Paul Ragan to take over the Steelers

DevilDom

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #3
So there we have it. Just as we thought we had a good owner who was passionate about the Devils and has brought stability to the club he reveals his true colours - he saw a growth opportunity with the Devils and now he sees the same opportunity with the Steelers. Maybe he has just got fed up with the politics in Cardiff and thinks he has taken us as far as he can. Maybe we were the stepping stone so he could get to a "bigger" club.

I just don't understand how this can be done without a huge conflict of interest and it raises so many questions.

- What happens if 1 team needs to win a game between the other to become league champions?
- What happens if both teams want to sign the same player?
- What happens in disciplinary matters for example, will the Steelers still be citing our players after matches?
- What happens when deciding on fixtures if there is conflict?

Jesus, the list goes on.

UK Ice Hockey truly is a joke.
 
#4
Great, just when things were going so well. I just don't understand how this can play out with such a massive conflict of interest.

He talks about us having "the same budget" for the teams next year..... Very sceptical.
 

Martynwo

Active Member
#5
If he does apply the same budget to both teams then he'll make a bundle of money with Sheffield,
if he applies the cardiff budget, however if he applies the sheffield current budget we will make a loss and start to make cost savings etc.. sliperly slope and all that.

Ignoring the hockey and loyaly issues, if I were a business man I'd do the same, there is a huge
potential for profit in sheffield, if run sucessfully.

However, I hope he makes a statement tonight to emphaise is commitment to us as a franchise.
 

puck

New Member
#6
Hasn't this happened before? Remind me again how that turned out!

The press release mentions shared admin between the clubs - given the current criticisms of the ability of the Devils admin to run their own club, is this asking for trouble?

Also, as mentioned above, what happens when both clubs are going after the same player, and they would know they were with shared admin.

I do wonder how long Ragan will invest in a club were the profit margins are so limited by the limited seats in a badly run rink, when he finds that he can make so much more profit from the Steelers if he gets the fans on his side up there.
 
#7
Euuughhh...

Ragan is a businessman, and if he thinks he can make a profit out of the Steelers then good for him.

Hockeywise, this is a joke... We now have something like 6 teams owned by 3 people. There's conflicts of interest everywhere... not good for UK hockey IMO.
 
#8
Is this the reason why Brad's ban got reduced to one game? makes you think :cry: not happy with this move couldn't he have picked another team instead of that low life, gutted....
 
#9
:shock:
That's not what I expected to read when I woke up this morning!

I was worried something might go wrong once PI won the rink contract as it seemed to be something high on the Raygun adgenda an I thought that may have been his main aim. He does come across as very committed to the Devils and excited about ice hockey in general but he's a cardiff boy so I didn't see this comming one bit! Maybe he can turn the steelers round, make them nice and profitable and sell them on. I dunno, I've only just woken up. Maybe it's a bad dream...
 
#10
Martynwo said:
If he does apply the same budget to both teams then he'll make a bundle of money with Sheffield,
if he applies the cardiff budget, however if he applies the sheffield current budget we will make a loss and start to make cost savings etc.. sliperly slope and all that.

Ignoring the hockey and loyaly issues, if I were a business man I'd do the same, there is a huge
potential for profit in sheffield, if run sucessfully.

However, I hope he makes a statement tonight to emphaise is commitment to us as a franchise.
I know what you are saying i just hope he doesn't forget about us!!!
 

TheStub

Active Member
#11
And history repeats :lol:

It could work, and now gives Regan the same power as Black and the Blaze ownership. Not sure if it will work though.

Here's hoping that he will keep out of hockey matters, and sets a fair budget (that doesn't mean the same number of pounds). Maybe a saving will be made by merging back offices, and maybe we are now seeing a reason for the numbers we've carried.

Hopefully this is positive for both teams, but I can't help feeling uncertain.
 
#12
Well have you read the statement on the devils website, how wonderful the steelers are, bring them back to the old glory days, I will give both coaches the same budget. What a load of crap, now planet ice get to build our rink not Cardiff devils I think he lost interest and realises he's not going to make enough money so he's moving on !!!!
 

osh

Well-Known Member
#13
I've never been in favour of individuals or organisations owning 2 teams, it is just not ethical imo, so I cannot in any way support this announcement. I think it is a slap in the face to Devils fans especially half way through a season and amid all the controversy recently between the two clubs. I didn't like the way decisions from the Elite league seemed to favour certain clubs due to who they were owned by and I would not like to see us gain decisions because our owner has now more power than a week ago, it stinks! Whilst always supporting the Devils, this news will certainly affect my own desire to attend games in future.

It will be very interesting to see what our usual blubbering rose tinted ''Devils organisation can do nothing wrong'' posters have to say about this, I wait with interest.
 

Finny

Well-Known Member
#14
Well I guess it means in 2 or 3 years we will be able to compare Ragan's plans for a new rink with Planet Ice's plan and see if Cardiff City Council made the right decision..... :cry:
 

Fubar

New Member
#16
deja vu?? what a crock of reindeer keck! passionate about the devils?..do me a favour...its all about the money..SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MERRY cHRISTMAS!
 

Finny

Well-Known Member
#17
I do hope no Devils fan goes over the top and gets so angry with Paul Ragan that they end up pushing him away from the club. Unless anyone knows of a hockey-mad millionaire waiting to throw money away then we still need Ragan and his support. Both financially and from a business point.

Having done a lot of thought about this since the rumours surfaced last night, it's become clear to me that it's never been more important that we:

-Continue to put pressure on Cardiff City Council to make sure Planet Ice build us a facility that is fit for purpose.
-Get attendances up so that we can financially challenge the top teams.

Ragan was never going to financially support us for ever, and perhaps this announcement has brought it home a bit sooner than any of us wanted to admit.
 

Koop11

Well-Known Member
#18
I’m a big supporter of PR and the good work he has put into this club and I cannot thank him enough for installing the stability that was desperately required. However, I have huge reservations about this move.

From a league perfective, this makes a further mockery of the league. You’d like to think we’re moving towards a shared vision of a professionally run, independently governed hockey league. This added conflict of interest does not help that course in my opinion. As someone has already pointed out, 10 teams currently run by 6 owners. That’s silly, not matter how you try and sell it.

From a Devils point of view, this rings alarm bells for me as a fan. We’ve seen this before and look how that turned out. I’m not suggesting PR is of the same mould as BP (that would be insulting) but the conflict of interest will inevitably have an impact in many ways (player signings, league fixtures, etc). Someone close to me said to me over the summer, when Sheffield’s woes became public, that PR will probably go for Sheffield if we lose out on the tender of the rink. Looks like they were right.

From a business point of view, I can see why BP and now PR want a crack a Sheffield. There is potentially more money to be made there. The Steelers are a huge market and if PR can put a similar marketing strategy into Sheffield that he has down in Cardiff then I would imagine the profit margin is far greater than can every be made in Cardiff under the current circumstances (renting a tent off PI). We must remember that PR is first and foremost a businessman and this opportunity is clearly too big to miss.

From a Steelers point of view, I’m actually very pleased for them. Apart from those who think BP is some kind of saviour, PR will provide a really professionalism that has been missing from Sheffield for a long time now. Despite early success under BP, the Steelers have been slowly dying and, like with us, PR can save the club from the depths of despair and really push it into a new era.

The small positives I see are that BP is now out of the Elite League (dare I say). His control has been far too great in my opinion, despite the huge denial from many Steelers fans (even we knew he had too much control when he owned us). Also, if PR can influence the league to follow the Cardiff model then there is real potential for this league to grow and that is of course a good thing for everyone.

Overall though, as a Devils fan, I do fear the worse. I do not see how the Devils are making big money under the current circumstances. We have a massive drive in ST sales. We have seen crowd averages increase dramatically. We have also seen investment from new and existing sponsors even during hard financial times. That all said, we have put a huge amount into player wages this term (of course speculate to accumulate) and I don’t think the profit margins are there while we rent a substandard facility from a money hungry organisation. Losing the tender was an enormous blow and without sounding too dramatic, this move suggests the ambition for this club is somewhat deflated.

My first reaction to this is shock and disappointment. I hope that my feelings change and I can see the major benefits this move will provide for the Cardiff Devils.
 
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