Having spoken to the club this afternoon, it was confirmed to MOMS that a buyer for Aston Villa isn’t in place at the moment. If this is the starting point for the inevitable move into new ownership for the club, then certainly nothing is going to be completed in the next few days, as some fans expected. Just to dot the i’s and cross the t’s on such a deal would take around six weeks, which suggests the club could be severely compromised going forward over the summer preseason period when it comes to planning for next season and beyond.
Many Villa supporter’s wishful thinking when reading the latest statement from Lerner today, was that behind-the-scenes a buyer must be in place. I include myself in that group. The rumours have been rattling along for a while now and Lerner has acting like a man who’s preparing a club for sale for the past year. The fastest case scenario for when Villa would have a new owner is the tail end of June. By the sounds of it though, I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Lerner was still the Villa Owner come the start of the 2014/15 season.
Limbo Lambo
The forgotten man of Lerner’s statement and all the ownership talk is current Villa boss Paul Lambert. To some, rumours of a Villa takeover meant that Lambert was a dead man walking, but with news that no buyer is in place, it suggests he still has a pulse.
Lambert now finds himself in no man’s land. The only chance that Lambert had of winning back the Villa supporters was early investment in the kind of players that capture football fan’s imaginations, namely players that cost a few bob. The club may put across the idea to MOMS that it’s business as usual until a new owner comes in, but the reality is after a couple of seasons of tight ‘parameters’, Lerner isn’t suddenly going to sanction players that cost 8-10 million now. Also, football agents are going to tell players to avoid the uncertainly at Villa, if the low wages hadn’t already put them off.
With Lambert having one eye on the managerial trap door when a new owner comes in, the Villa boss is admittedly in a very difficult position. Will his heart still be in it? With the cloud of new ownership shadowing his every step. He can forget any talk of a new contract for now. If Lambert ends up with a new contract at Villa, it would be some phoenix from flames routine to achieve it.
There is no doubt he will start to get increasing sympathy for his predicament though, as the weeks pass.
Trouble Ahead?
If the club is really starting from scratch in terms of prospective buyers (which I still find hard to believe), then this club will be doing nothing but tread water until it is resolved. Considering the club’s close calls with relegation in the past four seasons, these are now potentially dangerous times.
Yesterday, when discussing the various permutations of what Lerner’s statement would be, this limbo scenario of announcing the club was for sale but without any buyer in place, was the most worrying of all.
Individuals or companies able to buy football clubs are few and far between. It could take time. Months, even years. We could be a club in suspended animation for a longer period of time than would be healthy to get this club back where it belongs.
I for one can’t take another relegation battle, so if anyone knows a wealthy person who wants a fantastic club to own, please send them Randy’s way. UTV
it is all well and good trying to apply a pseudo-business approach to buying a football club The only club currently applying a sensible model to purchase and running of a premier league club is (wait for it) Manchester United. When you can leverage a brand to fund the acquisition, then that is what any sensible business would do. Clearly, a balance sheet purchase is a non starter at an asking price of £200+, when predicted income is £117m with operating profits (yes, profits) are a mere £17m. So in reality, a buyer of the standing needed to meet the asking price, has to almost be in a position to write off the purchase price, and any immediate player purchase, in the hope that increased success would increase capitalised value at a later date. if this happens then a rights-issue ensues and the buyer is re-imbursed some or all of his purchase investment costs via floatation. That is what Man Utd have done, it’s what other clubs around the world have done. Unfortunately, the elephant in the room is the need to find a buyer capable of waiting “at least” three years to see his (or her) investment of £300-£350 million, even remotely reimbursed.
All that being said, I understand from banking contacts that instructions were given to ML BoA several weeks ago, and a number of Expressions of interest have been received. Not all are American with at least one being Russian. The fact that Mr. Lerner has taken the steps he has, proves he is a man of his word and we should all thank him for releasing us from Deadly Doug, and wish him well for his own future. On the subject of Mr lambert, give him a good budget and a season. He has not become a bad manager over night, and please remember, the so-called “hardcore” away supporting fans calling for his head, were also singing his name during the final game against Norwich two years ago! Randy listened and acted. It’s a time for calm heads, dry powder and faith!
I sincerly hope that Villa do not get saddled with a new owners debts in the way ManU have been by their current owners !
As for Lambert being a bad manager ? Is he or has he been too naive in trusting his 2 back-stabbing former deputies too much ? If what I’ve heard is true it certainly seems that way , and it would also seem the team trust him
Great post.
this is sensible overall. It is clear there is no buyer available. THus there is uncertainty. Press reports Lambert is flying to US to see Lerner re his position. One rumour I heard was that he wants out as his family are affected by the stress.
Let us hope this is untrue. The last thing we want is the manager quitting at this stage. We need stability in the managers seat
trevor fisher
Jinksy, what’s wrong with you, why are you so negative and verbally aggressive? all MOMS are doing is providing the fans with much needed info right now. If they say they have spoken to the club it most likely means they have spoken to someone like the press secretary, pr or media section of the club. The fact is that it gives the article a much more balanced point of view than some of the other fan opinions out there at the moment that a baseless, hearsay or just rumours heard from mates. RL and PF don’t have to have been on the other end of the phone for it to be a valid thing to write at the start of an article.
That’s the comments culture for you, where people attack everything, almost for the sake of it! I was accused when posting this on facebook for thinking I was privy to top secret information etc. Where does it say that? haha
Davis you know and i know your post was pointless but you felt it necessary to try and make out you have some insider knowledge when you clearly haven’t. Give me some meat on the bone some substance to your post and i will be very interested to hear what you have to say! I not attacking everything i’m just putting your stupid post in it’s place because it wasn’t worth your time or effort!
Your comments are defining what pointless is. This is an opinion piece, based on speaking to the club, journalists and other sources. You still haven’t registered this fact.
This isn’t some ITK kids stuff or presented as ‘insider’, as you seem to be obsessed that it is. We speak to a lot of people to get as close to the truth for supporters as possible. That’s the bottom line.
Also, you’re very naive if you just think I just take what the club says as gospel. Haven’t you read anything else on the MOMS site over the years?! But all they were saying on this particular matter was it wasn’t necessarily going to be a fast sale. Simple as that really.
I don’t understand why you’re getting so excited?
Aggressive? Negative? NO i just don’t suffer fools too easy. The statement said CONFIRMED as if David has spoke to someone who knew what was going on when all he had dome was spoke to the PR bloke that knows as much as the cleaner..NO that isn’t me being aggressive it’s me stating a fact!!
You’ll find I don’t suffer fools easily too. This silly perception of yours of ‘as if David has spoke to someone who knew what was going on’ is in your mind. Nobody’s trying to be anything. if you knew more about the potential speed of the Villa sale than the club’s head of media does, I’d have contacted you instead. I’ve been speaking to the guy at Villa for three years now, so at least have a little respect that I know how to process what I’m being told!
Also Mr Jinks, while we’re on the same page on a lot of the stuff going on at Villa, you are ignorant of a few facts. You’ve been aggressively attacking the AVST too, saying it’s a lapdog to the club. Funny that, the AVST is only just relaunching now (after being dormant for a while). It’s only now getting together and more and more people, who have been dynamic doing Villa-related stuff, are getting on board to make it work. It’s not going to happen over night, but progress over the last week has been good. The bigger the numbers and the more people actively involved, the more clout it will have. We’re in it to win it, and not to get patted on the head and have a biscuit.
As I’ve said before, email/DM me and I’ll fill you in on any details or clear up any misunderstandings there is.
Be careful what you wish for! Even if interested parties are doing due diligence it’s still a long road to completion of a deal to the tune of circa £200m, so it’s not going to be a productive summer, morale will not be high amongst the players, and the manager will have to make do with pretty much the same squad that almost got relegated this year. Not a great time to be a Villan, let’s pray that Randy Lerner is better equipped to find a buyer than he has been at appointing managers. UTV
To look at it from the perspective of a business venture, holding some capital and wanting to get maximum return on investment, or at least minimize any loss, Lerner is going to need to be prepared to invest some money on players in the summer window if no sale deal is likely to be completed by mid-July (end of the World Cup) in order to keep the value of the club up. He has made numerous statements supporting Lambert, and will probably not want to get into a new and potentially expensive management contract; and not being really a football man himself, doesn’t seem to agree with many Villa fans that Lambert is unqualified for the job.
Your observation that agents may advise players to stay away, though, is certainly a concern. Even if Lerner lays out some cash for Lambert to spend, the uncertainty over new ownership and the possibility that a new manager who might be brought in after a new owner takes over may not utilize players brought in by the previous manager in quite the same way could have players and their agents worried about that. On the other hand, any real talent that comes in is not going to have his job threatened by most of our current squad, so it should really only be players who are not much better than the current crop who would actually need to be concerned, but getting in players who are significantly better will be challenging even with a new owner, a new manager, and plenty of money until they start to see that there is a serious effort to bring the club out of the perennial relegation battle zone.
If the new owner doesn’t come in before the season kicks off, I’m sure they’ll be transfer business done in the summer, but obviously nothing that will be worthy of taking us onto the next level.
Why should Lambert be in limbo if he is part of the transitional management team who will continue to run the club until a buyer is found . The situation is in a way similar to when a club goes into receivership except that the club is financially stable & is being sold as a going concern . And as a going concern that means that players will still be bought & sold as normal but instead of being overseen by Randy it will be the selling team who will be scrutinise any financial dealings . Or that’s what I’d assume would be how things would procede . As there is no point in running the club further into the ground as that would be financial suicide