Takeover parts 1 & 2

[ahamaad]

Lastly, one man has instigated the move for O'Neil, Neville, who made it clear to some of us ages ago he had spoken to him and he had agreed to be part of the package as had another famous man

IMHO it is wrong to credit neville too much with this. He said nothing more than he would "love MON to be manager", whereas others have met with MON face to face. maybe Neville has too, who knows, he tells different people different things, almost always exactly what they want to hear.

And I remember distinctly a quote from Neville saying he hadn't even spoken to MON (SSN about a week back).

[Jez]

Neville is Roger Dodge!

[PB]

Nothings changed from everyones opinion last week that MON would not join Villa and work under Ellis.

I will be honest with you and say that the press conference yesterday didnt go as I was led to believe it would. it hasnt changed my opinion any, I still believe that ellis is in his last few days, I have just been given pause to think a little bit and question what I have been told more.

Someone, somewhere, is playing a very canny game here. I dont believe its Doug, who continues to give every impression of being totally out of the loop, but someone is being very clever. We will see who it is very shortly I think

[thetrees]

lerner has already gone I think

According to TT RL's jet left Luton Airport earlier this morning

seems a bit strange, as if he's waited till saturday morning, so doesnt have to worry the LSE, so leaves the proposal today so the board (doug) can mull it over before doing something with it on monday.........

ok I'm hoping

AFAIK Mr Lerner's jet departed in the last 10 mins, back to the USA.

I think that he came to put the seal on the MON deal, hence the timing of the press conference being put back a couple of times.

But I'm not 'in the know' like some......... :winkold:

I promise I'll keep watching next week, but 7 days from today I'm history

[nick76]

Petchey?

[Jez]

I hope your right Pete and it aint Doug playing that game and he is about to pull the pants down of the fans,bidders,board members and Rothchilds!

[ahamaad]

Interesting that he didn't stay to 'seal the deal' (ie sign on the dotted line to become owner of VP?).

Is he that rich that he can waltz in at a point next week to do just that?

[nick76]

that was for PB....

Just surprised there is nothing at all from his camp, he must be having influence on all this

[oldmanvillafan]

O'Neill is no fool. If Ellis has supposedly been talking to him since O'Leary departed and O'Neill only signed yesterday, why didn't he sign one week ago or two weeks ago or whenever. If Ellis is staying, I'm sure it would have taken longer than two or three weeks to pursuade O'Neill to become manager.

As I said O'Neill is no fool. The attraction of Aston Villa with Doug Ellis is not a top managers job. O'Neill could have one of the top jobs in British football if he wanted it. He has been out of football for over 12 months due to the illness of his wife and I am sure that it would take a very attractive offer to go back in to management. Let's face it, he could probably earn as much from being a TV pundit, without the media hassle. We have to face reality that Aston Villa is not a great attraction to a top manager with Ellis in charge, however much we love our club. Lesser managers would possibly accept working with Doug Ellis.

There can be only one main reason why O'Neill became manager yesterday and that is that Ellis is going. In my opinion, how he is going to go is another question. Ellis may want to sell his shares but they make up less than 40%. Any buyer that wants total control would want more than 50% as a minimum before committing 1 cent (no significance!) to an investment, the rest could come later. Serious (business people) buyers will leave nothing to chance.

The delay to any deal may be that the next major shareholder has been reluctant to sell, hence the backdoor bankrolling of the Neville 'bid'. An earlier poster said that Doug looked very well yesterday, well, I would not like you to be my doctor! The man looked drawn and haggered to me, no doubt due to his ill health over the last 12-18 months.

I think that there has been many miles of media coverage over the last few weeks with much speculation. I am not close to anybody and have to rely on the media, talk on sites like this etc. but I am very sceptical of some of the bids. The Neville 'bid', AV06 'bid' and the Still 'bid' do not seem to be moving and there always seems to be a reason put forward for this not happening, why?

The speculation over Learner has been discussed by other posters so I will not go further with this, only to say that this seems to be the only 'interested' party that is making any moves.

[lee_av]

FWIW, I still think that Ellis will sell, and will prefer to sell to someone that will make him a Life President. All the interseted parties may not like this, but as long as he has no actual power, then who cares. He won't be around forever.

MON has been signed by Ellis and MON himself has said that himself. Obviously MON, will make the sale an easier transition, as it seems that the consortiums involved seem to favour this appointment.

In the short and medium term this is a great appointment. It takes care of the immendiate need to sort out the football side of things outside of the purely business and can move us forward.

[lee_av]

Graham Taylor Villa manager 1987-90 & 2002-03

It's a good appointment for both parties. I think the Premiership needs Martin back in it and he couldn't be going to Villa at a better time because it's always good to follow what is seen as a period of failure. But I remain convinced there will be a sale of Aston Villa: whether that will be next week or in a month's time. I think this is evidence that there will be a takeover of Aston Villa but because of PLC routines it will take a bit of time. I don't think that Martin would take charge of the club if he thought that Doug was going to stay there forever. I think there's every chance he will make a success of it providing there is a change of ownership.

http://tinyurl.com/kz3um

Interesting stuff from Graham Taylor

Perhaps he is more in the know than he is letting on :winkold:

[Digsby]

lerner has already gone I think

According to TT RL's jet left Luton Airport earlier this morning

seems a bit strange, as if he's waited till saturday morning, so doesnt have to worry the LSE, so leaves the proposal today so the board (doug) can mull it over before doing something with it on monday.........

ok I'm hoping

I promise I'll keep watching next week, but 7 days from today I'm history

.....why??? :shock: :shock:

[Grievemeister]

Rumour is Lerner has flown to Germany. Can anyone confirm this?

[irishmangiant]

Where did you here this Grievemeister? Also, i see you have just joined VT. Wilkommen zur VT.

[markavfc40]

Just heard an interview with Ellis on WM from last night.

He was going on about how we have another 8000 seats to put in the North stand and that we have planning permission for this and for a hotel. Clearly no need to say all this but hes being a salesman right till the end. Its obviously something he has spoken about with prospective buyers as it was clearly on his mind.

[Grievemeister]

It is on the villa blog web site

[villafan306]

Then do not believe it.

And I believe he has flown back to the States.

[claretnbluejersey]

There can be only one main reason why O'Neill became manager yesterday and that is that Ellis is going. In my opinion, how he is going to go is another question. Ellis may want to sell his shares but they make up less than 40%. Any buyer that wants total control would want more than 50% as a minimum before committing 1 cent (no significance!) to an investment, the rest could come later. Serious (business people) buyers will leave nothing to chance.

The delay to any deal may be that the next major shareholder has been reluctant to sell, hence the backdoor bankrolling of the Neville 'bid'. An earlier poster said that Doug looked very well yesterday, well, I would not like you to be my doctor! The man looked drawn and haggered to me, no doubt due to his ill health over the last 12-18 months.

Does anyone else draw the same conclusion? did i read some where that jack petchley was to finance neville's bid?

[Gringo]

Firstly, apologies for the late reply. I was forced to attend one of those drinking establishments.

Likely chain of events.

*Doug sells shares;

*Offer extended to other shareholders as part of an offer reccommended by the board of AVFC PLC;

*Bid succesful.

OK, so it is fair to say that those itnerested in buying the club have good reason to believe that ellis wants to sell his shareholding, otherwise they wouldnt be interested. correct?

Agreed. They believe the stock is in play. But is wasn't being actively sold. Rothers didn't find neville, he was already there. Rothers didn't find Lerner, he found them. The same applies for the interest from Still, and AV06 I'm just confused by.

Now that the game is on, rothers have duty to act correctly in this situation, to ensure that bids are given just and equal consideration and to ensure the game is played by the rules.

it is also the case that at this stage he is cannot, in his role as chairman, actively do anything to discourage any potential bids. Correct?

As chair he must act to safeguard the interest of all shareholders.

So, although as a personal shareholder no-one can force him to do anything, he is bound in his role as Chairman to behave in a certain way. correct?

Agreed.

And if he didnt behave in this manner?

let us say for example that he changed his mind about wanting to sell. let us say that yesterday's events persuaded him that he could still make it work. How, in his role as chairman, could he withdraw from this process at this stage without severe fallout?

If he was seen to be acting in a way contrary to his responsibilities then some of the regulatory bodies may indeed take an interest.

It will take up to two years to get him disqualified from acting as a director. A hefty punishment for a near 85 year old (as he would be then).

The various bidding parties - what recourse to law may they have? Very little.

Rothers would resign the job.

How else is cuddly harmed? As said previously I can't remember the last succesful prosecution of a company director for failing in his fiduciary duties in the UK (where fraud was not involved or at least provable ). And again the legal process is awfully slow, and the case hard to prove.

let us say, for the sake of argument, that a bid arrived. What would that tell you? What does the fact that we have recieved a number of indicative bids tell you?

If a formal approach was made, then cuddly would already have agreed to sell his holding, and the game is over. Indicative bids only shows that there is an impression that the stock is in play.

From the words of someone who has spoken to rothers it appears the cuddly wants to retain "some role" - sounds like a condition of sale, and possibly retain a shareholding. I'm sure another condition of sale exists regarding the name given to a certain stand.

I believe cuddly is going. MON will only have joined after being given assurances on the future of the club and will walk if such assurances are not met. But those who gave the assurances are not in the driving seat at the moment.

But the fact remains, that the final decision is ellis', regardless of pressure applied by bidders, advisers and bankers. The influence of others is evident at the moment with regards to events at the club. And any influence the fans can bring, from cardboard boxes to a renewed bombardment of emailing the media is important in all this. It's not down to the lawyers, it's down the will of one man. That will must be broken.

As said above, I believe cuddly is on his way, just not sure he believes it yet.

[PB]

How else is cuddly harmed? .

What would be the responsibility of the other board members in this scenario. Are they not also duty bound to act in the best interests of all shareholders?