Serious takeover talk

[FulwellBri]

Agreed. If I had to make an absolutely uneducated guess I'd say half of them will go:

Donald - very popular with the fans, good at communication, seems to have done a good job on the business side of things. They'll want someone else on the football side (rightly) but I think there's a role for him as a hands on face of the group. Keeping him will also make the deal easier to get done since he's always said his preference is to stay (ties in with him opening a branch of his business in Sunderland as well, he must be moving here which would be an odd decision if he thinks he might be out)

Methven - not as popular with the fans (I like him mind). PR seems to be his thing, also seems to have played a major role in getting these people to the table. Deserves loads of credit from the fans when it comes off and deserves a cracking pay off. We don't need any more investors attracted though, if O'Brien is joining we also have someone to do the business networking (arguably someone local businesses will relate to easier). For PR and more national/ global brand building I'm sure they'll have their own people, so I don't see him staying

Davison - could go either way but he was seen as something of a coup when we got him. Being a fan also (very slightly) works in his favour. The main thing is his experience at working at a level where these people presumably want to take us. He should be capable of operating at any level they can get us to which would make me think he's one they wouldn't be in any rush to replace

Lowes - I'll be honest I know nothing about her. The one thing I do know, however, is that she is about the one link left to the utterly failed regime. Being finance director when money was wasted left, right and centre (whether she had any chance of controlling or curtailing it or not) won't look impressive, so I'd guess that she goes.

That means 2 of the old guard as it were, but 2 of their own people (plus any new positions/ appointments they make). Enough to keep knowledge of the business and continuity, not enough to effectively work as a faction with their own aims.

Time will tell, but is an interesting discussion!

Rightly or wrongly quinn didnt last long after short took over.
Fair enough. Quinn let keane get away with murder and oversaw criminal wastes of money. He was happy to let keane believe himself beyond reproach. History has proven short was right. Keane was a managerial chancer and charlatan. No money no idea.
Donald I believe will become a sort of 'meeter and greeter'.The face of the club but without any real power. A sop if you like.
He has taken us as far as he is capable of.
With his probable new found wealth I predict he will try again to take over oxford.

 

[D-K]

Agreed. If I had to make an absolutely uneducated guess I'd say half of them will go:

Donald - very popular with the fans, good at communication, seems to have done a good job on the business side of things. They'll want someone else on the football side (rightly) but I think there's a role for him as a hands on face of the group. Keeping him will also make the deal easier to get done since he's always said his preference is to stay (ties in with him opening a branch of his business in Sunderland as well, he must be moving here which would be an odd decision if he thinks he might be out)

Methven - not as popular with the fans (I like him mind). PR seems to be his thing, also seems to have played a major role in getting these people to the table. Deserves loads of credit from the fans when it comes off and deserves a cracking pay off. We don't need any more investors attracted though, if O'Brien is joining we also have someone to do the business networking (arguably someone local businesses will relate to easier). For PR and more national/ global brand building I'm sure they'll have their own people, so I don't see him staying

Davison - could go either way but he was seen as something of a coup when we got him. Being a fan also (very slightly) works in his favour. The main thing is his experience at working at a level where these people presumably want to take us. He should be capable of operating at any level they can get us to which would make me think he's one they wouldn't be in any rush to replace

Lowes - I'll be honest I know nothing about her. The one thing I do know, however, is that she is about the one link left to the utterly failed regime. Being finance director when money was wasted left, right and centre (whether she had any chance of controlling or curtailing it or not) won't look impressive, so I'd guess that she goes.

That means 2 of the old guard as it were, but 2 of their own people (plus any new positions/ appointments they make). Enough to keep knowledge of the business and continuity, not enough to effectively work as a faction with their own aims.

Time will tell, but is an interesting discussion!

I always liked your posts on RTG mate, very reasoned and thought through. Glad you came across here as well.

 

[West Winger]

Rightly or wrongly quinn didnt last long after short took over.
Fair enough. Quinn let keane get away with murder and oversaw criminal wastes of money. He was happy to let keane believe himself beyond reproach. History has proven short was right. Keane was a managerial chancer and charlatan. No money no idea.
Donald I believe will become a sort of 'meeter and greeter'.The face of the club but without any real power. A sop if you like.
He has taken us as far as he is capable of.
With his probable new found wealth I predict he will try again to take over oxford.

Donald has gone on a “liking” spree on Twitter this morning by the looks of it, liking every comment saying how brilliant he and Methven are and how fantastic the job is that they’ve done.

 

[flandersmackem]

Rightly or wrongly quinn didnt last long after short took over.
Fair enough. Quinn let keane get away with murder and oversaw criminal wastes of money. He was happy to let keane believe himself beyond reproach. History has proven short was right. Keane was a managerial chancer and charlatan. No money no idea.
Donald I believe will become a sort of 'meeter and greeter'.The face of the club but without any real power. A sop if you like.
He has taken us as far as he is capable of.
With his probable new found wealth I predict he will try again to take over oxford.

If this is the case and Donald walks away with a nice pay day, good luck to him. He took over this club at its lowest ebb, he brought the fans back on board and has overseen a time when the club needed some big decisions. I agree, financially he is limited, but if he and Charlie bring in these investors, every Sunderland fans should thank these two...We were a club on the brink...they stopped us from total collapse.

 

[Dr Manhattan]

I think Donald probably knows there will be a massive backlash if it falls through now. It’ll happen but I imagine they are currently working out how the structure of the club will sit after it’s complete. Exciting times.

 

[West Winger]

If this is the case and Donald walks away with a nice pay day, good luck to him. He took over this club at its lowest ebb, he brought the fans back on board and has overseen a time when the club needed some big decisions. I agree, financially he is limited, but if he and Charlie bring in these investors, every Sunderland fans these two...We were a club on the brink...they stopped us from total collapse.

I don’t personally believe the decisions he’s made have been right, and that the senior management and recruitment teams need to be completely overhauled. I’m not sure whether he’s prepared to do that if he stays on.

 

[Smug in Boots]

Ignore the criticism, your a long standing member and help other supporters. If some of the info you have been passed isn't 100% correct, hey ho,
I like the mad crack on rtg but I'm also enjoying the sensible balanced opinions on here,.


Forgot to send this message the other day lol,

As others have said, i would like to see SD and CM stay in some capacity,.
They saved us and got us to this position after all.

Cheers mate.

I've always tried to make it clear that there are 3 kinds of post from me on this situation.

First hand facts

Repeats of info from respected posters who daren't risk a troll attack.

My guesses and opinions.

Just because I was fortunate to know a couple of people linked to the Dell boys doesn't mean I can't have opinions and wild guesses on certain aspects just as we all do.

And, being told a few facts from the Americans side doesn't mean I'm privy to every aspect of the deal from the Donald and Dell camps.

But, of course, it suits some idiots to quite my guesses as facts and vice versa.

 

[flandersmackem]

I don’t personally believe the decisions he’s made have been right, and that the senior management and recruitment teams need to be completely overhauled. I’m not sure whether he’s prepared to do that if he stays on.

We'll have to agree to disagree then. From my viewpoint our club was in freefall. It wouldn't have surprised me if things didn't change particularly off the field which had repercussion on the field, then we would have been in League 2. Donald took a punt with the knowledge that if he got things right a decent payday was in the offing (just my belief by the way) He's done what he had to do given his financial clout...

 

[wtdog]

I always liked your posts on RTG mate, very reasoned and thought through. Glad you came across here as well.

He is a good poster but rumour suggests he is not allowed within 500 yards of any ferret.

 

[Roker72]

If this is the case and Donald walks away with a nice pay day, good luck to him. He took over this club at its lowest ebb, he brought the fans back on board and has overseen a time when the club needed some big decisions. I agree, financially he is limited, but if he and Charlie bring in these investors, every Sunderland fans these two...We were a club on the brink...they stopped us from total collapse.

I think in all the excitement of the prospective takeover people tend to forget the actual mess we were in. All very well people saying anyone could of come in and saved the club, couple of chancers blah blah, they have showed the business acumen to halt the flow of money that was pissing out of SAFC.Obviously the playing side could of gone better, as for recruitment the less said the better. But we were weeks away from doing a 'Bury' lest people forget.

 

[mrs em]

Pancho is adamant that no no journalists have signed up to rtg to stir ****. I’m one of the least most qualified people on this planet to argue otherwise as i’m rubbish at all things IT but surely that’s nonsense. How would you know what occupation a newbie does when they sign up to a message board?

I’m a brain surgeon by day do a bit of science rocketing on the side

 

[DH4]

I think in all the excitement of the prospective takeover people tend to forget the actual mess we were in. All very well people saying anyone could of come in and saved the club, couple of chancers blah blah, they have showed the business acumen to halt the flow of money that was pissing out of SAFC.Obviously the playing side could of gone better, as for recruitment the less said the better. But we were weeks away from doing a 'Bury' lest people forget.

I’m a brain surgeon by day do a bit of science rocketing on the side

Qualified in neuro surgery and astro physics.... I'm impressed.

 

[SonOfHodge]

Can’t see Donald staying on in a long term capacity, think he will get 18 month grace and then slowly be fazed out.

Personally see the Dell boys installing their own chairman and DOF.

 

[Guinness Guzzler]

He is a good poster but rumour suggests he is not allowed within 500 yards of any ferret.

can't say I've heard that rumour before, but I'll keep an ear out!

 

[Wash. FTM]

He is a good poster but rumour suggests he is not allowed within 500 yards of any ferret.

Has nicola sturgeon got a restraining order against him. Eeeee didn't know that

 

[Smug in Boots]

I’m a brain surgeon by day do a bit of science rocketing on the side

Could you pop round one night and give me a quote, I can pay cash.

 

[Nads]

Let’s not overlook that Donald sold his business a couple of weeks ago, for me that’s surely a sign he’s going to be needed full time to run something else.

Now, we know he hasn’t the financial clout to run the club as his sole business interest, so I’m taking that as a massive sign he’s expecting involvement and he’s expecting the finances to be there to support it.

 

[Smug in Boots]

Let’s not overlook that Donald sold his business a couple of weeks ago, for me that’s surely a sign he’s going to be needed full time to run something else.

Now, we know he hasn’t the financial clout to run the club as his sole business interest, so I’m taking that as a massive sign he’s expecting involvement and he’s expecting the finances to be there to support it.

Despite telling Consett that the deal isn't done he seems to be acting entirely as if it is.

 

[Montysoptician]

Cheers mate.

I've always tried to make it clear that there are 3 kinds of post from me on this situation.

First hand facts

Repeats of info from respected posters who daren't risk a troll attack.

My guesses and opinions.

Just because I was fortunate to know a couple of people linked to the Dell boys doesn't mean I can't have opinions and wild guesses on certain aspects just as we all do.

And, being told a few facts from the Americans side doesn't mean I'm privy to every aspect of the deal from the Donald and Dell camps.

But, of course, it suits some idiots to quite my guesses as facts and vice versa.

The trouble is Smug, some people can’t recognise the difference between your three types of information despite your clarity.

They latch on and believe everything is gospel and are devastated when it doesn’t pan out, then the toys start flying out the pram, others have their own agenda and use it to attack you irrespective of whether you posted it as fact, second hand information or an educated guess.

I look forward to you continuing to share any information or opinion.

 

[Nads]

Despite telling Consett that the deal isn't done he seems to be acting entirely as if it is.

He’s got to say that hasn’t he mate? He can’t come out and say it’s done and dusted till it’s 100% official, signed and sealed.

By the nature of the world nothing’s done till it’s final, and he’d be an idiot to say otherwise.

I agree with you 100%, sometimes it’s looking past the words and at the actions, and his personal business actions are a sign of a man that’s fully expecting a change in his own personal direction.

Everything points to that being SAFC related. I don’t believe for a second he’s going to pocket the cash and head to Oxford, he’d still not have the money to bankroll it, he’d have a smaller income, he’d not find major investment for a club of that stature.

I’m with you, I believe it’s in the final furlong and Stu will be here to enjoy some of the fruits of the fantastic groundwork they’ve put in.