Worst City Owners

Was just reading a post by Annis about what happened in the past, and it made me think about past owners (as Annis mentioned the Kumars)

Who have been the worst owners of City during your lifetime, and where does VT rank among them?

On the flip side, who is the best owner you've seen at the City, is SH up there? After all he saved us and was instrumental in where we are today

Was just reading a post by Annis about what happened in the past, and it made me think about past owners (as Annis mentioned the Kumars)

Who have been the worst owners of City during your lifetime, and where does VT rank among them?

On the flip side, who is the best owner you've seen at the City, is SH up there? After all he saved us and was instrumental in where we are today

Clemo = worst
Wright = best
Based on the worst / best times as a fan.

Kenton utilities post Bob Grogan (owner )passing.
Oversaw the slide down to the 4 th division.

It depends on your measure. Clemo and the Kumars had no money yet Tan has pumped millions into the club but is he a better owner? Despite going to the premier league his total disregard for the history and community of the club puts him along with Clemo and the Kumars. Rick Wright for me was the best. He was a visionary for the 'sleeping giant' and what the club can be.

Tan is the worst.

He tried to turn us red. End of discussion.

Tan is the worst.

He tried to turn us red. End of discussion.

He’s the worst for me by far, but I understand this is different for different people. His ego and pig headed attitude meant I had to take the painful decision to boycott my club.

Ps he didn’t try to turn us red, if he’d tried and listened to reason that would have been fine, he did turn us red and completely ripped our fanbase apart.

Tan is the worst.

He tried to turn us red. End of discussion.

He’s the worst for me by far, but I understand this is different for different people. His ego and pig headed attitude meant I had to take the painful decision to boycott my club.

Ps he didn’t try to turn us red, if he’d tried and listened to reason that would have been fine, he did turn us red and completely ripped our fanbase apart.

This is a bit of a dangerous thread⁰ because the criteria is subjective and will be different for everyone...

Tan made errors but not the worst by some distance when reality checks in and it could be argued that anyone who says they were 'forced' to boycott their club used it as an excuse when the real supporters stood by their club (not its owner) through thick and thin

Me? I'm just glad I have a club to support and on balance appreciate Tan's tenure but with some reservations

Worst owner(s): Kenton Utilities post Bob Grogan (he was taking us places before he sadly passed away)

Best owner: Sam for me; he galvanised the fan base and set the ball in motion...

Tan is the worst.

He tried to turn us red. End of discussion.

He’s the worst for me by far, but I understand this is different for different people. His ego and pig headed attitude meant I had to take the painful decision to boycott my club.

Ps he didn’t try to turn us red, if he’d tried and listened to reason that would have been fine, he did turn us red and completely ripped our fanbase apart.

This is a bit of a dangerous thread⁰ because the criteria is subjective and will be different for everyone...

Tan made errors but not the worst by some distance when reality checks in and it could be argued that anyone who says they were 'forced' to boycott their club used it as an excuse when the real supporters stood by their club (not its owner) through thick and thin...

Me? I'm just glad I have a club to support and on balance appreciate Tan's tenure but with some reservations

Worst owner(s): Kenton Utilities post Bob Grogan (he was taking us places before he sadly passed away)

Best owner: Sam for me; he galvanised the fan base and set the ball in motion...

Chris I agree completly with your post including your worst and best

Best owner for me was Rick Wright because he kept his word and was among one of the most enjoyable times watching city
Followed by Sam just because he reignited the club but he came with many flaws and never was able to finish the job because of that.
Worst for me was the Kumar’s just crooks in my opinion , who wanted their 15 minutes of fame.

Whenever Tan leaves, it'll be one of the most successfull phases in our history. As always though, very colourful.

I'd love us to be a club that runs well with the owners behind the scenes. How some of these end up with the finances to buy football clubs is a mystery.

A little shout out to the Kumar brothers.

Met them - the genuinely had the right intentions, loved football and knew what a big club we could be - unfortunately they didn't have the money to back that up.

Best owner for me was Rick Wright because he kept his word and was among one of the most enjoyable times watching city
Followed by Sam just because he reignited the club but he came with many flaws and never was able to finish the job because of that.
Worst for me was the Kumar’s just crooks in my opinion , who wanted their 15 minutes of fame.

Just mentioned the Kumar brothers... I thought they weren't crooks and had the right intentions, just no money.

Agree about Rick Wright... what a character who reignited us as a club. Sam took us to the next level and charisma was well suited to us, but he made plenty of mistakes along the way.

Difficult to place Tan - such a rollercoaster - at this point in time you have to say he's pretty poor as an owner... huge debts, ongoing court cases, a passive fan base, an awful rebrand BUT coupled with two promotions - but even they were pretty unsustainable in terms of return on investment - poor player purchases and warnocks football was never going to keep us up for long. Personally, I would put Tan as currently 'an opportunity missed' owner.

Last edited by AfricanBluebird on Thu Aug 17, 2023 9:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

This is a very interesting post because, if VT and MD take the best bits out of all our owners, then we would have an awesome management board with supporters on their side.

I mean for all his bad points VT still only has to do one thing to be "respected" - and that's listen to the supporters - treat us like family and not clients.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha
Sam Hammam
Dave Whelan
Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull Leipzig & Red Bull F1)
Tony Bloom

Ok there maybe one or two above which others might not agree with but one thing is for sure - whilst mistakes were made by all, each of them listened to their supporters and considered them "family"

Thats all VT and MD need to do.

I think sometimes people have the wrong idea of what success is.

Success is not finishing in the top 6 of the Premiership. Success is filling out a 38,000 seater stadium with people singing your name and adoring you.

This is a very interesting post because, if VT and MD take the best bits out of all our owners, then we would have an awesome management board with supporters on their side.

I mean for all his bad points VT still only has to do one thing to be "respected" - and that's listen to the supporters - treat us like family and not clients.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha
Sam Hammam
Dave Whelan
Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull Leipzig & Red Bull F1)
Tony Bloom

Ok there maybe one or two above which others might not agree with but one thing is for sure - whilst mistakes were made by all, each of them listened to their supporters and considered them "family"

Thats all VT and MD need to do.

I think sometimes people have the wrong idea of what success is.

Success is not finishing in the top 6 of the Premiership. Success is filling out a 38,000 seater stadium with people singing your name and adoring you.

Good points.

I would add success is also creating a sustainable club. We are way off that and every season we punt on success rather than building something through a long term strategy on and off the pitch.

This is a very interesting post because, if VT and MD take the best bits out of all our owners, then we would have an awesome management board with supporters on their side.

I mean for all his bad points VT still only has to do one thing to be "respected" - and that's listen to the supporters - treat us like family and not clients.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha
Sam Hammam
Dave Whelan
Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull Leipzig & Red Bull F1)
Tony Bloom

Ok there maybe one or two above which others might not agree with but one thing is for sure - whilst mistakes were made by all, each of them listened to their supporters and considered them "family"

Thats all VT and MD need to do.

I think sometimes people have the wrong idea of what success is.

Success is not finishing in the top 6 of the Premiership. Success is filling out a 38,000 seater stadium with people singing your name and adoring you.

Good points.

I would add success is also creating a sustainable club. We are way off that and every season we punt on success rather than building something through a long term strategy on and off the pitch.

Summed up very well. Excellent post.

Tan is the worst.

He tried to turn us red. End of discussion.

He’s the worst for me by far, but I understand this is different for different people. His ego and pig headed attitude meant I had to take the painful decision to boycott my club.

Ps he didn’t try to turn us red, if he’d tried and listened to reason that would have been fine, he did turn us red and completely ripped our fanbase apart.

This is a bit of a dangerous thread⁰ because the criteria is subjective and will be different for everyone...

Tan made errors but not the worst by some distance when reality checks in and it could be argued that anyone who says they were 'forced' to boycott their club used it as an excuse when the real supporters stood by their club (not its owner) through thick and thin

Me? I'm just glad I have a club to support and on balance appreciate Tan's tenure but with some reservations

Worst owner(s): Kenton Utilities post Bob Grogan (he was taking us places before he sadly passed away)

Best owner: Sam for me; he galvanised the fan base and set the ball in motion...

Agreed mate, all down to personal experience.

I loved Sam as he galvanised the fanbase as you said, and I invited him to my stag do (alcohol makes people do strange things) and he rang me and talked to me for ten minutes. Great touch and I’ll always remember that.

Tan is the worst.

He tried to turn us red. End of discussion.

He’s the worst for me by far, but I understand this is different for different people. His ego and pig headed attitude meant I had to take the painful decision to boycott my club.

Ps he didn’t try to turn us red, if he’d tried and listened to reason that would have been fine, he did turn us red and completely ripped our fanbase apart.

This is a bit of a dangerous thread⁰ because the criteria is subjective and will be different for everyone...

Tan made errors but not the worst by some distance when reality checks in and it could be argued that anyone who says they were 'forced' to boycott their club used it as an excuse when the real supporters stood by their club (not its owner) through thick and thin

Me? I'm just glad I have a club to support and on balance appreciate Tan's tenure but with some reservations

Worst owner(s): Kenton Utilities post Bob Grogan (he was taking us places before he sadly passed away)

Best owner: Sam for me; he galvanised the fan base and set the ball in motion...

Agreed mate, all down to personal experience.

I loved Sam as he galvanised the fanbase as you said, and I invited him to my stag do (alcohol makes people do strange things) and he rang me and talked to me for ten minutes. Great touch and I’ll always remember that.

Simon...

Sam is that type of guy. I know several om here who have had long chats for different reasons and all say how knowledgeable and approachable he is...

Tan by a country mile. Even in the dark days we still had Cardiff city AFC the bluebirds. He took that away for 2 and a half years

Tan by a country mile. Even in the dark days we still had Cardiff city AFC the bluebirds. He took that away for 2 and a half years

From you but not those who stayed to support the team on the field; without whom (the remaining supporters) the club would have ceased to exist...

It's an alternate thought of some merit...

Kumars

Personally, I can only remember protesting on the pitch when Kumar was in charge, one guy tried to run down the tunnel and got stopped by the stewards.

This is a very interesting post because, if VT and MD take the best bits out of all our owners, then we would have an awesome management board with supporters on their side.

I mean for all his bad points VT still only has to do one thing to be "respected" - and that's listen to the supporters - treat us like family and not clients.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha
Sam Hammam
Dave Whelan
Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull Leipzig & Red Bull F1)
Tony Bloom

Ok there maybe one or two above which others might not agree with but one thing is for sure - whilst mistakes were made by all, each of them listened to their supporters and considered them "family"

Thats all VT and MD need to do.

I think sometimes people have the wrong idea of what success is.

Success is not finishing in the top 6 of the Premiership. Success is filling out a 38,000 seater stadium with people singing your name and adoring you.

Good points.

I would add success is also creating a sustainable club. We are way off that and every season we punt on success rather than building something through a long term strategy on and off the pitch.

I don’t think that is possible for team outside the prem.

We aren’t facing court for unpaid tax bills or point deductions for unpaid wages. That is a sustainable club in many wages. We are being sustained by Tan’s generosity.

Tan by a country mile. Even in the dark days we still had Cardiff city AFC the bluebirds. He took that away for 2 and a half years

From you but not those who stayed to support the team on the field; without whom (the remaining supporters) the club would have ceased to exist...

It's an alternate thought of some merit...

I disagree with that, there were plenty of glory hunters ready to jump on the premier league bandwagon who were lecturing me on supporting my club. Don’t see any of them down there now. Gone back to supporting Liverpool and Man U.

Tan by a country mile. Even in the dark days we still had Cardiff city AFC the bluebirds. He took that away for 2 and a half years

From you but not those who stayed to support the team on the field; without whom (the remaining supporters) the club would have ceased to exist...

It's an alternate thought of some merit...

I disagree with that, there were plenty of glory hunters ready to jump on the premier league bandwagon who were lecturing me on supporting my club. Don’t see any of them down there now. Gone back to supporting Liverpool and Man U.

That is correct but they are a group of their own and we've seen that over the years at specific periods, including promotions and cup games...

We were discussing those who left the club (some after many years) rather than sticking with it. It's an emotive topic but one that is for the consciences of those who stayed (supporting the team not the owner) and those who left for varying reasons; somr of which were an excuse rather than totally down to the owner

Tan by a country mile. Even in the dark days we still had Cardiff city AFC the bluebirds. He took that away for 2 and a half years

From you but not those who stayed to support the team on the field; without whom (the remaining supporters) the club would have ceased to exist...

It's an alternate thought of some merit...

I disagree with that, there were plenty of glory hunters ready to jump on the premier league bandwagon who were lecturing me on supporting my club. Don’t see any of them down there now. Gone back to supporting Liverpool and Man U.

That is correct but they are a group of their own and we've seen that over the years at specific periods, including promotions and cup games...

We were discussing those who left the club (some after many years) rather than sticking with it. It's an emotive topic but one that is for the consciences of those who stayed (supporting the team not the owner) and those who left for varying reasons; somr of which were an excuse rather than totally down to the owner

Fair point mate. I could never walk away completely and it was a struggle to remain steadfast to the boycott.

I can’t wait for Tan to leave so we can all move in from it.

Tan by a country mile. Even in the dark days we still had Cardiff city AFC the bluebirds. He took that away for 2 and a half years

From you but not those who stayed to support the team on the field; without whom (the remaining supporters) the club would have ceased to exist...

It's an alternate thought of some merit...

I disagree with that, there were plenty of glory hunters ready to jump on the premier league bandwagon who were lecturing me on supporting my club. Don’t see any of them down there now. Gone back to supporting Liverpool and Man U.

That is correct but they are a group of their own and we've seen that over the years at specific periods, including promotions and cup games...

We were discussing those who left the club (some after many years) rather than sticking with it. It's an emotive topic but one that is for the consciences of those who stayed (supporting the team not the owner) and those who left for varying reasons; somr of which were an excuse rather than totally down to the owner

Definitely Ian, the amount of fans who left due to Tan/Red etc was a trickle at first but became a huge number once we were relegated back to the championship.

In fact a lot actually stopped supporting citing the above once we were back in blue.