The changing of the guard
Tranmere Crest
By David Sindall
September 21 2024
If media reports are to be believed, Mark and Nicola Palios are about to sell Tranmere Rovers to a consortium of investors led by US a lawyer Joe Tacopina. The dream is, apparently, to turn us into the new Wrexham. It is reported that negotiations are at a fairly advanced stage. It could be that the club is about to undergo major change.
Mark and Nicola Palios took over ownership of the club in 2014. They were too late to avoid relegation from the football League the following season but their stewardship saw the club rise from the National League to League 1. It was only the COVID pandemic that saw us ejected from League 1. It could be argued that we have never quite recovered from this blow and that much of the subsequent period has been treading water.
The Palios era hasn't delivered as much as was initially promised, but few would doubt that the hallmark of their stewardship has been a commitment to transparency and steps made to put Tranmere at the heart of the Wirral community. There is ample evidence that the club has worked hard to support the local community and work has taken place on and off the pitch to bring stability. We are now recognised as a well managed and stable business, the least you would expect from Mark Palios given his professional success in turning around failing businesses.
There has, however, been an emerging truth that is hard to ignore. The modern game requires owners with deep pockets not just sound business acumen. I have no idea how much Mark and Nicola are worth in financial terms, but they are not super rich or super wealthy. In the circumstances they have done the best they can to move us forward. Both are decent and respected individuals and we should be grateful for the stability they have brought to the club. Stability doesn't win promotion.
This is an era when clubs in the division above are paying out £10 million for strikers. It won't be long before much more investment is required to even stand still. Joe Tacopina has experience of running clubs in Italy. However, the Italian League have suspended Tacopina for 3 months following failure to settle tax payments on time. Allegedly, this is the reason why his takeover of Rovers has been delayed.
What comes next is anyone's guess, but it's clear that sooner or later the club will no longer be owned by Mark and Nicola. Lots of questions remain to be answered. Will the clubs new owners maintain the same openness and proximity to fans and the local community? Will investment be made in the team or in the stadia? Will ticket prices be kept affordable? In short will Tranmere Rovers still be the club we have loved and adored, warts and all, for so many years?
The status quo is not tenable, change has to happen, let's just hope that change delivers a continued commitment to our club values and some success.
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"but the wider Wirral hinterland has a population as great as Liverpool's and more prosperous"
***SPORTY VIKINGS - BBC Radio Merseyside with Sean Styles****
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2024:09:22:12:32:13 by Crazylegs Cranebird.
Quote:thanks bored doubt if any of us know ,so a few negative normans doesnt concern meBored rover
Knowing how the tax system and local and national government as a whole in Italy works, a late tax payment in Italy doesn't concern me much.
We can be a viable lower league club but I do not see anyway that we are likely produce significant financial returns?
The same question was easier to answer when MP took over but I cannot see obvious reasons now
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Quote:olivers armyCrazylegs Cranebird
Possibly because 400,000 people live on the Peninsula - Elvis Costello's Deadly Submarine is at last poised to pounce.......
Quote:Sports City known to some as Bidston TipDevonExile
So a simple question. Why do they want to buy Tranmere?
We can be a viable lower league club but I do not see anyway that we are likely produce significant financial returns?
The same question was easier to answer when MP took over but I cannot see obvious reasons now
Quote:DevonExile
So a simple question. Why do they want to buy Tranmere?
We can be a viable lower league club but I do not see anyway that we are likely produce significant financial returns?
The same question was easier to answer when MP took over but I cannot see obvious reasons now
Quote:DevonExile
So a simple question. Why do they want to buy Tranmere?
We can be a viable lower league club but I do not see anyway that we are likely produce significant financial returns?
The same question was easier to answer when MP took over but I cannot see obvious reasons now
Neither can I. We do have substantial assets though, which of course can be used to borrow money for the great surge to be.
From a supporter perspective what is our ambition? For me it it is to be a competitive and financially secure lower league club within the range of Div 1-2. The American interest is unlikely to be drawn to that prospect, but nor does it seem have the resources to sustain a more ambitious scenario..
For some, the pipedream of premier football, financed by a powerful backer, might look attractive. In contrast,, for all its frustrations, I like lower league football and would settle for us being well run..
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Tacopino if he buys in, will I suspect have to work hard to convince people he will not blitz the infrastructure, or stability of the club by trying too hard to monetise the pitch results, at the expense of common sense and sensibility.
Foreign owners have proven over the years that they are people to be weary of, but not all represent perilous or deficient overseers. Liverpool in the last 15 years have seen the ying and the yang of Amnerican owners; NESV being viewed more positively than the Hicks and Gilette period.
The problem some bankrollers have is the possibility thet emanate from a background of money, money, money.
As an example, right now 200 Saudi Riyals is just short of Β£40 in todays rates, but without looking, does a country like that have or ever have had, players making that sort of money and working 40 hours a week and playing infront of 100-150 fans a game.
Further investigation shows a 3rd division club with a 3,500 capacity stadium and another with a 6,000 capacity stadium, rather than olympic sized playing arenas, but no evidence that there is a Saudi version of Northwich Vics, or City Of Liverpool FC and I could not ascertain if those clubs were capable of spending above the Β£1,000,000 mark per year in Riyal terms.
Certainly however, I don't think you could call a Saudi team one with working class roots I would suspect and if foreign owners aren't used to a football pyramid steeped in that kind of background, like you would get in the UK and some of the European pyramids, then some might not appreciate a slow build approach to improvement and expect instant results, to the point of sacrificing the devlelopment of infrastructure, or even whittling it down to asset strip, just to have a crack at 2-3 straight promotions, rather than allow the promotions to be bankrolled over 6-10 years.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.