Takeover parts 1 & 2

[stevenjos]

I'm sorry - I don't follow that. Villa has been run to line Doug's pockets and the evidence is the fact that the club has been making losses? What do you mean?

Doug, been the hardworking bloke he is gets £200,000 a year ish.

when the company floated he pocketed a chunk of the millions for selling his shares.

And every year without fail at the AGM he would use his shares to vote on giving the chairman a bonus for the hardwork of loosing us millions a year.

at the last VFC protest about him he had took £8mill out of the club. and never put a penny in.

and now hes got £25mil from the sale

so thats £33mil ish. For basically been sh*t a running the club.

But i digress. Sorry for going OT

[Richard]

As has been said, MON took a risk because he didn't know it was going to be sorted.

So if a bid comes in for Villa that is better for the future of the club, you think O'neill would walk just because it wasn't Lerner?

Why would he do that?

Dont know, ask Robert Chase why he walked on Norwich.

MON is a man of considerable honour. Now it may be that he has spoken extensively with Lerner and has developed a working relationship with him based on trust. It may be that he knows he can achieve with Lerner what he wants to achieve.

It may also be that he may feel he could not have the same relationship with other bidders. Or it may be that other bidders have their own ideas of where they want to go.

All I am saying here is that any new bid must have the confidence of Martin Oneill. If it doesn't and he walks as a result then it is not a better bid.

[claretnbluejersey]

I expect is allready been said but....

Unlock the Takeover thread.

Other bidders (£70mil) dont' think this is over yet.

[David-Copenhagen]

As has been said, MON took a risk because he didn't know it was going to be sorted.

So if a bid comes in for Villa that is better for the future of the club, you think O'neill would walk just because it wasn't Lerner?

Why would he do that?

Dont know, ask Robert Chase why he walked on Norwich.

MON is a man of considerable honour. Now it may be that he has spoken extensively with Lerner and has developed a working relationship with him based on trust. It may be that he knows he can achieve with Lerner what he wants to achieve.

It may also be that he may feel he could not have the same relationship with other bidders. Or it may be that other bidders have their own ideas of where they want to go.

All I am saying here is that any new bid must have the confidence of Martin Oneill. If it doesn't and he walks as a result then it is not a better bid.

This is only true if MON is the only man taht can lift Villa - if/when we get a seroius backer I am sure a lot of this worlds best managers would love to work for us.

[Faust]

I'm sorry - I don't follow that. Villa has been run to line Doug's pockets and the evidence is the fact that the club has been making losses? What do you mean?

Doug, been the hardworking bloke he is gets £200,000 a year ish.

when the company floated he pocketed a chunk of the millions for selling his shares.

And every year without fail at the AGM he would use his shares to vote on giving the chairman a bonus for the hardwork of loosing us millions a year.

at the last VFC protest about him he had took £8mill out of the club. and never put a penny in.

and now hes got £25mil from the sale

so thats £33mil ish. For basically been sh*t a running the club.

But i digress. Sorry for going OT

So, when you talk about "taking money out of the club" you mean "being paid for his role as chairman"?

I think you'll find that the same thing happens at every company.

And, as a shareholder, he's more than entitled to sell his shares. Would you prefer that he didn't sell them?

[David-Copenhagen]

Since it seems that the fat lady has been on stage yet, we need a take over thread. Unless we can open the old one!

I think this latest bid of 70 mill is very interessting and we can not discard it.

As I see it we are in no rush after it is clear that Doug is gone, we need to build from the buttom at if it takes a month or 2 to get this sorted I will not mind - we are not going to make an impact this season anyway.

Clicky

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

So, when you talk about "taking money out of the club" you mean "being paid for his role as chairman"?

I think you'll find that the same thing happens at every company.

Chairmen within other companies that have failed to post a profit for years, would have probably stepped down/been forced out.

[stevenjos]

So, when you talk about "taking money out of the club" you mean "being paid for his role as chairman"?

I think you'll find that the same thing happens at every company.

And, as a shareholder, he's more than entitled to sell his shares. Would you prefer that he didn't sell them?

Doug is out for himself is my point. Not the benefit of the club.

[Demitri_C]

oh god not more. cant tehse guys admit defeat?

put it this way, lerner has some powerful men also on the board. can AV06 offer us better than lerner? i doubt it.

they may have more money but do they have the brains? also MON and lerner seem to have the same passion and interest does this judge? i dont it.

[GaztonVilla]

I don't consider it likely that this bid will be entertained, unless it can demonstrate VERY CLEARLY that it is FAR superior to that of RAL.

And I don't mean in terms of it's £70 million valuation.

RAL's bid is at £62.6 million, a cash transaction with clear plans for the future development of the company (and the club).

AV06 will need to have their £70 million in cash and will need to have better plans than RAL have for their bid to be entertained.

Remember, Neville was offering £64 million which is more than Randy is paying, so the fact that AV06 is talking about £70 million is a minor consideration, I feel.

[Demitri_C]

they need to have some serious players on tehir board also. look at their powerful men lerner has on his board. can AVO6 match that? i doubt it

[BOF]

As I said in the other thread. For Lerner to lose now he'd have to be blown out of the water. So it's win-win for us, although it'd be 'nice' to have Lerner as our owner. I like everything he stands for and everything I've read about him.

[ChrisVillan]

I've not heard any of Padfield's interviews, but my dad did and he is now terrified of getting AV06.

[villafan306]

Has this been mentioned by any other source than the Mail yet?

[Richard]

As I see it we are in no rush after it is clear that Doug is gone, we need to build from the buttom at if it takes a month or 2 to get this sorted I will not mind - we are not going to make an impact this season anyway.

I believe that the manager would want this sorted as soon as possible. Another bid at this stage clouds that somewhat

[JohnCresswell]

And opened again!

Padfield to bid £70?

[BOF]

I've merged these just in case there's any confusion. Didn't want multiple threads of same content.

[Juju]

Again, I reiterate, the club has to be run and managed by any new board. And there is at the end of the day, only 1 real source of revenue, us the fans.

If we don't come through the turnstiles, if we don't press the red button on our sky interactives, then no one can make money out of a football club.

And I would suggest given the way AV06, as well as Michael Neville have conducted themselves, that they have lost the media war. With the present acceptable bid, we the fans, have certainties. We have in our own minds, the view that MON is to a point, LErners man. That LErner has, whilst remaining silent, been seen to be good for the funds, and that he has an interest in sports andthe management thereof. He also, despite poor results on field, enjoys the respect of the fans of the Cleveland Browns.

AV06 donot enjoy any popular support, and the "hints" of a list of billionaires, strikes me as rather inmature, and a poor way to put their bid out to the fans. Its all rather a case of "my dads bigger than yours", without seeing any photo's of "dad". So far, all AV06 and Neville have done, is irritate the fans, never a bright thing to do, when they are the market for the product being sold.

This is why I believe they will remain unsuccessful. You can't pay big money to players and redevelop stadiums and training grounds if your flow of income has dropped away.

I believe until AV06 have the ability to do rather better, and put names into the public domain, that we the fans, the consumers, will remain rightly sceptical, and that under those terms, they are now so far behind, having aleniated the punters, that its no longer just about money.

Lerner won the battle of hearts and minds. And that is the battle. Anyone with a viable business plan could find £70m from venture capitalists (think the guys who wanted to buy Rover), providing you can show cash generation and profit. Think Glazer at Manu. Even I could, if I had acredible trackrecord and a bullet proof plan.

Make no mistake, Still an Ashole and the Lifelong Michael Neville fan have lost the battle for consumers, and they lost it yesterday. They've all had 2 years to make a deal with Ellis. They didn't, and in business, he who is late with a plan, or idea, is usually the loser.

[villafan306]

The Birmingham Mail artcile

Consortium set to make £70m Villa bid

Aug 15 2006

By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

THE AV06 consortium are set to mount a serious challenge to Randy Lerner's hopes of a swift acquisition of Villa by bidding around £70million for the club.

The group, headed by deputy high court judge Nicholas Padfield, want to react to Lerner's £62.6million bid which was announced to the Stock Exchange yesterday.

The bid is expected to be formalised by the middle of next week and means Villa's long-running takeover saga is set for yet another twist.

Padfield's consortium have already held talks with investment bankers Rothschild in London last week when they were given the green light to make a move.

The Mail understands that AV06 have a combined wealth amongst their board members in excess of £10billion, including at least two billionaires and further backers from the United States, the Middle East and across Europe.

Lerner's company has received irrevocable undertakings to accept the offer in respect of 6,508,423 Aston Villa Shares, representing approximately 56.85 per cent of the existing issued share capital.

But the Mail understands that those "irrevocable undertakings" will be null and void if a bid of five per cent or above Lerner's offer is received for the total shares.

A spokesman for AV06 said they aim to "blow Lerner away".

He added: "Our aim is to strengthen the team and to utilise the club's many assets wherever possible.

"We have money for transfers, up to £30million in the August window if we can get the deal done quickly enough and we are confident we can.

"But we are more than prepared to step aside if Mr Lerner can match our £30million transfer budget inside the next 17 days."

Lerner is believed to have pledged £50million to O'Neill.

The AV06 spokesman added: "We are certainly not looking to spoil their deal just for the sake of it but we have concerns about their immediate intentions.

"We are solely interested in strengthening the team and two players now could make all the difference. As regards Lerner, so many questions remain unanswered."

AV06 are still highly sceptical of Lerner's motives, believing his group have held detailed discussions to merge Villa with either Blues or Albion which would enable him to build a casino.

That has already been denied by Lerner, whose intentions have always been highly regarded by chairman Doug Ellis and the Villa board.

Lerner remains in the driving seat until the bid is lodged. He told the American press today: "The basis for acquiring Aston Villa is that it is a storied club dating from the 1870s with periods of treasured memories and glory.

"Currently it faces the need for reinvestment in a variety of areas which many of its competitors have underway or have completed in recent years.

"The opportunity to be a part of strengthening Villa's business operations and facilities represents a broad set of challenges that I'm eager to take on."

AV06 state that Lerner's bid is not straight cash, as in their case, but a lease-back arrangement from his newly formed Reform Acquisitions Limited.

The AV06 source added: "Mr Lerner's bid was actually good for us. We have not been put on the back foot at all. We know that we will be making a counter-bid that he is unlikely to want to match."

Lerner's bid of £5.47 per share was accepted by the board and key shareholder Jack Petchey, whose Trefick Limited company own almost 21 per cent of the shares.

If he is eventually successful Ellis would become president for life while Lerner will assume the position of chairman.

Retired General Charles C Krulak, Robert Kain and Michael Martin are to be appointed as directors with long serving operations director Steve Stride remaining in office.

Krulak is a director of ConocoPhillips and Phelps Dodge, two US-based multi-national corporations.

He is the former Commandant of the US Marine Corps and was a former Deputy Director of the White House Military Office.

As a former Chief Executive Officer of MBNA Europe he has long ties with Lerner. Bob Kain is the president and co-chief executive officer of IMG, a premier sports management and marketing agency. Martin is president of Brooklyn NY Holdings, LLC ("BNYH"), the asset and investment management company of the Lerner family.

[MR.Smalljob]

Bloody hell... let the best man win :-) link http://tinyurl.com/rjjr7