The Takeover Thread - Duchatelet Finally Sells (Jan 2020)

Under normal circumstances I’d despair. As it is, we have to be open minded and hope the bloke has learnt from his mistakes.

Yes he d*cked around at Forest towards the end of his reign but Roland has been demonstrably worse for us than Fawaz was for them - for one, we’re in the league below them these days. It’s all about perspective.

I hope he comes in with his ears open and harnesses the strength of our talented, industrious fanbase but we would have to wait and see.



I’d be interested to hear where it all started to go wrong for him at Forest and what the warning signs were because by the sounds of it, his ownership started very positively.

Hard to say.
I remember at the time he took over that the media were likening it to the Man city level of things. It was around 4 years after so now doubt The forest fans would have got washed up in it all and when it started to turn a bit sour they felt aggreived.
I haven't read enough about the complete goings on. It does sound as though he at least took a vested interest in the day to day runnings of the club. Whether that was an ego thing, he was on the fiddle or just genuinely interested I don't know.
He sounds like someone who had a bit of direction and was trying to make a go of it.

Compare that to a man who bought into football without having an iota of interest in it.

When he landed from Planet Roly RD was understandably given the benefit of the doubt, but from the off Standard's fans had him bang to rights. This time I'm not inclined to ignore what the Forest fans are saying. This new bloke sounds absolutely like RD's dead ringer, ditto his mate and KM, so if you don't mind I'd like to start panicking right now.

We're turning into Portsmouth but with no guarantee of the Hollywood happy ending.

History of CAFC in ten words :
Murray - Takeover
Spivs - Fakeover
Doucheman - Makeover
Fawaz - Sheikhover
It's over

(Note - apologies : before anyone gets upset I know he's not a sheikh but it's the best I could do, ok?)

Neil Heaney said:

Just look at the quantity of those Forest comments and the amount of absolutely unabated vitriol. Not to mention the heartfelt comments from those who really, genuinely fear for us.

Just the same as Liege with Roland, yet we were so desperate in 2014 that a tonne of us were just "Yeah, but..." and scratched around for a positive spin that ultimately never existed. I see we're already doing that again, ignoring the mountains of evidence right in front of our eyes. Did we learn anything?

I hope I'm wrong, and that if he comes in he appoints Varney and Paul Elliot to manage the club while he pumps in the cash, hands-off from Kuwait. But the evidence suggests otherwise and I'm surprised people are already doing the blinkered optimism thing of 2014. Forest fans are a sensible lot.

Just because Roland turned out the way he didn’t doesn’t mean that being initially cautious was the wrong approach back then and for me, the same applies now.

I see the similarities too and it could be another long and bumpy ride on the horizon but I’m willing to give him a chance to see what lessons have been learned.

Neil Heaney said:

Just look at the quantity of those Forest comments and the amount of absolutely unabated vitriol. Not to mention the heartfelt comments from those who really, genuinely fear for us.

Just the same as Liege with Roland, yet we were so desperate in 2014 that a tonne of us were just "Yeah, but..." and scratched around for a positive spin that ultimately never existed. I see we're already doing that again, ignoring the mountains of evidence right in front of our eyes. Did we learn anything?

I hope I'm wrong, and that if he comes in he appoints Varney and Paul Elliot to manage the club while he pumps in the cash, hands-off from Kuwait. But the evidence suggests otherwise and I'm surprised people are already doing the blinkered optimism thing of 2014. Forest fans are a sensible lot.

I don't think anyone here is showing blinkered optimism. I think the consideration isn't whether he's the owner we want, but whether he would be better or worse than Roland.

Viewfinder said:

Here a few things that upset the Forest fans: http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/03/16/five-fawaz-al-hasawi-ownership-errors-at-nottingham-forest/

To be honest those things sound less bad than what Roland's done to us. NOTHING compares to Karel Fraeye for instance, or the bizarre network signings.

It's just so he doesn't have to learn a new song isn't it???????


For feck sake.


We're fecking doomed.

I like him.

Charlton fans are almost as fickle as deluded massive club fans at times.

Whilst a leopard doesn't change its spots, this is a human being. One big enough to admit he made mistakes at Nottingham Forest.

One willing to admit he understands he should leave the footballing decisions to a CEO that knows football.

One willing to accept that his role as owner is to listen to the manager and CEO about what the manager thinks is needed.

One willing to fund the club.

One. Not a consortium who'd have to vote on every decision.

One that doesn't own a string of clubs and have split interests.

One that doesn't have a track record to sell young talent.

One that doesn't have a track record of bringing in poor foreign players who cannot adjust to the English leagues.

One that off his own back, picked Managers and Players that had experienced the English leagues.

I think this one, deserves one chance.

Not sure he'll be getting the 'Freedom of Nottingham' awarded to him anytime soon.

By the way I'd prefer a single owner than any consortium.

Beyond that and them being mega wealthy and willing to spend, oh and not related to Roland either genetically or in a business sense.

I have no other requirements.

Nat Jackson's Growler

Is that a Nottingham punk band?

Scoham said:

The Red Robin said:

Callumcafc said:

Viewfinder said:

Here a few things that upset the Forest fans: http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/03/16/five-fawaz-al-hasawi-ownership-errors-at-nottingham-forest/

So for the most part: sacking managers too quickly and selling players from under the manager’s nose?

The Warnock story sounds very much like our interaction with Wilder a couple of years ago.

Didn't he also force a Kuwaiti keeper into the team? He's another Roland, no thanks. If the EFL have got anything about them they'll keep this bloke out of football.

Their Thuram

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Al-Rashidi

That's the one. He's another Roland, possibly worse. We need to stear will clear.