He actually signed but the transfer was cancelled as Short refused to sanction the fund release to Celtic.
I'd be very cautious with regards to any statements about signings not being affected by the decision to sell. Trying not to be negative but we have also said previously that we don't need to let big earners go but that if we do we can really strengthen the side with the money we've saved. We then offloaded almost all of them and did nothing in the transfer market that pretty much any other league one side wouldn't have been able to do. I'll very much take Donald's words with a big pinch of salt. To be honest it's blatantly obvious that summer was the time to strengthen. He had a full year of parachute payments to come, he trusted the manager, we all knew where we'd fallen short and 3 or 4 genuinely top league one players would have seen us with a great chance of winning the league. Instead we arguably got worse. If he didn't strongly back us then I don't see why he suddenly would in a window where it's well acknowledged that you get less value, with a manager that he can't be fully certain of and when we're a long way from top 2 so even a big improvement would likely just see us in the play off lottery. I don't think we were ever going to do much in this window and definitely don't expect much now. As for FPP, I just hope the timing is right. They were obviously interested and then something stopped them. I'd heard that they were concerned about the risk and how hard it would be to get us into the PL and that has me concerned. The main advantage of them getting involved now is that, in this league, they could gift money. All of a sudden they've basically done that with the loan. I'm worried that they did that in the hopes that Donald could use it well (mainly on staffing structure/ academy) and get us up, making it an easier decision for them to get involved. We'd be in the championship, Donald would have proven that he can run the club and they might then have formally invested, taking shares and leaving him as a minority shareholder running the club day to day. If Donald now doesn't want to do that, or if they've decided he isn't capable of it then do FPP buy us and get their own people in, or does it simply reinforce their opinion that it's a risky industry and that it would be a massive undertaking to get us competitive so they just get their loan repaid and go off into the sunset. Without knowing their ambitions, or why it initially broke down, we simply don't know. Just hope it's resolved positively soon
To be fair I'm making two separate points in one post (one about the transfer window now and one about FPP), about 200 words each, it's hardly like a novel
This is basically my position and I don't think what has happened since will help FPP feel good about the situation. The fact that Donald, a man with very little resource, is willing to walk away from the opportunity will only reinforce that initial decision. On what basis in the real world would he be able to justify the valuation when he is running away from what he is presenting as a golden opportunity for investment.
My only hope is that Donald had a valuation of X and wanted to stay as a shareholder (to benefit if FPP get us to the PL) and FPP would only agree to it if we were in the championship. If that's the case and Donald now just wants to get out, then maybe he'll be prepared to lower his valuation and agree to walk away entirely, at which point they might be more interested. Fingers crossed like
They might think that, but equally if Donald wants out for a low price they know that promotion from this league (with the right people involved) isn't expensive, they know teams can get out of the championship without spending fortunes (some do throw money around but plenty of others don't). They might see it as a fairly low risk for such potential. If they can just get us into the championship they could probably sell for a profit now that Donald has cut everything back. Easy to be glass half full or half empty on this one
I'd say you're on the right lines mate. In my opinion there's no way a different prospective buyer would risk giving Donald £10 million prior to due diligence ... ... that would be madness.
aye, lets just hope they fancy a gamble, or that maybe there's a third party ( not yet identified) waiting patiently in the wings for the clubs value to 'bottom out' , who then step in to take over the reins.
Why would a new buyer need to give Donald £10m prior to due diligence? If Donald has spent $12m in a month, the club is fundamentally broken and FPP will have run a mile already. More likely that cash is still sitting there in anticipation of January, or at least the vast majority of it. I'd be surprised if Donald didn't pay it back pretty soon, as trying to negotiate a sale with a new seller with FPP having a charge over the club will be difficult indeed. I think he'll have already spoken to them regarding the next steps anyway. Guy isn't an idiot, even if he's incompetent. The stakes are too high to provoke FPP unless he's certain they have given consent.
There's also the elephant in the room of Davison and Methven leaving and, seemingly, nothing happening regarding replacing them. That's two key people, both randomly leaving for personal reasons in the middle of a season. To me, that makes it more likely that FPP are still interested and are wanting the decks cleared before they come in. If not I'd at least expect a Davison replacement to have happened by now. They've given a loan, earmarked what it is to be spent on and won't allow Donald to sell while it's in place, board members are suddenly leaving and not being replaced. It just feels like these things might be linked
i think stewart & charlie maybe over - egged the pudding with their sales pitch, which got these 3 american billionaires across the atlantic. however, now that they've lifted the hood, its not such a bargain that they were led to believe, and something suddenly caused them to back off. more skeletons methinks. i hope i'm wrong.
If Donald repays the loan now he'll have to add a big chunk in charges plus any shortfall of money already spent. He'll then have little or nothing for signings. He could however allow other buyers to do due diligence but that might go nowhere whilst, at the same time, the club may lose further value. If he risks going down this route he could go into the summer with more players leaving. He could end up losing more than if he sells to FPP at the value they put on the club.
I think it's much less dramatic tbh ... ... just a gap in valuations with neither side budging. I know who'll blink first.
