The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[john e]

Handshake to John E.

nods

[Clampy]

Kendrick is an awful journo. He has changed tack in the last few months purely to curry favour with the fans

I think he's ok. James Nursey on the other hand is just dreadful.

[pauliewalnuts]

Kendrick is an awful journo. He has changed tack in the last few months purely to curry favour with the fans

I think he's ok. James Nursey on the other hand is just dreadful.

Nursey strikes me as pliable.

He used to be virulently anti Lerner, anti-Villa and pro everything that cast the club in a bad light. Then I remember him saying he'd had lunch with Lerner or Houllier, can't recall which, and his approach totally changed, quite literally overnight.

[Steve R]

Poor old Doug was all over the place. He concluded by saying that new owners would have to find £120m for Randy, £100m for new players, and therefore it would cost them £2.5m to buy Aston Villa.

When all else continually changes in the universe, the one constant you can rely on is Dougenomics.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Kendrick is an awful journo. He has changed tack in the last few months purely to curry favour with the fans

I think he's ok. James Nursey on the other hand is just dreadful.

Agreed, At least Kendrick is a Villa fan

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Handshake to John E.

nods

Yes.

[Olneythelonely]

The Mat Kendrick bashing is all well and good, but it's probably a good idea to do it when he's actually written an article, rather than a colleague.

Bloody Kendrick.

[Duncan Shaw]

The article quoted was written by Jon Griffin not Mat Kendrick.

[Duncan Shaw]

Pipped me to it Olney!

[Olneythelonely]

Pipped me to it Olney!

*stands legs wide open with hands cupped to ears*

[Ads]

You're not getting a blow job for that.

[Olneythelonely]

You're not getting a blow job for that.

Well it's not going to suck itself.

[Percy McCarthy]

The Birmingham Mail trying to sell a few papers today!

Oil tycoons are thought to be the most likely new owners of the club
Aston Villa could become the next Manchester City – with oil-rich Arabs tipped to bring the glory days back to Villa Park.

Football finance expert Peter Knowles forecast that Randy Lerner could easily attract bids of between £200 million and £250 million from super-rich investors, desperate to break into the Premier League elite.

The US billionaire put Aston Villa up for sale yesterday following his near £63 million takeover in 2006.

In statement, he said: “I owe it to Villa to move on, and look for fresh, invigorated leadership, if in my heart I feel I can no longer do the job.

“I can see now that it is time, if possible, to hand these privileges and responsibilities to the next person or group to take the club forward.’’

Lerner has put the sale of the club in the hands of Bank of America, Merrill Lynch.

There have been no confirmed interested parties, but a number of wealthy Americans have been linked to a possible buyout this summer.


Yet stockbroker Mr Knowles predicted fierce interest in Villa from the oil-rich Middle East. And that could spark a Manchester City-style resurgence – which saw them win the Premier League on Sunday.

“If you have got somebody out there with a pot full of money that really wants to buy a Premier League club and has got the funds to do so, then you can effectively buy the League,’’ said the soccer finance expert.

“I heard that there was a potential American bid but it is far more likely to be from the Far East or the Arabs. The Arabs would be able to pay for it because they have got so much oil money. Or it could be the Far East, Singapore or Malaysia, somewhere like that.

I like Mat Kendrick, he does some good stuff, but really, that is one of the worst articles I've ever seen about Villa.

That "football finance expert" sounds like the sort of people they quote in fake newspaper stories in Viz.

I mean, what kind of level of expertise do you need to have to be able to say things like this:

“If you have got somebody out there with a pot full of money that really wants to buy a Premier League club and has got the funds to do so, then you can effectively buy the League,’’ said the soccer finance expert.

“I heard that there was a potential American bid but it is far more likely to be from the Far East or the Arabs. The Arabs would be able to pay for it because they have got so much oil money. Or it could be the Far East, Singapore or Malaysia, somewhere like that.

So, basically, he's saying North America or the Far East or any country vaguely Arab, or maybe South East Asia.

What precise analysis that is. I am surprised he didn't chuck in "Europe, South America, Africa or possibly other planets as yet to be discovered" just to keep all bases covered.

Heard a similar comment yesterday, from somebody who reckoned it would be either one of the names being bandied about or someone out of the blue.

[saunders_heroes]

Kendrick is an awful journo. He has changed tack in the last few months purely to curry favour with the fans

I partly agree - Kendrick went along with the "young and hungry" project all through Lambert's reign until (I think) he got wind of change at Villa, then he grew some balls and actually started to criticise the club. I have some sympathy with him because the Mail isn't nearly as powerful as it was years ago when journalists as strong as Leon Hickman and co didn't give a damn who the upset and would speak their mind whenever the felt fit. These days in the world of the internet the Mail is left with the crumbs of news the club throws at it, so they try not to upset them in case they pull the rug from beneath their feet.

[mr underhill]

could it be that Randy might have told the truth yesterday? Lots of people assume he is a fantastic businessman who's been furtively and furiously marketing the club for months on the QT, and has a buyer lined up, because the alternative, i.e. his statement yesterday, was childishly naïve and damaging, both to the club's reputation and value. Well that's because it probably is. He has demonstrated on numerous occasions he has no real business acumen, both at AV and the Browns. My hunch is that he has agonised over this for a while just as the General said, and that the final decision to sell was taken very recently. Just a thought. Often the truth is stranger than the ITK fiction, and it sometimes hurts.