's the problem.
00:29:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
And I'll tell you what, mate, it is almost like I know you well enough that I foresaw your responses because my closing thought and my closing paragraph, I think, sums it up really beautifully. So let's...
00:29:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
don't
00:29:42
Zak
Perfect.
Critique and Future of Sports Republic
00:29:43
Zak
Yeah. But
00:29:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
But it is what we're stuck with, right? And ah when when I sit back and think about it and sort of take a step back from the current football situation, I'm glad that the approach we're seeing, whilst not necessarily always being right or always being popular, seems sensible enough that not all of their eggs are in this multi-club model basket, right?
00:30:08
Global Sports Podcast Network
They're they're pushing for the club to be a success outside of that, as well as part of that.
00:30:08
Zak
yeah
00:30:11
Zak
but
00:30:13
Global Sports Podcast Network
That said, they definitely need to put a bigger focus back on the football.
00:30:18
Global Sports Podcast Network
ah
00:30:18
Zak
Which is funny, Greg, because I'll curveball you that with the reports from the other day coming out, which you might have missed from your research, of them trying to buy a Romanian team and it going absolutely, like, they didn't manage to do it.
00:30:29
Zak
I can't remember who it was.
00:30:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
I didn't see that.
00:30:30
Zak
they were they were There was literally reports of, like, as of, I want to say... paul Yesterday, had put in a bid for this club in Romania and and failed to get it.
00:30:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
Hmm.
00:30:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:30:43
Zak
So it's like, clearly, they're still thinking about expanding when they should be paying more attention to what's going on.
00:30:45
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Of course they are because, but that, but look, it,
00:30:52
Zak
5,000 fans not being there isn't going to hurt their pockets too much, but we're long-term.
00:30:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
right. This is the thing, right? Because they're a business and they're trying to build their business and they want to be a multi-club business and they are going to continue to try and grow that. And that's fine.
00:31:06
Global Sports Podcast Network
And they're, but they're also within that ecosystem, trying to build the clubs up independently for success. But what I came back to is that they the the biggest switch I think they need to make from the football perspective is actually to step away from exclusively this multi-club model, right? Because if you look at all of the players we've signed this summer, and there's conversations that I'm sure we will have as the season goes on about how good or bad they have been, think at this point I still am thinking more of our signings were good than bad, but
00:31:44
Global Sports Podcast Network
The pattern is that they are all young players with potential and the potential is that we could sell them for a higher price later on. And that is all from the same viewpoint of this multi-club model and that is not the answer.
00:32:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
We need to actually sign players who can play the football we want to play and not be signing assets to be sold at a later date, right?
00:32:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
And
00:32:12
Zak
There it is. That's that's the key the key part of it, right? Is that we've currently got a bunch of players that are either too inexperienced to know what's going on, ah are investments that we can probably sell on for more, or alternatively players we've not managed to ship yet.
00:32:15
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. Yeah. Nice.
00:32:26
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:32:26
Zak
And that's the thing, is that realistically what we want are players that are able to help progress the football team, which will ultimately get them more profit longer term.
00:32:32
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:32:35
Zak
That isn't how they're going to see that, because that isn't how business people think.
00:32:39
Global Sports Podcast Network
And do do I have the answers as to what we can do to fix the football on the pitch at the moment? ah No. At the moment, probably nothing. ah I think, in my opinion, exclusively my opinion perhaps, ah at the moment we just need to stick with it.
00:32:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
hope the process comes out without sounding too much like Russell Martin. Trust the process. Stick with it. I think that it will come good and I hope that it does. ah But even if the patience with Sports Republic is running out, and it very visibly is, we have seen it, ah the fact of the matter is that trying to grow into other teams only shows that they are not going to be going anywhere anytime soon.
00:33:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
so
00:33:19
Zak
you
00:33:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
I mean, moaning about it really isn't going to do a lot is where I'm at.
00:33:27
Zak
So if we, they, they build up a big enough portfolio to then get rid of us because they see us as a problem. And then we get left with whoever wants to pick up those pieces and it's not always better.
00:33:36
Global Sports Podcast Network
Exactly.
00:33:38
Zak
That's the problem, right?
00:33:38
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:33:39
Zak
I know that, I know that anyone seems to think that anything is better right now. And I'm seeing, I've even seen some wild recent defenses of Gao as somebody who's at least we were self-sustaining. was like, we were not self-sustaining. There's a reason.
00:33:53
Zak
that we were self-sustaining in the sense of we weren't able to replace any of the players that left and then eventually fell out.
00:33:53
Global Sports Podcast Network
Shocking.
00:34:00
Zak
It was Patterson who was miracles that eventually ran out. great that's that's where And also, to be clear, when with but but but people are talking about that era, we'd lost 9-0 twice.
00:34:04
Global Sports Podcast Network
Mate.
00:34:10
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, um I would love to do a a proper deep dive into the financial happenings of the club under Gao and why those problems are only surfacing now.
00:34:11
Zak
Separate seasons.
00:34:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
But I am not switched on enough to finances to do that. But...
00:34:27
Zak
i I would also point out that a lot of it is because nobody can access that information. Because again, he was a businessman from China who I would like to point out, um have failed the ownership test the first time around.
00:34:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:34:37
Zak
and may by the so By the sounds of it, made some stuff up for the second time. And during that time, had an entire company that wasn't real that was liquidated. ah that disappeared. It wasn't a real... And also, he was also a multi-club guy, right? Because I'm pretty sure... to say it was like Valencia or somebody.
00:34:56
Zak
we We had that on LD... We're also sponsored by LD Sports because they were also owned by him. So, yeah, that's ah let's not pretend that the grass was greener the ownership before.
00:35:00
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:35:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
No, look, that's it. That's it. And look, nobody on this podcast is saying that Sports Republic are perfect, right?
00:35:12
Zak
No.
00:35:12
Global Sports Podcast Network
And nobody's saying they've not made mistakes.
00:35:12
Zak
Constantly.
00:35:14
Global Sports Podcast Network
And nobody's really saying that they have any confidence that they will get it right at any point.
00:35:15
Zak
Constantly.
00:35:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
There is hope that they will, but at the end of the day, we don't get a choice in it. They're here to stay. They're going to be here to stay for a while, and at least they, in the business side of things, are doing good stuff, and that only goes to upset people more because the football side isn't.
00:35:37
Global Sports Podcast Network
But actually, if the football side comes good, happy days, right? I think.
00:35:41
Zak
I think ah think that's the big difference, right? is If the football side becomes good, there wasn't half as much of these grumbles during our good championship season.
00:35:50
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah.
00:35:50
Zak
There were still questions, get me wrong. There were still lots of questions around Russell Martin and the type of football and the goals we're letting in and this and the other. But it wasn't as much of a problem...
00:36:00
Zak
until they allowed it to completely fall apart without really any oversight whatsoever, decided to tune in after they fired him because they were like, well, we can't ignore 5-0 losses, like three in a
00:36:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
yeah
00:36:14
Zak
Really sorry, my guy. And then proceeded to hire their mate who they literally will happen to just be unemployed at the time in Ivan Juric, right?
00:36:23
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:36:24
Zak
Yeah, they say there's a lot of decisions they have made that are absolutely insane. i don't I don't see them not like... I don't know what the rot is. I think it started before them.
00:36:36
Zak
i think that they haven't got the right... Haven't found the right answer so far to figure out what it is. But the problem is, is that because we still support the club, we've always seen it as one entity.
00:36:48
Global Sports Podcast Network
No.
00:36:48
Zak
But it's not. It's been different entities, multiple different entities over multiple different times.
00:36:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah. yeah
00:36:54
Zak
Right? And I'll...
00:36:55
Global Sports Podcast Network
Look, the answer at the end of the day is simple, isn't Win four games.
00:36:59
Zak
Win football games.
00:36:59
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah, win four games. Sign a striker. Everyone's happy again. Chuck a free beer in the mix, maybe, or or whatever. No one's fussed. ah Win some games.
00:37:11
Global Sports Podcast Network
Sign a striker. Bish bash bosh. It's it, isn't it? Easy as that.
00:37:16
Zak
Pfft. Pfft.
00:37:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:37:18
Zak
Pfft.
00:37:19
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:37:19
Zak
won't free there much there
00:37:21
Global Sports Podcast Network
Yeah.
00:37:21
Zak
it would be so much happier
00:37:24
Global Sports Podcast Network
Or maybe just like stop trying to force cringe engagements like shouting surnames. That's not going to happen. And if you are going to do that, prepare for what you're going to do for when the name Wellington comes out, because come on.
00:37:39
Zak
Or if you want the engagement, again, score some goals. Score
00:37:43
Global Sports Podcast Network
some goals, win some games. Easy as that.
00:37:45
Zak
some goals, give us gabby and dine pizza that's more than like a slither of a slice.
00:37:46
Global Sports Podcast Network
We've solved We've
00:37:50
Zak
They pay £9 for what is essentially a child's fortune.
00:37:51
Global Sports Podcast Network
solved it.
00:37:54
Global Sports Podcast Network
we have We've solved all the problems, mate. We fixed it. Who knew it was as easy as that? Right. ah Look, that's it. That is all we've got time for today. I've rambled on and on and on.
00:37:54
Zak
There you go, you're sorted.
00:38:05
Global Sports Podcast Network
I hope you've enjoyed my little deep dive into multi-club models.
Closing Remarks
00:38:09
Global Sports Podcast Network
i didn't really come up with an answer as to whether it's better or not, and that's because, who knows, it's grey area. That will come down to your personal preference.
00:38:17
Global Sports Podcast Network
I'd like to think that you will form your own opinions based off of you know mine and your research. Thank you, Zach, for listening to me ramble on today.
00:38:28
Zak
thank you so much, mate.
00:38:29
Global Sports Podcast Network
And thank you, everyone, for joining us.
00:38:29
Zak
It was a really good episode.
00:38:33
Global Sports Podcast Network
We're going to back tomorrow to talk more about football. We've got a game weekend coming up against Blackburn, and we've got to try and get optimistic for mate. We've got big things happening. They come thick and fast. ah Let us know. What do you think about multi-club models? Are they the future or are they the evil?
00:38:49
Global Sports Podcast Network
Let us know. We're on all the socials. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, X, Blue Sky. All of them. Did I say TikTok? I don't know. We'll be back tomorrow. Until then, everyone, have a great day and we'll see you then.