Minhosa

We were deffo linked at one point.

I've said all along that I don't think it's unthinkable that Ashley would want to retain a minority stake. Not 51% but perhaps 20-30%. I hope that's not the case. I pray that's not the case. It'd be a f***ing nightmare along the similar scale as the current nightmare of his reign. Definitely need him gone full sttop 100% agree.

I've said all along that I don't think it's unthinkable that Ashley would want to retain a minority stake. Not 51% but perhaps 20-30%. I hope that's not the case. I pray that's not the case. It'd be a fucking nightmare along the similar scale as the current nightmare of his reign.

That's the whole point of the negotiation. In every single deal there are factors which are exchanged for both sides. Pay £xm more and you can set fire to the sports direct boards in front of a packed gallowgate end. Pay £xm less and we'll want to leave the advertising in place for x years and x% of shirt sales for the next x years. It's assumed that they've broadly agreed terms given the communication from the Sheikh's side and if it's at the premier league that's near enough the final stage of the process bar sending over the wedge to the lawyers to distribute as appropriate.

He'll say fuck all. There's no logical reason to discuss an ongoing commercial negotiation with your competitors tbh.

He 100% wants rid of the club. Anyone who thinks that's not the case is bonkers. It's not the 'up for sale' bit that's in question, it's the terms. That's the issue.

Tragic - RIP.

Yes. Incorrect. In 99.9% of deals, in simplistic terms, heads of terms are agreed in principle, due diligence commences, terms altered depending on what due diligence throws up/out and the SPA written up, reviewed by the respective legal team, funds exchanged and job done. Am I incorrect or is the post about them having reached exclusivity incorrect? Sorry - perhaps should've clarified - the point about the deposit in exchange for exclusivity would be incorrect in my view. A bit like sticking £10k down on a house before you've had it surveyed. Not a complete impossibility/unheard of but highly unlikely.

Agreed. It's a useful resource but the bloke behind it is an annoying bellend.

Yes. Incorrect. In 99.9% of deals, in simplistic terms, heads of terms are agreed in principle, due diligence commences, terms altered depending on what due diligence throws up/out and the SPA written up, reviewed by the respective legal team, funds exchanged and job done.

If Midds decides we're allowed to discuss it . Strange thing, a forum moderator, not encouraging discussion tbh. If people are being annoying dickheads then tell them over PM rather than punish everyone.

Aye. Petty as fuck tbh.

Ridiculous to lock the takeover thread when it's the only show in town. Proper rawk-esque .

With one thing in common. Wealth. And when the fat lad bought the club, he didn't leak it first .

Just stick to what you know what has happened otherwise you sound like what the journalists and twitter ITKs are doing by jumping to conclusions and speculating without knowing anything. Unless there is an official statement from the club or Ashley all we can do is assume everything is proceeding as the original statement indicated. We can all have opinions and gut feelings no harm in that, but nobody knows what is happening, so best to stick with what we know until we hear official notification. It's a football forum designed for discussion and opinions ffs. I agree but your putting it across like it's factual. Hint - If someone starts a post with 'imagine' that's fairly unlikely to be someone trying to pass something off as a fact......... Not sure why you think you can dictate what people discuss in this thread tbqh. If you don't want discussion, views and opinions, don't go on a forum.

That's my take on things too. Either that or Ashley has leaked to his pals at the Sun in order to get other interested parties to do something pronto.....maybe even get a bidding war going and drive the price up. Since then, BZG have offered up a couple of brief statements to confirm where they are with the bid, more to protect their own reputation more than anything. I don't really see them as doing the deal in public, and I think Ashley must be okay with what they've done, otherwise he would have pulled the plug by now. I'm still of the opinion that this is very much happening. IF it's Ashley that's leaked it, then I agree completely. He would've got word to anyone else in the race, privately though, imho. If the Sheikh can trace the leak to him, it would place this deal in massive jeopardy though as it would be a big show of bad faith. Something unlikely to go down well with the Arabs hence my gut feel that it wasn't coming from his end.

Just stick to what you know what has happened otherwise you sound like what the journalists and twitter ITKs are doing by jumping to conclusions and speculating without knowing anything. Unless there is an official statement from the club or Ashley all we can do is assume everything is proceeding as the original statement indicated. We can all have opinions and gut feelings no harm in that, but nobody knows what is happening, so best to stick with what we know until we hear official notification. It's a football forum designed for discussion and opinions ffs.

The seller's view would be that it's not the buyers place to state any of it ahead of the deal being done. That would ALWAYS normally be done in conjunction with (or at least the formal agreement of) the seller. You can say what you like when you've bought it but right now they're making statements about something that is not theirs. As someone who know's the process well, I can say with almost certainty, Ashley won't like their conduct. Agree Kanji[/member]? There's generally an express provision in the SPA that says the buyer can't make any public statement until closing, and then the seller usually has the right to approve or at least see any statement before it's made (or that the parties will agree with each other as to the form of joint or coordinated releases). Yeah. I know. That's why I said it .

I understand that's your gut feel, what I am saying though is that there is nothing to back that up. We should stick to what has actually happened otherwise we are going down the line of what the journalists and twitter ITKs are doing. I am sticking to what has happened. A potential buyer has made comments, on and off the record, about something they don't yet own which is very poor conduct by anyone's standard in the M&A process and 'likely' to piss off the existing owner. That's not a huge leap tbh. I'm not asserting it as fact but it's logic from anyone who has been involved in this sort of stuff previously.

The seller's view would be that it's not the buyers place to state any of it ahead of the deal being done. That would ALWAYS normally be done in conjunction with (or at least the formal agreement of) the seller. You can say what you like when you've bought it but right now they're making statements about something that is not theirs. As someone who know's the process well, I can say with almost certainty, Ashley won't like their conduct. Agree Kanji[/member]?

To the various replies about my comments on Ashley being fucked off by their conduct my view is this; (and please, you'll have to take off your 'I hate Mike Ashley' caps to fully consider it). He's a prick. We all know that already. BUT........... Imagine you're in his shoes......It's now relatively safe to assume he wants rid of the club. There's been Staveley, Kenyon and now the Sheikh. To go that far, in all of those discussions, to absorb those legal fees, those accountant fee's, those advisor/brokers fees you simply have to agree that he wants rid. Of course, it's on terms he can be comfortable with and that's another discussion but if we can agree he wants to move it along then that's the basis for my opinion. He's almost certainly had discussions with a significant number of interested parties, all of whom would be in slightly different positions (pure cash deal but less than wants for it, tiny amount of cash up front but heavily weighted incentives in his favour to buy it, an excellent deal from his perspective but unable to get funds together as of now etc etc etc). The news of the advanced discussions with SK break. They'd been talking for up to 6 months if you believe much of the commentary around this deal. Certainly, at least, three months. Let's say three months. During that period, nothing. Not one public utterance, word, rumour (other than that Dave Kitson fella and he could've just got lucky with it). Now the story breaks BEFORE the deal is completed. If the due diligence process is ongoing, the Sheikh could easily find an issue to reduce the price beyond what MA would agree to. The Sheikh could easily try to knock £20m off on the last day before exchange for any old reason. Ashley, already hated, is then massively backed into a corner. He either takes the lower offer (highly unlikely) OR tells the Sheikh to fuck off and puts a statement out to confirm the deal is off. Cue mass derision, hysteria from the 'geordie faithful', Rafa probably choosing not to renew, having to appoint a new manager and pray that we stay up (unlikely without Rafa imho). If we don't then his £350m asset is worth at least £150m less. If the Sheikh and his people hadn't of allowed the leak then the deal falls over in private and Ashley has a far greater opportunity of managing the situation without an (even further) irate fan base wanting to kill the cunt. Genuinely, I'd take anybody but Ashley. At this point, I'd consider ANYONE, an improvement as they'd offer some degree of hope. However short term. I want to believe in my football club again. However, this conduct is not the way to act in this situation and I find it very concerning in respect of their professionalism.

Yes mate Kanji[/member] - I think it has to be a signed SPA given the comments about 'signed agreement by MA and us'. It also has to be (effectively) beyond NDA stage too as, if not, they'd have completely fucked it. So, in summary, it must be all done bar handing the keys over, on the provisio Premier League approval is given. If it not's as far as that, for any reason, then I'd say they're majorly running the risk of running before they can walk and being fucked off down the road.

To be fair they have been backed into a corner themselves where not only their finances have been questioned, but what family they are part of. Yes and, in fairness, it may not have been them that leaked it but, judging by their response (i.e: very vocal and high profile) I'd say it was more them that MA's side it reeks of poor conduct from a corporate perspective.

Not commented on this one as I've had nothing to add but this development has brought a mix of emotions; 1) I'm 100% on the 'anyone but Ashley' camp, so my first reaction was one of huge positivity. 2) However, that was based on the deal being almost completed (i.e: within the forthcoming days). 3) It appears that that's not the case, nor likely to be anywhere near as imminent which therefore fills me with dread in respect of the way the buyers have conducted themselves. Honestly, from an M&A perspective, it's been wholly unprofessional and highly likely to have pissed Ashley off in a major way. They've actually pushed him into a corner with this leak tbh. If it doesn't happen now, he's gonna be left with a right mess to sort out and he'll be very aware of that too. Pushing an egotistical billionaire into a corner is never a wise move. I've got very mixed emotions about this. Anyone but Ashley? Yeah for sure, but this conduct from them doesn't fill me with hope. Also - can this Gallowgate End knobhead be permanently muted? He's killing my mojo even more.

Does the journo who broke the story have any history related to NUFC news? Or does he have a track record of getting more exclusives right than wrong?