Club9Sports - Investment of Tranmere

Last night, I had a friend tell me about how Tranmere Rovers are being looked at by potential investors from America via Twitter (@Readingfanman), this group is called Club9Sports. Now at first I thought this was great. A club which really could  use investing in, instead of someone at the top, it was nice to hear a club could be invested in which could really use it to improve their club. However, all is not well with this investment as my friend explained, I understood why exactly he was so sceptical about the investment and why exactly he, and many other Tranmere fans didn't, and do not still want Club9Sports investing in their club.

Club9Sports is an investment group from America who have been investing in NBA teams mainly in America for the past decade or so, and are a group of about 6 businessmen. This is not their forst hop over the pond as such, with Sheffield Wednesday having been in their sights at the end of last season just after their relegation was confirmed from the Championship. A time when Wednesday could have done with some good news. However, Club9Sports are not good news by the looks of things for anyone.

Talks are currently at a very early stage, however I read around Club9Sports proposed takeover a bit more after inital discussions, and the group themselves are being treated with great caution by Tranmere fans who read of the £400,000 management fee that they wanted to take per year for running Sheffield Wednesday. To me, the investment strikes of a group looking to invest in the game where they have no knowledge and here for pure profit off the back of a club like Tranmere. Currently Tranmere have debts of around £5M, this however is owed to their chairman, Peter Johnson, who has made it public knowledge he has wanted to sell up for a number of years. However, this debt with him means that intrest is not being paid on it, unlike a regular bank loan, which Tranmere could get later down the line if Club9 ever decided to re-sell, leaving them in a worse position they are in currently. Sadly, an investment company for a club like Tranmere could really harm them in the long run with investors only involved for a profit, and not just having an individual running the club.

The last major point that I have found is a horrible charecter going by the name of Joe Kosich who seems to be the "deal broker" for Club9sports in the UK. He was the main push behind their bid for Sheffield Wednesday, and was also drafted in 2009 by Peter Johnson to try and sell Tranmere Rovers. The way he tried to do that? The same way anyone tries to sell something second hand, put them on Ebay. This caused Tranmere to become a laughing stock around the UK, with many people thinking it was a joke. Kosich claimed it was a publicity stunt, but he had no say, or no right from Johnson to do such a thing, giving the club a mound of bad publicity to deal with. His next move was at Sheffield Wednesday. He quickly signed up for different fans forums online, being so convinced that the deal was going through and that he was due a large sum of money for the role he had played. It of course went wrong, and he turned on the Yorkshire club, claiming there was "lack of support from Wednesday fans", and "Anti American views". Fans responded to him criticising his position, but he swiftly deleted these comments from the blog he had published and labelled them "Senseless south Yorkie gits".

Tranmere hopefully take heed of the fact that by being invested in a company with a businessman who conducts himself like that can only end badly. Peter Johnson, although not always well revered by the Rovers fans maybe currently better than the other option of being invested in from Club9Sports, and their deal broker Mr Joe Kosich.