John

I guess the point is John is whether for the inheritance it is best if he sells before or after his death or does it maake no real difference ?

I doubt at the moment that it makes much if any difference Ian. But, it would make a world of difference to our football club.

Ian,

Inheritance tax (IHT) kicks in at £263,000. The value of estates above that level is taxed at 40%, and Gordon Brown has ignored all pleas to whack up the threshold. Here's how our chairman could minimise the damage.

Trusts: Assets can be put in trust for children or grandchildren, which reduces tax liability.

Home owners: If “Deadly Towers” is owned as 'tenants in common' rather than 'joint tenants' (as most people do) then when one partner dies, their half can be left directly to (say) the children. The surviving spouse's estate is reduced, but they can still live in the house.

Gifts: He can give away £250 each year to as many people as he likes (which I take would be nobody). He can also give £3,000 a year to one or more recipients, and can roll over any unused allowance to the next tax year.

Seven-year rule: He can gift money or any other asset to anyone - and they won't count as part of his estate, so long as he survives at least seven years. (Taper relief may be available if he holds out for more than three years.) Has he left this too late?

Charity: Any donations left to charity, or even a political party, are tax-free. I would anticipate that charity would stop at his doorstep or could he claim AVFC are a charity as we make regular donations to his bank account!

I doubt that he actually believes that he will ever die (he may have come to some arrangement concerning this). :winkold: If he does accept that the sands of time will one day run out for him, I suspect he is unwilling to consider just how close that prospect may be. He has the wealth to get the best possible advice on how to avoid IHT if he chooses to seek it. But, I would anticipate that he does expect to take his money with him when the time comes.

Ps - I wonder if his relatives pay for their tickets? :roll: At a time when we are so short of cash any help would be most appreciated no matter how infrequently it might be forthcoming.

If this deal does not go through and I still think it might soon, I wonder whether the Russians might become interested again as I think it was suggested that they would be waiting in the wings for exactly that to happen? Would Rothschilds be less concerned about what was in it for our chairman after the deal was done than he was and would that present an opportunity that was not there before when he blocked a deal because of that?

From the BBC Football web-site:

Last week Villa appointed financial advisors Rothschild to act for them.

"I remain optimistic about our bid. As far as I'm aware we are the only bidder at the moment," Neville told BBC Sport.

Part of Rothschild's role will be to examine whether the consortium - Aston Villa Investments Limited - has the funds to buy the club.

I thought the last paragraph was particularly interesting. Looks like the deal might not be a dead parrot after all, has it just been resting? :winkold:

Daholteend said:

They did a good job for the Glazers, they can do it for AVFC

I think the Manchester United fans would question how good a deal for the club it was, only time will tell but I know I would prefer Glazer to what we have now.

I wonder does this mean Rothschilds will now take the money if it is in the best interests of the shareholders irrespective of whether it is also in the best long term interests of the club as well? Our chairman has always claimed in the past that he would want football men and I would assume people who can invest some real money into the club.

Demitri said:

how much are we paying the rothchilds? is this the money we could have used to buy bakke?

Some of it I would guess. But, if it rids us of you know who once and for all it will be money well spent!

I hope to hear something in the next 48 hours. As I have many times before.

I dont know why the comers arent speaking BUT the reason Doug isnt is annoying me

Why should the chairman let the mere "men of the terraces" know what is happening (it is his football club after all). Or might he not be well enough to speak lucidly on this subject? Let's hope we hear something by the middle of the week, after the Comer Bros. have met with their bankers.

Made up name? Made up story? It is the Mirror after all. :winkold:

To add fuel to my earlier post. In the Sports Argus Bill Howell wrote that our chairman was ready this week to offer a final ultimatum to Brian & Luke Comer to meet one final deadline. But he was also gripped with an overwhelming desire to call the whole deal off regardless. He claimed that our chairman is understood to have grown impatient as a series of deadlines have past and not been met. A source said, “The chairman has had enough. It is another 2 days here, another 3 days there. And still there is no sign of an offer. He has had enough and is ready to pull the plug on the whole deal”.

Now for the funny bit, Bill Howell adds, now Ellis’ patience appears to have snapped. He has had to keep one eye on the takeover and a painstaking due diligence book-keeping process while also trying to run every aspect of the day-to-day running of the club. And whose fault is that I wonder?

In the Sunday Mercury today Graham Hill writes that the consortium are holding a meeting with their bankers tomorrow with a view to putting funds in place and insist their bid is not dead. Hill says that the Comer Bros. are pressing ahead with their plans to persuade chairman Doug Ellis to sell up, are mystified at the timing of Villa’s announcement and insist they are making real progress with their plans.

He adds that sources close to the proposed bid feel they have now reached the point of no return after ploughing so much time, effort and cash into the project. Neville said last night, “I am still very optimistic of clinching this transaction”.

This all makes me suspect that the deal is getting too close for our chairman’s comfort and that despite what he claims, he is looking to annoy this consortium so much that they do pull out.

Thanks Denis. So the club bought the share options back and by doing so maintained the status quo (a reference to that band's music more than to our board's use of club money).

but if Doug were to pull the plug he would have to dip into the coffers and cough up a considerable amount..... and we all know he doesn't like wasting money, and in this case it would be money for nothing

Not his money though Jim it would be the clubs money.

Was that also how we financed paying NTL to buy their share holding back? If so, who holds and votes these shares now?

I'm more than a little concerned that if the consortium does not give him what he wants he will string this out for a reasonable period to show there is no alternative to him (as his inflated asking price at least) and then pay Rothschild off with next season's transfer budget.

Come on Mr Neville let's be hearing from you in the press on Sunday.

"A whole pile of bills were in the "in" tray still to be settled on the new stand, firms who had supplied services had not been paid, there were stories circulating of "missing" funds, though I never had actual evidence of this, and the whole atmosphere seemed to be one of suspicion. I will not dwell on this unhappy state of affairs, other than to observe that Aston Villa FC did not possess the feeling one would expect in a club which has been well-managed behind the scenes". The words of our current chairman in 1982 rather than our next one in 2006. :winkold:

He also said (after selling up to Bendall) "First I had to learn to endure life without Aston Villa as the club enjoyed its finest hours with a set-up I had done so much to bring about, largely through the youth policy we had introduced and which had borne fruit with some magnificent home produce" and (when turning down Brian Clough's offer to manage us) "Look, Brian. It would never work. There is only one boss at Aston Villa and that's me". Let's hope he will soon have to endure life without Aston Villa again as it has another opportunity to have some more finest hours without him as the one and only boss of AVFC.

Is our friend Mr Neville a News of the World reporter then? Somehow I don't think so. I will be very interested to hear what he has to say next. I'm sure the chairman will be as well.

We have the money to appoint Rothschild but not to keep Baake? Does the chairman think that rich Arab exists because otherwise appointing someone to sell when you have no intention of doing so at a realistic price is a waste of money. It looks like we will be waiting for that casket unless our friend Mr Neville can still turn this around and make the chairman look to others what we all know he is or the NOTW have alerted someone with deep pockets to make the chairman an offer that he can't refuse!

To be fair, they only said that the next 48 hours would be crucial to the takeover. Nobody said they'd make an announcement in 48 hours.

Something big - one way or the other - may have happened in those 48 hours

I wonder if Sven had contacted Beckham and asked our chairman to hurry out of the club as he had things to do during those 48 hours Gilzmo?

I don't understand.

Nor do I Ahamaad. I just wonder if someone was not happy with signing the cheque. :winkold:

Graham Hill writes in "The Sunday Mercury" that the bid is expected to reach a conclusion this week - one way or the other. He refers to the Comer Bros. as having been believed to have held top-level meetings over the past few days to discuss the finer points of the deal. He refers to fears that this could go the same way as the Ranson bid but claims the Neville led group remain confident. He refers to sources close to the takeover having been quick to pick holes in a number of stories stating that the Comers had abandoned their interest.

Graham Hill then points to something that I think is new, "Reports that Villa have had to fork out £150,000, just to make sure financial deadlines were met, have been denied with the figure more like £1,000 - a small amount considering the sums that have been discussed". So, does our CEO want the £1,000 paid by the Comers rather than by the sellers? Would he let small things like this get in the way of a deal that would make millions for him? Of course he would. :roll:

Which team was that? We won the cup, but we were no more the greatest team in Europe in '82 than Liverpool were last season

We won the cup and the league the season before it, which Liverpool did not last season.

And Bob, as far as being the greatest team in Europe, we did win the cup and the Super Cup the year after it against Barcelona. I don't see any reason to doubt that we proved ourselves to be the best team in Europe in 1982!

Doug Ellis at his book signing

Still signing books then. :roll: Given this and the frequent operations he seems to be having I wonder how he fits in all the work he claims to do as Chairman & CEO as well. :roll:

looking at the statement that AVIL made on Dec 30th that is when the clock would start to tick

Would Ray Ranson's 6 month period that he is excluded from making another bid for the club be over within that 60 day period? And if so, could Neville approach him about part funding the present bid?

He seems to be able to refuse every possible offer. Probably even the reapers offer.

Pelle, expect him to say shortly that the Grim Reaper turned up at his home late one night and pleaded with me to go with him, but in the end he realised the club could not do without me (I showed him the letters I had from fans who support me) you know the Reaper is like a son to me, I taught him everything he knows. :winkold:

As I've thought since this saga began, Ellis will only be departing in his box.

You can't take it with you, so where would be the hurry in selling from his point of view? I was just hoping that he would not drag this one out, let's hope Mr Neville is shortly in a position to make him an offer he can't refuse.

So it seems the Comers are out of the consortium led by Mr Neville

If that proves to be the case what would that do to the potential money made available for players after a takeover? The talk of a regular £20m was linked to the Comers building group profits, so would Neville be looking for this sort of regular extra investment as well as the balance of the money needed to make the chairman walk? If so, he would have a tough job on his hands.

As this news has come from a reliable source in Martin Swain it does seem there may be something up with the Comer part of the consortium but that is only part of the whole and it follows closely on from news that the bid remained in "good shape".

Is this just another leak from the club to suggest that the bid is under threat despite the earlier claim?

It seems to me that someone or a group of people do not want a bid to go through for whatever reasons they may have. Every time we hear something positive there is a negative to follow (for example - there has been no actual bid yet, we have yet to see the money and now part of the consortium are pulling out). I will believe the deal is dead when Neville tells us so, until then I will cling to the hope that it is not because the prospect of the club continuing under the penny pinching rule of an unwell 82 year old is one that I would prefer to not consider yet.

Agreed Denis the problem is always our chairman and will be until we have another one.

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?