MikeMcKenna

Why would it come from Rothschild?

Because if the reports were true they would be in deep shit.

It is from Rothschild. It just has the AV logo on it.

Highly likely that is driven by Rothchild and other directors covering their arses. But the timing is definitely significant imo.

It also sounds like Rothschild will not let this happen (can not let this happen). Sounds like even the insiders are leaving Doug's ship.

I think you are very probably right, rumour is that some board members are not happy.

What is more I think this is a preface to further imminent events.

Cue Lerner?????????

from OS

Takeover Information

A number of supporters have contacted the club recently requesting information regarding the current takeover discussions.

Whilst we understand the interest and concerns of supporters and shareholders, as a listed company, we are strictly limited to what we can and cannot say regarding the current situation.

Consequently, we have communicated all possible information to supporters and shareholders via the Stock Exchange.

However, the following points give a brief summary of the legal requirements that any listed company must adhere to in such circumstances.

As Aston Villa is a listed company, the board and its representatives have a legal duty to conduct any takeover negotiations strictly in accordance with the regulations.

There can be no special deals struck for the benefit of any individual. Personal interests cannot be pursued and all negotiations are conducted in the best interest of all shareholders and the football club.

As the company's retained advisor, Rothschild has been, and will continue to be, present at all meetings to ensure regulatory practice is upheld.

The board of Aston Villa are duty bound to consider the merits, or otherwise, of all offers made to the club.

In such situations, it is not legally possible for a listed company to divulge specific information relating to a takeover without first informing the Stock Exchange.

Accordingly, as and when appropriate, a further announcement will be made.

Actually this is very interesting, especially the bit in bold. It is basically answering the rumours that ellis was trying to angle an executive position for himself.

I think we can take it folks that they have now said categorically that he isnt and CAN'T !!!

I believe this statement is VERY significant!

There's no chance that people bidding have got in touch with some of the players and encouraged the statement is there?

Definitely not. This was as big a shock to Neville as everyone else

Caught everyone on the hop hasn't it

True, but in the main scheme of things it doesnt make a great deal of difference. A bid was in the offing anyway.

There's no chance that people bidding have got in touch with some of the players and encouraged the statement is there?

Definitely not. This was as big a shock to Neville as everyone else

Well John Fears vitalvilla have Michael Neville associated with a new bid, this time however with out the Comer Bros!

Its definitely true! The Comer Brothers gave up but Neville has kept plugging away and is now very close to making a bid.

Before anyone dismisses the guy remember he is Villa through and through. He's a successful businessman with BIG plans for Villa. He needs our support this is a big chance! He's originally fro the Aston Area and has supported Villa for nigh on 46 years.

Petchey still has midas touch

Geoff Foster, Daily Toss

VETERAN cockney property trader and former car dealer Jack Petchey has the midas touch. He is still making pots of money at the tender age of 81.

He has made himself a small fortune over the years by acquiring strategic stakes in asset-backed companies trading at big discounts to their underlying value via Trefick, his Isle of Man investment vehicle. More often than not he sells at a profit and his band of City followers rub their hands with glee.

He appears to have come up trumps yet again at Bizspace. He owns 23.7% of the provider of flexible managed workspace for small to medium-sized businesses, which yesterday revealed it has received a takeover approach. The shares raced ahead to 98p before closing 7½p higher at 86½p.

Petchey first bought a 4.94% stake at 29½p in October 2003 and last acquired stock last December at around 60p when he increased his shareholding to 23.7% from 17.8%. So he is already making a tasty turn on his investment and stands to make a lot more if rumours of an imminent 100p-plus a share cash bid prove correct.

Workspace (2 ½p dearer at 339p) is tipped as a possible bidder for a company that owns and operates a total of 31 managed centres from Newcastle to Brighton. A private equity player is also believed to be interested.

Petchey also owns 20% of struggling football club Aston Villa, 10p better at 407½p. Whispers from the dug-out suggest that Galway millionaire property developers Luke and Brian Comer are back in bid negotiations with chairman and 38% shareholder Doug Ellis.

Personally think they have got the wrong end of the stick, 2 + 2 = 5 type thinking.

You may be right but imo its back on again. Here's the scenario:

Ellis: F**k Neville and the Comer Brothers if they think they can get the club for 10 mill less. Stridey boy get Rothchilds in here. We'll stick AVFC on the market and get loads of interest at the asking price.

Three months later....

Stride: Mr Ellis, sir, Ive called Rothchilds on the the hour every hour for the last three months and they still havent come up with a buyer. D-D-Do Y-Y-You think we should call Neville and the Comers Brothers again?

Ellis: Stridey my boy, I'm not getting any younger but I am damned if I'll sell to a couple of itinerant plasters from Galway for less then the asking price!!!!!! Give it a couple more weeks and we'll leak it via someone at the meaning evil that we might be prepared to negotiate!

Sod the pedigree, the Egyptians had pedigree as did the Romans, lot of good it did them today.

Aston Villa as a club are a shell of their once great past, and its time their fans broke out of fantasy land and into realityville

Sorry this statement really is b*****ks!

Football has very little to do with reality for fans whoever they support. It has however a lot to with peoples dreams and therefore living in fantasy land.

Long may we revel in past memories and continue to dream of reliving former glories. F**k realityville! The day fans go there is the day most quit following football.

Unlike the Egyptian and Roman civilizations you refer to in your analogy, Aston Villa Football Club still exists. It very much has the potential to return to its former greatness once Nero Ellis stops fiddling and f**ks off

No not at all. I have always said out out out as soon as possible. Its just the definition of when is "possible" or "practical" that causes an issue for some.

Its the "now's not the right time" argument I have a problem with as people say that but what they really mean is there will never be a right time.

But you see my stance on DOL is a perfect example of people not reading what I have written and just believing what they want.

I do not believe that DOL is the right manager for us. I believe he should go.

Those that say that now is not the right time sort of say that they do believe he is the right manager for us, as far as I am concerned.

Richard are you saying that what ever he does "that DOL is NOT the right manager for us."? What would change your mind?

Pardew at West Ham was villified etc etc - but turned it round and they now love him.

Found this picture and snippet about our possble new owners

http://tinyurl.com/bfltf

not dead...

just in a coma perhaps?

lol

Gerry, heard that kind of sceanrio before and the whole thing hinges on whether Ellis has been told if he has months or years left, if he has nmonths he has to sell, if he has years he won't.

Think to yourself possible reasons why he won't spend money on pitch and loan and try and woprk out what you believe.

I am just confused !!!

Hi Ian

I dont buy the idea that he is trying to hang on. He MUST be selling. If he had no intention of selling the deal would have foundered before now. I dont trust the old bastard one iota BUT the notion that he is trying to hang on to the club just doesnt make sense. There must be something more to why it is taking so long. It has to be related to the value of business

1) Petchey wants to sell

2) The Comers knew the asking price back in Sept/Oct?

3) BUT a year on year, month on month analysis of the finances I am sure will indicate, that the value of the business is declining rapidly

I know that football businesses are not strictly valued like a typical business, but there still has to be some kind of formula. AVFC in Sept 2005 was on paper definitely worth more than it is now- this imho is the problem. By not spending they are trying (in the short term only!) to enhance the value

Is this now the "Go v Don't Go Thread" ? :winkold:

I've heard that Neville is no more a Villa fan than I am a Blues fan.

And that's not at all before the smart arses start

Tell us more.....

Do people seriously believe they would spend this amount of money with their background just to maintain the status quo on the football front and are only in it to develop some brown field sites in Aston?

Possibly.

Maybe they are just interested in the land? Interesting how Ellis a few weeks back mentioned he wouldn't sell to asset strippers?

Can't see it being the only reason but I accept that they could just buy the club plus all the assets and then just move the club onto other buyers at some point. The Comers are very sharp property developers - they would have a much greater knowledge of land values that ellies etc They knew about the failed planning application so must have other ideas.

There can be no doubt that they would know the value of the land that Villa owns - it is possible I suppose that they may view the Bodymoor Heath land as having more potential and being more valuable for housing etc

ellies reference to "asset strippers" is imo indicative of the sticking point being the value of the land and may be true but I still think we will be better off away from ellies or anyone like him who uses a football club to feather his own nest and boost their own ego's

I am beginning to ask serious questions about the ability of these irish brothers to run Villa. Running a football club means you generally aren't in it for a profit making exercise. These brothers aren't even interested in football. We could end up in a situation where there is no cash to buy players season in season out, just like now really.

I refer the honourable gentleman to the the post I made last night ;-)

Just read it and I am beginning to agree.

At least the Glazers had an interest in Sports. These people have no interest whatsoever.

There was an interview with the chairmn of Leyton Orient and he basically said you don't take over a football club to mke money, you'd never get the books to balance.

He never met with Ellis then.

Do you really think the Glazers bought ManUSA because they have "an interest in sports"? his takeover was financed by, banks and or other financial institutions and through loans secured against Manchester United itself. He didnt put any of his own money in (to the best of my knowledge)

The Comers have never made any secret of the fact that see it as business and surely it is naive to expect them or anyone else to part with£50-60 million for the "love of it".

We have had 23+ years of someone whose business methods are akin to running a corner shop and we have rightly criticised him for it.

Along come a couple of very successful business people who have a proven track record and there are already suggestions that they would run the club in a similar fashion to ellies "We could end up in a situation where there is no cash to buy players season in season out, just like now really"

Do people seriously believe they would spend this amount of money with their background just to maintain the status quo on the football front and are only in it to develop some brown field sites in Aston?

from ICBirmingham practically the same as what chris posted

Mystery over Villa takeover Jan 11 2006

By Jon Griffin,Birmingham Mail

THE outcome of the long-running Villa takeover saga remained shrouded in mystery today amid reports the Irish consortium was £10 million short of meeting the asking price.

Aston Villa appeared to quash reports that Irish property magnates Brian and Luke Comer had already pulled out of the deal - but there was no indication that any agreement was imminent.

Villa spokesman Phil Mepham today told the Birmingham Mail: "We have not been informed of any changes to the current position."

He said Villa was not planning to make any statement to the Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, Michael Neville, the frontman for the proposed £64 million takeover by the Comers, could not be contacted for comment.

But an insider, who asked not to be named, said: "There's no doubt that Doug Ellis wants to sell - he wanted to settle the deal before Christmas but the consortium are still trying to raise the money.

"The word is that they are about £10 million short. They can't raise enough money to meet the asking price. There are serious concerns about the sums of money available."

The Mail revealed before Christmas that the takeover bid had reached due diligence stage - detailed examination of both parties' accounts - and Mr Neville said he was hopeful a deal could be agreed by the New Year.

But he later said no potential agreement was likely before mid-January as speculation grew that the takeover talks, which have been dragging on since October, would eventually come to a halt.

Ellis told shareholders at the annual meeting in October that he hoped to be able to provide more information within a month but has consistently refused to make any further public comment since.

The way the club are leaking information is a f'cking disgrace its supposed to be a plc not a tinpot business! Its all down to ellies amateurism and money grabbing yet again. In case anyone forgets the old bastard has already made a killing in terms of millions from the first sharelisting, dividends and salaries. He now wants to make another killing to prove to his ego that he is a great businessman.

In reality he is just a money grabbing C***!

ellies is obviously using the media to do his negotiations for him and the Comer brothers team is having to in turn respond to all the leaks "off the record".

Clearly the Comers are not "short" by £10 million but have obviously said that £54 million (?) is on the table and ellis and his cronies are trying to out bluff them. Note there is no longer any debate about whether the Comers will invest etc in AVFC or have the clubs best interests at heart...... its ALL about the "asking price"!!!!!

Quite funny if he got beaten in the biggest and final deal of his life

I agree & it sort of prooves us all right in the end, the geezer could never ever see the big picture of either football or business. I think the deal is done & all this Bolox smells of Ellis. This is all smoke from him. I predict the following to come out of Ellis:-

"After weeks of hard ball I have got X more millions for the club"

translation for the real world

"Could have been done months ago but I thought I would string it out a bit too make out I am a hard nosed Business man when everyone knows I am a blue nosed tosser. I am sitting pretty now with millions of pounds in my bank & all i gave them was the 2 oke coke cups in 20 years"

LOL Post of the day imo

Anyone got a spare 10 million knocking about? If these guys can't even come up with the money, forget the cash for transfers!

:evil:

Obviously they dont value the business as highly as ellis. I doubt very much that they can't raise £10 million - more likely they cant justify the valuation

Belfast Telegraph Home

Irish magnates pull out of £64m Villa takeover

By Phil Shaw

11 January 2006

The proposed £64m take-over of Aston Villa, which would have seen the octogenarian chairman Doug Ellis finally relinquish control of the Premiership club, appears to have fallen through after the Irish property magnates linked with the deal decided not to proceed.

Brian and Luke Comer, the Galway-born, Hertfordshire-based brothers who were attracted to Villa by the prospect of developing land owned by the club within the grounds of Villa Park, are understood to regard Ellis' valuation as too high given the location and nature of the property and the price being sought.

After negotiations which started in the autumn, the Cromers have withdrawn. The Solihull entrepreneur and lifelong Villa supporter Michael Neville will now try to find fresh investors for his consortium, which was reported to have offered 560p per share to buy the majority shareholding, held by Ellis and the businessman Jack Petchey.

The failure of the take-over will come as a blow, if not an unexpected one, to the Villa manager, David O'Leary. The one-time free-spender at Leeds United had hoped to have funds for strengthening one of the top division's smallest squads during the January transfer window.

Club sources, who had claimed the delays were caused by the legal process of "due diligence", have yet to confirm that the deal is dead. But they do not now expect Ellis' controversial reign - which stretches back to the 1960s with only a brief hiatus a quarter of a century ago, during which Villa won the European Cup - to end in the near future.

Ellis told shareholders at Villa's annual meeting in October that he hoped to be in a position to let shareholders know about the viability of take-over proposals "within a month". Despite the Cromers' interest becoming public, no comment has been forthcoming.

The affair has been played out in contrast with the quickfireinvestment in Portsmouth by a Russian multi-millionaire. However, Villa fans frustrated by the collapse of the Irish bid and Ellis' alleged lack of ambition, may come to view events differently. Neither brother has a strong interest in football.

I don't know if this is a rehash but it was published 2 hours ago - still no quotes but it looks totally dead now......... **** ELLIS!

IMO opinion HDE is trying to find someone who loves the club and doesn't realise this is 2005 & football is run by business men (most of whom speculate to accumulate!!) and they want a profit out of land, tickets etc. etc.

Hmmm can't agree on that, £lies is still trying to get the best deal possible for himself and himself alone. For once its not £lies thats pulling away from this deal its the primary investors of AVIL (the Comers) because they dont think their interest in the deal (the associated land) is worth the investment and given the previous planning permission fiasco they are probably right about that.

But moving on to Neville finding other investors, even if he does I don't think I want him as chairman, Yes he's a Villa man, Yes he has the best interess of the cluyb at heart but ultimately he won't have that much power as his backers could decide to pull the plug at anytime. If Neville was to take charge, in chairman terms he'd be just like Bill Kenwright constantly looking for outside investment to try and keep the club moving along and in all likelyhood he'd be failing in the task as its not easy to find investors inf football as our many failed taleover attempts have shown (as have Kenwrights continual investment announcement bungles for that matter)

What we really need is someone who is financially strong in themselves and can commit his own funding in the short to medium term whilst trying to build the club but unfortunately the club being a PLC does hinder this type of takeover.

Bicks, You are absolutely right imo on whether ellies is trying to find someone "who loves the club" - the money grabbing bastard will sell to whoever meets his asking price. I am still staggered that some people believed all the spin that ellies puts out

As regards finding someone who "can commit his own funding in the short to medium term" In an ideal world I again agree but in the absence of this single wealthy individual there is also a lot to be said for having an avid Villa fan as chairman representing a consortium of investors. Bill Kenwright inherited a load of debt - that wouldnt the case at Villa.

The Abromavitch's of this world are far a few between - even Glazier at ManUSA used financiers to raise the money rather than his own.

A consortium of wealthy (if not super wealthy) individuals could imo work.

Purchases yes. In fact I wouldn't be surprised to see the takeover drag on past the end of Jan or thereabouts, only to collapse and offer up a good excuse for Ellis.

Loans, however, are a different matter

True but its also been reported that Villa have used up the English quota and can only loan from overseas.

I believe DOL had a CB lined up to purchase and because the "Takeover" has dragged on he has had to put his plans on ice.

He may now not have time to get an overseas loan in place

In the "Sunday Mercury" today, "one source close to the takeover" confirmed to Graham Hill that the deal, "was in good shape". He added that despite reports suggesting that the scheme was close to collapse, growing fears for the future of the bid and the chairman's concerns that financial assurances had not been met, it is understood that the consortium have not pulled out of the proposed takeover despite the amount of time it is taking to make real progress.

It's good news that they are still willing to try to do a deal with a man who is so difficult to deal with, "despite the amount of time it is taking to make real progress" and does that suggest to anyone that they are the ones who are delaying things rather than you know who?

I still believe the deal will happen. As someone said earlier I also believe the the "takeover" is the reason that the money for a CB has dissapperared.

A moratorium on major spending is often a standard practice/requirement during due diligence.

If the Comers were in it for a football club, would they spend months looking at our books? IF they are planning to invest £20m yearly as some reports suggest, there is no need to spend months on due dilligence.

Villa is a very big club and there simply aren't that many available to buy if you want a top club. The price seem quite low compared to what that Russian guy is willing to pay for Portsmouth. We have no debt, meaning any new owner doesn't need to spend millions only to clear it. The squad is good enough for a top half finish, and with three or four more quality players we would easily be among the teams challenging for a place in Europe. We own land which has some value, even though it's less than the £20m that Ellis seems to want for it. Our ticket prices are among the lowest in the country, so there is a potential for increased turnover by increasing prices to be on the same level as other top clubs. Etc.

If they still need a couple of months to decide if the reported £64.4m fee is to high, they're only in it for the money.

Silent Bob

I really can't see the rationale for this statement. Whether we like it or not premiership football is "business" and we know that anyone that buys Villa is not being purely altruistic. Also we knew from the outset (or at least assumed) that the Comer Brothers were not just in it for the fun of it.

You then go on to talk about the land AVFC owns and say even though it's less than the £20m that Ellis seems to want for it.

If this is true do you not think that the Comer Brothers are right to play hard ball (if this is what they are doing) and lets face it, both they AND ellis are "in it for the money"

£60 odd million is a lot of dosh and frankly I would want to analyse in AVFC finances in minute detail after ellis had been in charge for 23+ years.

Davis has a very good chance of overtaking Hendrie soon, but still I do rate Hendrie more as an attacking midfielder. I like both...but Hendrie do have som heavy backpackers with him that stops him from becoming a true legend. The lad is troublesome but I bet everyone holds a fist in the air and shout HENDRIE!!!! when he scores a goal...like he was a true hero.Little bit double here people?

Hendrie has done many good things at Villa so I really think we should give him credit for those things instead of complaining about his errors.

If he wasnt good...or rated...he would´ve left Villa long time ago...still he´s there! He is loyal...despite the team not having much to cheer about.

Personally I cheer a Villa goal and not Hendrie - he is and never has been a favourite or hero of mine, and over the last 3 seasons in particular - I have come to view him as a makeweight because the club wouldnt fork out for true class.

IF he WAS that good imho he would have left years ago and rather than staying through loyalty I think none of the other premiership managers rated him as highly as Villa did. I have always been at loss to understand why so many Villa fans have rated he so highly. imo his lack of class has been part of the problem we have had for so long in midfield and other than a few brief flashes he has rarely looked like becoming a class act.

He has always been good at short one two's, little through balls and rapid interplay, but he lacks vision, rarely make a long pinpoint pass, has little pace over distance. His inability to control his mouth and indiscipline on the pitch has cost us much over the years.

I dont deny that he has shown "passion" but I doubt few fans will ever claim that he was one of the a great or even very good players of his generation.