Sunday, 18 October 2009
David Sullivan
"David Sullivan is ready to make a move to buy Charlton Athletic and not West Ham as he looks for a new home after quitting Birmingham. The multi-millionaire porn baron has his sights on The Valley for a deal to buy the League One high-fliers and turn them into a Premier League side."
Do we even want this to be true? What do you think to our potential owners being a porn baron or two? The story goes on to say that Sullivan may well recruit his long term business partner David Gold in any planned bid. Their combined wealth according to the the most recent Times Rich List is £750m.
Today's Sunday People story doesn't include any attributable quotes and since Sullivan and Gold announced their attentions to leave Birmingham City they have been connected to almost every club south of the Watford Gap.
Sullivan bought Birmingham in 1993 and his first decision was to install 23-year-old Karren Brady as managing director. Sullivan oversaw relegation to the 3rd tier but Barry Fry won them promotion in 1994/95. Those years with Fry, Brady and Sullivan brought comedic media attention but after Fry, Sullivan made a popular decision by bringing in City hero Trevor Francis. 5 years later Sullivan replaced Francis with Steve Bruce who finally took City into the Premiership 9 years after Sullivan bought the club and 16 years since they were last in the top flight.
One could argue (quite convincingly) that in the time Sullivan was chairman of Birmingham they were nowhere near as successful as Charlton under Murray. Nevertheless their is no argument as to the current positions of the two clubs.
I don't really want our community club to be associated with the porn industry, although Sullivan was becoming quite a part of the FA and Premier League establishment and in these times of dodgy club ownerships, Sullivan nor Gold would have trouble passing the fit and proper Football League test.
Do I live in a dreamworld where a good intentioned Charlton fan can buy into the club or a Saudi Prince looking for a long-term investment sweeps us of our feet? Probably, well almost certainly. Can David Sullivan lead us honourably back to the big time utilising the skills of Richard Murray? I'm not so sure. ¶ 16:05
Do we even want this to be true? What do you think to our potential owners being a porn baron or two? The story goes on to say that Sullivan may well recruit his long term business partner David Gold in any planned bid. Their combined wealth according to the the most recent Times Rich List is £750m.
Today's Sunday People story doesn't include any attributable quotes and since Sullivan and Gold announced their attentions to leave Birmingham City they have been connected to almost every club south of the Watford Gap.
Sullivan bought Birmingham in 1993 and his first decision was to install 23-year-old Karren Brady as managing director. Sullivan oversaw relegation to the 3rd tier but Barry Fry won them promotion in 1994/95. Those years with Fry, Brady and Sullivan brought comedic media attention but after Fry, Sullivan made a popular decision by bringing in City hero Trevor Francis. 5 years later Sullivan replaced Francis with Steve Bruce who finally took City into the Premiership 9 years after Sullivan bought the club and 16 years since they were last in the top flight.
One could argue (quite convincingly) that in the time Sullivan was chairman of Birmingham they were nowhere near as successful as Charlton under Murray. Nevertheless their is no argument as to the current positions of the two clubs.
I don't really want our community club to be associated with the porn industry, although Sullivan was becoming quite a part of the FA and Premier League establishment and in these times of dodgy club ownerships, Sullivan nor Gold would have trouble passing the fit and proper Football League test.
Do I live in a dreamworld where a good intentioned Charlton fan can buy into the club or a Saudi Prince looking for a long-term investment sweeps us of our feet? Probably, well almost certainly. Can David Sullivan lead us honourably back to the big time utilising the skills of Richard Murray? I'm not so sure. ¶ 16:05
