I think with the date of the article (today) it is just a piece that has put two and two together and got five. They probably saw a piece about the £33m 'debt' in the news today and thought they would put a story together. As a student studying sports journalism, I expect that as a website they need to have a deadline for the number of stories they need to put out and this is probably just filling the void of a lack of news. Much like the petrol panic gripping the nation, there is no need to panic.
you're disagreeing with me as well then. ~No matter how the tone of Gordon's post he just repeats what I said. The family have already followed Markus' wishes and if another consortium came in with a viable bid they would most likely tell Nicola and let him match it. That would maintain Markus' wishes for the future!!! Gordon is right though. Bilionaires become billionaires by making money. Not many billionaires from one basket entities. It is made up of lots of little profits building and if they were to sell (they never would at 25m) they would sell at the end of this season while their stock is high. If intending to sell that is the best time as it is a huge financial gamble on a team staying up in the Prem and therefore chance missed. Think of it more like property magnates and property as businesses. They bought at low prices. When they predicted the bubble was at it's peak they sold half at the top price, kept half to hedge their bets. they then bought back more than they sold when the prices hit the bottom. That is business. All those 20/30/40k profits make a magnate millions and means he can sell 40 houses @ £200k each. That brings in £8m. 2 years later he spends that £8m on 54 houses @ £150k. When the next cycle hits peak and inflation additions he sells 53 @ 300k to buy 2 years later 72 houses @ £220k. Thats what makes millionaires and Billionaires. Half the dragon's den work on this policy. They buy struggling business, put their heart and soul into turning them around however if they hit a peak or think they could reduce in value they sell.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17548088? Here are hard facts. One thing that is certain is that you don't invest £33M to sell up for £25M. "Revenue already up 70% in Championship over League One"
I am sure we will be sold eventually, but I have a sneaky suspicion that out Mr cortese is starting to enjoy himself and is revelling in the possibility of getting amongst the big boys and the high rollers, and then turning Saints into something really big. I reckon if we are sold within the next 3-5 years, Nicola may well stay on.
Oh please i just asked the question of whether it was good news for Saints or not,i don't know about finances,i don't wish to know about finances so can we just leave it at that please?
That in my opinion is a far more creditable opinion, wasn't trying to say you particularly but I think the desire for success to the levels reached by the Liebherr family are what separate people like us to them. I do agree though that they will fulfill the plans of Markus and that is to establish us a well grounded sound premier league club!
When we get sold it will be to Bill Gates, who will put a windows touch screen computer on every seat. He will build a 90,000 seater stadium, but one stand will be full of africans. A different group will be flown over each home game .They will get free food from our burger bars to help with world hunger.
A few main points here; a football club is effectively always for sale in that with the right offer (stupid money in our case) it would be sold. SFC allegedly stating this to Goals is no surprise. As for the Liebherr Family, on the fiscal side, the fact that Markus has passed may actually increase the longevity of the business relationship between the estate and the football club as his remaining family would want to continue his legacy/dreams - his final intentions have been frozen and will never change. The article is either blatant jealousy or someone just wanting to throw a spanner in the works and a means to increasing internet traffic to their site.
People only have to look at the way the club is now run by Nicola and realise what an asset we have with him at the helm. Can't see him selling any day soon. I always think back to his frank interview about the club and his friendship with Marcus It revealed a lot our Nicola and his passion for the club and how lucky we are.
"This is a deliberate attempt to damage the club at this time..." "Southampton are in a very strong position and people envy that fact" "If there's any lack of commitment [from the family] we have a plan B. I know people with money who would have the same attitude as Markus who would join us on this. But, just to underline, the commitment of the family is 100%." That's what Cortese said in December 2010...There is someone out there who keep insinuating these rumours,doesn't really matter if the Liebherr's do sell the club next season,Cortese will find someone else who would be more than happy to invest in our club.
Looks like a quickly knocked up article, close to the deadline by that well known hack, Phil Space. I think that we have to understand the way that the Liebherr's do business. Forget the hedge fund, asset strippers which we are used to. They think long term. As it happens, a friend of mine works for a specialist engineering company and they were invited to go meet the family with a view to signing a long term contract. For the previous 20 years they had a contract with another firm but had felt that they could no longer rely upon them. My friend was really surprised that the family were very interested in what they were like as people and whether they were the sort of people with whom they could do business. I don't think that there is any appetite to shift Saints to the first available bidder. If the club follows the Southampton way, bringing talent on from the acadamy, maintaining low debt levels, etc then the club could be very profitable indeed. Where the emotion meets the business side, they may be prepared to sell the club to someone who has the desire and the skills (and finance) to further the vision which Markus laid out, but not to some dodgy, non-existent, money laundering crook. At the end of the day, why would you spend all the money on the training ground if you were looking for a quick sale? That article deserves to go on the "transfer rumours" thread. It's about as reliable.
So Markus bought Saints for £12m-£14m, and the family want to sell it for £25m? What a load of cr*p, sorry but seriously, come on. If Saints make the EPL, after spending on Staplewood, playing staff etc, it will only be worth roughly £12m more? Get out. Nicola has said there will be people rocking the boat, it always happens when Saints are doing well, someone always wants to bring you down. Ignore this and get back to talking about the run-in I say! UTS
They are looking to sell just not yet. Not until they have made a more significant return on their investment.
In total, Liebherr has put about £60million into the club. The club in a years time will be worth double that if we're promoted. Also the value of Jackson's farm will probably increase with the new planning laws.
