FPP to take full control

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
I think you're right with all of that @sad-eyed prophet

That's why I don't think there was a bid to own us in October last year, because I think one thing we all broadly agree is that FPP have shown no intention to be majority owners while we are in League One.

I do also agree that if we'd have managed automatic promotion this season, it would be a very different discussion they were having. I doubt they'd have done a deal with a low end PL club if we were a potential top half Championship side.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sad-eyed prophet
Kittenmittons said:
I think you're right with all of that @sad-eyed prophet

That's why I don't think there was a bid to own us in October last year, because I think one thing we all broadly agree is that FPP have shown no intention to be majority owners while we are in League One.

I do also agree that if we'd have managed automatic promotion this season, it would be a very different discussion they were having. I doubt they'd have done a deal with a low end PL club if we were a potential top half Championship side.
Click to expand...

Yes,I think you're right. Can you remember when the loan was provided......genuine question? I can't remember,but it would be interesting to know?
 
sad-eyed prophet said:
It must have been promotion mate. At the time it was expected,we all expected it,and I believe it was a condition on which the deal being finalised depended. Everyone jumped the gun,it didn't happen,so the loan was advanced in an attempt to secure it for the following season.....in other words the deal was put on hold for a season. No one foresaw Covid 19...how could they!
The problem we now have is that the virus has ****ed Donald into looking for a buyer who will take the club without promotion,because he can't afford to wait for something which may not happen quickly enough for him. FPP are still there,the deal is still alive,if we get promoted! In the meantime,Donald is looking for someone else who can complete sooner,'cos he's pissed off with us and can't afford to bankroll it until the uncertainty of promotion is achieved. Also,FPP know Donald would rather get rid than hang on to complete the deal with them,so they're looking at other options.
Click to expand...

No, they initially intended owning us in league one and wanted to take over straight away. The reason they didn't is one word which rhymes with "Ronald".
 
  • Like
Reactions: John 11:35, Chizno1, DH4 and 5 others
Guinness Guzzler said:
Yeah, I know they will 100% be aware of the letter, they're keeping a close tab on things at Sunderland. But they could easily give a slight indication even if they, understandably, didn't want to tell all, just enough to know whether it is still a possibility in the future. Currently the decision around whether to protest etc is very difficult because we don't know who is waiting in the wings to buy us . They would be a great option, but there might equally be a dreadful option hovering, so we need to be a bit careful about demanding Donald goes!
Click to expand...
Agree. It clearly looks like a takeover was 'expected' even if no written bid was tabled. This could be one way Donald could truthfully say no bid was made.

FPP are bound to be still very interested even if they only have $12M invested - of their own money, not MSD's - plus its a sporting venture for them done not solely for profit. Even Donald (I know, I know) said that one of the reasons he did the loan was so they could stay involved and 'have the fun'.

If FFP (or just Furham) is still interested in going further they won't be the slightest concerned about the fans hating Donald, reduced season ticket sales, or any fan action. MSD invested in the Miami Marlins who have the 3rd lowest attendance in MLB because they saw a growth opportunity in a potentially large untapped market, and they are doing the same thing here regardless of how bad things are for us at the moment and how we all feel. They also won't care about fan open letters. Their attitude will be that they know fans get pissed off when their team is not doing well, and if they even think about it all, they may see it as a further indicator of the depth of feeling (i.e. $$$) that they can ultimately tap into. If it's MSD doing the investment at Southampton and not a separate company set up by the FPP members then I think that may be significant. If they had wanted to do that as a commercial loan with us I think would have done.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ISOE II, smithy in nl and Robertson
I don't know how these things work, but we've seen the Due Diligence done by FPP variously costed at sums ranging anywhere between £1 million and £3 million. Now even at the lower figure, surely they would only fork out that kind of money to facilitate a complete takeover, not a 'mere' loan of £9 M? Do they recoup that money at any point, or is that now wasted? would they even break even with a repayment of the loan + interest, or have they had their fingers well and truly burnt by their brief flirtation on Wearside?
 
Porterfield73 said:
I don't know how these things work, but we've seen the Due Diligence done by FPP variously costed at sums ranging anywhere between £1 million and £3 million. Now even at the lower figure, surely they would only fork out that kind of money to facilitate a complete takeover, not a 'mere' loan of £9 M? Do they recoup that money at any point, or is that now wasted? would they even break even with a repayment of the loan + interest, or have they had their fingers well and truly burnt by their brief flirtation on Wearside?
Click to expand...

Dd would be high but perhaps not at that level but it still would be a lot of money
 
Said it a few times, but it would be a shock if it was over £1m on a deal this size. There are a lot of moving parts, but you'd have to be merging 2 airlines and all of their subsidiaries to be getting to £3m level of DD cost. Not sure where the £1m came from but it's a shocking figure and they've been jipped.

The MSD and FPP thing is still relevant to us. Platek is directly involved with the Southampton deal and Phelan is still pretty much the top director at MSD. There are pretty clear rules that they would not be able to get around that make it a very clear either/or proposition for those two (unless they plan to resign their directorship at MSD Capital!). Platek being involved as a director of the UK company is pretty much the death knell for him, as is the fact that Phelan cannot claim to be separate from any MSD companies.

Agreed Furhrman could theoretically do it on his own.
 
Last edited:
Forget about FPP for the immediate future, the appointment of Rodwell and today this new secretary from Eastleigh are SD's men. He's going nowhere.
 
Smug in Boots said:
There'd be a few people gutted that I was right all along ...

.... I wouldn't be pleased to be right, just pleased for the club and all the decent supporters.
Click to expand...

I think everyone wants to see you right, because everyone wants to see us taken over by people who actually care for the club.

If your contact received a text from furnham, saying he had brought the club. Would it be worth asking your contact to speak to furnham, and ask what went wrong?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Owld Feller
Kittenmittons said:
I'm not guessing either - your source was not as close as possible to the deal if they don't know why it fell over. You didn't say they were that close to it back in November last year either, when you staunchly defended Donald and told us he wasn't blocking a deal.

Again, the fact they 'had a deal' does not rule out that the deal could well have been the loan, does it?
Click to expand...
I didn’t say my source didn’t know. I am just saying that a deal to sell the club was as good as done. And my source definitely was in a place to know that. But nothing is final until it is final.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dorset, rooch 3, ISOE II and 2 others
Kittenmittons said:
Yeah all fair, I mean I disagree because we have all heard one source closer to the deal say publicly - under legal obligation not to lie - that they didn't make a bid, but they're just opinions and I understand why people don't want to believe it.

What I am saying is a fact is that Bob has never before claimed to have a source this close to the deal and characterised the person feeding him info as working at another PE house in California... he said that he doesn't even know why the deal fell down, so his source is not as close as possible, and at best is in a 'he said she said' debate with Donald. As I said, the 'deal' could equally have referred to the convertible loan, which is what makes most sense to me.

Like I said, we're all free to believe who or what we want, but IMO there are enormous signals that they have a modus operandi and we fit in with that. I always take the ITK claims with a pinch of salt, even before they start to exaggerate how close their sources are... I think that's a fair stance, maybe you give them more credence. I think that's equally fair.

I'm not expecting you to agree with me btw. I don't tell people they're 100% wrong about this unless I can back it up, I might say I find it unlikely or difficult to believe, but ultimately they are my opinions.
Click to expand...
I am hardly likely to tell you who my actual source is am I? You can think whatever you want, it doesn’t matter. All I will say is that I know, not think, know that a deal was as good as done. But I am just an anonymous account on the internet so it doesn’t really matter what I say. If I wanted to find out exactly why it ended up not happening I could do but it would hardly be a subtle enquiry and then I wouldn’t be able to post it on here anyway.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ffffffftttttmmmmm, Makemstine Roger and gillmackem
Fair enough, like I said, in the end it's an anonymous account vs the owner who had a lot more to lose by lying, but everyone is entitled to an opinion, and nobody can rule anything out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back