CONFRIMED: Takeover collapsed; Back to square one

[blythspartan]

i managed to speak to my contact for the first time in a while. what he said is Dai want's to sell to someone who will want to take us to the next level, to pump money into the club keep the academy, and take us to the premier league. like he wanted to do. He was getting fed up with couhigs meddling behind the scenes and his vision for the club which was to run it on a shoestring. Dai has written into the contracts that he will continue to receive payouts, bonuses if you will. depending on club performances. ie if we get to the PL he will receive x. It was becoming more and more apparent that couhigs vision for the club made it very hard for Dai to see us getting there in the timeframe he wants. He wanted assurances from couhig that he was going to invest in the club and not just strip the club right down and look to sell for a profit in a couple of years, whilst still being a mid table team in league 1. Couhig would not give dai the assurances, so dai pulled the plug. He wants an investor to come in with a vision of getting the club to the PL.

This ties in with what Howe was saying so who knows. I can get that RC lording it around the club might have pee’d Dai off. I think someone else on here who has been proved right said Dai didn’t like Couhig.

[Sutekh]

Great, so he'll only sell to another Dai

Might as well fold the club now as no one with any sanity left is going to agree to ridiculous terms like that.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

i managed to speak to my contact for the first time in a while. what he said is Dai want's to sell to someone who will want to take us to the next level, to pump money into the club keep the academy, and take us to the premier league. like he wanted to do. He was getting fed up with couhigs meddling behind the scenes and his vision for the club which was to run it on a shoestring. Dai has written into the contracts that he will continue to receive payouts, bonuses if you will. depending on club performances. ie if we get to the PL he will receive x. It was becoming more and more apparent that couhigs vision for the club made it very hard for Dai to see us getting there in the timeframe he wants. He wanted assurances from couhig that he was going to invest in the club and not just strip the club right down and look to sell for a profit in a couple of years, whilst still being a mid table team in league 1. Couhig would not give dai the assurances, so dai pulled the plug. He wants an investor to come in with a vision of getting the club to the PL.

He also said despite what people think he genuinely want the best for the club he is committed to selling but wants to sell to the right person. Not someone who is going to come in paint some walls do some decorating knock down a few internal wall make the place open plan and flip the club for a few quid in profit in a couple of years.

This makes some sense and does tie in with what Howe said and I also guess Couhig may have had some say in the de-funding of the women's team.

I guess we'll never find out exactly what went wrong though....I'm sure Couhig would talk if he could as he seems to be an up front kind of person, anyone who's dealt with this kind of stuff know how long NDA's are in place for when a deal collapses?

[WestYorksRoyal]

For that to work, he needs to give himself the best chance of keeping Selles and the team together, which means proof of funding.

The potential is there with the club, but it feels like we're only a Selles resignation away from things unravelling completely.

Plus, does this explanation really square with the timing? Surely if the problem was ambition and vision, Couhig would have been rejected months ago and not at the 11th hour?

[Brogue]

And just an FYI on my source. He is still someone floating around at the club from the anton TSI era would you believe. He was heavily involved in that takeover. And tells me Chris Samuelson has been keeping his ear to the ground and looking for investors for us. He’s not involved like he was before but he has been asked to use his contacts to send investors our way.

[Snowflake Royal]

i managed to speak to my contact for the first time in a while. what he said is Dai want's to sell to someone who will want to take us to the next level, to pump money into the club keep the academy, and take us to the premier league. like he wanted to do. He was getting fed up with couhigs meddling behind the scenes and his vision for the club which was to run it on a shoestring. Dai has written into the contracts that he will continue to receive payouts, bonuses if you will. depending on club performances. ie if we get to the PL he will receive x. It was becoming more and more apparent that couhigs vision for the club made it very hard for Dai to see us getting there in the timeframe he wants. He wanted assurances from couhig that he was going to invest in the club and not just strip the club right down and look to sell for a profit in a couple of years, whilst still being a mid table team in league 1. Couhig would not give dai the assurances, so dai pulled the plug. He wants an investor to come in with a vision of getting the club to the PL.

This ties in with what Howe was saying so who knows. I can get that RC lording it around the club might have pee’d Dai off. I think someone else on here who has been proved right said Dai didn’t like Couhig.

Another thing in couhig's favour

[katweslowski]

I also guess Couhig may have had some say in the de-funding of the women's team.

FFS, it's just occurred to me that they probably completely obliterated the women's team as part of deal and negotiation, only for it to all go wrong anyway.

That may be obvious to some but I hadn't previously considered it. What an utter travesty, especially as they had produced some great players and were at one stage an established WSL team.

[Snowflake Royal]

Probably shat the bed when Couhig authorised the Azeez sale and let one of his shiny toys actually improve themselves.

[Snowflake Royal]

And just an FYI on my source. He is still someone floating around at the club from the anton TSI era would you believe. He was heavily involved in that takeover. And tells me Chris Samuelson has been keeping his ear to the ground and looking for investors for us. He’s not involved like he was before but he has been asked to use his contacts to send investors our way.

Your mate is Kia Joorabchian?

Sounds like someone we want nowhere near us.

[Orion1871]

The impression the players at the time had was that neither Dai or Couhig wanted to keep the women's team at the same level they were at.

[katweslowski]

The impression the players at the time had was that neither Dai or Couhig wanted to keep the women's team at the same level they were at.

I can understand that considering the financial draw it must have.

It's a shame as if you look at a club like Brighton, they have a strongly integrated women's team, a large presence in Japan, community involvement, they seem to be doing everything right.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Probably shat the bed when Couhig authorised the Azeez sale and let one of his shiny toys actually improve themselves.

Tbf, what was Couhig doing making calls on player sales on a club he didn't own? Add in sacking Bowen, his call on the women's team and it is a guy who has massively overstepped.

[Forbury Lion]

What if Dai has somehow found a new funding source and is legitimately committed to covering our costs now?

I guess the evidence of that works be if he complied with the EFL demands and paid his fine.

What if the Olise sell on clause money has made him think about gambling on the academy making him all his money back and more by creating more stars for other clubs?

I'm not against that idea, but I suspect it won't generate him the big wins he's looking for, might just help keep things ticking along.

He's not interested in that. If he was he'd have done it in the last 6 years, rather than letting anyone with promise, bar Olise, go for peanuts or nothing at all.

We're all second guessing what he is or isn't interested in right now, but I suspect it isn't what he was or wasn't interested in 6 years ago, in fact probably isn't what he was/wasn't interested in 5 minutes ago

[Forbury Lion]

Probably shat the bed when Couhig authorised the Azeez sale and let one of his shiny toys actually improve themselves.

Tbf, what was Couhig doing making calls on player sales on a club he didn't own? Add in sacking Bowen, his call on the women's team and it is a guy who has massively overstepped.

Couhig would not have had the power to make the calls to sell Azeez or sack Bowen, Yes he may have consulted about this and indeed the terms of the exclusivity agreement may have insisted that he be consulted since both would have financial consequences on the value of the club, but these actions would require authorisation from within the club.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

I'd be shocked but grateful if Dai actually had the future of the club in mind when selling.

I can't complain too much as he paid for the training ground and bank-rolled the academy; if it starts making money, I can't see it's too unfair for him to get some of his investment back, as long as he prices that into the sale. Sell cheap but get money back if his investment turns a significant profit for the new owner.But as with everything else in this process, we're all mostly guessing.

As for me, pretty much every single one of my guesses so far have turned out to be 100% wrong. I just didn't foresee the process being this difficult. It's now getting to the stage of keeping me awake at nights.

[morganb]

From what Brogue said surely it's time to start blaming Wrexham and Birmingham and their owners for the situation we're in - they've found buyers who are aiming for the Premier League and are happy chucking money at recruiting players. Guess Dai heard Couhig was American and assumed he'd be cut from the same cloth?

[SouthDownsRoyal]

The notion that dai wants lots of strings attached IF we get back to the prem etc he gets X% back does sound a plausible to a point but How many months has this been dragging on for?

And only now dai realised couhig isn’t a multi billionaire or wealthy Hollywood celeb Ready to spend whatever it takes to get RFC into the champions league?

[Snowflake Royal]

Probably shat the bed when Couhig authorised the Azeez sale and let one of his shiny toys actually improve themselves.

Tbf, what was Couhig doing making calls on player sales on a club he didn't own? Add in sacking Bowen, his call on the women's team and it is a guy who has massively overstepped.

Well if he was funding the club (which he was) and everyone expected him to take over (which they did) and Dai is always completely awol and uncontactable by everyone at the club (which he is) it suddenly seems less unreasonable.

[Millsy]

Dear Dai,

Thank you for remaining Owner of my beloved club.

As a thank you, I will send you a personal bespoke Millsy joke every day to ensure you stay.

Yours,

Millsy.

[morganb]

Dear Dai,

Thank you for remaining Owner of my beloved club.

As a thank you, I will send you a personal bespoke Millsy joke every day to ensure you stay.

Yours,

Millsy.

If that doesn't work nothing will

Perhaps you could also get them printed on banners and displayed at the ground too?