samjp26 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Aston Villa open talks over takeover deal Aston Villa are on course for a takeover this summer after it emerged Randy Lerner is in “delicate” negotiations with an interested party. Lerner has been discussing a potential £150million sale since the start of the year and could end his association with the club at the end of this season. The potential buyers have signed a non-disclosure agreement and are determined to keep their identity secret but are in advanced talks with Lerner and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Sources close to the deal insist nothing is imminent at this stage, with Villa’s Premier League future still hanging in the balance. But the consortium will press ahead with plans to buy the former European Cup winners when the picture is clearer over which division Villa will be operating in next season. Even if Villa suffer relegation to the Championship, the party would remain interested but Lerner’s asking price will be severely affected. Lerner, who bought the club for £62.6million in 2006, put Villa up for sale in May but there has been no serious interest until the party made their initial approach in the New Year. In August Lerner appointed a new chief executive, Tom Fox, who has led a major revamp of the club’s infrastructure since his arrival from Arsenal. Paddy Reilly returned from Liverpool to become the director of recruitment while Charles Wijeratna became the club’s first ever chief commercial officer. It was Fox who made the decision to sack Paul Lambert and replace him with Tim Sherwood in February. There are also plans to appoint a director of football despite Sherwood encountering difficulties with the role in his previous job at Tottenham Hotspur. Sherwood’s position is unlikely to be affected by the potential takeover. He said: “I’ve got no fears about coming into a club up for sale. Every club in the world is up for sale at the right price. “All I need to worry about is winning games. I can’t look beyond the end of the season.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/aston-villa/11472440/Aston-Villa-open-talks-over-takeover-deal.html So, who do we think the mysterious buyers are? Wang Jianlin (the richest man in China) of the Dalian Wanda Group has recently expressed his interest in investing in the United Kingdom, saying it is the best place for investment as there are no restrictions. DWG own a large share in Atletico Madrid already and was quoted a price of €1bn after enquiring about the potential takeover of AC Milan. Most recently DWG acquired "Infront", a sports marketing group from Switzerland for around €1bn. Jianlin is a huge sports fan and more specifically a huge footballer fan, and says he wants to invest in a football club from Italy or Britain next, depending on price. I'd love it to be Jianlin and DWG but I can't help thinking it'll be an American group. Josh Harris and David Blitzer who own the NJ Devils and were rumoured to be interested in buying us are entering the final stages of taking over Crystal Palace, so we can rule them out. John Percy is the first guy to come out with this story and he is usually highly reliable when discussing Villa. I also think it is worth noting that Delph made comments about how "next season will be much better" for the fans, and Sherwood has made the same comments. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Im in the minority but I hope we are not taken over. Better the devil you know as they say. The thought of us becoming another soulless club like Manchester City depresses me. The simple joys of seeing a 16 year old local kid getting his debut will most likely be a thing of the past if taken over by a mega rich billionaire. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B94villa Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Im in the minority but I hope we are not taken over. Better the devil you know as they say. The thought of us becoming another soulless club like Manchester City depresses me. The simple joys of seeing a 16 year old local kid getting his debut will most likely be a thing of the past if taken over by a mega rich billionaire. I don't think anyone wants the club to lose it's soul, just to become competitive again. As has been said previously, a new owner wouldn't be able to come in and do a City because of FFP. With investment in the right places (something I don't think we'll ever get under Lerner), we could be seeing young talent come through consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 As long as they have experience in owning a sports club, team or, *shudder*, franchise, I don't care. I think that may be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Oracle Guy Owner Please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sexbelowsound Posted March 15, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted March 15, 2015 The Devil we know is a clown. I'll take the risk. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Bill Gates needs to stop wasting his money on curing malaria and buy us Messi. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PussEKatt Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 It would be great to be competitive again and to be a big club again ( not in name only ) I also think that with a manager like Sherwood there is always the likelyhood of young players comming through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osmark86 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 well this is some exciting news. let the speculation threads swell over yet again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Don_Simon Posted March 15, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted March 15, 2015 Im in the minority but I hope we are not taken over. Better the devil you know as they say. The thought of us becoming another soulless club like Manchester City depresses me. The simple joys of seeing a 16 year old local kid getting his debut will most likely be a thing of the past if taken over by a mega rich billionaire. Does the simple joy of seeing a 16yr get a ten minute run around outweigh the joy of seeing your team win the league? 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGrath1874 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I'd hate to turn into Man city, but I'd like us to be competitive again, fighting for European places and attracting quality players without loosing our own to bigger teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Im in the minority but I hope we are not taken over. Better the devil you know as they say. The thought of us becoming another soulless club like Manchester City depresses me. The simple joys of seeing a 16 year old local kid getting his debut will most likely be a thing of the past if taken over by a mega rich billionaire. Sorry but the last 4 years have been completely wretched so I couldn't stomach another 4 years and nearly a decade of breaking all sorts of terrible club records thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicho Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I look forward to the 2016 version of this thread. Seeing is believing and not until I see a Chinese consortium standing on the Villa Park turf with a red Villa kit and new signing £26 million Lee Catermole will I believe. I dont want to be a billionaires plaything, one thing we loved about Randy was his appreciation of Villas history. Beggers cant be choosers I suppose but the history of foreign takeovers reads very poorly for British teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 As long as they have experience in owning a sports club, team or, *shudder*, franchise, I don't care. I think that may be the case. like our current owner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morley_crosses_to_Withe Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) It's hard to get that excited. You look at the list of owners and, for one reason or another, they're all as bad as each other. The 'best' owners are usually the richest and most frivolous, but the football world has conspired to ensure that a club like ours doesn't end up with a Mansour/Abramovich type. Edited March 15, 2015 by Morley_crosses_to_Withe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted March 15, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 15, 2015 Becoming a Man City is now impossible. I don't know why it keeps getting brought up in relation to a takeover.. We won't become that, even if an owner wanted to make us into a Man City, they couldn't 'cos of FFP. FFP is a complete game changer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted March 15, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 15, 2015 Please, not the Chinese. They'd probably decide that blue and white are lucky colours and change the shirt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmirch Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I don't fancy Chinese either. I like Indian. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walesavfc Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 a takeover, rebuild north stand with naming rights for £500 mil will see us past the FFP, do it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pooligan Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Would'nt that just piss our little neighbours Small Heath off,if we were to be taken over by the richest man in China Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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