Relatively speaking mate, we are.
________________________________
From: Leedslist <leedslist-boun...@gn.apc.org> on behalf of Nicholas Armit via
Leedslist <leedslist@gn.apc.org>
Sent: Tuesday, 15 October 2019 12:47 AM
To: Andy Brown <a...@andybrown.co.uk>; Matt Anderson <m...@leeds-united.net>
Cc: Leeds List <leedslist@gn.apc.org>
Subject: Re: [LU] Times Article
But we are not shit.
On Monday, October 14, 2019, 11:55:02 AM EDT, Matt Anderson
<m...@leeds-united.net> wrote:
I think I would still rather be shit than have Qatari investment. No one gives
Man City any credit for where they are.
Sent from my iPhone
> On 14 Oct 2019, at 16:46, Andy Brown <a...@andybrown.co.uk> wrote:
>
> IZZANI INTERVIEW
> Andrea Radrizzani: New Qatar investor ‘can get Leeds up to level of Man City’
>
> Andrea Radrizzani tells Martyn Ziegler that he is considering three offers
> for stake in club
>
> Martyn Ziegler, Chief Sports Reporter
> October 14 2019, 12:01am, The Times
>
> Radrizzani insists that whatever happens at Leeds he wants to remain involved
> DANIEL HAMBURY/PA
> Share
> Save
>
> Leeds United celebrate 100 years of existence this week and at this pivotal
> moment their owner has revealed he is considering an offer from Qatar to take
> the club to a level where they could “compete with Manchester City”.
>
> The biggest sleeping giant in English football has already stirred. If Andrea
> Radrizzani, their owner, goes through with the sale of a stake in the club to
> Qatari Sports Investment (QSI) or two other rich investors then it could be
> time to write a new chapter in the giant’s fairytale.
>
> “I’m giving you more information than I ever gave to anyone,” says
> Radrizzani, over coffee in a Leeds hotel. The Italian says he views himself
> as a custodian of the club, and that bringing in a big investor would help to
> achieve his vision of taking Leeds to the very top of the beanstalk.
>
> Qatar looks to be in pole position — QSI is run by Nasser al-Khelaifi, the
> president of Paris Saint-Germain, and a close friend from when Radrizzani’s
> previous firm, MP & Silva, was selling football TV rights and Khelaifi was
> buying them for beIN Sport. He will not reveal the identities of the other
> two under consideration, other than to say that one is a hugely wealthy Leeds
> fan based in the United States and the other the owner of an unidentified
> Italian club.
>
> “I have been approached by more than 20 parties and I have selected these
> three,” Radrizzani says.
>
>
> “The option of Qatar Sports Investment and Nasser — first of all they are
> friends, we have had a good relationship for a long time. Secondly, they have
> the possibility to bring this club to compete with Manchester City, so for
> the fans that could be a fantastic opportunity.
>
> “The second is based in America, he’s a big fan of Leeds United since he was
> a child, and I like that.
>
> “Another one is the owner of an Italian club. With another club you can
> create synergy to be more competitive and to target the Premier League — we
> could maybe get a loan to increase the quality of the team.”
>
> Radrizzani, who bought Leeds in instalments of £20 million in December 2016
> and £25 million in May 2017, does not rule out selling a majority stake but
> insists that whatever happens he wants to remain involved.
>
> “The most important thing for me is to make this club big again,” he says.
> “When I will open the door to others I don’t know, hopefully when we are in
> the Premier League. The financial support would be more important in the
> Premier League.
>
> “When it will be done, it doesn’t matter which share [I have], it matters
> that I can continue my project and also have the support to build this club
> back again.
>
>
> Radrizzani said Bielsa’s rigorous methods were just what were needed to sort
> Leeds out
> ARRON GENT/JMP/REX
> “L’appetito vien mangiando, as we say in Italy — appetite comes while you are
> eating. I don’t need to sell but it is important to listen because I always
> remember I am a custodian of the club. If it was my own business I would
> treat it a bit differently.”
>
> Many figures from Leeds’s past, including from the glory days of the 1970s,
> will be invited back to Elland Road to celebrate the centenary on Saturday,
> when Birmingham City visit. Talk of the 1970s prompts Radrizzani to say
> “Dirty Leeds!” before adding: “We try to clean up the image of the club and I
> think that’s the right approach for the next generation. At the same time we
> need to keep the graft and passion of that team.”
>
> There have been mighty changes at Leeds in the 2½ years since he took full
> control. He bought the stadium back in 2017, 13 years after it had been sold
> to reduce debt, and the next step is a new training base and academy, a
> stone’s throw from Elland Road. In 2017, there were only two academy players
> playing for national teams at youth level; now there are 14.
>
> Appointing Marcelo Bielsa, the talismanic Argentine manager — and persuading
> him to stay after promotion proved elusive — was also a declaration of intent.
>
> Radrizzani is open about the financial implications, saying: “It is very
> expensive, I invested over £90 million — with this level of money you could
> own a Europa League club in most of the European leagues, including Italy.
>
> “The club makes losses, in this league it is impossible not to. We are still
> paying the consequences of my first year because I was inexperienced and we
> made some expensive mistakes with players.
>
> “But we haven’t stopped investing. Bielsa and his staff cost £6 million [a
> year], we bought many other players and I think we have a squad to be
> promoted. It’s financially not sustainable to keep this level of salary which
> is now over £30 million, probably £33 million with Marcelo and closer to £40
> million with the coaches.”
>
> To get Bielsa, 64, was a coup — he is vastly experienced, including lengthy
> spells in charge of the Argentina and Chile national teams. His rigorous
> coaching methods, says Radrizzani, were just what were needed to sort Leeds
> out.
>
>
> After starting the season unbeaten in seven matches, Leeds wobbled going into
> the international break with defeats away to Millwall and Charlton Athletic
> on successive Saturdays, but they remain just two points off top spot.
>
> “We needed to set a culture of work ethic, when I arrived we were living in
> mediocrity,” Radrizzani added. “Finding a man like him [Bielsa], who some
> people might say is fixed in the methodology of 20 years ago, was needed. He
> was fascinated by the challenge, as I was.”
>
> Radrizzani has been a fierce critic of the Football League for allowing
> owners of other Championship clubs to buy their own stadiums via another
> company to get past financial fair play [FFP] rules, and he reveals that he
> was approached by Middlesbrough to take part in their legal action against
> the league on the issue.
>
> “The rules were not written in a way to avoid a conflict of interest and to
> shortcut FFP — 100 per cent it should change, it needs to be clear for the
> future,” he says. “Middlesbrough approached us to sue about the other clubs.
> In principle I agreed with them but decided not to do it because I wanted to
> focus on the football.”
>
> Instead, it was Leeds who found themselves in breach of rules last season
> over the Spygate scandal, which led to a £200,000 fine after Bielsa sent an
> employee to watch Derby County training. That is now in the past, says
> Radrizzani, and has brought Leeds closer together. “We have a lot of haters,
> and that was a great occasion to come against us. It made us stronger and we
> are very proud to have haters.”
>
> As to Leeds being a sleeping giant, Radrizzani says the slumber is over:
> “He’s awake. Now he has to make more noise.”
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On 14 Oct 2019, at 16:13, Tim Leslie <t...@3lv.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Just followed a tweet about a Times interview with AR claiming he has three
>> offers on the table for a stake in the club, including a (The originally
>> muted?) Qatar one that "Could transform us into the next Man City" - It's a
>> subscription service (Which I don't have) Anyone read it? Got a copy?
>>
>> Ta
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