The owners of football clubs sometimes have some unrealistic expectations about the price their club might fetch when they try to sell. However, the conditions apparently being attached to the sale of Nottingham Forest are among the most extraordinary I can recall.
The owners of football clubs sometimes have some unrealistic expectations about the price their club might fetch when they try to sell. However, the conditions apparently being attached to the sale of Nottingham Forest are among the most extraordinary I can recall.
Owner Fawaz Al-Hasawi wants £50m for eighty per cent of the club which sounds on the high side to me. He would have no further financial obligations, but would expect 20 per cent of the profits. He would also want a sum equivalent to the total of that earned by players in bonuses, which is particularly striking given his track record in this area.
His four years in charge at Forest have been controversial and fans would feel justified in claiming that the club has failed to realise its potential under his erratic ownership.
A Canadian consortium and Red Bull were put off by his demands. However, an American consortium led by John Moores, the former owner of the San Diego Padres, has maintained its interest.