Gringo

The team bus won't be able to make it to Swindon without breaking down again. Just like most of the squad then.

LSE does have rules and regulations to govern real takeovers. They have not however legislated for fairy tales.

He remembers watching Jackie Milburn playing I'll have you know! Just goes to show people will believe anything they read :shock:

No thanks. Not if they are like Hearts current Lithuanian Chairman. Belting article about him picking the subs and the time they are sent on, let alone the starting XI. But when he was picking the team and before burley had a strop about it they were top of the league. Sign him up as manager I'd say.

OK, he works in the city, and he chooses as his first post on a public forum to publish information that might be considered prejudicial to the share price of a quoted company? Hmmmmmm. And within a couple of days its almost treated as verbatim. Think JC has called this one right.

And this bit.... That seems a bizarre sentence at the end! Does he only intend to purchase 60% of the shares then? So as he couldnt raise £64m, he's trying to raise £40m and just buy out the big boys. He would be forced to make the same offer to all the other shareholders, so must assume we won't accept his offer, or he will be asking us not to accept the offer so that he can use the rest of his funds(?) for player purchases? If this was done through issuing new equity then that would be great, if was done through a private loan, less so.

My impression was he owns 33% and has access to a further 5% Anyone any idea what this 12% represents? Does he hold a proxy for 12%, or is that the amount that usually votes with him at AGM's?

But there has been no change in behaviour! What is different now to any other mid season in the last few years??

But based on total silence you are drawing conclusions? And what is total silence. What was cuddly saying this time last year or two years ago. The fact that there is no change in behaviour indicates no change in leadership. You say you have some to reason to think as you do. Please expand.

Question: Answer: Supposition. People used to blame ansell for all the ills, but when he departed it showed it was still the old mans steady old hand at the rudder. Nothing in the behaviour of the company in the last few months would point to this not still being the case. Cuddly is still recuperating, but probably feeling more and more comfortable in his office by the day.

He's not doing it out of any sense of altruism. It's just another barrier that he will put up in order to retain power whilst keeping the masses quiet. "I just want whats best for the club" The best thing would be for you to leave.

That really depends upon whether or not that regime has the wherewithal to be progressive enough of if the brand is strong enough to be able to facilitate the debt Agreed

Sounds like the comers and the piggy bank is gone and Mr Neville is scrambling to try and put together a deal himself. He has plenty of assets, but not that much cash. So he would have to borrow against his assets to buy the club and then dump that debt on the club a la Glazer. Not saying this is a bad thing. A leveraged buyout under a progressive regime may be preferable to a "debt free" backward thinking chairman, depending on structure.

THEY CAN ANSWER. They can reveal price sensitive information to the market any day the feel like it. The only proviso is that the information is made publicly available so that no group is disadvantaged, ie they are not allowed to tell their mates first. The LSE also prefers such information to be released before market opening or after the market has closed. Which sounds like a good reason for cuddly to keep this charade running as long as possible. We have been in a bid situation for nearly two years now, and so far nothing has happened apart from cuddly rejecting three different prices.

You are right, they can release a statement, like the one above. They can do that anytime they want. Releasing news via press releases outside of market hours is the norm. But as you point out, its probably not in their interests. Whilst the great unwashed think he's going they're hardly likely to rebel now are they. I think the mail was asking "is there something you should be telling us" and the plc responded "not saying" It's written by two people if you hadnt noticed, one of whom has a rather slippery memory.

Twenty weeks since cuddly told the lse that an approach had been received. And in those tweny weeks, the number of people to publicy express an interest in buying the club has been one. The number of people to publicy express an interest in buying the club and who can actually afford the club has been zero. Yup bob, it is all speculation. It's been speculation for the past twenty weeks, with the flimsiest of evidence upon which to base claims for a takeover. And as for press releases. AVIL don't have to say owt, not listed, not covered by such requirements. And cuddly - well quite often his press releases are only made after newspapers have pushed him.

Lol. No leaks cos nothing is happening. Comers have walked, there are no other buyers lined up. That's why it's quiet.

Nope, nothing new in there. Don't suppose there was meant to be - the headline wasn't "EXCLUSIVE VILLA FRAUD SHOCK", it is a commentary, one person's view of the situation. And a reasonably accurate precis of the current situation it is.

ie he won't sell.

Sorry for being thick, but "what" is why we can't sell the club? We can't sell the club because the owner has no interest in selling.

Could we at least change the title of the thread to something more relelvant to what is going on, ie "not the takeover thread" or "Doug's smokescreen thread" cos the takeover is the one thing that isnt happening. We have someone who doesnt want to sell, and a total of zero buyers willing to meet the inflated asking price.

Best strategy....so rothers arent looking for buyers - they are advising on strategy. They may advise cuddly he should sell, in which case they will of course be sacked and yet another set of bankers appointed. Rothers are the third set of bankers appointed in 3 years by cuddly. They obviously keep giving him the wrong answers.

Sorry Pete, didnt mean to come over terse.

Keep up Pete. The rumours are about cuddly, and we are talking about cuddly or ucddly's attitude to the rumours - so of course he would know if the rumours, if any, are true. The comment was in the context of the first person, whereas your response was from the perspective of the third person.

So the fact that he hasnt said he is going is outweighed by the fact that he hasnt said he is staying?