Independent Leyton Orient Forum

dOh Nut wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:53 am

Top of the West. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:41 am On the subject of Investment. Travis mentioned earlier this season in one of his podcast interviews that there is a publicity shy new investor in the back round who could easily buy the club outright, evidently very wealthy having been on the board of Pepsi for several years.

Personally I like the steady approach that T&T take with regard to finance, building the infrastructure of the club makes it more sustainable in the future.

I’m not too sure Teague is in it for the very long haul. I’m willing to bet the financial reality of his position has hit home and though I doubt he would look at cheap options as some have suggested, counter productive, the development of commercial activities are vital. Not too sure just how deep his pockets are and how long he could sustain significant losses, for what is a hobby.

So would he listen to offers, absolutely. Would he accept a decent offer, without doubt. And by creating a club with a solid on and off field base we become even more attractive to rich buyers. I’m sure it will happen at some point.

Top of the West. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:41 am On the subject of Investment. Travis mentioned earlier this season in one of his podcast interviews that there is a publicity shy new investor in the back round who could easily buy the club outright, evidently very wealthy having been on the board of Pepsi for several years.

Personally I like the steady approach that T&T take with regard to finance, building the infrastructure of the club makes it more sustainable in the future.

Thor wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 6:40 am Here is what he’s tweeted overnight.



most important objective is promotion to League 1. I believe this is something #OurClub must both deserve & achieve. We are planning for & working toward League 1 over the next 3-4 years. Deserving & achieving applies to the entire Club

I’d say he’s got ambition, don’t you?

Red_Army wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:45 am

Top of the West. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:41 am On the subject of Investment. Travis mentioned earlier this season in one of his podcast interviews that there is a publicity shy new investor in the back round who could easily buy the club outright, evidently very wealthy having been on the board of Pepsi for several years.

Personally I like the steady approach that T&T take with regard to finance, building the infrastructure of the club makes it more sustainable in the future.

Is this investor already signed up or are they still undecided? I don't listen to the podcasts so I wouldn't know.

bobo66 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:20 am

RientO wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:26 am I reckon Kent Teague believes play offs are achievable this season. He also tweeted he was disappointed they only had 16 points so far, as he expected 19. And 19 points is 8th, just outside the play off positions. As it stands Swindon in 7th are only 5 points away and not in good form. First priority is securing place in League Two, which now looks likely after last two wins. So next target has to be play offs.

Not from what I've seen!

Yes we have won the last 2 games, but the performance on Saturday didn't look like we have turned a corner. Let's just concentrate on securing League football this season and we can think about pressing on next season when we might have some better players.

eagwgw wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:33 pm Not really sure why we should assume it's a good thing.

As far as I can see, the club is financed by debt. The last accounts go up to 2018 and we lost over £2m in the last year, so perhaps this figure could be £5m at present.

At the last accounts the money was provided by a loan from Eagle Investments, interest free. Short of someone converting debt to equity it seems quite hard to improve on this deal. With the club projected to lose another £1m+ this season, the person's equity value would likely to be zero unless we got to the Championship, short of another Beelzebub coming along and wanting to pay over the odds.

After the horrors of what happened with Beelzebub one of the priorities must be this cannot happen again to our club, so a debt of millions to someone that we don't even know is not a good thing to me. Being a publicity-shy board member of one of the biggest companies in the world is an oxymoron to me, everyone will know who you are and what you look like from the annual reports. Coming out publicly to support a tiny football club would only raise his (or her) exposure by fractions of a percent.

Fans can get excited about 'investment' but if this is simply going to sit on our books as loans, there is no point. Having gotten ourselves back in the League I am prepared to be patient. If the owners business acumen can raise turnover here by 20-30% (difficult, but not impossible), that builds a platform for growth. Longer-term if we want Championship we have to move. The stats seem to show pretty well that there is no way to be a stable Championship club on average gates of under 9,000.

ComeOnYouOs wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:03 am I think league 1 football will happen sooner rather than later, but then I wonder if Championship football is a target.
Ive heard Kent say, the cost of just maintaining a team in the Championship is incredibly high.....I got the feeling he wouldnt be too interested
At the end of the day, he's a businessman pure and simple

Thor wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:00 am Kent mentioned about buying the ground / developing the ground or maybe a new one which isn't available right now. The investor has bought into what they are doing, they've bought into the long term vision, the path to where this club could go.

Lucky7 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:57 am

dOh Nut wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:53 am

Top of the West. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:41 am On the subject of Investment. Travis mentioned earlier this season in one of his podcast interviews that there is a publicity shy new investor in the back round who could easily buy the club outright, evidently very wealthy having been on the board of Pepsi for several years.

Personally I like the steady approach that T&T take with regard to finance, building the infrastructure of the club makes it more sustainable in the future.

I’m not too sure Teague is in it for the very long haul. I’m willing to bet the financial reality of his position has hit home and though I doubt he would look at cheap options as some have suggested, counter productive, the development of commercial activities are vital. Not too sure just how deep his pockets are and how long he could sustain significant losses, for what is a hobby.

So would he listen to offers, absolutely. Would he accept a decent offer, without doubt. And by creating a club with a solid on and off field base we become even more attractive to rich buyers. I’m sure it will happen at some point.

The same as I might go buy a bag of maltesers Today tomorrow next week
You do talk constant drivel

Top of the West. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:55 pm

Most businesses indeed virtually every FL Club will be financed with debt of some sort we are no different. In stark contrast to Beelzebub the current owners are pretty transparent about finance and open about loss and projected loss. Travis and Teague are astute business men and they will have a long term position, they believe they will be able to turn us into a self sustaining club in time and as that's what Teague does with his other businesses no reason to expect he will fail this time. If the new Investor doesn't want to show his hand that's entirely his prerogative the fact he has been brought on board by Travis is recommendation enough for me.

RientO wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:52 pm

bobo66 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:20 am

RientO wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:26 am I reckon Kent Teague believes play offs are achievable this season. He also tweeted he was disappointed they only had 16 points so far, as he expected 19. And 19 points is 8th, just outside the play off positions. As it stands Swindon in 7th are only 5 points away and not in good form. First priority is securing place in League Two, which now looks likely after last two wins. So next target has to be play offs.

Not from what I've seen!

Yes we have won the last 2 games, but the performance on Saturday didn't look like we have turned a corner. Let's just concentrate on securing League football this season and we can think about pressing on next season when we might have some better players.

Of next 5 games, three are against sides below Orient and whilst Plymouth and Grimsby are above The Os, it is only by 1 and 2 point respectively.
If Orient can get 11+ points from these games they should be well placed coming into end of year.

bobo66 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:18 pm

RientO wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:52 pm

bobo66 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:20 am

Not from what I've seen!

Yes we have won the last 2 games, but the performance on Saturday didn't look like we have turned a corner. Let's just concentrate on securing League football this season and we can think about pressing on next season when we might have some better players.

Of next 5 games, three are against sides below Orient and whilst Plymouth and Grimsby are above The Os, it is only by 1 and 2 point respectively.
If Orient can get 11+ points from these games they should be well placed coming into end of year.

I would suggest that 11+ points from 5 games is promotion form and we do not currently look like we are in promotion form.

RedO wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 1:07 pm

Top of the West. wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:55 pm

Most businesses indeed virtually every FL Club will be financed with debt of some sort we are no different. In stark contrast to Beelzebub the current owners are pretty transparent about finance and open about loss and projected loss. Travis and Teague are astute business men and they will have a long term position, they believe they will be able to turn us into a self sustaining club in time and as that's what Teague does with his other businesses no reason to expect he will fail this time. If the new Investor doesn't want to show his hand that's entirely his prerogative the fact he has been brought on board by Travis is recommendation enough for me.

This simply isn't true.

We've no idea who is currently financing our debt, nor what they're expecting from it.

When asked about why we are financed by loans rather than capital injections, we're told it's for tax reasons and it's just the way it is, not to worry our pretty little heads about it. (Nor our ugly old ones either).

We're also told that the loans will never be recalled, they're effectively written off, other than in the clubs accounts where they're not actually written off.

Let's be honest about the situation. All is good now. But it could easily change.

dOh Nut wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:00 pm The priority is securing our L2 status and evidence thus far suggests that will be achieved. The next target is challenging for the playoff places and despite some poor form from us I don’t really think we are too far behind many other teams in L2, assuming we sort out our defence. Player for player I believe we can compete.

But it would be nice if we finish in a decent league position. That will help when trying to attract the better, ambitious players to the club, the ones who don’t fancy a couple of seasons bouncing around at the bottom.

But promotion, maybe an ambition too far this season. Let the new guy come in, work with the team and sort out some issues whilst we continue to pick up enough points. Then, with some new players look to have a solid next season.

RientO wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:11 pm

dOh Nut wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 2:00 pm The priority is securing our L2 status and evidence thus far suggests that will be achieved. The next target is challenging for the playoff places and despite some poor form from us I don’t really think we are too far behind many other teams in L2, assuming we sort out our defence. Player for player I believe we can compete.

But it would be nice if we finish in a decent league position. That will help when trying to attract the better, ambitious players to the club, the ones who don’t fancy a couple of seasons bouncing around at the bottom.

But promotion, maybe an ambition too far this season. Let the new guy come in, work with the team and sort out some issues whilst we continue to pick up enough points. Then, with some new players look to have a solid next season.

I don’t see Orient getting into the top 3, but if they can make play offs then they can get up that way. Current top 6 are all in decent form and should contest the three automatic spots, but below them any club from Orient up could be 7th at season end.

RientO wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:52 pm Of next 5 games, three are against sides below Orient and whilst Plymouth and Grimsby are above The Os, it is only by 1 and 2 point respectively.
If Orient can get 11+ points from these games they should be well placed coming into end of year.

ComeOnYouOs wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:03 am I think league 1 football will happen sooner rather than later, but then I wonder if Championship football is a target.
Ive heard Kent say, the cost of just maintaining a team in the Championship is incredibly high.....I got the feeling he wouldnt be too interested
At the end of the day, he's a businessman pure and simple

Chicken Dhansak wrote: ↑Sat Oct 19, 2019 4:13 pm

ComeOnYouOs wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:03 am I think league 1 football will happen sooner rather than later, but then I wonder if Championship football is a target.
Ive heard Kent say, the cost of just maintaining a team in the Championship is incredibly high.....I got the feeling he wouldnt be too interested
At the end of the day, he's a businessman pure and simple

Yes, I think the club's future is bound by it's ground capacity. Even if full to the rafters at every single home game, it would
not generate the financial income to support a Championship side, even with advertising and sponsorship.