The Takeover Thread - Recon Group - NOW WITH NEW POLL

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

If he does become our new owner he can borrow my canoe.
Seems a fair deal to me.

[PaulWinch again]

Bit of a pipe dream sadly.

[paul_e]

Bit of a pipe dream sadly.

Indeed, he does tick a whole lot of boxes on the 'perfect owner' list, I can't imagine us winning that particular lottery.

[brian green]

By popular demand the Azerbaijani will be the successful bidder and only when he walks out to receive the rapturous applause of the fans will we realize that it is all a publicity stunt to promote The Return of Borat.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Brian, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that one.

It most certainly deserves a big belly laugh.

[Small Rodent]

Is that your Doug Out! Canoe?

[Damo70]

I will believe it when the ink is dry on the contract...

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-gossip-microsoft-billionaire-8482194

UTV
The Doc

The photo of him at the top of the article is the most 90s any person has ever looked.

it's pathetic that the Mail couldn't even be arsed to come up with a recent picture

This is his boat.



I want to look down my nose at that kind of crass display of wealth, but goddamn its impressive.

Can work start on dredging the river Tame, that's never going to fit on the Witton stretch.

I am a bit worried that in between the first and second pictures of his boat he appears to have had his helicopter repossessed.

[paul_e]

I will believe it when the ink is dry on the contract...

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-gossip-microsoft-billionaire-8482194

UTV
The Doc

The photo of him at the top of the article is the most 90s any person has ever looked.

it's pathetic that the Mail couldn't even be arsed to come up with a recent picture

This is his boat.



I want to look down my nose at that kind of crass display of wealth, but goddamn its impressive.

Can work start on dredging the river Tame, that's never going to fit on the Witton stretch.

I am a bit worried that in between the first and second pictures of his boat he appears to have had his helicopter repossessed.

Where do you think the 2nd photo was taken from, it's like the ultimate billionaire selfie.

[ciggiesnbeer]

And its got 7 other boats onboard, plus a 10 man submarine.

That is some serious money. Yeah I would be just fine with him buying Villa.

[PeterWithesShin]

For what it's worth, it's getting reported in the States that he may buy us. An American friend of mine in Oregon just heard it mentioned on the news. They also sent me a link to this article

[PeterWithesShin]

Here is some info on his yacht. It cost $200m in 2003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_%28yacht%29

And another article with a lot of pics of it. I suppose i've seen worse boats.... http://www.superyachtfan.com/superyacht_octopus.html

[Toronto Villa]

i'd be delighted if Allen just became a benefactor and left day to day for someone else. Bit like Henry at Liverpool who is really a baseball man. I don't get all the angst over whether Randy goes to games or not. I'm pretty sure Sheik Mansoor doesn't. But they have in place good people to run the club which is critical if we are to move forward, with or without Randy.

[cfetters]

i'd be delighted if Allen just became a benefactor and left day to day for someone else. Bit like Henry at Liverpool who is really a baseball man. I don't get all the angst over whether Randy goes to games or not. I'm pretty sure Sheik Mansoor doesn't. But they have in place good people to run the club which is critical if we are to move forward, with or without Randy.

I just don't see how Allen is an option at this point, to be truthful.

Living in Seattle and enjoying what the Seahawks are doing right now (I went to the NFC Championship and it was bonkers), he's up to his eyeballs in a program that has gone to back-to-back Super Bowls. Add to it the fact that he also owns the Portland Trailblazers - I just don't see why he would want to stick his neck out in Brum, even at a discount. It would be a curious purchase at best.

I think the biggest point working against Villa is that Allen simply isn't a soccer man. I don't know how much of one Lerner was when he bought the Villa, but Allen's interest is cursory at best. His involvement in Sounders is nil, other than he has a share in the interest because the Sounders play their matches where the Seahawks do - CenturyLink - and Allen saved the NFL in Seattle because he sold the taxpayers on a stadium that would be used by both American Football AND Soccer.

But all things being equal, he doesn't have any involvement in hardly any aspect of what the Sounders do, especially day-to-day.

Again, there's nothing stopping him from buying the club and then handing it off to Fox, et al and just setting the thing on auto pilot, but that hasn't been his style. He raised the 12th Man Flag before Sunday's NFC Championship game and is revered around the city of Seattle for what he's done for the professional teams here.

I'd be thrilled if he was the one to pick up the mantle from Lerner, but it doesn't seem to match Allen's MO or personality.

-C.

[john e]

It all seems to good to be true,
 but at least this time there is a bit of proper press speculation to go with the rumours

[Hillbilly]

It's a perfect fit. Villa and Microsoft have been around for a long time, there a new version every few years, they're 'just there' for most people and they only get noticed when something goes wrong.