Ipswich Town Football Club Supporters Forum
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I saw it an hour ago and said out loud, “EH? No idea. Leave thread.” 
. Better start building up those away priority points just in case! In my own defence i read Hallams opening post too quick….. “for the bankers amongst us”……. Thought it said something else.Ricco wrote: ↑Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:48 pmI'll wait for translator before I'll read too much in to anything. Story posted by Mike seems to be written by someone who doesn't understand football investment and what they're trying to achieve with Ipswich. Could be a similar thing with the first article, someone trying to look for a story which isn't really there, or he could be up to some devious dealings, time and smarter people than I will tell!!
Yes, takes on an odd boat to be floated by that article I should thinkmarko69 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:57 pmIn my own defence i read Hallams opening post too quick….. “for the bankers amongst us”……. Thought it said something else.Ricco wrote: ↑Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:48 pmI'll wait for translator before I'll read too much in to anything. Story posted by Mike seems to be written by someone who doesn't understand football investment and what they're trying to achieve with Ipswich. Could be a similar thing with the first article, someone trying to look for a story which isn't really there, or he could be up to some devious dealings, time and smarter people than I will tell!!
Actually it probably is not a big deal, as my understanding is that he only is part of an entity that owns 5% of Gamechanger, however from a different article a few interesting points are made :-
Johnson’s Financial Firms and InvestmentsAfter multiple emails from GoLocal, Johnson’s spokesperson Michael Raia finally admitted that Johnson is not a director of the Ipswich team. The admission came after GoLocal confirmed to Raia that GoLocal had tracked down the financial documents of the team and that Johnson was not listed as a director in any of the last three years' documents.
Brett Johnson Disavows Some of the Companies Listed on His and His Brother’s Benevolent Capital WebsiteJohnson’s Fortuitous is the lead entity in creating the stadium in Pawtucket. According to the firm, “Its leadership brings decades of experience in real estate, public and private company operations fund formation/management…” but Johnson’s partners in Fortuitous have changed endlessly in the past few years. Fortuitous in 2021 listed Berke Bakay as one of his partners. Now, Bakay has been removed from the Fortuitous website as have others.
Among the companies listed is Coco Safar. Raia now says, “Brett Johnson has no involvement with Coco Safar.”
Then, there is another company previously featured by the Johnsons via Benevolent called Zealot Networks, “Brett left Zealot Networks in August of 2016 prior to the company shutting down. The founder’s legal issues had nothing to do with his involvement with Brett at Zealot,” Raia told GoLocal.
Brett Johnson in one of his business bios cites his role as Managing Director of Zealot Networks (“Zealot”) from 2015 to 2017. The company shut down unexpectantly in 2016.
In March of 2021, Johnson issued a press release on PR Wire, and the headline read, “Brett Johnson Acquires Majority of Glytch Series A and Will Join Board of Directors.”
“Glytch is a perfect example of the next big wave in the growth of the esports industry—companies that provide essential infrastructure for live events in a setting that offers a breadth of live gaming experiences. I'm beyond excited to play a role in the evolution of Glytch,’ said Johnson, CEO/Founder of Benevolent Capital, according to the press release.
Further, Johnson claimed in the release that Glytch had broken ground for a stadium in Los Angeles — it wasn’t true.
There was no stadium.
Brett Johnson often trumpets the soccer teams he owns. In a podcast broadcast in 2021, Brett Johnson stated he owned six soccer teams, including owning a small percentage ownership of the team in Phoenix, Arizona.
“I own six clubs around the world including a prominent club in England called Ipswich, and the development rights in Rhode Island. I own this team in Tuscon and a team Denmark,” said Brett Johnson on the podcast.
But there are even more twists and turns.
On the Jay Young Show, another podcast he recorded in the summer of 2021, Johnson discussed his vast array of investments and, specifically, his soccer clubs. He highlighted the Tuscon FC team.
“FC Tucson so it's officially in the third division and it's called League One. So it's probably a million plus [population], you know, market. So it's a fairly sizable market. It's in the southwest part of the United States, which is growing rapidly, so I love the demographic drivers behind Tucson, and I'm working on a downtown stadium which would be transformative. So in a market like that I bring a 10,000 to 15,000 seat stadium,” said Johnson.
“I put my Tucson franchise in that stadium. It’ll transform the equity valuation inherent in the club, but it also transforms Tucson. It's going to give it a significant sports team to get behind and then I'll feed a lot more sports into that stadium and I'll develop a bunch of real estate around it — a multi-family. I'll kind of do an economic analysis at the highest and best, food hall, hotel, multi-family,” said Johnson.
GoLocal published a report last summer on Johnson and the Tuscon club. It played in a small public park facility often in front of hundreds, not thousands of fans.
The Tuscon team appears to have been a bust for Johnson, and less than a year after Johnson's pronouncements about the market opportunity in Tuscon, he turned over the club to the team manager and a local owner. Now, neither Johnson nor Benevolent nor Fortuitous have any interest in the team. According to The Sentinel, "The soccer side will drop back a level, returning to their roots as an amateur squad, but has the option to move back up to be a League One pro team again."
marko69 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:57 pmIn my own defence i read Hallams opening post too quick….. “for the bankers amongst us”……. Thought it said something else.Ricco wrote: ↑Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:48 pmI'll wait for translator before I'll read too much in to anything. Story posted by Mike seems to be written by someone who doesn't understand football investment and what they're trying to achieve with Ipswich. Could be a similar thing with the first article, someone trying to look for a story which isn't really there, or he could be up to some devious dealings, time and smarter people than I will tell!!
Why am I not surprised!! Lol