This morning, I read an interesting post on the New York Times Soccer Blog, Goal. The title of the post is what originally caught my eye: English Club for Sale, on eBay. Apparently, a company that was enlisted to find a buyer for the Tranmere Rovers, put the team up for sale on ebay for the sum of $10 million.However, the auction ended early, apparently because the club was not happy with being listed on the popular online auction site. Here's the listing: Own an English Football Club - Tranmere Rovers FC. I particularly like that the item included "Free shipping" and "No Returns Accepted."
Why discuss on a PR blog? Well, I believe ebay's brand has been a bit tarnished by the statement from Tranmere Rovers Chairman Peter Johnson, saying he was very disappointed to discover that Dornoch Capital had chosen ebay.com as a route to find a potential buyer and would not have given permission for them to do so had he been asked. The perception is that ebay is good enough to list your old football shoes, but not a football club. Ebay would do well to enter the discussion of this before this view becomes solidified.
For my part, I just wish I'd have had the chance to put in a bid before the auction ended.
