Takeover rumours

[ADVILLAFAN]

I'd always assumed that Pisa was mainly right-wing as they hate Livorno so much and Livorno are very left-wing?? Obviously not then.

[fbriai]

My wifes family are from Barga, are you far away?

Not far away, DBTW; it's not far from Bagni di Lucca either. It's also a very beautiful little town.

I have friends from Barga and normally go up there at least once a year to help with their olive and grape harvests.

Let me know if you are ever in this neck of the woods. Same to you, too, Malandro, or anyone else!

*** Sorry for going off topic! ***

ha, I'll send you a pm on here. cheers

Good stuff!

[DBTW]

My wifes family are from Barga, are you far away?

We are hoping to come over thisr year at some point, do you know of any houses with swimming pools to rent for a weekend or local hotels?

Not far away, DBTW; it's not far from Bagni di Lucca either. It's also a very beautiful little town.

I have friends from Barga and normally go up there at least once a year to help with their olive and grape harvests.

Let me know if you are ever in this neck of the woods. Same to you, too, Malandro, or anyone else!

*** Sorry for going off topic! ***

ha, I'll send you a pm on here. cheers

Good stuff!

[fbriai]

I'd always assumed that Pisa was mainly right-wing as they hate Livorno so much and Livorno are very left-wing?? Obviously not then.

Trust me, AD, inter-city rivalry in Italy overrides everything else.

For example, the cities surrounding Pisa have the following proverb:

'Meglio un morto in casa che un pisano all'uscio.' or 'Better a death in the family than a Pisan at the door.'

[DBTW]

We are hoping to come over thisr year at some point, do you know of any houses with swimming pools to rent for a weekend or local hotels?

[ADVILLAFAN]

I'd always assumed that Pisa was mainly right-wing as they hate Livorno so much and Livorno are very left-wing?? Obviously not then.

Trust me, AD, inter-city rivalry in Italy overrides everything else.

For example, the cities surrounding Pisa have the following proverb:

'Meglio un morto in casa che un pisano all'uscio.' or 'Better a death in the family than a Pisan at the door.'

Interesting. Would you consider Torino fans to be particularly left or right-wing (or neither)?

[DB]

Is it me or has this thread gone slightly off-topic??
;-)

[Ron Manager]

'Yep. I know Rich and Sacro posted the link about this but as a Browns fan, I can confirm it. It was admitted after he sold the Browns, that they were never really "up for sale", but always listening to offers. It basically keeps Lerner in the power position to sell. If you put up a for sale sign, you won't get your desired number. If say "make a reasonable offer and I'll listen" the offers will be higher.

 Everything Randy did in his final years with Cleveland, mirrors what he's done at Villa recently. Slash the wage budget (Browns had one if the lowest salary cap numbers in NFL), rebuild with youth (youngest team in NFL), and no big spending on talent.

Now the bad news: if you have any hopes that he will protect Villa in a sale, think again. He's gonna get his money. Browns were valued at $770M and he sold them for $1B. The new owner has already changed the stadium name, and would not commit to keeping the uniforms, with speculation that he will change them in 2015 when NFL liscenceing rules allow him to. To make things worse, he hired a front office to run the team who are completely incompetent. Arguments can easily be made that Browns are worse off under new owner.

 My point is that Lerner didn't sell the Browns with the teams best intentions I mind. He cashed in. The tough part for me is that I don't want him here (if you can really say that he's "here"), but I'm not convinced he could sell to the right guy either. But if I had to guess, as a fan of both Villa and the Browns, I would say he's looking to sell. Faulkners denial is protection of their value. Lerner doesn't do business in public.'

This is the view of an American fan of ours and of The Browns. You may find it interesting.

[Monty]

'Yep. I know Rich and Sacro posted the link about this but as a Browns fan, I can confirm it. It was admitted after he sold the Browns, that they were never really "up for sale", but always listening to offers. It basically keeps Lerner in the power position to sell. If you put up a for sale sign, you won't get your desired number. If say "make a reasonable offer and I'll listen" the offers will be higher.

 Everything Randy did in his final years with Cleveland, mirrors what he's done at Villa recently. Slash the wage budget (Browns had one if the lowest salary cap numbers in NFL), rebuild with youth (youngest team in NFL), and no big spending on talent.

Now the bad news: if you have any hopes that he will protect Villa in a sale, think again. He's gonna get his money. Browns were valued at $770M and he sold them for $1B. The new owner has already changed the stadium name, and would not commit to keeping the uniforms, with speculation that he will change them in 2015 when NFL liscenceing rules allow him to. To make things worse, he hired a front office to run the team who are completely incompetent. Arguments can easily be made that Browns are worse off under new owner.

 My point is that Lerner didn't sell the Browns with the teams best intentions I mind. He cashed in. The tough part for me is that I don't want him here (if you can really say that he's "here"), but I'm not convinced he could sell to the right guy either. But if I had to guess, as a fan of both Villa and the Browns, I would say he's looking to sell. Faulkners denial is protection of their value. Lerner doesn't do business in public.'

This is the view of an American fan of ours and of The Browns. You may find it interesting.

Huh. Well that's interesting. Though I'm not sure if those Browns fans know about the potential redevelopment plans or giving the manager a new three year contract.

[Dribbler]

If he's as good at choosing new owners as he is a choosing new managers, then we'll be ******!

[Toronto Villa]

'Yep. I know Rich and Sacro posted the link about this but as a Browns fan, I can confirm it. It was admitted after he sold the Browns, that they were never really "up for sale", but always listening to offers. It basically keeps Lerner in the power position to sell. If you put up a for sale sign, you won't get your desired number. If say "make a reasonable offer and I'll listen" the offers will be higher.

 Everything Randy did in his final years with Cleveland, mirrors what he's done at Villa recently. Slash the wage budget (Browns had one if the lowest salary cap numbers in NFL), rebuild with youth (youngest team in NFL), and no big spending on talent.

Now the bad news: if you have any hopes that he will protect Villa in a sale, think again. He's gonna get his money. Browns were valued at $770M and he sold them for $1B. The new owner has already changed the stadium name, and would not commit to keeping the uniforms, with speculation that he will change them in 2015 when NFL liscenceing rules allow him to. To make things worse, he hired a front office to run the team who are completely incompetent. Arguments can easily be made that Browns are worse off under new owner.

 My point is that Lerner didn't sell the Browns with the teams best intentions I mind. He cashed in. The tough part for me is that I don't want him here (if you can really say that he's "here"), but I'm not convinced he could sell to the right guy either. But if I had to guess, as a fan of both Villa and the Browns, I would say he's looking to sell. Faulkners denial is protection of their value. Lerner doesn't do business in public.'

This is the view of an American fan of ours and of The Browns. You may find it interesting.

I'm in Cleveland right now. I come here every month because my employer is based here. I can tell you that lots of people would want Lerner back as owner given the mess that the new one has created. So it's not the view of all Browns fans at all. Lerner wasn't a perfect owner but he did his best while here to protect the image of the Browns and hired people to make them successfu. If you know anything about the Browns they even hired as GM one of the most respected names in the game in Mike Holmgren and it didn't work. So what he sold them for a profit? Was he expected not to do so? And buying an NFL team is not as easy as a one on one transaction. It had to be approved by the NFL board of governors which is essentially all of the other owners. Let's not make this into some Lerner the cash grabber type story because it isn't.

[pauliewalnuts]

'Yep. I know Rich and Sacro posted the link about this but as a Browns fan, I can confirm it. It was admitted after he sold the Browns, that they were never really "up for sale", but always listening to offers. It basically keeps Lerner in the power position to sell. If you put up a for sale sign, you won't get your desired number. If say "make a reasonable offer and I'll listen" the offers will be higher.

 Everything Randy did in his final years with Cleveland, mirrors what he's done at Villa recently. Slash the wage budget (Browns had one if the lowest salary cap numbers in NFL), rebuild with youth (youngest team in NFL), and no big spending on talent.

Now the bad news: if you have any hopes that he will protect Villa in a sale, think again. He's gonna get his money. Browns were valued at $770M and he sold them for $1B. The new owner has already changed the stadium name, and would not commit to keeping the uniforms, with speculation that he will change them in 2015 when NFL liscenceing rules allow him to. To make things worse, he hired a front office to run the team who are completely incompetent. Arguments can easily be made that Browns are worse off under new owner.

 My point is that Lerner didn't sell the Browns with the teams best intentions I mind. He cashed in. The tough part for me is that I don't want him here (if you can really say that he's "here"), but I'm not convinced he could sell to the right guy either. But if I had to guess, as a fan of both Villa and the Browns, I would say he's looking to sell. Faulkners denial is protection of their value. Lerner doesn't do business in public.'

This is the view of an American fan of ours and of The Browns. You may find it interesting.

I'm in Cleveland right now. I come here every month because my employer is based here. I can tell you that lots of people would want Lerner back as owner given the mess that the new one has created. So it's not the view of all Browns fans at all. Lerner wasn't a perfect owner but he did his best while here to protect the image of the Browns and hired people to make them successfu. If you know anything about the Browns they even hired as GM one of the most respected names in the game in Mike Holmgren and it didn't work. So what he sold them for a profit? Was he expected not to do so? And buying an NFL team is not as easy as a one on one transaction. It had to be approved by the NFL board of governors which is essentially all of the other owners. Let's not make this into some Lerner the cash grabber type story because it isn't.

I might be reading it incorrectly, but aren't you, in large part, saying more or less the same thing that Browns fan said - ie the new owner is shit, has fucked stuff up etc etc?

[pauliewalnuts]

Isn't the whole "are we or are we not up for sale" argument pretty empty and pointless?

He might not be actively seeking buyers (what does that even mean?), he might be, we don't know. He genuinely might have no intention whatsoever to sell, we don't know that, either. What it comes down to, regardless, is if there is someone around with a huge amount of money and the stupid, stupid urge to spunk it on a football club.

If that person is around, then the main question they'll be considering isn't so much whether the owner of target club wants to sell, it will be whether it is the club they want to buy. If they decide that this is the club, they'll make an offer. Randy can then accept it or reject it as he wants. It's not like selling a house where you advertise your desire to sell by engaging an estate agent.

He might have no intention to actively try to sell it, and I believe them when they say he doesn't, but that's not what matters. What matters is the availability of people with sufficiently vast amounts of cash to buy the club.

"I'm not interested in selling"
"I'll give you 350m (or whatever stupid sum over the estimated value you care to mention)"
"Done"

[OCD]

If that person is around, then the main question they'll be considering isn't so much whether the owner of target club wants to sell, it will be whether it is the club they want to buy. If they decide that this is the club, they'll make an offer. Randy can then accept it or reject it as he wants. It's not like selling a house where you advertise your desire to sell by engaging an estate agent.

Didn't Doug take on a Merchant bank to find a buyer for the club? That would also be what 'actively seeking buyers' would involve.

[nodge]

...I'm still reeling from Dave Woodhall "totally agreeing" with one of my posts.

A proud first for Glenn Peen.

I'm still reeling from the fact that nobody turfed one out in your original post!