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Qatar Sheikh Wanting To Buy NRL Club

possm

Coach
Messages
15,587
No, I was not have a bit of fun. I 100% believed that the Michael Ibrahim who is the Sheik's friend was John and Sam's brother. Maybe I am wrong? lol

I did think it was interesting that they referred to Michael Ibrahim as an entrepreneur in the article I read.

For goodness sakes. Surely any application for an NRL franchise would be vetted. The Doust, Board and coaching staff proxies on this forum are rightly becoming worried that there may well be some real chance that this take-over will progress.

Just imagine having enough cash outside of the salary cap to buy the very best training facilities and the very best coaching staff available. With the current TPA scheme the Dragons would be in-stoppable.
 

Dragsters

First Grade
Messages
5,331
For goodness sakes. Surely any application for an NRL franchise would be vetted. The Doust, Board and coaching staff proxies on this forum are rightly becoming worried that there may well be some real chance that this take-over will progress.

Just imagine having enough cash outside of the salary cap to buy the very best training facilities and the very best coaching staff available. With the current TPA scheme the Dragons would be in-stoppable.

...and hopefully unstoppable as well.

Seriously though, it certainly sounds a lot more interesting than the status quo possm and there are plenty in here that crave that, at the very least, I'd say...
 

John moz

Juniors
Messages
617
ASAP dragons need this to be a done deal .We need to be back to the glory days new stadium and training facilitys also a first class coach and owner .
 

Simon

Juniors
Messages
595
Need to be very careful with this. For mine there would need to be a lot of detail in the contract around protecting certain aspects of our club. I'd also be concerned around the clauses in the contract with what he can and can't do to sell the club if he wanted to in the future.

At least with Gordon you know his family are fans - here I'm not to sure what to think.

Not saying that I don't want to see this happen, but it needs to be the right deal first and foremost.
 

Gareth67

First Grade
Messages
8,406
Need to be very careful with this. For mine there would need to be a lot of detail in the contract around protecting certain aspects of our club. I'd also be concerned around the clauses in the contract with what he can and can't do to sell the club if he wanted to in the future.

At least with Gordon you know his family are fans - here I'm not to sure what to think.

Not saying that I don't want to see this happen, but it needs to be the right deal first and foremost.

Well said Simon , that is exactly what all Dragon fans should be concerned about , more so , should this bid become a reality .
 

Old Kogarah Boy 1

First Grade
Messages
5,415
Need to be very careful with this. For mine there would need to be a lot of detail in the contract around protecting certain aspects of our club. I'd also be concerned around the clauses in the contract with what he can and can't do to sell the club if he wanted to in the future.

At least with Gordon you know his family are fans - here I'm not to sure what to think.

Not saying that I don't want to see this happen, but it needs to be the right deal first and foremost.

Agreed........ Privatisation must include clauses that the new owner must abide by or should they default, the nrl can reclaim the ‘ownership / licence.

# ‘Returns’ the club back to the nrl / fans, if the owner goes belly up.

# The club colours and playing strip must not be tampered with.

( Cardiff City Football Club main colour was blue until new Asian owner decided he wanted red. He has since reverted back to blue after pissing off the club fans for several years)

# The club name must not be changed.
( Hull City Football Club Egyptian owner wanted to change the 100 year old club name to Hull Tigers until the fans revolted. He then put the club up for sale and refused to invest any further.

# Investment minimum must be set.
( we wouldn’t want a situation like Newcastle United in England where the owner refuses to invest in decent players.)
 
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Saint_JimmyG

First Grade
Messages
5,067
A wishy washy article from the DT
Typical Dean Ritchie garbage
No direct quotes from the sheik
Michael Ibrahim is probably mates with Dean Ritchie and wanted to get his name in the papers.

This Qatari family is worth $60 billion. The Sheik is worth $3 billion. What 'huge benefits' could be used to entice a bloke worth that much money to buy us? He gets to hang out with Doust? He can have a meal with McGregor at Dapto RSL?

If you believe this story can I offer you some magic beans at a very good price?

Apparently, the Loch Ness Monster is also real.

It must have been a sluggish day at 'is your news limited'?
 

monsterkev

Juniors
Messages
477
Agreed........ Privatisation must include clauses that the new owner must abide by or should they default, the nrl can reclaim the ‘ownership / licence.

# ‘Returns’ the club back to the nrl / fans, if the owner goes belly up.

# The club colours and playing strip must not be tampered with.

( Cardiff City Football Club main colour was blue until new Asian owner decided he wanted red. He has since reverted back to blue after pissing off the club fans for several years)

# The club name must not be changed.
( Hull City Football Club Egyptian owner wanted to change the 100 year old club name to Hull Tigers until the fans revolted. He then put the club up for sale and refused to invest any further.

# Investment minimum must be set.
( we wouldn’t want a situation like Newcastle United in England where the owner refuses to invest in decent players.)
your talking soccer where clubs earn hundreds of millions of dollars and pay players 100 times more per season than the best nrl players I don't even think they have a salary cap
its a case of who spends the most wins
realistically he would only spend 10 mil maybe of his own money per year which would be peanuts for him
I would not make any comparisons to English premier league
the club playing strip has already been f**ked around with many times over the years with pink,superhero,away,home,anzac clash,indiginous theres probably half a dozen more
so I'm happy if we keep the name,colours,traditional jersey most games and a shit load of cash being injected and also happy with nrl taking control if he doesn't pay the bills
 

Emu01

Juniors
Messages
833
Let’s give the him a go. He couldn’t go much worse than Doust has performed over the last 15 years.

A change is what we need, new ideas new management new coach.

Sign him up before he walks away I say.

Doust start packing your bags now. Mary you can pack your bags as well.
 

possm

Coach
Messages
15,587
Let’s give the him a go. He couldn’t go much worse than Doust has performed over the last 15 years.

A change is what we need, new ideas new management new coach.

Sign him up before he walks away I say.

Doust start packing your bags now. Mary you can pack your bags as well.
Other Clubs would be rushing to take advantage of such an opportunity and I'd say that there would be every chance that the NRL would prefer the Sheik invest in one of there failed franchises instead.

Just the same it seems as though we are in the box seat and so, should be hastily doing everything possible to cement a deal. The NRL will be involved in the same way they have been involved with the Gordon / WIN deal, only with this deal the Sheik will be offering a cash repayment of the $6m debt, not payment for TV advertisements.

A fully cashed up Club would allow us to pay for all the goodies outside of the cap such as top grade training facilities, the best coaching staff, a professional management team, possibly upgraded stadia that not only has a roof that retracts but also makes the best use of public transport i.e. bus and train station under the stadiums and a multi story car park adjacent to the complex - Suncorp stadium with a roof that retracts and bus and train stations under.
 

BigBoss

Juniors
Messages
142
The devil is in the details however I say give him a go.

I could really get behind a brand new stadium, state of the art facilities, better car parking, the skies the limit really. We can play most of our home games there and have a heritage match at kogarah once a year. No more of this going back and forth between kogarah and wollongong cock flexing stuff, it's been 20 years for god's sake.

Money is power, just imagine the possibilities. Any coach we want. The very best training facilities. The best attacking/defensive coaches ect. The ability to finally become a super power again. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
 

BigBoss

Juniors
Messages
142
As long as the guys intentions are in the right place and he doesnt fook with the brand it's worth a shot imo.
 

Saint_JimmyG

First Grade
Messages
5,067
We want the Sheik! In Sheik we trust.

I'd rather us play the odd home game in Doha rather than Homebush or the SFS.

Pre-merger I'd have said no thanks, but happy to go full potato now and sell out.

Taking the piss reaches a new benchmark!

And, it still wasn't a bloody merger.
 

Coffs dragon

Bench
Messages
4,247
The devil is in the details however I say give him a go.

I could really get behind a brand new stadium, state of the art facilities, better car parking, the skies the limit really. We can play most of our home games there and have a heritage match at kogarah once a year. No more of this going back and forth between kogarah and wollongong c**k flexing stuff, it's been 20 years for god's sake.

Money is power, just imagine the possibilities. Any coach we want. The very best training facilities. The best attacking/defensive coaches ect. The ability to finally become a super power again. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
Big Boss I agree with the idea of one facility & one home ground instead of this 50/50 spread to please the old boys factions.
It's the Elephant in the Room with our club and needs to be addressed for the future. I truely believe the Gong and South Coast region is our future and the money should be poured into a Hight Performance, Training Facilities and a modern state of the art Home Ground in the Illawarra.
I am an old St.George resident and Saints supporter & I concede that Kogarah has no future in a over saturated Sydney RL team market with the changing cultural demographic of the district. I just about cry driving past the old Taj Mahal and the sad shithole it has become. Everybody I grew up with and went to watch Saints games religiously, have all left the area. It's time to turn off the lights and move ahead not sink in the weight of the past!
Play the Charity Shield and the Retro Round at Kogarah only and the rest should be at our home and base in the Gong with a cash injection from the Sheikh or WIN.
 

KiamaSaint

Coach
Messages
17,455
Big Boss I agree with the idea of one facility & one home ground instead of this 50/50 spread to please the old boys factions.
It's the Elephant in the Room with our club and needs to be addressed for the future. I truely believe the Gong and South Coast region is our future and the money should be poured into a Hight Performance, Training Facilities and a modern state of the art Home Ground in the Illawarra.
I am an old St.George resident and Saints supporter & I concede that Kogarah has no future in a over saturated Sydney RL team market with the changing cultural demographic of the district. I just about cry driving past the old Taj Mahal and the sad shithole it has become. Everybody I grew up with and went to watch Saints games religiously, have all left the area. It's time to turn off the lights and move ahead not sink in the weight of the past!
Play the Charity Shield and the Retro Round at Kogarah only and the rest should be at our home and base in the Gong with a cash injection from the Sheikh or WIN.

Yeah, I am not convinced the South Coast is the future. There has never been a consistently successful sporting team in the region that has garnered genuine support. I am very skeptical that there ever will be.
 

Simon

Juniors
Messages
595
your talking soccer where clubs earn hundreds of millions of dollars and pay players 100 times more per season than the best nrl players I don't even think they have a salary cap
its a case of who spends the most wins
realistically he would only spend 10 mil maybe of his own money per year which would be peanuts for him
I would not make any comparisons to English premier league
the club playing strip has already been f**ked around with many times over the years with pink,superhero,away,home,anzac clash,indiginous theres probably half a dozen more
so I'm happy if we keep the name,colours,traditional jersey most games and a shit load of cash being injected and also happy with nrl taking control if he doesn't pay the bills

Wealthy businessmen don't become wealthy by investing money into something for nothing. I can't see him putting in 10 million a year for no return - he'd want to at least break even at some point.
 

Coffs dragon

Bench
Messages
4,247
Yeah, I am not convinced the South Coast is the future. There has never been a consistently successful sporting team in the region that has garnered genuine support. I am very skeptical that there ever will be.
Kiama Saint if that is the case, what is the point in a joint venture/merge? The club has more supporters in QLD with the Dragons Army and could have relocated as a single entity.
 
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