Lens/Atletico Madrid fans

[EuroPacer]

Just an attempt to find some RC Lens/Atletico Madrid fans (or even Baku fans although that chance is rather slim I'd imagine). My local club Wednesday has just been taken over by the Azerbaijani businessman Mammadov (who owns Lens and a large part of Atletico) and I was wondering what we can expect here in Sheffield? I know he did well for Lens and Atletico (considering this year's results) so quite hopeful, but what is he like as an owner? Does he splash the cash? Did he change things round with an axe or with silk glove?

[Mirjalovic]

not Lens or Atl fans, but IIRC he hire a FM player as head coach for Baku FC.

[kosarev]

As far as i know he doesnt own any part of Atletico. He has some kind of deal with deam including sponsorship, but everything quite shady. On par with everything atleticos board does. Bunch of crooks.

[b-ball forever]

He doesn't own Athletico, just has a stake in it IIRC.

I'm not really a RC Lens fan (even if that team they had in the late 90's with Vlad Smicer, Tony Vairelles, and Marc Vivien Foe was real fun to watch), but I know that Mammadov invested a decent enough amount of money to help pull the club back to Ligue 1 for the 2013-2014 season. Not all that much investment tho, Lens didn't spend that much money on transfers last season, but enuf to bring in ex-PSG coach Antoine Kombouare and some nice young players like Areola (on loan), Landre, or Chavarria, as well as Luboja. Most those guys went to Lens thanks to the coach's influence, so Lens' success in returning to ligue 1 was more due Kombouare than Mammadov. Kinda sucks for Lens that they weren't able to get back to the first division earlier. A few years ago they were forced to sell all their young talent like Raphael Varane, Serge Aurier, Thorgan Hazard, or Alexandre Coef early due to playing in Ligue 2.

The budget for Lens' 2014-2015 season hasn't been annouced yet, but it seems like Mammadov is gonna inject enuf money to have a slightly above average ligue 1 budget, without overdoing it on the spending. Maybe he'll invest more in the future, but for now at least he just wants to stabalize the club.

His goal is to promote Azerbaijan's image around the world, and since the EPL has more media coverage than the French league he'll likely invest harder with Sheffield Wednesday than with Lens. Actually, there were some rumors that he was gonna sell Lens to another Azeri billionaire after buying Sheffield. If Sheffield can qualify for the EPL especially, I'd expect some heavy investments