Takeover rumours

[UK Redsox]

I thought it was I Know Nothing (hence the speculation).

Me too.

It's like the site's version of an ITK - an IKN, totally not ITK.

As reported by Damon on ITN ?

[pauliewalnuts]

I thought it was I Know Nothing (hence the speculation).

Me too.

It's like the site's version of an ITK - an IKN, totally not ITK.

As reported by Damon on ITN ?

"Damon Green, ITN, in a flooded field. Unhappy".

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

Whilst Randy is not everyone's cup of tea you only have to look at Leeds and Cardiff to realise there are much worse owners out there. Better the devil you know.

No thanks, I'd rather take a chance with someone else rather stick with a man that has sold nearly every decent player at the club and replaced them with inferior ones.

Same here. His strategy when he arrived was to invest in quality players in order to be successful in the league. He did that and got results to some extent.

I don't buy that its all nasty Mr O'neills fault. Randy knew the transfer fees and also the wages that went with them.
What did happen was that new owners arrived, also armed with shit loads of cash and he didn't want to waste more money.

Now Randy wants us to be self-sufficient. I'd have bought that if it was his initial strategy.
He's not trying to do it for the good of the fans, he's stream lining for a sale.

Hope it works.

Unfortunately for us, Man City came along and we are arguably the club that has suffered most from that. We were already aiming to sneak into 4th with Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal out of sight. When citee came into the money, they took our 2 best players and the 3 Champs League closed shop became 4 meaning that without further even bigger investment we weren't going to make it to the promised land of the Champs League.

If I was in Lerners shoes, I would have done the same with respect to cutting down on investment. The ship sailed and we missed it. As painful as it is now, I don't think there is any real alternative. Either start again and build from the bottom ala Everton or, possibly make the club sellable and attract someone with serious money who will fund a punt on the Champs League.

[eastie]

Whilst Randy is not everyone's cup of tea you only have to look at Leeds and Cardiff to realise there are much worse owners out there. Better the devil you know.

No thanks, I'd rather take a chance with someone else rather stick with a man that has sold nearly every decent player at the club and replaced them with inferior ones.

Same here. His strategy when he arrived was to invest in quality players in order to be successful in the league. He did that and got results to some extent.

I don't buy that its all nasty Mr O'neills fault. Randy knew the transfer fees and also the wages that went with them.
What did happen was that new owners arrived, also armed with shit loads of cash and he didn't want to waste more money.

Now Randy wants us to be self-sufficient. I'd have bought that if it was his initial strategy.
He's not trying to do it for the good of the fans, he's stream lining for a sale.

Hope it works.

Unfortunately for us, Man City came along and we are arguably the club that has suffered most from that. We were already aiming to sneak into 4th with Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal out of sight. When citee came into the money, they took our 2 best players and the 3 Champs League closed shop became 4 meaning that without further even bigger investment we weren't going to make it to the promised land of the Champs League.

If I was in Lerners shoes, I would have done the same with respect to cutting down on investment. The ship sailed and we missed it. As painful as it is now, I don't think there is any real alternative. Either start again and build from the bottom ala Everton or, possibly make the club sellable and attract someone with serious money who will fund a punt on the Champs League.

Spot on in my view mate.

[ChicagoLion]

So how would we feel if an unknown Chinese consortium became owners?

The next major purchaser of a PL club is most likely to be Chinese, probably linked to a Major Chinese corporation.

[Concrete John]

Whilst Randy is not everyone's cup of tea you only have to look at Leeds and Cardiff to realise there are much worse owners out there. Better the devil you know.

No thanks, I'd rather take a chance with someone else rather stick with a man that has sold nearly every decent player at the club and replaced them with inferior ones.

Same here. His strategy when he arrived was to invest in quality players in order to be successful in the league. He did that and got results to some extent.

I don't buy that its all nasty Mr O'neills fault. Randy knew the transfer fees and also the wages that went with them.
What did happen was that new owners arrived, also armed with shit loads of cash and he didn't want to waste more money.

Now Randy wants us to be self-sufficient. I'd have bought that if it was his initial strategy.He's not trying to do it for the good of the fans, he's stream lining for a sale.

Hope it works.

I think it was, but that self sufficiency was intended to be based on CL money, which never happened.  That is now harder than ever to get hold of, so our self sufficiency needs to come at a lower level and then grow more organically to have another go at it. 

[Concrete John]

So how would we feel if an unknown Chinese consortium became owners?

The next major purchaser of a PL club is most likely to be Chinese, probably linked to a Major Chinese corporation.

Speaking for myself, I have no issue wioth Chinese owners, Chinese consortiums or Chinese corporations.  However, I do have an issue with the 'unknown' bit.  If they're above board with noble intentions, they wouldn't need anonymity.

[eastie]

I would hope whoever took over the club would do so with the finance and aim to compete at the  very highest level wherever they are from.

[b23]

Maybe Brand Beckham would be interested ?

Install Sven as manager. Job done.

Can't see the allure of Florida over Aston myself. 

[mr underhill]

the worst possible scenario is that PF was telling the truth;  Randy isn't gearing up to sell, and it's business as has been usual, for the past four years.

[class_of_82]

Was on talk sport at about 4pm that aston villa had denied rumours that randy Lerner was looking to sell.

No smoke without fire

[john e]

there is a big difference in someone coming along and offering Randy a load of money for the club and Randy actually putting the club up for sale

I don't believe for one minute Randy has put the club up for sale or is even actively looking to sell, PF has said as much and I believe him, that doesn't mean he wouldnt if he got a massive offer,
 but lets face it that's highly unlikely

[brian green]

Whether it is in Randy's mind to sell or not and my opinion is that it is - the more it gets talked about the more Villa will flag up on the radar of the mega wealthy world wide as a possible take over target and the thing will gather its own momentum.   As for the chinese connection my business partner and I had a small bit of business going with them last year selling them a horse to race in Hong Kong and we found them less concerned with the asking price than the quality of what they were paying for.  I would expect a potential chinese buyer for Villa to find the club clean, straight, honourable and buyable.

[Chris Jameson]

Isn't what is happening exactly what supporters of the American team he owns said would happen? I'm sure they implied he would lose interest sooner or later.

[nodge]

I wish I was young again when I didn't give two hoots about who the chairman or the owner was.  I remember being on the Holte one night joining in with "we won the league we won the cup then Ronnie Bendall f***ed it up" then not spending any time seriously thinking about it