Anyone heard about this non returnable £250,000 bond Ashley is demanding to allow interested parties to start due-diligence? Sounds like a scam to me if true, along with the confidentiality clause, anyone any idea if this is standard protocol for large business takeovers? Personally I’d imagine Ashley knows people looking hard enough will find something in there that doesn’t sit right and they won’t push the button basically pocketing him the cash (the club won’t see a penny of that money), while not allowing anyone to blow the whistle on him unless they fancy being sued for breach of contract. If it is true I fear we are stuck with the gimp and his cronies for a longtime to come unless anyone thinks this is a usual request? https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/prince-mohammed-bin-salman-still-21410710
NDA’s are usual. Non returnable deposits I would guess as unusual. I’ve not been involved in deals this big or anywhere near but would be a negotiating point depending on how sought after the Company being sold was.
i think think the leak was deliberate in an attempt to pressure the man united owners then. nobody would want us we are a dead club.. lightyears away from the big clubs now..
Considering the lack of any information what so ever there is an unbelievable amount of hysteria here. I think everyone needs to calm down, you're getting caught in the press storm and starting to believe all sorts of nonsense. Non returnal deposits, rejected bids, sudden man U interest, transfer window shenanigans, literally absolute all sorts. We have no information, calm down. We have in the span of a week gone from a 90% done deal to according to the mirror (one of the worst papers in the country,) they haven't even done their due diligence. So what's been happening for months? Popped in for a cup of tea? These inside sources didn't even know we lodged a £35 Million accepted bid to Lille. These reporters know absolute jack ****. Ignore them.
Caulkin reckons the £250k was to access all information (so called "data room"). I tend to trust him, and John Richardson also said this from a different source. However, Caulkin reckons it was paid weeks if not months ago. So it's a non-story, typical of the Mirror, spinning others' facts to fit a wumming narrative. For me, occam's razor always applies - the most likely answer is almost always the correct one. In this case, we have an unwilling seller and a willing buyer with actual money. It's an uncomfortable position for Ashley, who has in the past tried to discredit buyers. The Mirror release says something along those lines as well, but I don't think it's a "new" quote, I think it's a re-hash of the BZG stuff. So here we sit. Ashley doesn't really want to sell, but he's in a position where other buyers want it. The Mirror story does smell a little bit like setting up the fall - "oh, those owners didn't really WANT NUFC, they had their heart set on Man U, so it was in my best interests to not sell to them." He won't say any of these words, of course, but it's an angle that could be interpreted. Honestly, I hope with all my heart that Ashley goes this time. I don't think I can stomach any more of the deceit or silence.
Lads in all honesty, we’re all going to be still here(Ashley included) in 12 months time when the next load of takeover bullshit runs through town.......
If we get to the summer and still no sale then it’s clear that even one of the richest men in the world can’t persuade Ashley to sell. I honesty think there is zero interest in him selling. There isn’t a commercial reason for him to do so and everything he does has commercial reasoning behind it. Every headline about NUFC is good PR in his eyes no matter the nature of the headline. He’s in the process of rebranding his group to the Fraser Group and so will crave as much exposure as possible.
Does anybody honestly think there's above even a 5% chance we're going to be sold this time? And I'm being generous with the 5.
no chance why buy us ? no fans in foreign markets . a small club with a history of failure and a dying support.
How come though? I see no differences to the last 3/4 fakeover, all hopeful things have come from the media, NUFC saying absolutely nothing until they kill it stone dead in the next few weeks. There are willing buyers, of which there's no doubt, but MA is not willing to sell.
Its like all things Ashley. We can hope, hate, pray, but he’s untouchable. Astonishing, really, what money can do.
Which in some ways makes it fake, but only in Ashley's rhetoric that he wants to sell. He puts silly demand after silly demand in rather than just reject an offer so he can always say potential buyers walked away from the negotiating table. Then you can have idiots like Richard Keys saying one of the wealthiest people in the world just had to "put their money where their mouth is" or some ****e.
The bid is real. MA (I know he is a billy bullshitter) wants to sell. When I sold my house 6 years ago I had bidders who were clearly timewasters then I accepted a bid - 4 months down the line I figured they were time wasters and said if they didn't stop ****ing about I would put it back on the market - they never got back to me so I sold it for £20000 more as the market had moved on. Buying my current house was also frustrating - I tried to buy other properties but they fell through. In order to have my house SSTC I had to pay for a survey up front (around £800) even though the time before I did this and the seller then said he wasnt selling. Buying and selling took 19 months from my first listing of my property for sale. These were for properties priced between £200,000 and £267,000 We are talking about £340,000,000! Patience is a virtue. Think it is more 50%.
On a side note - I bought FM20 and MA sold to a consortium in the summer. The new ****ers are buying the players for me so I have no say
sick of to death of ashley... until the fans stop going he will never leave.. its so easy to do , but they simply will not do it...
not difficult ! but ... grow some balls... fight back... its a bit cringey otherwise imo. unles of course you are happy with the product.
You not been abroad recently? Our position is all relative. Small Club? No. In top 10 of PL. In top 40 financially in the World. There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of clubs smaller than us. Failure? No. As above there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of clubs who would want to be in our position. Could do and should do better? Yes, undoubtedly.