And TBF, I suspect anyone from the Middle East would want to bring their own manager and CEO in, so would have bye bye Ralph and Semmens (which we really didn't want).
I'd rather we went the sustainable, Ajax/RB route, than be bought by a mad billionaire that enjoys a side of decapitation.
Can someone paste the two recent Athletic articles (the most recent one and the one where they interviewed Semmens) for a tight arse like me who won't subscribe?
One is on Saintsweb all be it with one silly edit from a poster who clearly thinks they are hilarious
I won't post the whole thing because The Athletic are pretty militant about seeking out the owners of websites where an article is just copied and pasted - but we can put a bullet point summary and it's not an issue like that. So here goes... 24 different parties tried to buy the club 12 got to the point of actually meeting with Semmens/Katharina/her advisor, Rolf Bogli (formerly senior family investment consultant of Credit Suisse) 6 of those were considered to be serious parties who genuinely could take the club over Bogli and Liebherr would not allow anyone to take on a leveraged buyout of the club, they had to be a cash buyer Due to Liebherr's veto clause in her sale to Gao in 2017, he was unable to complete any transaction on his 80% without Liebherr signing it off This eliminated Alan Pace (now owner of Burnley, using a leveraged buyout) A deal was close to conclusion in 2020 shortly before the pandemic, the new owner would've been an American hotelier The deal was at the point of being signed off, it fell apart at the very final hour The impact of the pandemic meant he didn't complete on the deal and couldn't get back to the table because of the financial impact on the hospitality industry DaGrosa publicly claimed that Gao wanted too much money but club sources say that DaGrosa wasn't preferable because he didn't have the cash Gerard Lopez, former owner of Lille, was recommended to the club by a former player (no prizes for guessing who) and was willing to buy However Saints had some concerns about his track record with some of the decisions he made in Lille He later purchased Bordeaux (formerly owned by DaGrosa's investment fund!) They had a Zoom meeting with one person purporting to be a billionaire but after Liebherr's intermediaries investigated, they found out he wasn't a billionaire and his registered address was just a hut Another prospective owner said he wanted to buy the club and he could complete the deal within 24 hours but he wouldn't share any plans with the club and Liebherr in advance and they wouldn't provide proof of funds either On some occasions, Saints got to the point of sharing a potential owner's name with the Premier League and the PL shared concerns over past misdemeanours and the deals promptly ended Some parties in the Middle East also showed interest Saints eventually found Sport Republic and after initial talks there was a meeting in mainland Europe in early December, with Semmens et al present The deal was concluded around Christmas but it was agreed that no announcement would be made until the New Year and all parties remained silent The End.
It was one month pre-pandemic (with March 2020 viewed as the 'start' in the UK) but you have to remember that in America they were getting ravaged with it before we were and Trump was by all accounts doing a pretty bad job of taking the situation seriously. So I imagine it spooked the prospective owner and Saints became less of a priority behind their current business interests.
Thanks for that, much appreciated Makes you wonder what all these fake billionaires/non-serious buyers were playing at. What did they have to gain? Presumably they wouldn't have been able to actually buy us so why bother enquiring?
They had a Zoom meeting with one person purporting to be a billionaire but after Liebherr's intermediaries investigated, they found out he wasn't a billionaire and his registered address was just a hut. Obviously someone at Fratton Park.
An American hotelier with a keen interest in sports? That piques my curiosity, if only because my mind goes to a particular American hotelier who has held part/full ownership of multiple sports franchises and would have been particularly hard-hit by a pandemic (and was also regarded as one of the worst owners in the modern history of the NBA, which is saying something).
Interesting reading through the various comments and articles to see that Ralph had a big hand in the process of finding new owners. I'm impressed with the due diligence taken to make sure that Sports Republic were the right fit in all respects. It bodes well for the future, all parts dovetail the manager, his staff, club management and the owners. I could see RH moving into an executive post with the new coach coming from the existing setup. https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/...c-vs-swansea-city-fa-cup?utm_source=dotmailer
