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Articles on football club takeovers and related issues
Fifty years ago there was a quiz show in which contestants had the choice of taking a sum of money or opening the box. The box might contain a bigger prize than the money being offered or it could be something trivial and worthless. The audience always used to shout ‘Open the box!’ stating a clear preference for risk takers.
Alisher Usmanov has shown that he’s still very much in the running in the battle to acquire Arsenal. He is thought to have spent around £300,000 on shares in the last week which shows that there are still small pockets of shares out there to buy, although they are getting scarcer and more expensive. His latest purchases bring his stake closer to 27 per cent rather than 26 per cent, but Stan Kroenke remains the biggest shareholder.
The bid by the Red Knights consortium for Manchester United has been shelved after the Glazers attached a £1.5bn price tag to the club. The consortium was thought to be prepared to offer £850m to £1bn. With Sir Alex Ferguson’s future uncertain, little money spent recently on players and debts increasing the club did not look that attractive.
It would be hard to find someone who would defend the stewardship of Geofrge Gillett Jnr and Tom Hicks at Liverpool. A great club has been undermined and its future prospects damaged. Nevertheless, a further blow to the embattled American owners comes in the form of what The Times describes as an ’emotional and wide-ranging letter’ from former owner David Moores. The paper is already regarded as the house journal of the Coalition Government.
Aliko Dangote, a billionaire Nigerian industrialist, is one of the bidders for the 16 per cent stake in Arsenal being sold by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. He certainly has the readies, as Forbes magazine has ranked him among the world’s 500 richest people, with a fortune estimated at £1.7 billion.
The Red Knights have reduced their valuation of Manchester United to just £1 billion. They give a number of reasons for this downgrade including ‘competition from Manchester City’, an interesting admission of itself, even though City just failed to make the Champions League this season.
A battle is on for control of impoverished Northamptonshire side Rothwell Town. Known as the Bones because of the unique collection of human remains in the nearby church, they may play in the United Counties League next season having resigned from the Southern (Zamaretto) League.
A Chinese gambling tycoon has expressed an interest in buying Liverpool. He could put together a consortium of others involved in the Chinese Super League.
We upset some of the Blue side of Merseyside recently by suggesting that their club would not be easy to sell. To redress the balance here are some comments by manager David Moyes. He admits that Liverpool may be the bigger brand but says that Everton are a steadier club and have much less debt than a lot of leading clubs.
Sheffield Wednesday may have been relegated to League 1, but a Chicago-based investment group is ready to swoop for the Owls. Contacts with Chicago links have never heard of Club-9 sports, but they could be a bespoke outfit forned for the Wednesday takeover.