G’arn then, somebodies got to….In Praise of Dai Yoonge

[RoyalBlue]

We were the only club in the championship to do the twenty is plenty. At a time when Leeds were charging £39. And he did pay for coaches for some of the long away trips.

Didn't we also get free mince pies and mulled wine before one Christmas home game?

[MouldyRoyal]

What happened to the alleged £200m he spent? That was listed as debt on one of his companies that owned the club before the sale, has it now been wiped?

Whose money was it as it seemed like he borrowed a lot of it from all sorts of people and secured it on our assets? Have the lenders taken a haircut?

On transactions like this, where the company being acquired owns money to the previous shareholder, usually the debt being written off is a requirement of the sale. Otherwise the club isn't worth anything as it is insolvent. Should be able to piece together what has happened based on Co's House filings eventually.

So yeah, Dai has likely lost millions on his purchase. whooops.

[Greatwesternline]

If when Dai was announced someone with a crystal ball would say he is going to spend about £150mn on the squad and about £50mn on building one of the best training ground set ups in the country people would not believe their luck.

What went wrong was poor footballing decisions by football people that he entrusted.

I will never ever ever get my head round spending so much money but making managerial appointments such as Gomes. WTAF was that.

[Meatwad]

He did some good things but overall was shit and needed different advisors.

I don't wish ill on the guy haha, but don't care if ever hear about him again either.

[Linden Jones' Tash]

What happened to the alleged £200m he spent? That was listed as debt on one of his companies that owned the club before the sale, has it now been wiped?

Whose money was it as it seemed like he borrowed a lot of it from all sorts of people and secured it on our assets? Have the lenders taken a haircut?

It's not alleged - its literally there in the latest accounts.....

We'll never know where it came from...

The length and complexity of the deal to buy the club probably had something to do with what happens to it.

Maybe we will find out when the next accounts are published....

I'm guessing it will never be fully cleared up...

[Green]

A name that lended itself to bad puns, even if that did risk crossing a line into casual racism at times

[ILoveMoonPig]

Was it him that got the club badge on a formula 1 car? That was pretty cool.

I have to add that absolutely delicious burrito stand outside the ground on match days, that was a superb decision. Best chicken burrito I've had outside of the town centre.

He would have had a solid 8 out of 10 from me if he'd followed up with a sequel to Lady Sassima's absolute banger!

We're the kings, of our land, they call us the rrooooyyyyyaaaaalllls!

[tidus_mi2]

There was a lot of positives really.

Training ground
Willingness to invest in playing staff (albeit shit and misguided)
Cheap tickets
Subsidising coach travel
Subsidising those expensive United tickets
Funding of the Cat 1 Academy
Funding of the women's team to keep them competitive in the top tier.

But it all really gets negated by the absolute atrocious way he handled the withdrawal of funding from the club.

[WestYorksRoyal]

There was a lot of positives really.

Training ground
Willingness to invest in playing staff (albeit shit and misguided)
Cheap tickets
Subsidising coach travel
Subsidising those expensive United tickets
Funding of the Cat 1 Academy
Funding of the women's team to keep them competitive in the top tier.

But it all really gets negated by the absolute atrocious way he handled the withdrawal of funding from the club.

Yep, there are no mitigations when you put the club's existence under threat.

[Ascotexgunner]

Always had the club's best interests at heart but was betrayed by his advisors and screwed by the EFL.

There's somthing in that. He was indeed absolutely screwed over on players who were in effect "sicknotes" and never worth what we paid. The Sam Baldock.... 5 Million... mystified me, even Joao from Sheffield Wed for 7 million when he was constantly injured there and warmed the bench a lot of the time. Agents really abused him. Then the decision on Liam Moore's ridiculous contract, I can't believe that was his decision, and nobody in their right mind would have appointed the clueless stream of managers we had.....

As mentioned, he kept prices down, funded free away travel and park and rides..... There are things to like about what he did. But the way he handled the problems when they started wasn't great.

I guess his downfall was his arrogance and nativity and refusing to be proved wrong.

[Crusader Royal]

We were the only club in the championship to do the twenty is plenty. At a time when Leeds were charging £39. And he did pay for coaches for some of the long away trips.

I don’t think that is quite correct. There were a couple of clubs did it for us when we visited (Cardiff ?) but you are right in that no one else just did it universally

We also had cheap or free access to some cracking age group games at the SCL. probably not really down to Dai personally but seeing us play Bayern, Ajax, Monaco etc etc was quite something.

[Forbury Lion]

Was it him that got the club badge on a formula 1 car? That was pretty cool.

No, that was the Russian Marussia team and it was under the stewardship of Anton Zingaravich, arguably a worse owner than Dai Yongge but perhaps better advised with regards to transfers etc.

[Forbury Lion]

Dai Yongge has done wonders for highlighting the ownership problem football has and future clubs may be saved as a result of lessons learn't and changes made as a result.

[MartinRdg]

Was it him that got the club badge on a formula 1 car? That was pretty cool.

No, that was the Russian Marussia team and it was under the stewardship of Anton Zingaravich, arguably a worse owner than Dai Yongge but perhaps better advised with regards to transfers etc.

I think AZ would definitely have been a worse owner if he actually had the money to spend wastefully.

[Snowflake Royal]

Was it him that got the club badge on a formula 1 car? That was pretty cool.

No, that was the Russian Marussia team and it was under the stewardship of Anton Zingaravich, arguably a worse owner than Dai Yongge but perhaps better advised with regards to transfers etc.

I think AZ would definitely have been a worse owner if he actually had the money to spend wastefully.

Maybe. I'd put him better. At least he oxf*rd off quickly, even if he did sign clowns on long contracts and big wages and leave us in a big financial hole. Too.