18-02-2022, 08:35 PM
I voted for the Tornante takeover and would do so again, albeit with reservations partly based on hindsight. I bought my share to help save the club when its existence was in extreme peril, and frankly I did not think too much about the long-term implications of being a football club owner (the idea of which I greatly enjoyed). I do know that I was not wealthy enough to bear liability for the investment needed to maintain the ground and climb back up the league pyramid. The Eisners have in my view kept pretty much kept to what they said they would do, so it is hard to complain too much, though I would have like speedier and more substantial redevelopment of FP. What has been most disappointing in my view has been the Academy. It never seemed to have a great reputation but actually as we know has produced some very successful players, Adam Webster, Matt Ritchie, Jed Wallace being just three. But as far as I recall, since the takeover not one player has come through the Academy and established himself as a reasonably regular first-teamer. Whether this can in any way be attributed to failings or lack of investment by Tornante, or poor Academy management and scouting, or is just coincidence I can't say. The outcome (or lack of) is the same. But at a time when we were consciously intending to use the Academy as part of our business model, the fact that the supply has dried up is very unfortunate.