The Takeover Thread - Duchatelet Finally Sells (Jan 2020)

Hex said:

If potential buyers wanted to visit The Valley to attend a match then it would fall on Richard Murray, as RD's only remaining representative at the club, to entertain them as his 'guests', even if he was involved with a competing bid. Perhaps that is why they didn't sit together ?

JamesSeed said:

Henry Irving said:

Swisdom said:

Uboat said:

Two things that I keep reading on here:

1. Roland doesn't mind losing hundreds of thousands a month because he's too rich to care about money.

2. The sale is being delayed because he wants too much for the club and doesn't want to make a loss.

They can't both be right, can they?

Now he knows there is interest he might as well hang on until the summer and lose a couple of milion in the mean time as opposed to take a £10m hit on his asking price.

True but that assumes that the buyers will:

1. Still be interested in the summer

2. Be any more willing to pay an unrealistic price in the summer than they are now

If @Redhenry is correct, and I don't doubt him, that one buyer has walked then so can the others.

Some say that Duchatelet is a businessman and very rich so is not going to take a haircut but the buyers are also very rich businessmen and have no reason to pay over the odds.

What happens if all the bidders walk?

The Red Robin said:

I really hope McCleish is not being lined up as a manager.

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Bing bong.

" Would Richard Murray please come to the CL thread entitled " Roland Duchatelet ready to sell ".

He is clearly the only person to put us out of our misery by spilling the beans.

All this speculation is playing havoc with my IB !!!!

The Red Robin said:

I really hope McCleish is not being lined up as a manager.

Redhenry said:

Henry Irving said:

So in summary where are we now with the takeover?

The theory that "nothing is happening" has been blown out of the water. That has been proved incorrect and totally false.

There are multiple parties who have expressed an interest.

The identities of the potential buyers are not all known.

Informed sources suggest that one is Australian Andrew Muir. This is not believed to be the same as the AFC Australian consortium bid that started this thread.

Some sources claim that Muir's partner, a Greek-Australian, has pulled out and that the Muir bid is now either on the shelf or has been pulled completely. Muir is the only bidder believed to have completed DD.

Other bidders' identity are not known although there has been no reliable evidence that Red Bull or Peter Varney are or have been involved.

@Redhenry suggested a possible Middle Eastern bid as well as a bid from someone "trusted" by Duchatelet. Who this is isn't clear.

On Saturday, former Rangers, and perhaps more interestingly Genk, manager Alex McLeish was entertained by director Richard Murray and given prime seats in the directors box where our departed CEO used to sit.

With McLeish was Donald Muir (no relation to Andrew Muir of Australian bid fame) a financier with links to various heavyweight trust funds and banks. The third person in the party remains unknown.

Some sources have suggested a South African connection via Donald Muir and McLeish but again this hasn't been verified.

Meanwhile, Karl Robinson has expressed his frustration that he is not able to sign any players while the takeover continues to the media on Thursday and after the Oldham win. He also expressed his frustration in much stronger terms to fans before the Oldham game where he also said that he had confronted Duchatelet about the situation.

The club has no CEO but the Finance Director is working their notice until the end of February (suggesting they had a three month notice period and so resigned at the beginning of December, the same time as the CEO). Why they had to serve three months and Meire only one month is another unknown.

The team, meanwhile, is one point from the 6th and final play-off place having now played its game in hand while other teams were involved in the FA Cup.

There are two bidders left in the process. I have been told the identity of one, i haven't got any info on the other bid.

Redhenry said:

But RD is also loaded and he has been awful.

Henry Irving said:

Redhenry said:

We will all have to wait and see.

I keep telling them that but they won't believe me : - )

Also, just as bidders can drop out it is possible that new parties can make their interest known.

Macronate said:

Cracked it.

"Can't say, sorry" is an anagram of Carson Y Trays, the American entrepreneur and inventor of a flat, shallow container with a raised rim, typically used for carrying food and drink.