The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[Dante Lavelli]

Is the mood on other villa sites the same as here?

[dave.woodhall]

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

Or maybe his opinion has changed. It does happen.

[paul_e]

I do love the expert analysis, "I fully expect Villa to be bought by someone, probably an inhabitant of the earth who is rather wealthy".  Gee, thanks for that insight.

Personally I think it will be an american, largely because I think Randy will want reassurances on how they'll continue the community work he's started and I think he'll be quicker to accept those from an american buyer than he would a, to him, foreign investor.  Add in that the main work is being done by BoA/ML and everything points that way.

For what it's worth Kraft and Anschutz seem the obvious guesses so I can fully understand why the fake ITK brigade have jumped on those 2, they may well be proven correct but that'll be luck rather than any inside knowledge.  In real terms the number of potential buyers is pretty finite so throwing 4-5 names out there, particularly if you research rich americans who like to invest in sport, gives you a pretty solid chance of getting it right.

[Meanwood Villa]

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.

I'm quote confident it will be a member of the human race

[not3bad]

Unless its an owl. Or a gibbon.

[RussellC]

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.

Worryingly - if you look at the way we went about trying to sell off the members of the "bomb squad" (basically letting it be known to all and sundry that they were unwanted and overpaid instead of providing them with a shop window and creating any kind of incentive for anyone to buy them), it doesn't suggest that there's a great deal of business acumen floating around at the club.

[pauliewalnuts]

Is the mood on other villa sites the same as here?

Yes, it's just not expressed as coherently.

[eamonn]

Has that fucker Oliver Holt been giving his pro-MON i told you so's yet? I bet he's begged his mum Emily Bishop for a part as an extra in Corrie for years but she's too embarrassed of him.

[brian green]

I think you are right Mr U. The whole episode to me reeks of Randy wanting out regardless. I think it has been a spontaneous decision without any more real hard planning than has gone into the last four years. He simply wants out.  If we are sold to anybody already mentioned by name on this thread I will donate £20 to H and V. 

[not3bad]

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

Here is the latest from Kendrick:

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/sport-opinion/mat-kendrick-aston-villa-takeover-7110835?

[Brend'Watkins]

His biggest mistake was not keeping Steve Stride at the club. A lot of this mess could have been averted if he had.

[mr underhill]

I hope I'm wrong, obviously, but the giveaway, I think, was the  last sentence reference to BoA/ML ; instructing them on a potential £300m sale would in itself be newsworthy, and something a good financial journalist would have picked up on, before yesterday, had Randy already have engaged them.

[Monty]

He did indeed hire Merrill Lynch as of yesterday. However, Merrill Lynch are brokers not auctioneers, and our finding potential buyers is not dependent on their assistance, nor is that what they're assisting us in.

[saunders_heroes]

His biggest mistake was not keeping Steve Stride at the club. A lot of this mess could have been averted if he had.

I wonder if we'd have employed McLeish if Stride was still at the club?

[silhillvilla]

Been in back to back meetings since 8am, have i missed anything ?