Serious takeover talk

And so it begins

 

No he sold that marra. He opened a branch of his car lease firm

 

Smug has referred to libel which I have not mentioned in any of my posts.

I am going out now but when I work out how to I will send him a message later

 

Are you Dilligaf ?

 

Best keep it off the board, it isn't the place for rows ... people come here for a friendly chat about stuff.

 

No mate, Gatesy on both.

 

Ah, sorry pal, so many new names and avatars lol, i am gerrin awld and confused

Oops, sorry all, just realised its takeover thread not newbie one,

See above, old nacka alert lol.

 

Aye, you've absolutely got to see it as a positive. He's sold one business and opened an office up here for another. That suggests to me firstly that he expects to be spending more time up here, and secondly that he'll need to dedicate more time to something (necessitating the sale of one business).

The obvious thing to take from it is that he's going to be more hands on in his role here, being the public face of the group, something I'd say he's very suited to.

Now, we know he's a clever bloke. I'd suggest there's absolutely no way that he'd make these plans to put roots down in Sunderland unless he knew, as a cast iron certainty, that he'd be involved here. If there was any chance of him not being involved he likely wouldn't have sold his business and certainly would have been unlikely to open an office up here, he'd hold off on at least one of those things until he knew for certain.

This leads me to believe he knows it's going through and he knows he'll be involved. I've said previously that you need to read between the lines sometimes where Donald is concerned. I don't think he's a liar, but the truth isn't always obvious. He's said the new owners aren't certain they want him and Methven. I think that's true, they don't know that they want both, I think it means they know they want Donald, but are considering Methven's place in it all, hence the delay. Methven couldn't prevent the sale, he doesn't have enough shares, so it's going to go through but they'll want to sort it out, be fair to Methven (who deserves to be well compensated) and won't want to announce anything if they then have to say that he's leaving soon after, which ties in with what @Smug in Boots said about them wanting to present a unified front and not wanting someone there who would quickly be gone. I can't really read it any other way, so have to see it as a positive

 

No worries mate, I don't post often over the road because in all honesty I can't be arsed with someone not liking what I've said and trying to jump down my throat. I mainly go on for any decent info and updates about the club.

 

Hmmmmmm ok

 

Yep its like one poster wants to derail the thread
No prizes for guessing who.

 

I hadn't considered that perhaps the hold up in the deal is the compensation package for Methven, I thought he'd have been kept on because allegedly anyway he was the man who got this group interested in buying the club.

 

Can you imagine the likes of Doug Weatherall behaving like these modern breed. He is in his 80's and retired now but still goes to Sunderland (and Newcastle) games.

 

I know it's been mentioned that is was CM that got FPP to the table (maybe by Smug? Not sure) but maybe it was Methven, via Short (also mentioned but again, not sure by who) and FPP don't really know Methven so aren't overly inclined to keep someone on who has split opinion with the fanbase...

 

Aye, he does seem to have been the one who made the contact, and maybe they will keep him on, I just can't see what his role would be. Donald as a public face of the group I get. They'll want to be in the background, who better to front up to the press etc than someone who is moving to the area full time and is already hugely popular with the supporters. His role as a hands on chairman seems a perfect fit, he can still do all the helping fans stuff that he likes, they can get a DoF in to do the football side.

Methven though - he obviously has contacts, but once they come in they don't need that, they'll have many more contacts and they hardly need to attract new investment! He's done his bit with the local businesses, but if true O'Brien is coming in then he isn't needed for that either, O'Brien will be much more connected in the NE and probably easier for local businesses to relate to. He does PR, but PR and "brand building" is something that they're bound to be able to get in place themselves, and will they really want both of the previous major owners sticking around? I might well be wrong, I just only see a case for keeping Donald, but the negotiations to let Methven up wouldn't be easy, he's done a lot of work without a salary, they need to be fair to him. Time will tell

 

I’m starting to think it’s the international break that they’re waiting for. If there’s gonna be a lot of upheaval it makes sense to it on a quieter than normal week at the club.
Especially if they want to change manager.

 

In the era of hand held portable communication devices, multiple high speed transport links I doubt we need to read too much into donald opening a business in sunderland.
He is high profile now in an area that is starting to come alive so it makes sense if the idea is there and a strong business plan.
I really believe the new owners will bring in their own CEO. They may have a way of doing things which conflicts with how donald has set things up...a sure way to get things off to a bad start.
I think he will make a great figurehead

 

I have no doubt that some parts of the press will stoop to low levels and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if some journalists joined up to message boards, twitter and whatever else with fake accounts to stir **** and try to create a story when a story isn't actually there. And that's across a whole wide range of subjects, not just the football. Personally, I'd say it does happen but I don't have cast iron proof of it, just a very high level of suspicion of it. I'm not naive when it comes to misinformation, propaganda and the ability to set an agenda through the media. I'd say it would be the likes of Pancho who are a bit naive about this sort of behaviour as stating that it doesn't happen just isn't the case.

 

Coxhoe Branch have just tweeted they are waiting for SD to confirm he will be at a branch do on 13th December, if he confirms it suggests he still plans to be there then

 

I've just had a message from a very good friend, lifelong Sunderland supporter and all round great bloke I've been to matches with since the hooligan days of the 80's.

He also happens to be on the security team for one of the world's top bands and I mean top.

Some people on here, will know him or know of him, and would verify what I've said.

The people who deride anyone not in their tiny little insular world can't imagine people like that exist.

If they didn't who do they think would do that kind of work ffs