The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[dave shelley]

If Randy Lerner only put the club up for sale as of yesterday, then he is little better than MON in what he did.  I don't believe it only went on sale yesterday.

To make things easier for you all and avoid unnecessary speculation, I will not be bidding.  Mrs S won't let me.

[Drummond]

If you look at what Man City's owners have done, it's not just about money, money, money, they are building for the future, the investment locally has been immense as well as what they have put into the team. It seems like there will be a long-term future for their club.

Lerner has attempted the same for us, it's just a shame it hasn't worked for him (and he hasn't anywhere near the sort of disposable cash they have obviously).

[mr underhill]

from the heart HK and the way anyone with a love for the club feels, but to a buyer we are just another commodity, one in the richest football league in the world, which is a tempting investment opportunity, but sadly a serial underachiever who has traded on past glory for too long. I think it would be wonderful to have compassionate new owners, mindful of the club's rich history and place within English football and with a moral compass, but don't be too disappointed if we don't. People now Randy's pretty anxious to sell and dwell with his own, which might encourage the less scrupulous with a  low bid.

[dicedlam]

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

It appears not unfortunately. Was the same as you and just had a leaf through to see.

Apart from DW betting £20 that it happens by season start - considering the reluctance of DW and parting with money, for all the rumours, ITK and general hysteria, I would say that is the most telling thing to have happened yet!

I thought the same thing ozz.

I'm sure the parting of the Red Sea was easier than DW being separated from a twenty pound note.


Before the start of the season it is then.

[Dante Lavelli]

You'd hope that if a buyer was not lined up then there would have been a second part to the Club's statement saying that the window of opportunity to buy the club was short because to protect his interests he - if no one else would - will need to invest in players during the window which would result in a different selling price.

I'm doing a good job of convincing myself that it is almost done...  If not, and he has no intention of investing in players then he's reducing the value of his asset which would be bonkers.   

[Fuse]

What is the name of the Saudi Prince who is rumoured to be a Villa fan (was shown around BMH a couple of years ago)?

[olaftab]

How would you feel if the buyer turned out to be a group without any sports interests at the moment?
I'm thinking JLR. They already have a massive presence in the area employing thousands of people and have turned the company around magnificently.
What's in it for them? Well pretty much the same as Sheik Mansoor and Etihad. Rename the stadium put in a long term kit sponsorship deal, and every time you are on TV around the world you get a couple of hours of free advertising.
Mind you all that depends on spending buckets of money to make us succesful.

Now that would be lovely. Lot of local pride and passion but it's not going to happen. Football business is extremely tribal so therefore you lose more than you gain by supporting one tribe against 19 when the aim of the game is not to sell your brand but your product!

[Cleybrooke]

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?

I think/hope that yesterday was two personal "goodbye" statements written by the two individuals involved.  There was precious little PR jargon, or more to the point, they were too weird to be corporate/sanitised statements', furthermore there were no obvious 'sales pitches' to potential buyers which I'd have expected if the buyers were unknown.

My guess is that they wanted to get their 'goodbye' out in the public now before any official announcement/leak from the actual buyers.  The noise created from the new guys will drown out anything Randy/General would have to say and therefore their goodbye (and almost apology) would not been heard.  It's quite sweet really...

I'd go with this...

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

What is the name of the Saudi Prince who is rumoured to be a Villa fan (was shown around BMH a couple of years ago)?

That was the ever pessimistic Omar Gawd wasn't it?

[Boz]

Why wasn't David Thomson in the list, he's been linked with Lerner and Villa and his connections in the media would be beneficial.

Third richest person in Canada net worth 22 billion dollars Canadian. Also has links with the UK as 3rd Baron of Fleet.

[Fuse]

What is the name of the Saudi Prince who is rumoured to be a Villa fan (was shown around BMH a couple of years ago)?

That was the ever pessimistic Omar Gawd wasn't it?

:-) very good!

[martin o`who??]

If Randy Lerner only put the club up for sale as of yesterday, then he is little better than MON in what he did.  I don't believe it only went on sale yesterday.

To make things easier for you all and avoid unnecessary speculation, I will not be bidding.  Mrs S won't let me.

He could only realistically put the club up for sale once he knew what division we would be playing in next season, because relegation - which at various times just recently looked a very real posssibility, would have greatly affected, not only the value of the club, but its marketability as well.

[Fuse]

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?

I think/hope that yesterday was two personal "goodbye" statements written by the two individuals involved.  There was precious little PR jargon, or more to the point, they were too weird to be corporate/sanitised statements', furthermore there were no obvious 'sales pitches' to potential buyers which I'd have expected if the buyers were unknown.

My guess is that they wanted to get their 'goodbye' out in the public now before any official announcement/leak from the actual buyers.  The noise created from the new guys will drown out anything Randy/General would have to say and therefore their goodbye (and almost apology) would not been heard.  It's quite sweet really...

I'd go with this...

That is  exactly how I read it - I doubt we will hear anything again from Randy

[silhillvilla]

What is the name of the Saudi Prince who is rumoured to be a Villa fan (was shown around BMH a couple of years ago)?

Mohammed.

[jembob]

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?

I think/hope that yesterday was two personal "goodbye" statements written by the two individuals involved.  There was precious little PR jargon, or more to the point, they were too weird to be corporate/sanitised statements', furthermore there were no obvious 'sales pitches' to potential buyers which I'd have expected if the buyers were unknown.

My guess is that they wanted to get their 'goodbye' out in the public now before any official announcement/leak from the actual buyers.  The noise created from the new guys will drown out anything Randy/General would have to say and therefore their goodbye (and almost apology) would not been heard.  It's quite sweet really...

I'd go with this...

Me too. It would have been easier for Lerner to deny the sale altogether rather than to say what he did. Yesterday's announcement does not really fit in with Lerner way of doing things.
It may well be the case that they were expecting to be able to announce the sale yesterday but it's dragged on. If the sale was dependent upon PL status, they may have been expecting us to secure it a bit earlier than the Hull game and it did not leave enough time to complete matters.