Tranmere FC And Second-Hand Bike For Sale

Lower league football is really the ugly sister to the Premier League and doesn’t get the attention and financial support that its richer sibling does.

Purists of the game and fans of teams outside the Premier League will tell you though that a lot of good football is played down in the doldrums of the other three tiers of English football, although that could just be wishful thinking, but has a club like Tranmere really been reduced to selling itself on eBay? Not even Jordan has sunk that low yet.

Currently in the third tier of English football, Tranmere recently enlisted the help of Dornoch Capital, a US firm tasked with finding a buyer for the club and they decided the best way to do this was to list it on eBay, which is also the approach I have to anything I don’t want.

Despite this seemingly lazy attempt at selling the club, attention has been shone on the club’s potential sale and the news of which has now reached a national audience, so in a sense Dornoch Capital have done their job in advertising the sale, but as the owner of Rovers Peter Johnson points out “It’s not a second-hand bike we’re selling.”

Johnson was less than enamoured with the listing though, as he told the BBC “We were appalled. It’s totally inappropriate. We immediately e-mailed them and said ‘take it off right away’.”

In a bid to entice punters the auction, Dornoch highlighted the clubs potential for creating “revenue growth” through sponsorship and “upgrading the fan experience” as well as the lack of debt the club currently has. This fails to attract me though, as I’ve always been told you can’t polish a turd and my understanding of “upgrading the fan experience” is that things can only get better and whilst people buy turds on eBay everyday, who pays $10m for one?

Perhaps it’s because I’m not a potential buyer for the club, but who has that kind of money in their PayPal account? Did Dornoch expect an oil tycoon to just buy the club blind without having seen it? Why is the only picture on the auction of the club badge? Is there nothing else of interest to see?

I’d believe the whole thing was an elaborate hoax if it hadn’t have been verified by Johnson himself, who admits that attempting to sell the club on eBay isn’t going to attract the right kind of buyer, but he also hints as to why the club has been so lazy in its attempts at selling the club, admitting “I’m not trying that hard.” Perhaps he should have tried a bit harder to find a better agent to represent the club too?

By the way, if anyone does have a second hand bike for sale, please e-mail me a photo of the makers badge and I’ll buy it no questions asked, just as long as there’s free shipping.

Posted By Dan Mobbs - Thursday July 30, 2009.
Tags: Tranmere, eBay