Hull now looking for new owners

Fingers crossed for Hull.

Why don't they make any money?
Decent rink, close rivals, decent crowds (or is that jut for panthers games?), get decent players.
What's the problem?

The decent crowds (as at most rival teams) generally only turn up when Panthers are in town.

Firstly I enjoyed visiting Hull, certainly it is small, but enclosed and intimate. I think for Panthers there were about 1,200. There were similar for Shuff - mentioned it before, but I would have thought more for the play off quarters, particularly when its just along the road.
For many other games its 800 or so. Cloutier bemoans his small budget and no wonder. Costs are obviously lower at a rink than at an arena, but it is obviously an uphill struggle to survive let alone compete with the top teams. Rick Strachan had a good go at trying to move them forward, but could not manage it.
On the crowds which they get getting into the semis of the play offs was quite an achievement. Presumably they will struggle to hang on to the likes of Tendler and maybe Silverthorn - assuming that they can remain in the Elite league. One hopes that they do get new owners and financial viability.

Its going to drag on ...which doesn't help the Stingrays at all
www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/Hull-Stingrays-quick-end-ownership-battle/story-15942824-detail/story.html

I really have to wonder why the whole thing is being so drawn out and so messy. It makes you wonder if Hull City Council actually want the Hull Stingrays and the whole Ice Hockey set up at all. The Council will look at it and see if it brings 'added value' or extra revenue to the City each weekend when the Stingrays are at home. Theres also the question is the Hull Arena financially viable for the City Council and are they trying to off load it to private ownership.

www.eliteleague.co.uk/new-owners-for-hull--p177552

Hull have new owners. Hope they can continue to be competitive and improve.

Those sort of checks dont work. Just look at Birmingham City, Rangers and Blackburn. Owners who are either getting done for money laundering, didnt have the money and blagged it or are just taking all the money they can out of the clubs for themselves. Same happened in Portsmouth and yet the FA, Premier leagues in both England and Scotland and those in the Football league all failed to protect those clubs from less than scrupulous owners.

So how a league which is ran by current owners could do any better, i just dont know. I mean if you look at all the instances that have occured over recent years.

Basingstoke. The owners that came in there had a great rep as owners of Bracknell. Had lead them successfully for many years. Then the recession took a hold, they over spent and the money didnt come in. Due Diligence there would never of caught that happening.

Sheffield. First off we had Mr and mrs Phillips. Both of whome had already been in charge of Cardiff for many years, didnt seem to be in too big a mess, plugged along each year covering costs and such. So When Sheffield needed a new owner they stepped in. Again they struggled and failed and had to be bailed out after first selling on their Cardiff Club to a consortium and then having to sell Sheffield to Ragan (who also bought Cardiff). Onto Ragan, Self proclaimed Millionaire nice guy, had already got his foot into the Elite league boardroom by taking over Cardiff and looking to be doing well with his "massive resources" so him taking over sheffield didnt seem to be too big a problem. But as it turns out it was and he failed and had to be bailed out himself while shrinking back to Cardiff and consolidating his finances there.

Coventry/Hull. The previous owners of Hull had for many years plugged along, needed help every now and then in the forms of loans from Neil Black and so forth. We knew they didnt have the funding and it was inevitable that someone should have to take over. So in steps the Coventry Lot, those who had run a very very successful tight ship, winning leagues and cups galore. Yet they too got hit by the downturn and couldnt properly run both clubs. Due Diligence there would of also not shown up these problems.

End of the day i dont think there is any sure way of looking at a company or individual and accessing if they can run the club they are to purchase efficiently. Especially with the limited resources a league like ours has.

Glad they now have new owners who share a love of the club and are local to that area. I wish them nothing but a bright secure future.

Glad you mentioned all those teams but didn't mentioned the one closest to home...

/sigh

I think BigLad was talking about Notts County, when Sven-Göran Eriksson was the manager.

ahhh forgot about that mess.