The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[RussellC]

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?

I can't believe for one second that Stride would have allowed such a terrible football decision to be made, let alone such a bad business one.  It still makes me shudder when I think about the boards utter lack of interest in fan-feeling at the time.

[SashasGrandad]

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

Don't be silly - this will drag on for weeks/months

[pauliewalnuts]

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?

From what Woodhall has said over the last few years - and he'd have heard it from Steve Stride himself - he wanted to leave, didn't want to stay.

To assume it as a mistake on Randy's part is a bit harsh.

[rob_bridge]

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

I do believe it is oft said Stride wanted to leave / retire.

However appointing a suitable replacement should have been an imperative, not doing so has contributed to the shambles we now have become.

[DBTW]

edited

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Sorry to sound like i'm from another forum, but an IFA friend of mine who deals with many Premiership players including our own, has just told me that the sale of the club is a 'done deal' already.

Are you Admin in disguise? Are you Admin in disguise?

[Villa in Denmark]

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.

Only if said journalist was privy to confidential information.

Otherwise how newsworthy is it that Randy, a very wealthy individual who is also co-trustee for the Lerner family trust, has been holding meetings with BoA, the firm he sold MBNA to and still holds a significant shareholding in.

As I said at the start of the rumours, there's a finite N^o of people who would definitely know that something was in the offing, and for Randy / BoA it shouldn't be too difficult to work out who from within that circle

• Randy himself - not in his interests to make it public until absolutely necessary.
• Despite previous protestations, Paul Faulkner must have known.  As Randy's chosen representative over here, unlikely he'd be a source of any leaks.
• Lambert probably knew, but should have been more concerned about scrapping points for survival and justifying his own existence.  His less than coded messages over the last few weeks support that he knew something was afoot, and the fact it sounded like he blatantly hawking himself to continue suggests he wouldn't leak it, otherwise no statement about "total loyalty" from Randy.
• Other confidants within Randys circle of friends.  Other than Krulak I don't know of any, but he almost certainly knew something was happening, which is why Pelty is the most obvious source of any whispers
• Someone within BoA.  Possible but the very reason you use organisations like these is for their discretion
• Someone from the purchasing side.  Well if you don't think there's a buyer in waiting this ones not possible

[pauliewalnuts]

I changed the poll, as the previous one was redundant.

[rob_bridge]

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?

I very much doubt he would have been employed or even considered for employment, other than as a light heartd suggestion, if we had someone with the slightest amount of footballing awareness on the board.

[The Laughing Policeman]

Sorry to sound like i'm from another forum, but an IFA friend of mine who deals with many Premiership players including our own, has just told me that the sale of the club is a 'done deal' already.

If it's a done deal, why didn't Randy just say yesterday that he has sold the club and after the Fit & Proper shit has been done with the PL all will be revealed?

Oh, and the lady on the deli counter in my local Waitrose reckons it'll be someone foreign who'll buy us.

[PaulWinch again]

I can't see anything happening soon, I hope I'm wrong but it just doesn't seem likely.

[not3bad]

It'll be the Kraft deal. I have spoken. This is my word.

[DBTW]

If it's a done deal, why didn't Randy just say yesterday that he has sold the club and after the Fit & Proper shit has been done with the PL all will be revealed?

Oh, and the lady on the deli counter in my local Waitrose reckons it'll be someone foreign who'll buy us.

Waitrose?

Posh git!

[brian green]

With all respect if the sale of the club is a done deal what was yesterday all about? If a deal has been done, the sensible, professional thing to do would be to make a holding statement or no statement at all. To feed the long suffering fans a pill with that much sugar on it tells me that the deal which was supposed to have been done had either fallen through or never was. We have a terrible record of reactive decision making - MON compo, Houllier illness, TOSM appointment, establishment of the Bomb Squad, to list but a few examples. We have form for making a bollox of things. Why should the sale of the club be any different?

[RussellC]

Unless a deal is physically signed and sealed, Randy would surely not want to put-off any higher bidders by announcing the club's sold, before actually announcing that it's for sale?

This doesn't mean that things won't be in the pipeline.