True or False —Takeover

[Champagneblade]

If he only has up to 7 million my spider senses are calm and subdued as he can't afford Ollie McBurnie's toe nail, never mind the whole club!

As hardly anything is known about this guy, and what he does seems to go under the radar, does this make him the Dean Hammond of potential club investors?

Ha corrected it.

 

[Shirty Blade]

What worries me is that your initial estimation was roughly correct and that he somehow, with the aid of ghost funds from invisible investors, initiates a leveraged buy out against our assets.

Then we are screwed! Hope the EFL rules are robust!

 

[Stevo]

Just our luck , major investment just as the nukes are going to start flying

I can see this being a carbon copy of when Alan partridge gets his BBC contract and Chris feathers has a heart attack just as he is about to sign it

 

[jono_t2000]

I would prefer the Prince to keep ownership rather than this guy.

Like others have said something seems fishy and it probably won't end well for Sheffield United.

That being said, he may end up taking the club to new heights never before seen.

Whatever the case I'm taking it as no change of ownership is happening until things progress further.

 

[ElephantBlade]

I can see this being a carbon copy of when Alan partridge gets his BBC contract and Chris feathers has a heart attack just as he is about to sign it

"Hello Chris... are you dead?"

 

[Torrix1889]

Just caught up with the posts since going to bed last night......blimey we haven't half got a load of sceptical fuckers on here, proper glass half empty merchants.

I know as Blades we tend to expect the worst but at least wait until more details of the deal, (if indeed it goes ahead) are released.

 

[Barry Butlin]

I know it will be the first Chairman we’ve had with proper money & they‘re still not happy

 

[lakedistblade]

What worries me is that we are relying on the financial geniuses at EFL to protect us against a leveraged buyout. This guy is no billionaire running a company with 20 mill turnover and there is a bad smell about him with investigations and mortgage defaults. Hope and expect this is going to disappear in a puff of smoke like the Newcastle bid. English football ownership is a huge mess.Prince wants out and to get his money back and run so not sure we can rely on him to find a buyer with long term interest of the club foremost in his consideration.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Why is it so hard to find out if someone has means to pay for things?

If we want a mortgage for example we get a credit check, isn't there an experian equivalent for football clubs?

 

[Bashamed]

What do you mean of course?

Haha that last time he couldn't even prove he existed. Sounds right up our street

 

[HermitageBlade]

Well I started off pretty upbeat about this and now I’ve read this thread I feel depressed. We’ve either got the most miserable fan base in the country or half of the employees of D&B turning up every Saturday (Sky dependent ).Shall we just see what happens, if nothing else we know we’re definitely up for sale now and if this one doesn’t come off (like at Newcastle) then perhaps this will encourage other bids. When you look at other clubs that have been bought and invested in why shouldn’t we at some stage be a consideration? They must look at our history ( recent status) fan base and potential. We’re a club that hasn’t won a major trophy for nearly 100 years mainly due to diabolical ownership and yet look at the support we draw !!

 

[biggiesablade]

My stress poo levels are off the scale man

 

[HOT CURRIE 10]

Just caught up with the posts since going to bed last night......blimey we haven't half got a load of sceptical fuckers on here, proper glass half empty merchants.

I know as Blades we tend to expect the worst but at least wait until more details of the deal, (if indeed it goes ahead) are released.

This !

 

[Carlton Blade]

Just caught up with the posts since going to bed last night......blimey we haven't half got a load of sceptical fuckers on here, proper glass half empty merchants.

I know as Blades we tend to expect the worst but at least wait until more details of the deal, (if indeed it goes ahead) are released.

Why wouldn't you be sceptical?

 

[Kev Gee]

Just caught up with the posts since going to bed last night......blimey we haven't half got a load of sceptical fuckers on here, proper glass half empty merchants.

I know as Blades we tend to expect the worst but at least wait until more details of the deal, (if indeed it goes ahead) are released.

My thoughts as well.
If he hasn't got the funds then the EFL will throw out the bid.


If he can prove funds and future funds then what's the issue?

It'll all come out int wesh won't it?

 

[Jacobsenthecrab]

A leveraged buy-out like Man Utd or Burnley is the worst thing that could happen to us.
However, I’m not aware of that happening to a Championship club as I don’t think the finances work.
Football finance is 10% plus per annum due to the risk so how is a Championship club going to prove it can pay £11m plus per year to the lender? The sums just don’t add up.

If he plans to buy us outright without finance then the only way he will get a return is through investing for the long-term to establish us as a Premiership club, if he can afford to do this it’s then down to how good a plan he puts in place.

We can only wait and see.

 

[metalblade]

Alarm bells are ringing for me, people with billions in the bank get known around the world yet no one can find much out about this bloke other than a few court cases for owing money and defaulting on paying. So what is he a barely legal loan shark or a dodgy company owner selling shit TV ariels, you know the kind of shit JML advertise in ADSA every Xmas as the thing every fucker needs and can't live without.
Billionaires just don't go under the radar like this bloke does, sounds to me like another Jacob Esan (remember him?) the Nigerian high flyer with six houses his main residence being a council semi-detached in Croydon. I'm thinking Paul Woolhouse, Carlo Colombotti, Sam Hashimi etc this deal stinks to high heaven.
What we do have confirmed is the house of Saud have instructed the Prince to get rid of SUFC since they took over at Newcastle United and it looks to me like anywhere will do if they can come up with the money.
This is not going to end well I can feel it in my water.

 

[bertieblade]

If he has got the funds to buy us, he would intend to do something with us. That would mean investment to get us into the premiership as that is the only way that he can gain self esteem in the football world and in his own words he wants to emulate liverpool, at least he did if he were successful in taking over Newcastle.
he cannot possibly look to assett strip us as we do not have assets worth in excess on £115m

 

[bertieblade]

Alarm bells are ringing for me, people with billions in the bank get known around the world yet no one can find much out about this bloke other than a few court cases for owing money and defaulting on paying. So what is he a barely legal loan shark or a dodgy company owner selling shit TV ariels, you know the kind of shit JML advertise in ADSA every Xmas as the thing every fucker needs and can't live without.
Billionaires just don't go under the radar like this bloke does, sounds to me like another Jacob Esan (remember him?) the Nigerian high flyer with six houses his main residence being a council semi-detached in Croydon. I'm thinking Paul Woolhouse, Carlo Colombotti, Sam Hashimi etc this deal stinks to high heaven.
What we do have confirmed is the house of Saud have instructed the Prince to get rid of SUFC since they took over at Newcastle United and it looks to me like anywhere will do if they can come up with the money.
This is not going to end well I can feel it in my water.

intrigued to know who would suit, he cannot leverage funds to buy us as all the premiership money has been mortgaged and we do not have other assets to be used in a leveraged buyout subsequently he has to be using his own money.

 

[Blade56]

BBC Sport Ont breakfast show just reported it and said it’s £150m

 

[ISZA ⚔️]

Why are you fighting so hard to defend a man you do not know anything about, but every inch of which the articles being dug up are bad? It makes no sense

Given your passion for negativity it’s safe to assume you were digging up articles about how he spends half his time playing fantasy baseball, being friends with Bin Laden and reviews on low quality toilet rolls prior to the Prince taking over.

 

[Wards]

A front for the Qatari's that tried to buy Newcastle then?

 

[metalblade]

intrigued to know who would suit, he cannot leverage funds to buy us as all the premiership money has been mortgaged and we do not have other assets to be used in a leveraged buyout subsequently he has to be using his own money.

Could just be a plot make the new owner look so bad that when Mike Ashley rides over on his charger to save us he is welcomed with open arms. The figures don't add up for me when someone has billions in the bank people tend to know about it. No one knows anything about this dude.

 

[Blade56]

blimey we haven't half got a load of sceptical fuckers on here, proper glass half empty merchants.

Come on, check out our feckin Karma events over the years, we only get good news so we can be let down.

Hope and expect this is going to disappear in a puff of smoke

His debt and mortgage defaults will disappear in a puff of smoke and like magic appear on our balance sheet.
He’s a cuckoo looking for a nest outside the US of A to drop his smelly eggs in. Wait while they hatch, club goes under, bankruptcy and his debts written off outside of US.

 

[mattbianco1]

Bet EFL say no after the fit and proper test. Then he'll rock up in Greece or sumat and make AEK world champions.

Be like the Maradona signing all over again

 

[Carlton Blade]

Given your passion for negativity it’s safe to assume you were digging up articles about how he spends half his time playing fantasy baseball, being friends with Bin Laden and reviews on low quality toilet rolls prior to the Prince taking over.

At least there were some articles about him other that self written blogs and court reports

 

[ISZA ⚔️]

One things certain the EFL check will be about as much use as Pele’s cock.

 

[nopigfansintown]

The Prince needs to leave - that much is axiomatic. To be fair to him he's always be admitted that he didn't have the personal wealth to run United in the Championship. I took him at his word.When he was talking about mortgaging his house to keep the wheels on, this was underlined for me.

The failure to build the infrastructure makes perfect sense now, in this context: the parachutes (at least the majority) are already cashed in with banks, and he's looking for an exit strategy as soon as we are relegated (always highly likely when in the PL) - so why build anything? You aren't getting the money back for that investment when you sell the club, so why would you do it? He had one last hit with the parachutes this season and is now, understandably, looking for a way out before he has to put in large amounts of external, personal capital in the next season or two.

This also contextualises the Wilder fall out. It looks completely different now. One is looking medium to long term; the other is looking short term. Different priorities.

I only hope the Prince sells us to someone with deeper pockets than himself, that is willing to spend on infrastructure and a competitive post parachute budget. I think you need a billionaire now; a multi millionaire is probably no longer rich enough. If he does that he'll go down as a decent owner for SUFC.

Let's have it right: if we aren't challenging the top six positions or at least sustaining a budget in line with that - people will want the owner out. There's always a lot of 'I don't want a dodgy looking owner regardless of their wealth' type comments, but the vast majority of people don't mean it. They'd have Pol Pot if the club was successful.

 

[S64 Blade]

1. This house people keep going on about might not even be his. The other executive at ClearTV has the exact same address listed, so it’s more likely the address of a third party/proxy; likely their accountant. It’s incredibly unusual for anyone to list their home address on filings, especially someone who has little else about them anywhere else.

2. The office suite that people seem obsessed with is the registered company address. It’s literally a post box for any filings and isn’t necessarily the main hub of the business. Below is an image of a huge company’s registered address - looks pretty modest too right?


Maybe there is something fishy with this guy, but focusing on addresses isn’t going to answer any of this.

The key to is the proof of funds and any background checks as part of the legal agreements for sale. Given Giansiracusa is a Partner at Jones Day and that the Prince lives in California and will undoubtedly have a large network who knows this guy, we in theory, shouldn’t worry about the validity.

If it was McCabe; a man who’d been outmanoeuvred many times, was selling, I’d be more concerned.

 

[Aston max]

For all our usual bladey bladeness if this happens I just hope this guy comes in and carries on the financial work started by PA, yes we need a good investment in the academy infrastructure to bring us up to CAT 1 status and the ground needs some work doing
But my one plea to this guy would be don't use our beloved club as a plaything (we've all seen how well that ends as per our neighbours )
Invest in the first team but within all the financial sector requirements/restrictions (find a top European/UK scout and Invest in good young hungry players we can either turn a profit or move us to the next level etc)