Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has said that takeover talks for the club are ‘dead in the water’. Exclusivity had been granted to a mystery consortium over a £150m takeover, but talks collapsed.
This means that Randy Lerner has failed to sell the club for a second successive summer. The question that arises is, why? There is a healthy appetite for acquiring Premiership clubs given the new television deal which means that they require less in the way of subsidy from a new owner.
Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has said that takeover talks for the club are ‘dead in the water’. Exclusivity had been granted to a mystery consortium over a £150m takeover, but talks collapsed.
This means that Randy Lerner has failed to sell the club for a second successive summer. The question that arises is, why? There is a healthy appetite for acquiring Premiership clubs given the new television deal which means that they require less in the way of subsidy from a new owner.
Villa has considerable potential as a regional Midlands club, an area that has punched below its football weight in recent years. Villa’s performance has been indifferent in recent years, but that surely represents an opportunity for a new owner.
The lack of success of the Birmingham clubs reflects on the standing of the city. An article on investment in Manchester in the Financial Times refers to the presence of two successful Premiership clubs as one of the attractions of the city.