CONFRIMATION of the CONFIMRED

[tmesis]

One big reason we don't have a sensible financial model in this country is that it's fundamentally bloody hard. You don't want to discourage ambitious owners from investing and fans from dreaming of punching above their weight, you don't want a system that entrenches the dominance of those fortunate enough to be at the top of the tree right now. Even as a neutral, you want to see change in the PL. But things such as FFP, wage caps etc., will do exactly this.

One thing often overlooked is that football clubs have always overspent and got into a mess.

The difference is that the sums involved now are far bigger. Back in the 80s, when a 3nd tier club losing "£5000 a week" was absolutely shocking, the reality was that there was nearly always a local business rich enough to come in and take over.

Now, a crisis club at the same level will be losing £500,000 a week, and the kind of people able to bail clubs out are much fewer in number.

[WestYorksRoyal]

One big reason we don't have a sensible financial model in this country is that it's fundamentally bloody hard. You don't want to discourage ambitious owners from investing and fans from dreaming of punching above their weight, you don't want a system that entrenches the dominance of those fortunate enough to be at the top of the tree right now. Even as a neutral, you want to see change in the PL. But things such as FFP, wage caps etc., will do exactly this.

One thing often overlooked is that football clubs have always overspent and got into a mess.

The difference is that the sums involved now are far bigger. Back in the 80s, when a 3nd tier club losing "£5000 a week" was absolutely shocking, the reality was that there was nearly always a local business rich enough to come in and take over.

Now, a crisis club at the same level will be losing £500,000 a week, and the kind of people able to bail clubs out are much fewer in number.

Though tbf there seems to be no shortage of idiots lining up to buy clubs and take on these astronomical losses. The flip side of what you describe is that now buyers come from around the world.

[Pepe the Horseman]

From Bloomberg

Chiron Sports Group is in exclusive talks to buy Reading FC, the troubled English football club owned by the Chinese businessman Dai Yongge, according to people familiar with the situation.

Although the article doesn't actually tell us anything we don't already know https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ckout=true

[Pepe the Horseman]

Someone suggested they could just be working on behalf of the yanks, similar to what they did for Bristol Rovers.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Someone suggested they could just be working on behalf of the yanks, similar to what they did for Bristol Rovers.

There website says investment and advisory, so could be either. They also talk about seeking co investors, so it could be that they're leading but also have investors beyond their 2 main backers.

Their page also mentions "acquisition of a former Premier League team at a significant discount to market" in the pipeline. Hope Dai and his team don't read that and use it as an excuse to bump the price up.

[blythspartan]

If the potential new owners have loaned the club say to £2m to cover costs until the end of the season could they put us into administration if Dai changes his mind and can’t afford to pay them back?

[Pepe the Horseman]

Someone suggested they could just be working on behalf of the yanks, similar to what they did for Bristol Rovers.

There website says investment and advisory, so could be either. They also talk about seeking co investors, so it could be that they're leading but also have investors beyond their 2 main backers.

Their page also mentions "acquisition of a former Premier League team at a significant discount to market" in the pipeline. Hope Dai and his team don't read that and use it as an excuse to bump the price up.

Ha. "In the process of an absolute steal, but don't draw attention to it".

[Pepe the Horseman]

Either way, seems quite promising.

[WestYorksRoyal]

If the potential new owners have loaned the club say to £2m to cover costs until the end of the season could they put us into administration if Dai changes his mind and can’t afford to pay them back?

Not without a charge against the loan, which would appear on companies house. Without this they're just an unsecured creditor.

Nothing has appear on completion house, and we're led to belief Genevra walked because they were unwilling to lend on Dai's terms. Suggests to me that they're taking the risk. £2m is small change to these guys if it doesn't work out.

[Stranded]

So if it is Chiron then what we have learnt over the past few days:

William Storey potentially put any deal back a couple of months, and could even have scuppered a realistic deal but putting in a phantom 50m deal which put an unrealistic figure in Dai's head.

Then Wycombe's interest in the training ground lead directly to Chiron walking away - it was only that falling through that brought them back to the table, arguably putting the announcement of exclusivity (and potential sale) back even further.

So all in all it weren't for charlatans and vultures, we may have been sold weeks ago.

[WestYorksRoyal]

So if it is Chiron then what we have learnt over the past few days:

William Storey potentially put any deal back a couple of months, and could even have scuppered a realistic deal but putting in a phantom 50m deal which put an unrealistic figure in Dai's head.

Then Wycombe's interest in the training ground lead directly to Chiron walking away - it was only that falling through that brought them back to the table, arguably putting the announcement of exclusivity (and potential sale) back even further.

So all in all it weren't for charlatans and vultures, we may have been sold weeks ago.

Sadly it will ever be that way in the game. The Athletic are currently doing a series on shysters, and Storey seems like the least damaging of the lot so far. Derby and Sheffield United both went into periods of exclusivity with individuals who went on to be convicted for fraud. Though we take the prize for actually agreeing to sell to a Russian "billionaire" who didn't have any money.

Howe has clearly weeded out a lot of time wasters this time, though he still doesn't have my full trust due to the aforementioned Russian "billionaire".

[East Grinstead Royal]

Yes, but one would hope that it was an experience from which he will have learned, thus making him more capable of weeding out the shysters, fraudsters and charlatans.

[Hendo]

So if it is Chiron then what we have learnt over the past few days:

William Storey potentially put any deal back a couple of months, and could even have scuppered a realistic deal but putting in a phantom 50m deal which put an unrealistic figure in Dai's head.

Then Wycombe's interest in the training ground lead directly to Chiron walking away - it was only that falling through that brought them back to the table, arguably putting the announcement of exclusivity (and potential sale) back even further.

So all in all it weren't for charlatans and vultures, we may have been sold weeks ago.

Said it at the time and will say it any time his name comes up, Storey is an absolute waster. His time in F1 is all the proof that is needed. An absolute chancer and a clown.

[Crusader Royal]

So if it is Chiron then what we have learnt over the past few days:

William Storey potentially put any deal back a couple of months, and could even have scuppered a realistic deal but putting in a phantom 50m deal which put an unrealistic figure in Dai's head.

Then Wycombe's interest in the training ground lead directly to Chiron walking away - it was only that falling through that brought them back to the table, arguably putting the announcement of exclusivity (and potential sale) back even further.

So all in all it weren't for charlatans and vultures, we may have been sold weeks ago.

Sadly it will ever be that way in the game. The Athletic are currently doing a series on shysters, and Storey seems like the least damaging of the lot so far. Derby and Sheffield United both went into periods of exclusivity with individuals who went on to be convicted for fraud. Though we take the prize for actually agreeing to sell to a Russian "billionaire" who didn't have any money.

Howe has clearly weeded out a lot of time wasters this time, though he still doesn't have my full trust due to the aforementioned Russian "billionaire".

The Russian billionaire did have lots of money, it’s just that Anton wasn’t the billionaire. His dad put the funds up for the initial tranche but Anton was supposed to source funding himself for the second tranche which is what he failed to do and his dad refused to then underwrite the full purchase. I’m not too sure how that situation could have been foreseen but clearly it would have been better if it had been. There must have been some foresight though given the fact that they managed to include the clause that saw the ownership revert back to SJM

[windermereROYAL]

A Few days since the exclusivity announcement and the twatters are losing their minds already, I dread to think what they`ll be like after two months.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Remember when we were all excited by the possibility of Red Bird Capital who seem to be doing a reasonable job at AC Milan? They were interested before Storey emerged, so they could well have been a casualty of his bullshit. Which would obviously be a massive shame.

But I also think Dai had an unrealistic asking price anyway. Didn't the Athletic report in September he wanted £70m+? So maybe it was always going to take this long for his expectations to meet reality.

[WestYorksRoyal]

The disappointment of the timing, aside from it not being done yet and us still being at risk, is what it could mean for the squad.

If we want to renew Azeez's contract plus a few others, we're asking them to take a big leap of faith if the new owner only arrives as the season ends. How can they trust that the club will be well run under them? Whereas had they come earlier, we could have had a few months stability and feelgood factor around the club and they would be more inclined to renew. We could still have Abbey.

[Royalwaster]

Either way, seems quite promising.

If they are supposed to be our main owners, I'd not be that encouraged ... hopefully they are acting on someone else's behalf.

[Stranded]

Either way, seems quite promising.

If they are supposed to be our main owners, I'd not be that encouraged ... hopefully they are acting on someone else's behalf.

What doesn't encourage you about them - of the 2 money men, one at least is a billionaire and both seem to have a track record of investing smartly.

Any owner coming in will have to earn trust after the last few years but I'm not sure what else you could actually want?

[Royal Ginger]

I doubt they’ll have much interest in earning trust. We’ve mostly had hobby owners up until this point (Thais partially aside) For better or worse they have a football club because they have an interest in football. They’ve all had a go a pandering to us at points.

The venture capital crowd are investing for inflated returns. We could be any business as long as there’s a relatively quick buck to be made.

Not saying it’s better or worse but if it is these folks I reckon this’ll be a very different beast of an ownership group who have little need for sentimentality or trust.