Prince is taking over

[Pedro's Winger]

The ground etc was shifted to be protected and also to make the investment easier, however, there was always some provision for the transfer of those back to the 'football club' (something those who accuse McCabe of trying to steal it away tend to forget).

As I say, now the Prince has chosen to go down this route (sparked by a different happening), they may be McCabe's only real power play depending on the conditions of the clause.

The different happening is McCabe first going after the Prince?

 

[Hartley Hare]

I find this all a bit unsettling.

Hope Kevin can get back some of the money he has lost.

HH

 

[RammyBlade]

We could in 6-12 months time be solely run by the royal family of Saudi Arabia, a country with a truly appalling human rights record, how can you not be excited?

Yes but also the richest family in the world so ...........

 

[bladesmanluke]

If he’s exercised an option then surely that means a price for the football club was agreed back in 2013? Presumably with championship status in mind. It’s not hard to imagine this being upwards of £25m considering how much McCabe has put in over the years. I’m sure he accepts he’s never going to get the £90m back that he’s put in over the years and so the above sort of figure that I have plucked out of the sky seems a realistic compromise.

Chuck in the ground, academy etc and you’re looking at much much more. Surely Prince Abdullah must have secured further investment from elsewhere to attempt such a takeover?

 

[BLADES1988]

GLTTL

 

[BLADES1988]

Was just eating medina when this news broke. Will be curious to see if the riyadh n white wizards finally mecca prophet. We'll behead of the premiership and bedouin well in Europe soon!

Bravo! Enjoyed this! +5 likes

 

[I should coco]

So many people shit scared of change

Yes odd that because change is ALWAYS good.

-Thatcher in 79
-Robson in 2007
-Donald Trumpton
-Graham Taylor replacing Bobby Robson
-Lesley Judd replacing Val Singleton
-Hot Gossip replacing Pan's People
-Wagon Wheels becoming go kart wheels
-Yuppie flats replacing Wards brewery
-George Lazenby for Scchhhean Connnery
-Mike 'Man City' McDonald
-Weir for Wilson
-Callaghan for Wilson
-Flo for Deane
-Woolford for Murphy

Yours

A Reactionary Old Bastard

 

[Tunstall Fred]

Yes odd that because change is ALWAYS good.

-Thatcher in 79
-Robson in 2007
-Donald Trumpton
-Graham Taylor replacing Bobby Robson
-Lesley Judd replacing Val Singleton
-Hot Gossip replacing Pan's People
-Wagon Wheels becoming go kart wheels
-Yuppie flats replacing Wards brewery
-George Lazenby for Scchhhean Connnery
-Mike 'Man City' McDonald
-Weir for Wilson
-Callaghan for Wilson
-Flo for Deane
-Woolford for Murphy

Yours

A Reactionary Old Bastard

I think the top one was just what the country needed, what a women.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

I'm pinning my hopes that the Prince is wanting to invest serious money (if he does buy out the other 50% of course), otherwise surely McCabe wouldn't sell his half to him if he knows the Prince isn't serious? That's all I can cling onto anyway for now.

But he doesn’t have serious money, unless he’s got backers.

 

[northsomersetblade]

Change is inevitable bro

 

[Tunstall Fred]

Change is inevitable bro

Change is gonna come.

 

[Harry's Game]

Only 19 pages?

Step it up guys!

 

[Danny_Blade]

But he doesn’t have serious money, unless he’s got backers.

Well I meant either way, whether by himself or backers he could get on board that would contribute too.

However for all we know he may actually have serious money but maybe McCabe wasn't willing/able to match him in the current (seemingly soon to end) 50/50 ownership, so therefore this might be why the Prince has decided to exercise the option to negotiate a full takeover?

 

[Roygbiv]

 

[GodricBlade]

Just read some old papers from 2013 when the Prince got involved in Utd.
Three things stood out.....
1. He was rumoured to be worth $18bn.
2. He said money would be spent judiciously.
3. He said “I am delighted to invest in such a sensibly-organised, family and community club with a great history and heritage”.

I hope all those facts are still correct.
An owner with money to burn but who’s not a fan of flames is just what we want. Enough investment to build success not just buy it & keep the ‘sensibly-run/family/history/heritage’ thing going.

I mean, just imagine the damage that could be done to a club if they were to be taken over by a megalomaniac millionaire with no idea about football or the traditions of the club they bought. Especially if they started to chuck away all their money, alienate the fans & re-brand everything so they looked like a cruel parody of themselves!
It would be your worst nightmare

Now, where’s that bloody D-Taxi? I phoned ‘em months ago - they should be here by now.....

 

[Woodwardfan]

Change is gonna come.

Change is gonna come and none of us on here have a clue what it will be.

My fear is that some advisor or other will tell the Prince and any other investors that Wilder is a lower league manager who boasts he is 'old school', rather basic, talks of Peroni sessions and can't be trusted with a big budget; not the right man to front the new image or realise the new vision.

'Professional advisors' rarely back the status-quo. They provide bright ideas that usually earn them money and a wedge from new appointees and their agents. These people prey on foreign owners who don't know better.

At this point in time SWFC have benefited from their foreign ownership but they look like novices to me. Where will they take that club over the next few years? Will they really throw cash at it until it succeeds? Their current chief exec and football manager look like disasters waiting to happen. Let's hope we don't appoint the same advisors.

 

[blade.i.am]

Quite like the new away kit

 

[Pinchy]

Seems to be a very difficult way of making money though. Why take on the inevitable strife that it would entail?
It's called catastrophising; thinking of the very worst scenario and then believing it will happen.

Always in S2...

 

[metalblade]

He'll be allreyt as long as he doesn't decide to change his name to Samantha or summat. Looking at the picture above there is a business opportunity for someone selling razor blades.

 

[BladeFisher]

We could in 6-12 months time be solely run by the royal family of Saudi Arabia, a country with a truly appalling human rights record, how can you not be excited?

Ah but they do have a scimitar on the flag.

 

[UnitedBlade]

Just read some old papers from 2013 when the Prince got involved in Utd.
Three things stood out.....
1. He was rumoured to be worth $18bn.
2. He said money would be spent judiciously.
3. He said “I am delighted to invest in such a sensibly-organised, family and community club with a great history and heritage”.

I hope all those facts are still correct.
An owner with money to burn but who’s not a fan of flames is just what we want. Enough investment to build success not just buy it & keep the ‘sensibly-run/family/history/heritage’ thing going.

I mean, just imagine the damage that could be done to a club if they were to be taken over by a megalomaniac millionaire with no idea about football or the traditions of the club they bought. Especially if they started to chuck away all their money, alienate the fans & re-brand everything so they looked like a cruel parody of themselves!
It would be your worst nightmare

Now, where’s that bloody D-Taxi? I phoned ‘em months ago - they should be here by now.....

No. 1 was definitely wrong and a terrible piece of reporting mixing him up with King Abdullah.

He’s been reported as having £100M by virtue of the paper business. Self made but obviously connected if he needed help.

However none of us know what his actual wealth is. Nothing like 18bn though.

 

[Blade56]

As for the Prince's capability to own and run a football club

But these days it's not just a football club these days, it's a business with supply chains, strategies, financial models, networking, business and world contacts etc.

Everything these days seems to happen AFTER the Jan window?

Told you so!

sparked by a different happening

You can't leave that hanging!!

 

[NotFallowfieldBlade]

Reckon its pretty simple

For the first time in a quite a while I genuinely fear for the future of my football club.

why ?

 

[PittsburghBlade]

The McCabe's have been after out for over 10 years. We're 8th in the championship after 6 years in league one and if the prince is keen on investing and taking over the club then McCabe won't be opposed surely.

 

[Ranmoorblade]

Just read some old papers from 2013 when the Prince got involved in Utd.
Three things stood out.....
1. He was rumoured to be worth $18bn.
2. He said money would be spent judiciously.
3. He said “I am delighted to invest in such a sensibly-organised, family and community club with a great history and heritage”.

I hope all those facts are still correct.
An owner with money to burn but who’s not a fan of flames is just what we want. Enough investment to build success not just buy it & keep the ‘sensibly-run/family/history/heritage’ thing going.

I mean, just imagine the damage that could be done to a club if they were to be taken over by a megalomaniac millionaire with no idea about football or the traditions of the club they bought. Especially if they started to chuck away all their money, alienate the fans & re-brand everything so they looked like a cruel parody of themselves!
It would be your worst nightmare

Now, where’s that bloody D-Taxi? I phoned ‘em months ago - they should be here by now.....

Number 1 was and is incorrect, he's worth less than £200 million.

 

[Bartleby]

My fear is that some advisor or other will tell the Prince and any other investors that Wilder is a lower league manager who boasts he is 'old school', rather basic, talks of Peroni sessions and can't be trusted with a big budget; not the right man to front the new image or realise the new vision.

It's a worry but the more I think about it now, the saving grace is that he's been involved in the club for 4 years now. So he's seen the catastrophes under Weir, Clough and Adkins, and then seen the amazing first season under Wilder, and then the not too shabby start to this one. He must surely know that this guy is the real deal.

 

[Jon Bon II]

Only 19 pages?

Step it up guys!

It's a long shot but here goes. If it can work for Ryan Leonard, it can work for The Prince...

 

[super_pig]

he’s done his apprenticeship.. he knows the club.. bring it on.. wilder is going nowhere

 

[Duffy21Blade]

My first post on here for a good while, so please forgive me if this seems a bit disjointed.

I'm not going to say I have agreed with Kevin McCabe's decisions during his time. He has been guilty of errors of judgement in terms of his management choices - Robson, Adams, Weir, Adkins - even though Adkins CV made him an ambitious choice, and potentially one of the best candidates to come here. I was for that appointment as much as many were. For me, McCabe's biggest failure in this regard was bringing Bryan Robson to the club. The decisions made during this time, following on with the 'boom or bust' promotion attempt under Blackwell the following season, ultimately laid the foundations for one of the lowest periods in the history of our great club.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and whilst there were some dark days from 2011 until Wilder finally arrived to wake us up following the boredom under Nigel Adkins, what we achieved last season with the 100 points, scoring nearly as many goals as Man City (I think?), winning a league title and watching us destroy the rest of the league whilst doing it was one of the best seasons we will see.

Like Wilder says, it is great to be back in the Championship, where we should be. Last week's result was a disappointment, but Wolves ability to spend ten times as much showed the difference in where we are now, as to where we may want to be in future. As someone else said on here, owning a big Football club in the modern climate in the top two divisions is as good as having 100m and gambling it all away on Red.

That said, the likes of Wolves and Aston Villa spending the big money to once again achieve their Premier League dream should not in any way discredit the achievements so far of Chris Wilder and this group of players in the last 18 months, which has been nothing short of superb.

Who knows what the future holds for us if this does go through. Whilst the Prince has been around here for a while, we have not yet seen him in action, nor have we seen him make a decision to properly judge him one way or the other. If he does acquire full control, and despite McCabe's mistakes in the past, I believe he has always worked hard to ensure that our club ends up in safe hands when the time does come to go, which could be now. The weeks and months ahead will certainly be interesting.

 

[PokerBlade]

but it was McCabe who gave him that option in the first place wasn't it?

Well one time this lass gave me the option of dinner and a movie with her or a cash game. It was hard to count my winnings against my losses that day.

What we'll likely never know is the complexities required to trigger such an option in a contract no doubt as lengthy and legalese as the buying of a football club. It might sound bizarre for a businessman as experienced as McCabe but often these terms will have been a sticking point back when investment was strongly needed and the Prince will have wanted a bunch of circumstances in which he could seize a controlling share (often it's the basics like being first in line if McCabe sold up or dropped dead). You then end up with some convoluted shit and find a way to trigger it down the line. Or it could be something very simple and mundane and McCabe really, really wanted/needed the Prince's investment.