Granada CF to be sold ?

Discussion in 'The Hornets' Nest - Watford Chat' started by magic, Jan 14, 2016.

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  1. magic

    magic Statto & Vordamen's lovechild

    A friend sent this on to me this morning.

    http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Liga/13-01-2016/granada-vendita-pozzo-trattano-una-cordata-imprenditori-cinesi-140258232927.shtml

    Translated via Google

    Personally I think it makes sense that they would want to focus on Udinese & Watford.
     
  2. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    Will Pozzo be able to get his biggest assets out of the club beforehand though? (Success and Peñaranda) or will he have to admit defeat and sign off on them too?

    Perhaps they're owned by Udinese?? Not sure.
     
  3. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

  4. magic

    magic Statto & Vordamen's lovechild

    Their value would only increase the value of Granada as a club, I doubt they would want to strip the club.
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2016
  5. LPC213

    LPC213 Reservist

    Seems odd timing what with La Liga changing the TV money.

    Was Granada ever purchased for the profitability? I always thought it was a route to EU eligibility for the talent in south America...
     
  6. bowzer

    bowzer Academy Graduate

    I'm not too sure this is a good move.
    Spain has a more relaxed immigration law then both Italy and England, so it's far easier to get foreign players into Spain to get an EU passport that allows them to play anywhere in Europe.

    Unless the Pozzo's will rely on loaning incoming Udinese/Watford players out to Spanish clubs they've retained contact with.
     
  7. UEA_Hornet

    UEA_Hornet First Team Captain

    It's probably fair to say it's going to cost a lot of money to take Granada to the next level - ie. long term stability and not fighting relegation every season in La Liga. If the clubs have to be self-sustaining that just doesn't work for them. And frankly the benefits around importing players pretty much evaporate if they're relegated anyway.
     
  8. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    i imagine Granada supporters love us.
     
  9. Layton

    Layton First Team

    You best let them know ASAP
     
  10. miked2006

    miked2006 Premiership Prediction League Proprietor

    I'm sure Gino just doesn't have time to pay them enough attention.

    If they go down he will lose a lot of money so I can see why he wants to do it now, with the window open.
     
  11. Steve Leo Beleck

    Steve Leo Beleck Squad Player

    Very strong denial issued by Gino here (in Spanish):

    http://granadacf.ideal.es/noticias/201601/14/pozzo-recibo-llamadas-todos-20160114001034.html

    Nuts and bolts of it, he often receives calls from people wanting to buy Granada but he's not interested in selling. The club has a strong identity and is part of the long-term project. He has had some contact with a Chinese group of investors but they are looking at working together commercially and they would not become shareholders.

    Bearing in mind Gino hardly ever speaks to the press, I'd say this statement probably accurately sums up the situation and has been released to put the supporters' minds at rest.
     
  12. El distraído

    El distraído Johnny Foreigner

    This was very interesting article to read last night. Yes the timing may look a little strange, but there are factors involved here that will work both in Pozzo's favour, and against him also.

    Whilst Granada have had a fairytale rise from administration and bankruptcy in the 3rd division to playing the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid in la liga season after season, it could be argued that due to several factors, Pozzo has taken Granada as far as he can, and I shall explain each ot these below.

    Pros

    1. Though the revenue from the TV deal has been leveled out and clubs will start to see the benefit from next season, the amount of money to be made is still incomparible to that of the TV deal in the English Premier League. If anyone wants to make money, it is far wiser to invest in an English club in the hopes that it reaches the riches and glory of the Premier League. Personally I believe that Real Madrid and Barcelona will always have a monopoly on La Liga, and this is only another reason why Granada will never be seen as the jewel of the Pozzo empire, no matter how much success it finds.

    2. Time and money is invested in Granada CF, but it surely can't be a coincidence that every time I watch a Granada game on TV, the side is plauged by silly mistakes and a total lack of discipline. That's nothing new this season either. Granada has been fighting relegation from La Liga for the past few seasons now, and perhaps Pozzo has decided that enough is enough, and he's taken them as far as he can.

    3. If Granada are to be relegated, better to cash out right now than in 6 months time, when their value drops should they be relegated to the 2nd division.

    4. As football fans, we tend to look at our owners and only see machines that see facts and figures on a whiteboard, and move accordingly in the market. Let's not forget though that behind these 'machines' are in fact people with real emotions. Whilst Pozzo will be undoubtedly delighted at the success that Watford have had this season, at the same time perhaps he laments the fact that he has not had as much time as he would have liked to work on the Granada project. With more time and attention, maybe he thinks that Granada would have found more success by now and maybe even become an established, mid-table club season-after-season that the fans can truly be proud of. Selling Granada would allow Pozzo to not make the same mistake with Udinese, and consolidate Watford's position in the Premier League.

    5. With the deal on the table from the Chinese, perhaps Pozzo is happy to cash out now and start the whole fairlytale journey again with another Spanish club in the 3rd division. Sell for €40m, buy for €10, 5 years later sell again for €40m and buy another club for €10m. I'm no mathmatician but that's making a huge profit!

    Cons

    1. South American footballers that do not hold an EU passport have only to play in Spain for 2 years until they are granted a Spanish passport and are able to move freely around the EU. For Latin American talent, this is a huge benefit to our owners.

    2. Recent investments have been made into the training ground at CF Granada, and there are several talented players on the books at the club (and those are only the ones we know about). Selling the club would also wave goodbye to the likes of Success and Peñaranda. Though their potential values in 2/3/4 years time could be thrown into the value of the club when negotiating the deal to sell, estimation will have to do and there is simply no way of knowing just how far Success and Peñaranda can go.

    If a sale goes through, what next for Pozzo?

    As I suggested above, perhaps invest part of the €40m back into a new, third club in Spain with the aim of replicating the journey. We have some Premier League cash to help out, and Udinese have many players on their books who could benefit from playing in the Spanish 3rd division.

    Perhaps Pozzo could invest in a Belgian football club. Visa rules are relaxed in Belgium, and in just a few years there, a player can acquire a Belgian passport I believe.

    Or instead, perhaps it's time to take a step back and work just on Udinese and Watford for the time being. When Udinese are challenging again for a European place, and Watford (3 years down the line are an established Premier League side, perhaps then the time would be right to purchase a new, third club.

    ---------------------------

    Well those are my thought!

    EDIT: Just seen the above article. Pozzo has no interest in selling!
     
  13. Irishorn

    Irishorn Gael Force

    Difficult to know whether this is a good or bad development. It was always considered a strong advantage that the Pozzos had a number of clubs under their control and had their scouting network designed accordingly. The set up allowed players to pass between clubs. We certainly benefitted from the association (Nyom, Ighalo, Anya etc).

    On the other hand, it could be interpreted as the Pozzos focusing on the cash cow that is the premiership. They will always be interested in Udinese as their first love. Interesting times. The move does show the probability that our club would be offloaded at some stage in the future. Hopefully that will be much further down the road, once we have a few premiership and champions league titles in the bag:]]
     
  14. Stevohorn

    Stevohorn Watching Grass Grow

    Any offers?


    [​IMG]
     
  15. Lloyd

    Lloyd Squad Player

    The Pozzos and their battalions of legal advisors probably haven't thought of that. Why don't you give them a ring - you might be able to save them a fortune. FFS
     
  16. hornetgags

    hornetgags McMuff's lovechild

    The new owners better not cancel Corrie.
     
  17. Carpster

    Carpster Squad Player

    If it's advantageous to have a club in Spain maybe they will just purchase another one. Or even in another country. There have been talks about this before.
     
  18. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    You ******* for getting in before me.
     
  19. Layton

    Layton First Team

    they dont half look like cortinas as well dont they
    loved the look of either when i was a boy
     
  20. BigRossLittleRoss

    BigRossLittleRoss First Team

    My Dad had one of those....until I totalled it when they went on holiday and left me in charge.
     
  21. evilc

    evilc Academy Graduate

    Nothing stopping them buying another Spanish lower league club if they still need an easy way to EU work permits. You could argue a team in the Segunda would be a better place to blood young players for Watford/Udinese than a top tier team battling for survival.
     
  22. sherlock

    sherlock Tippytappy footy expert

    I'd add to the "cons" the fact that Granada B, playing in third division with some chances to get promoted to second (assuming first team is not relegated) is simply the perfect training ground for the youngs of all the trinity.
    A serious level of competition as they cannot certainly find in Italian Primavera tournment or in English U21 League, without having to give them on loan where you don't know how they'll be managed.

    Just have a look at the ages on http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/granada-cf-b/startseite/verein/21550.
    Penaranda quicky made it to first team, but there are several others of note there (e.g.: Jaadi and Aias) who will come good in future for one of the three Pozzo's teams.
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2016
  23. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    Surely WFC have got to go in and nick those two promising youngsters that they have, Penarenda and Success, before the Pozzo's sell the club!
     
  24. Happy bunny

    Happy bunny Cheered up a bit

    No chance if Richard Hughes reads these posts!
     
  25. blahblahblah

    blahblahblah Reservist

    There may also be an element of anticipating political influences as well? If the UK and/or EU immigration rules change it may become more difficult to secure residency/working rights for players from other territories.
     
  26. lowerrous

    lowerrous First Team


    :-\

    A mere 30 seconds on Wikipedia reveal that Penaranda is on loan at Granada from Udinese, and Success was bought by Udinese but then sold to Granada (though I can't see reference to whether there is some kind of buy-back clause in the agreement or not).

    Both look potential stars, but being Venezuelan and Nigerian respectively could face issues with work permits should there be a desire to move them to Watford.
     
  27. Stevohorn

    Stevohorn Watching Grass Grow

    That's the nature of today's football i'm afraid. So much money around.
     
  28. Smudger

    Smudger Messi's Mad Coach Staff Member

    Maybe the Pozzo's will buy out a club in South America, Africa or Oceania or develop closer links with satellite clubs there to develop and funnel talent into the clubs that remain.
     
  29. Douglas Rinaldi

    Douglas Rinaldi Reservist

    If we're going trans-continental, I'd prefer if we just invade. Much cheaper.
     
  30. sherlock

    sherlock Tippytappy footy expert

    Several links of that kind are already in existance. For example with Chilean Deportivo Calì ( http://www.goal.com/es-co/news/4565...1110/deportivo-cali-haría-alianza-con-udinese ) and Venezuelan Secasports ( http://www.escuelasecasports.com/noticia_detalle.php?cod=20 ).

    Back to original topic, I don't see the link reported but Gino Pozzo has clearly stated to ideal.es (AFAIK the Granada equivalent of the Wobby) that he's NOT going to sell the club or even shares. He's in talks but only for commercial cooperation agreements (https://translate.google.it/transla...llamadas-todos-20160114001034.html&edit-text=)
     
  31. Timbers

    Timbers Apeman

    Heard it is a company of the Bournemouth owner that are interested in Granada as they still actually own Ighalo and Nyom and they are officially only on loan to us. Richard Hughes has been scouting them and believe a deal is close to being done.
     

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