here's the latest from the Wobby http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/9766637.Bassini___I_m_looking_to_sell_Watford_/
Have to agree with you NNW that it is a good article from Frank Smith. The WO were asked why they had not said anything while rumours were swirling around and responded by saying that there were differing versions of what was going on and they could not say anything until they knew more. I do however believe that Affleck has a source within the club who because of the bad relationship with the owner would tell him things. Let us not forget that Affleck has been quite discreet about previous changes in ownership and his source might well feel safe in giving him information. The club has been quite clever in managing news for some time, and my guess would be that Frank got his story about the safe because the club felt that they had to say something to show that all was not well behind the scenes. The tax situation: who knows, but it has been hinted at now. If true that is a clear breach of the contract, but would the bondholders want to just take the club back and be involved in long running and expensive court cases, or prefer to suggest that there is a way out for him by selling to someone with their approval. If he can raise the money to pay the bondholders off, then we lose the backstop of their control. If it is sold to another party then we lose that again.
It's important not to speculate in too much more detail on the Affleck front, as we could inadvertently say something that puts someone's job at risk. Suffice to say, I find it difficult to believe that Affleck wouldn't have known about this if his takeover source is internal. Whether he didn't know, or decided that he had to keep it to himself, is something we'll never know.
Before I read the second Wobby article, one question I thought from the first one was how would Bassini know if Pozzo was looking at other things? If he wasn't interested in WFC, then he would surely just have no contact with LB at all. Hopefully, the fixtures being released tomorrow will stop me getting questions at work. If I do get asked, I'm going to use the "Boycott straight bat technique" which will be along the lines of that I've seen the same media reports as them and that I know as much as they do as I hardly think that fans of West Ham, Liverpool, Everton, Man U, WBA, Chelsea, Norwich and Valencia will read the Wobby online.
You may be out of luck there. TalkSport presenter Ian Abrahams has been keeping pace with the Watford story for months, including today despite being in Poland. And I'm pretty sure he'll be on tomorrow morning's breakfast show.
It looks like Bassini is selling up according to the Watford Observer, does seem all rather chaotic at the moment. Bassini's reign has seen stability on the pitch, yet off of it there was the debacle with Graham Taylor, and now it seems he has lost the confidence of all bondholders. Will be interesting to see if the truth really comes out?
from what's being reported (and yes, i know, we can't believe all we read) he's chopping and changing his story at a rate of knots. Not sure we'll ever find out the truth, but he does seem incapable of sticking to the same story...allegedly
Quietly optimistic about this. pozzo is clearly a football man but he also has the cash to back that up. never trusted baz mainly because he could never prove he had the financial wherewithal to take thd club forward and it looks like that has turned out to be the case. i wonder if this why mapps is mot yet movimg and kuszcak hasnt signed elsewhere yet.
good point about Kuszczak, hadn't thought of that, though Ipswich seem to think he's signing for them tomorrow...
it may just be speculation...let's hope! To be honest, i'd be surprised if he chose Ipswich over Watford, if we're actually thinking about giving him a contract...
Well known people with varying degrees of inside knowledge and varying different interests have put the amount Bassini has personally put into acquiring and running the club at £0, £440k, £2m, £7m and upwards of £10m. That figure is not for me to guess. But the ~£8.15m from Ashley Young (~£1.1m), Danny Graham (~£3m after Carlisle's cut), Will Buckley (~£850k after Rochdale's cut) and Marvin Sordell (£3.2m) strikes me as being enough to cover a £4m loss, the £1-1.2m we spent last summer on transfer fees, the £750k-£1m installation of a new pitch, with a fair amount to spare to more or less cover the Red Lion, a "modest" wage budget increase (I can't remember if Bassini or Dyche used this word, but one of them definitely did) and a few relatively small pieces of expenditure. Of course, that transfer money wouldn't have come all at once, so Bassini would probably have had to put some working capital in, but the revenue from those transfers is pretty much guaranteed. Given that the team is doing better despite big player sales, and given the likely financial value of a couple of players who were unproven a year ago, you would have to say that the club is worth more now than when Bassini came in. I stress that this is ONLY because of the football side of things: had we gone down this season, clearly we were a basketcase. Had we scraped survival with a slightly increased wage bill and youngsters disappointing, clearly the club would have been just as unattractive as in 2011. I'm a little tired, but surely for Bassini to make money in this situation, Pozzo would need to put up the money for the bonds, re-imburse Baz for the money he has put in (if applicable) then pay a little more? And of course, the club is not allowed to increase its indebtedness. So Bassini will not have loaned the money to the club, and thus there is no guarantee that Pozzo is going to offer this much? Am I missing anything there?
Also, sounds like Pozzo knows a bit about football, which is better than a clue boy with money. Not sure if I want this to happen though. Still it could be a good thing.
Kevin Affleck‏@affers1178 Gd work on a Sunday from Frank Smith. He should give out player of season trophy; he is objective, does spade work & has contacts. 26 min Kevin Affleck‏@affers1178 Be interesting to see if Pozzo pays off bond or inherits existing repayment plan. I'd suggest it will be the later. 28 min Kevin Affleck‏@affers1178 Club will have a strong Italian flavour throughout. Expect young players & those on fringes at his other clubs to be wearing yellow. 31 min Kevin Affleck‏@affers1178 Expect LB to get nothing like fanciful £12m he is fancifully suggesting for the club. Club accounts will make for interesting reading, 39 min Kevin Affleck‏@affers1178 So, within 2 hours LB went from 'Pozzo is not interested' to 'he will b a good thing 4 Watford'. Some U-turn. More spin than Graeme Swann.
My sources(knows people in club, no tittle tattle), suggest the deal is done. Apparently Club staff were informed yesterday that LB has gone, and no longer has an interest in the club. Lets hope for a more stable future. WFC63
Looks like we now have some solid information worthy of comment. The concern has to be the financial stability under new investors and the bond holders still retain a guardian position until repaid so I read the comment re. confirming they have the money as crucial, also I really want to see some form of guarantee that money will not be pulled. The whole 3 club scenario Italy, Spain, UK is one I like if managed honestly and keeping Dyche in the mix and please no Vialli repeats.... A load of bull from Bas regarding family time, ffs if he's a businessman with multimillion dollar ambitions he's got to be prepared to be in it 24-7 but can do that from home, he's the one who got more hands on than required, a micro manager I believe...
