Prince is taking over

[Davalon]

Excuse my ignorance on this but having read everything out there I'm still unsure what this option entails.

Is it for the Prince to own everything lock stock? So effectively KM won't still be owning land and property and charging us rent?

Only understanding options in a financial product sense, is this the same in that a pre-agreed price was struck in 2013? If so what negotiating is there to do?

 

[Ukkonen]

There's a lot of ultra rich people in Saudi, Im hoping that HRH has roped his family into this buy out and it propels us into the upper regions of football wealth.....


........i have to live in hope otherwise I'll be drawn into all the negativity.

 

[Shirty Blade]

Why do all our announcements of takeovers or investments always happen just after the transfer window has shut?

Anyway my take on this is that the Prince has brought in some extra investment because:

1. The consensus suggest he hasn't got sufficient dosh to fund a buy out and provide 'substantial' investment in the team.
2. When we got promotion he stated (complained?) that it would be very expensive to make us competitive in the championship.
3. He said (or one of his representatives said) when he got involved that 'the serous investment starts when we get into the championship'.
4. He has just bought a team in Belgium.
5. The only way he can make money is to get to the PL which will need us to speculate a bit to accumulate

I really have no idea but if he hasn't secured extra investment then it appears that he is spending a load of his own dosh to gain control so that we might be as competitive in the transfer market as ......... Ipswich?

 

[South_Stand]

If this is a family consortium taking control then this could be brilliant news. Once the ball is rolling, other Saudis may look at United and want a piece of the pie. Maybe this is the ‘Think Liverpool’ moment? I’m certain that McCabe wouldn’t sell unless he was 100% sure the buyer could take the club forward. You would think that the princes personal wealth wouldn’t be enough to buy McCabe out alone so you would imagine that he is being backed from somewhere.

 

[The Crab]

Why is the Prince suddenly a big bad man because of this statement?

Fear of the unknown maybe? I know that sounds daft given that the Prince has been here a while, but maybe until now there have been a few checks & balances in place?

It always seems to be the horror stories at other clubs, including our neighbours, that stick in the mind.

The Prince is a businessman, and businessmen want to make money. I have no problem with that, as long as it's not at the cost of the identity of the club whether that's shirt colour, stadium location, whatever. We play at Bramall Lane, in red & white stripes. That is absolutely non-negotiable in my eyes.

 

[The Crab]

This is either a “woohoo” moment, or an “oh, fuck” one.

So I’m not sure whether to crack one out, or shit my pants.

Decisions, decisions...

Hedge your bets, do both.

 

[Tom Bott]

All this think Liverpool talk.

I remember when we were in the Prem and the cheating scouse bastards robbed us of points which would have kept us up.

Do we really aspire to that ?

 

[The Crab]

Hmmm. Muslim aversion to alcohol and a set of fans who are the biggest pissheads in the country. Not too sure how this is going to work out.

Ficticious drinks on the way?

 

[Treeton Blade]

The one glimmer of hope IMO, is the fact The Prince has been involved for 5 years, and is not coming in blind.

Otherwise this would be even more worrying, if that were possible.

Be careful what you wish for ant McCabers, this could start a real dark period (again!) in our history

 

[Bladezz]

It seems wit from twitter really does have inside info. Last week he predicted this and now its here.

Just looked on again at his twitter and it seems he isn’t too impressed with the prince taking over.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

McCabe for sometime now has made no secret of the fact he wanted out so this was always going to happen. It’s become obvious that he’s not got the resources to match other clubs in this division so a change in ownership is probably inevitable if we want to stay competitive financially.

I’m cautiously optimistic (with emphasis on the cautious). The Prince has been here for 4 years and knows enough about the club and the English game for this not to suddenly become a Pigs/Hull etc style clusterfuck.

My main area for concern is down to how much say in the change McCabe has had given that this has been triggered by a contractual option. Maybe McCabe had changed his opinion on the Prince and his financial wherewithal but had his hand forced? Maybe it’s nothing like that and this is what is needed to see the game changing investment arrive? We don’t know.

Just hope people start going into absolute meltdown about the state of the club if this change in ownership coincides with us losing a couple of games

That’s far too reasonable a take for here I’m afraid – where’s the sudden discomfort for an owner we were fine with 24 hours ago, or the panic that we’re selling the club and moving it to the Middle East?

Also having worked in the Middle East for a couple of years LLC is a very standard company suffix for the equivalent of an LTD.

Let me be the first to say, GLTTLLC.

 

[Bookers Mullet]

The one glimmer of hope IMO, is the fact The Prince has been involved for 5 years, and is not coming in blind.

Otherwise this would be even more worrying, if that were possible.

Be careful what you wish for ant McCabers, this could start a real dark period (again!) in our history

It could, but it could also be the dawn of a glorious one. I'm probably one of the biggest people for fearing change, and I think its quite a common sheffield trait, but really I don't think we can judge HRH until his leadership has been up and running for a while

The only thing that is really concerning me is Foxy, it seems like he knows a lot of what is going off, and the bits that he can drip feed out seem concerning, and if I've grown to trust anyone over the well being of SUFC over the years its Foxy

 

[Dane Redhouse]

I look at it like this.. like what’s been previously said l, would Kev just sell up if he thought the club wasn’t in good hands.. remember what he always says “eh there’s no bigger blade than me”. The prince has been on board for four years now so is not new to this. And as for this clause been activated well.. if this clause is activated and they’ve said they’re “negotiating” the sale of the club to HRH then there’s clearly not a price set which gets activated and it’s automatically the princes. If Kev didn’t trust the prince and didn’t want him to take control then he surely could just turn around and say well I want 400 million for the club. Prince would lose interest and probably sell his share back. This is a gamble, and once in a lifetime you have to take a gamble. I’d we don’t and stick with Kev, we could be a mid table championship side for the next ten years or so and fans moaning that there’s no investment or we’re not pushing. I think this has come at the perfect time, we’ve got the best man in a long time stearing the ship in chris wilder, the team all pulling together and a talented bunch at that! The fans are all singing off the same hymn sheet and are happy we’re doing so well. I don’t think HRH will take control and then say to CW here’s 50 million break the team up and buy a player for every position. I think it will just be a case of here’s some money for a few great additions like a couple of good strikers and a good centre half and a goalie. Like I said you have to take a gamble at some point and hopefully with the prince been involved over the last few years he’s seen how the club should be run efficiently. I’d be more worried if the prince and his team had not been involved and were just taking straight over.

 

[Woodwardfan]

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.


Told you so!


You can't leave that hanging!!

The whole Board changed a few months ago and then changed back. Maybe that's the time.

 

[metalblade]

The whole Board changed a few months ago and then changed back. Maybe that's the time.

And soon after our results took a nose dive as they always do when things are not stable in the boardroom. Let's hope it is sorted out quickly one way or the other and let's get back to winning football matches, the play off's are no where near out of reach just yet.

 

[Whiston Blade]

And soon after our results took a nose dive as they always do when things are not stable in the boardroom. Let's hope it is sorted out quickly one way or the other and let's get back to winning football matches, the play off's are no where near out of reach just yet.

Totally nothing to do with losing our best player for the season and all about the boardroom changes...

 

[Sean Thornton]

And soon after our results took a nose dive as they always do when things are not stable in the boardroom. Let's hope it is sorted out quickly one way or the other and let's get back to winning football matches, the play off's are no where near out of reach just yet.

Any deal is between the two shareholders though. The directors are just officers of the company ( even if a co owner). More likely it was for the legal necessities of a takeover rather than some power struggle. Put who you want on the board, the major decisions were always made by the two owners.

 

[YES Blade]

Whatever happens, there will always be a Sheffield United Football Club in one form or another. So I don’t stress about who the owners are.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Totally nothing to do with losing our best player for the season and all about the boardroom changes...

A bit of boardroom intrigue sounds far more dramatic, wwf railed about the changes at the time despite the fact it meant very little in the scheme of things. I think metal blade is probably referring to a lack of stability at the top affecting everyone at the club as well, rather than it being the only reason.

 

[WORKSOPBLADE]

It seems wit from twitter really does have inside info. Last week he predicted this and now its here.

Just looked on again at his twitter and it seems he isn’t too impressed with the prince taking over.

He seems to not like any change that might upset his mates relationship with the powers of the club.

He may feel that his access to all things United since his mate became manager and letting all and sundry know this may change if Kev is not involved. I don’t recall seeing him up and down the country supporting the Blades prior to CW becoming manager.

I suspect this more than him knowing genuinely how the ownership issue will pan out.

 

[bladesmanluke]

Football isn’t what it used to be. We have to accept foreign ownership and the possibility of millions spent. The alternative is stagnation and eventual relegation back to league one. Of course this could happen anyway under a foreign owner, or worse, but we have to choose between the prince, who although distant recently, we have no real reason to distrust, or a completely random, unknown foreign investor we know nothing about.

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

He's activated a clause... The ongoing is the wrangle over other potentially related assets (or 'provisions'), which depending on the terms of the clause, may be the only chips McCabe has to effect the Princes intentions.

Certainly not simple and unless something has changed, I'm surprised the statement has been put out yet.

But then any Option Agreement worth it's salt would contain a clause to the effect that 'if x and y are unable to agree on the value, the matter shall be referred to such an independent third party'.

Would it be too much to read into it that KM has been wrong footed by this?

 

[AnotherBlade]

Just check his Facebook page.

Yep, seen that now. Coming back n all by the sounds of it (apologies if this is covered off in the next 323 pages lol)

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

I keep seeing posts around maybe he's encouraged his family to invest but I can't see anything that would suggest this is true and seems to be entirely based on nothing but wishful thinking because they have some money. Why would they? What makes you think he is particularly close to anyone within this group? Has he had similar investment in anything else alongside his family?
Ignorant speculation is what led to people moaning about transfer spending for years. When the Prince was originally announced noone from his camp suggested he was a Saudi billionaire, but still the total wealth of the Saudi royal family was highlighted time and time again by fans. Then when we didn't see massive investment it was used as a stick to beat them with.
From everything we know the Prince has a similar level of wealth to McCabe, therefore a power grab without significant additional investors leaves us worse off, and if he gets someone to match him pound for pound then we're in the same boat as we've been in for the past few years just without a lifelong fan steering us who's lost large sums of money keeping us afloat and stayed the course.

 

[Sean Thornton]

But then any Option Agreement worth it's salt would contain a clause to the effect that 'if x and y are unable to agree on the value, the matter shall be referred to such an independent third party'.

Would it be too much to read into it that KM has been wrong footed by this?

More likely that they are negotiating before that happens.

If the shareholder agreement is there, I'd have expected McCabe to be aware if it's contents and any time scales involved. Exercising on option could happen at anytime subject to any initial time constraints so unlikely he's been "wrong footed".

 

[AnotherBlade]

Sorry, just asked the wife, it is on Facebook, one hour ago, from Jim's account, saying (something like)

"I am glad the statement is now out there, thank you Kevin McCabe for all you have done, god bless, thank you Prince Abdullah for all you have done, good luck for the future, UTB"

Might not be 100% same words, but that is pretty much what she read out to me

Yep, shes spot on after all

 

[Rodley]

I keep seeing posts around maybe he's encouraged his family to invest but I can't see anything that would suggest this is true and seems to be entirely based on nothing but wishful thinking because they have some money. Why would they? What makes you think he is particularly close to anyone within this group? Has he had similar investment in anything else alongside his family?
Ignorant speculation is what led to people moaning about transfer spending for years. When the Prince was originally announced noone from his camp suggested he was a Saudi billionaire, but still the total wealth of the Saudi royal family was highlighted time and time again by fans. Then when we didn't see massive investment it was used as a stick to beat them with.
From everything we know the Prince has a similar level of wealth to McCabe, therefore a power grab without significant additional investors leaves us worse off, and if he gets someone to match him pound for pound then we're in the same boat as we've been in for the past few years just without a lifelong fan steering us who's lost large sums of money keeping us afloat and stayed the course.

Agree with that. If there’s no additional investment we’re in a worse situation. If the Prince seems wanting to turn in onto someone else and make a small profit, then again we’re ending up with an unknown quantity.

As usual, no one knows, some will panic, the moaners will moan, life goes on.

 

[Pierre's PC]

As usual, no one knows, some will panic, the moaners will moan, life goes on.

I'm off down the Winchester

 

[Nicolaus_Copernicus]

More likely that they are negotiating before that happens.

If the shareholder agreement is there, I'd have expected McCabe to be aware if it's contents and any time scales involved. Exercising on option could happen at anytime subject to any initial time constraints so unlikely he's been "wrong footed".

By wrong footed, I meant KM not thinking that the Prince had the financial means to exercise & acquire, not that he was frantically leafing through his dusty copy of the contract looking for clause 5(c). Bellowing 'shit the bed, who put this in here?'.

The rumblings on here and on other social media recently have been about the apparent financial inability of certain parties to invest in players, the same parties now finding the funds to purchase the whole shooting match may have come as a surprise. Which possibly indicates, a dramatic change in circumstances for the Prince (unlikely), his wider family are now sticking in £'s (probable) or he is planning to acquire the whole & flip it to a 3rd party (possible).

In my embarrassingly limited experience of such matters, a good number of options are usually put in with the intention of them never being/incapable of being exercised, but giving the appearance to the contrary.

 

[8lade]

I've read every post on this thread but may have missed the point I'm about to make:
Maybe this is for no other reason than spreading a little of the family's wealth to other countries (I appreciate a lot of what they have will already be outside SA) just in case that rainy day comes where you get home from work to find a man with a gun sitting in your favourite chair and you need to leave quickly. Buying a UK business now would be a lot easier than when you have your cash 'tied up'.
Where would this leave United? Exactly in the same place we are now.