Taken from the Guardian newspaper. In any other season Francesco Guidolin would be a shoo-in,(manager of the season) for what he has achieved at Udinese is truly remarkable. A club whose first-team wage bill is the sixth-lowest in Serie A and roughly one-eighth the size of Milan's has no place challenging for a Champions League berth, and yet they have now claimed one for two seasons running. Despite selling Alexis Sánchez, Gokhan Inler and Cristian Zapata last summer, despite losing Kwadwo Asamoah, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu and Mehdi Benatia during the Africa Cup of Nations and despite Mauricio Isla going down with a season-ending injury in February, they improved on last year's fourth-place finish. This would suggest that the owner does not throw his money around to buy success. (my words)
The article http://www.people.co.uk/sport/footb...tford-set-for-an-italian-job-102039-23897270/ is from the people, so that might make it more believable, also SSN havve been reporting it, not just this Kevin Affleck guy
Some reports suggest that it could go through early this week, while others say there is plenty of sorting out to be done yet.
What I really do not understand is if LB is keeping to the deal is theis sale being pushed by Lord Ashcroft? If LB has decided to sell to another Italian why have the deal being organised by former West Ham director Scott Duxbury, surely two Italians would deal face to face or with an Italian intermediator.
Mama mia, the SOONER this goes through, or is sorted either way, the better. I am a very patient person, you have to be in Mexico and I appreciate these things take time. However, we are now losing time to prepare for next season where we, hopefully, can mount a stronger challenge. I am concerned this ongoing situation might undermine what Dyche achieved last season so the board better sort this situation out soon is and stop being pinche cabrones super lentisssimos. RANT OVER !!
as i said on Twitter, i'm tentatively excited by this! We all know Bassini has no money, and this guy is a football man. Obviously there will be teething problems, Italians do football differently to us, and i hope Dyche gets a chance, but to me, this is a very positive step
As ever in the age of social media, where everyone is a journalist, its hard to decipher between truth and fiction in a story like this. In my opinion there's no real point speculating about the future of the club until official news comes out. If Pozzo comes in, I think it will generally be good for the club, but he may want to bring in his own men, including in the position of manager! Hard to know what to make of the Bassini regime so far as so much of it has been played behind closed doors! Though sometimes that's for the best...
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/9766563.Pressure_mounts_on_Watford_FC_owner_Laurence_Bassini/ from the Wobby
this is the important bit In the 84-page offer document, it lists a number of covenants and events of default, which include a number of points such as the termination of Graham Taylor or Stuart Timperley as a director, not paying within five business days indebtedness (excluding trade creditors) in excess of £100,000 and ceasing or threatening to cease to carry on its business. The document states that if an event of default takes place then money owed can be declared immediately payable. The bondholders can waive an event of default if they wish but should they decide to act, then Lord Ashcroft could enforce the ‘Issuer Security or the Guarantor Security’. This relates to security packages which were set up between Lord Ashcroft and the club as part of the initial bondholder agreement in 2010. It states Watford Leisure Plc and Watford Association Football Club Limited “has charged to the Security Trustee (Lord Ashcroft) for the benefit of the Secured Parties all its property, assets and undertaking with the payment and discharge of all moneys and liabilities therein referred to.”
Must admit I am in the corner of waiting for some hard and fast facts before speculating! Until we get some real news,something of substance on the other hand KA seems to be in the know! As you say
Who could have told the "senior member of staff" that he or she was not to allow Baz access to the safe? It has to be a director or above surely!
I think that we should all be careful about what we say on this thread as the whole site could be shut down. WFC Forums had a similar thread going which has suddenly been removed.
Everyone knows that I have consistently been one of Bassini's harshest critics, and I was more pessimistic than most. But far from revelling in potentially being right for a change (I was not much keener on Ashcroft and practically a cheerleader for the Russos, after all), I'm somewhat cautious about taking what I read at face value. A lot of things do not add up. For instance, if things are as bad as Frank's (on the whole bloody excellent) article makes out, how did the club manage to keep things quiet for a week? Leaks are historically the first sign of breakdowns in a club's working relationships. And surely Abrahams'/Affleck's sources are outside WFC, because otherwise there is no way on earth Frank would have gotten the story first. I say that not as a sleight on Frank Smith's journalistic abilities, but because if I wanted to get a message like this out without being traced, I would whisper the headline to people known for circling rumours, and later give the full facts to the Wobby. And the tax situation. If more than £100k is overdue in tax, surely the bond situation is cut and dry, subject to the length of time Bassini's lawyers can stall? That would suggest to me that the tax element at least is not true. You asked for a busier summer Norway.
