I met Joy last month through a shared connection. In a non-football setting and nobody else there knew she even had a CCFC connection - so there was no way I could go into full interrogation mode. But of course we talked about the Club after I mentioned being a fan - and it was appropriate to do so in that setting.
My impressions for what they are worth. She seems like a seriously nice person, very friendly and thoughtful. I certainly didn't get the impression it was all for show - honestly not something I expected.
I also think she's invested with the people around the club - for example she spoke very fondly about relationships with our sponsors, directors and even about having friendships with the partners of our longer term players. And there's lots of contact with Robins and that relationship is very positive. She speaks for example with Robins after every game. Clearly there's a huge amount of trust in Robins.
I'm not saying at all that Joy is about to recommend to her shareholders that they put in a few billions for 'instant success' but I certainly feel she's invested on some level. And it's not just financial. Again no idea what that means for SISU's financial commitment to us (probably nothing at all) but I was pleasantly surprised by her overall engagement and how genuine she was to everyone.
That is actually a very illuminating insight, and I have heard similar before from other people that have encountered her. It would seem to indicate that relationships behind the scenes are fairly healthy, which can only be a good thing - the less toxicity the better.
As the head of a hedge fund, JS will have the shareholders' interests foremost in mind etc etc., so one more very positive point is that MR/AV and the team have taken us to the very brink of promotion to the PL in a very short space of time - an absolute dream from a hedge fund manager's perspective.
I have no idea how things will go from here, but the point is that SISU are 90% of the way to where they want to be, and seem to be enjoying the ride to boot - all of which is very healthy. The club is now in a much better state than it was five years ago.
Playing the long game, there's a reasonable chance that Wasps will duck out at some stage, leaving only one obvious buyer for the stadium. All that stadium court stuff was really antagonising people, so it's good that it's over.
