Kanji

Assuming one of the local journalists is going to try and rain on our excitement at some point today. EDIT: POST ABOVE, ffs Luke Edwards

Nobody else has even been close, remember Ashley insisted anyone interested had to buy a box. Such a weirdo move too Also just saw Craig Hope tweet from prior page...interesting that he says that and Sky say another.

Wew, calm down a bit. If it's Saudi or Middle East money that's how they react to high profile investments - it's been said by that Geordie Dentist lad on twitter and everything I've encountered in my line of work is that if it's indeed Sov. Wealth Fund money there will be so much ego behind it to be successful. Just my take man! Good long post as well, Minhosa. Would love to know what the 300m is broken out into as well and the contingencies, timing and structure of the bid. Hopefully it's the full thing and we just get bought sooner than later!

IMO, if they take over we're going to pushing for European places every season and Rafa will be able to build this club the way it should be. Esp if this is Middle East capital providing the majority behind AS's stake - they will see it as personal mission to be successful and there will be ton of ego around that cash; it's how that type of capital reacts to their investments, esp one as high profile as PL football.

Was my thoughts too, AS's camp has said 300m the entire time too if I recall correctly

I'd say, if you're excited right now - be excited that an offer is on the table - that someone wants to save us from this hell of Mike Ashley's ownership. Cross your fingers, pray, be nice to everyone for some good karma, etc.

It's a legit, real offer. You HAVE to be excited about that - it means that AS/PCP have done their underwriting, diligence, and weighed the outcome(s) of transfer windows and risk of the tax probe and want to buy us. We're farther down the line than I assumed yesterday, if the bid did indeed come today/late last week.

Holy shit. He's got to accept this bid, no fucking way should he counter this - he's making a brilliant profit and getting every penny he's poured into this club BACK and a sizable profit. He'll be done with us, he'll be rid of all the bad press associated with us, he'll be done having to explain himself. HE HAS TO ACCEPT THIS. Grant exclusivity and get the contract done.

Dummet is pretty damn solid at slide tackling and blocking crosses.

Mbemba over Manquillo Murphy staying in the side Joselu / Mitro and Gayle up top Start Merino and the captain if they're fit

I recall being mad he was just casually putting his boots on

should fly over for the celebrations

I have absolutely no confidence he’ll save anything low. Ever.

I mean it’s reality that Pogba Lukaku and Martial cost more than our entire matchday 18. (I’m guessing here) it’s obvious the gulf in finances and the players aren’t stupid either.

He’s prob our best stand up and tackle CB we have. Especially with faster players coming at him with pace he’s sticking a foot out and winning the ball and carrying it forward. His issue was he slept on Smalling at back post and seemingly gave up / didn’t think he’d get that? And on the Lukaku won he went in tamely / weakly when he’s a strong CB. His strength seems to be his footballing ability, his tackling and heading and he seemingly slept on the things he’s great at for those goals.

His pace saves us a ton.

He just needs to act more instinctive and less indecisive when he has the ball. Sure he should have passed a few times or gotten rid of ball earlier but he just needs to play football. No doubt he is talented and has a good right peg on him. Do sort of wish he’d play left more as he scored against us last season from that side cutting in on his right foot.

Was interesting to see Joselu play more withdrawn behind Gayle at times to be the target focal point and allow Gayle to get onto flicks or get behind and use his movement and pace.

Good to hear you think same too based on your knowledge of process and gut feeling too.

Of course - just trying to offer any bit of insight into a process like this to help people understand what the hell is going or why it would take so long. At this point, I have just about as much info as you all do - and that's whats said in the press and on twitter. My heart says we'll be sold before January, I'm also an eternal optimist. Speaking purely from the business side of this, I just don't see how Mike Ashley gets any more money for the club if he doesn't close on this sale during this process with his top bidder here (assuming its AS/PCP). He will have to put in MORE money in January (to ensure PL safety) and if he gambles on that and we somehow fall apart and go down, he'll NEVER get 300m+ for this club again because it will also likely mean he loses Rafa and has to put in more money into the club. But again, your guess is as good as mine man, we are all looking at the same info in the press/twitter/on here - I wish I knew more! I've asked all of my broker contacts who do RE transactions who are London based and they all repeat the same thing to me and that AS is the real deal and her capital partners are well capitalized and have more than enough money to own a successful football club.

Looked miles ahead of that Swansea performance. Few shots he got off in the first half actually made him look far more confident and grew into the match.

Seriously wonder if Darlow and Woodman would be doing any worse based on the goals Elliot has let in.

My guess based on M&A transactions I've done before in terms of process and applying to this situation here: 1) Seller / MA intends to sell, hires bank or internally prepares to sell 2) Interested Parties are contacted / get into contact, and show some sort of proof of funds / capability / etc. and verbal on ability to obtain pricing guidance? 3) NDA negotiated and Signed on both ends, Initial Diligence Info Released 4) Buyer initiates a preliminary call for offers to get indication on valuation by buyers 5) Buyers submit an LOI / Heads of Terms 6) Lose agreement in place? (usually have a contract in place or negotiating at this point over here in the US) 7) Deeper full diligence info release? 30 day timing; Buyer looking at EVERYTHING 8) Diligence period over, Buyer may change valuation and say will move forward to closing based on X price and will waive all other contingencies to close 9) Seller reviews, amends agreement if necessary 10) CLOSE We're likely around step 7 or 8 IMO based on timing of when this crap was released and the info sprinkled in the press.

The headline price will already be agreed. It will almost certainly change (or the terms of the deal will) after DD. That's completely normal. Due Diligence is actually quite an expensive exercise in it's own right so the two parties will almost certainly have outline agreement on price otherwise AS etc would not have gone to the cost of engaging forensic accountants, lawyers and the countless other people surrounding the deal. The fact it's not fallen over yet is incredibly positive and would indicate that there may be a degree of flexibility from Ashley just to get the thing done. This would be a marked change in his normal approach ('my way or the highway'). I'd question whether or not there could be another party also doing DD though. That may well be the case. As with everything involving Ashley, it's unlikely to be straight forward nor clean cut. What is overwhelmingly positive is that its now very clear that these are TAKEOVER talks and not INVESTMENT talks which is what he'd hinted at many times previously, most recently in that contrived bullshit with Sky Sports. In my mind, that would be worst case scenario, even worse than the status quo. 100% agree with Minhosa here and was typing up something earlier but got sidetracked. Based on everything I've done in my career, I just have never seen a Seller ever willing to give up this much full detail if there wasn't an agreement on price or loose valuation agreement in place. Further, no Buyer will want to be spending this much time and money in DD without it in writing (LOI / Heads of Terms) or it would be a waste of time for all. Finally, I'm sure AS/PCP would want exclusivity security but I assume that is not in place with the multiple groups around and MA probably gaming a bit with the supposed other parties also looking at the club and in DD.

I mean i see what you're saying, I just don't agree with you. Would honestly rather see Clark or Mbemba play LB and make sure Lascelles and Lejeune are always our first choice CB pairing.