Belgravia step up Toon bid

[Colos Short and Curlies]

Invicta makes a good point about Shepherd's sensitivity to fan unrest and his propensity to dig into the old overdraft. Belgravia are much more unlikely to do this, though that is not neccessarily a bad thing. what the club needs is intelligent management rather than throwing money at every problem, or every time the natives get restless. especially if it is money we dont really have.

 

Shepherd puts more cash up because it's the only way he knows how to solve a problem that he caused in the first place. The sad thing is though that it appeases the fans in the short term and gives Freddy more time to pick up his dividends.

 

in most cases it is money the club has anyway, so the new owners are going to have access to those funds as well, except they might exercise better judgement when it comes to spending it. i think it was only the Owen signing that was funded by an overdraft. not sure though, macbeth is the man to ask.

 

Hey, credit where credit's due.

 

I believe I was the first on this board to claim that the £17m overdraft was the Owen fund gifted to us by Northern Rock. I also predicted that it will not have moved year on year or will have reduced by exactly one quarter (assuming Owen is on a four year deal)

[Guest tomi]

Newcastle United bid talks ongoing, no offer yet

 

LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - English Premier League side Newcastle United said on Wednesday that talks with potential buyer Belgravia Group were ongoing but no firm offer had been made for the club.

"Whilst discussions are ongoing between the two parties, it (Newcastle United) has not received a formal proposal from Belgravia or any other entity," Newcastle said in a statement.

"There can be no certainty that an offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer would be made," the club added.

 

Link

 

[Mick]

I don't think people are getting where Invicta_Toon is coming from. I believe he wants shot of FF like the rest of us, he just don't want the BVelgravia group to take over. I might be wrong mind.

 

You are never wrong Phil except where it comes to leaving the forum in the hands of HTT 

 

I've already told you, you're crap at getting your point across. bluebiggrin.gif

[Guest NSMagpie]

 

TV and broadcasting is 32% of turnover.  Match tickets account for 40%.  Merchandising accounts for 9%.  Lose a chunk of that 40%, especially in season ticket sales, and we'd be making losses.  Which isn't what Belgravia are looking to take us over to do.

 

That's interesting info. Where did you get it?

 

And what about the rest? TV+ broadcasting, tickets and merchandising make 81% combined.

What about the remaining 19%?

[macbeth]

 

TV and broadcasting is 32% of turnover.  Match tickets account for 40%.  Merchandising accounts for 9%.  Lose a chunk of that 40%, especially in season ticket sales, and we'd be making losses.  Which isn't what Belgravia are looking to take us over to do.

 

That's interesting info. Where did you get it?

 

And what about the rest? TV+ broadcasting, tickets and merchandising make 81% combined.

What about the remaining 19%?

 

as the self-appointed guardian of usch boring stats

Year ended July 2005

Gates 35.3m, 40%

TV 27.9m, 32%

Sponsorship 9.4m, 11%

Merchandising 7.6m, 9%

Catering 6.8m, 8%

 

My estimate at 2006 figures are

Gates 28.4m, 36%

TV 24m, 31%

Sponsorship 10.9m, 14%

Merchandising 7.9m, 10%

Catering 7m, 9%

 

Estimates come from half year figures and from looking at how previous second half of year usually shapes up

 

 

[macbeth]

And in 2005 the total was £87m income, with a total expenditure of £86.5m.

 

In 2006 the total income is estimated to be £78.2m with a total estimate of expenditure at £101m. This £101m assumes that there will be no dividend paid out

 

 

[Guest pont-toon]

well who knows if its belagravia, the mysterious geordie consortium or fat fred but another 175000 + shares traded hands on the stock exchange today - been happening for over a week now -  somethings definately afoot !

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

 

TV and broadcasting is 32% of turnover.  Match tickets account for 40%.  Merchandising accounts for 9%.  Lose a chunk of that 40%, especially in season ticket sales, and we'd be making losses.  Which isn't what Belgravia are looking to take us over to do.

 

That's interesting info. Where did you get it?

 

And what about the rest? TV+ broadcasting, tickets and merchandising make 81% combined.

What about the remaining 19%?

 

agent 'retainers'  bluewink.gif

[GM]

well who knows if its belagravia, the mysterious geordie consortium or fat fred but another 175000 + shares traded hands on the stock exchange today - been happening for over a week now - somethings definately afoot !

 

How many shares are actually in circulation anyway?

[macbeth]

well who knows if its belagravia, the mysterious geordie consortium or fat fred but another 175000 + shares traded hands on the stock exchange today - been happening for over a week now - somethings definately afoot !

 

How many shares are actually in circulation anyway?

 

129.633m shares

 

so 175000 being traded is just over 0.1% of the total.

 

Probabvly NE5 buying more

[GM]

well who knows if its belagravia, the mysterious geordie consortium or fat fred but another 175000 + shares traded hands on the stock exchange today - been happening for over a week now - somethings definately afoot !

 

How many shares are actually in circulation anyway?

 

129.633m shares

 

so 175000 being traded is just over 0.1% of the total.

 

Probabvly NE5 buying more

 

Aye, so it's hardly proof of "something afoot" then is it?

[macbeth]

The graph at http://uk.moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.asp?FC=2&Symbol=GB%3Ancu&CF=1&CP=0&PT=5&D5=0 shows the share price and the number of shares being traded, for the last year.

 

Not sure any conclusion can be drawn

[Baggio]

It's going to take months to happen, these things always do, and by then, we could be in big trouble.

 

You forget that their investigations into a takeover have been rumbling on for some time.

 

How long did the Abramovich deal take? Things may have been going on in the backgroung for a while, but it seemed like a bolt out the blue when it actually went through.

 

 

 

This isn't an Abramovich situation though, this is a Glazer. Negotiate with one shareholder then another, then another, always looking for the best value for money. Find out who wants to cling on tto their shares and avoid negotiations, and finally accumulate enough shares to trigger a complete takeover.

 

Belgravia is a hedge fund isn't it?  That's hardly the same as Glazer.  Things might seem black right now, but I would still be careful of what I was wishing for.

 

Glazer's takeover was actually funded partly by a hedge fund (about half iirc)

 

As has been said, Belgravia isn't a hedge fund.

[Guest NSMagpie]

 

TV and broadcasting is 32% of turnover.  Match tickets account for 40%.  Merchandising accounts for 9%.  Lose a chunk of that 40%, especially in season ticket sales, and we'd be making losses.  Which isn't what Belgravia are looking to take us over to do.

 

That's interesting info. Where did you get it?

 

And what about the rest? TV+ broadcasting, tickets and merchandising make 81% combined.

What about the remaining 19%?

 

as the self-appointed guardian of usch boring stats

Year ended July 2005

Gates 35.3m, 40%

TV 27.9m, 32%

Sponsorship 9.4m, 11%

Merchandising 7.6m, 9%

Catering 6.8m, 8%

 

My estimate at 2006 figures are

Gates 28.4m, 36%

TV 24m, 31%

Sponsorship 10.9m, 14%

Merchandising 7.9m, 10%

Catering 7m, 9%

 

Estimates come from half year figures and from looking at how previous second half of year usually shapes up

 

 

 

Thanks. 

[Guest kiwi]

Belgravia was set up to invest earnings from a cashed up hedge fund.

 

Thanks for the extrapolation of the accounts. They are available to all but few bother to read them. NUFC, apart from buying the occasional under achiever is a solid club. Could be better of course.

 

Sir John Hall  was asked, just before he retired, about the seats fiasco. He laughed and said the gate turnover didn't pay the wages bill and boxes were necessary. Mercenary, thieving git ? Or saviour?

[Guest Brazilianbob]

Does anyone really know what Belgravia are actually about?  It has been said that they may simply be a front for the real buyer.

 

If so this means that all the preceding argument about Belgravia's ability to run NUFC is a waste of breath.  They may actually be a front for someone like the Sultan of Brunei who may intend installing KK as Chairman of NUFC.

 

There again, it is possible that they are the buyers and they may also intend appointing a chairman of the same ilk.  I don't think many would object to that scenario.

 

The frightening possibility is that they buy out FS, then re-appoint him as a paid chairman to run the club for them!!!!  In other words, no change!

 

The permutations are endless.

[ToonTastic]

Think maybe your gates are a little out, with intertoto, and a decent enough European run so far surely that will increase Gate revenue, maybe not to the 2005 standards but still there or there abouts.

[ianovthetoon]

It's been reported in many places when Belgravia initially confirmed their interest in buying the club that they associated success on the pitch with earning extra money. This alone surely suggests they would pull out all the stops to ensure this, so I'm sure they have a plan already and know who they want to run the club in terms of being chairman/CEO, and quite possibly team manager. There's no way they would be asking Freddy Shepherd to step into the breach, if that was the case he would have sold his shares like a shot. I know it had been rumoured and dismissed that some rich oil sheik was possibly the real buyer of the club as was the case when they purchased Jordan formula 1 team, but wouldn't it be nice if something like that was the case - at least we would once again have the financial clout to compete with the Chelseas Man Us et al.

[Dokko]

It's been reported in many places when Belgravia initially confirmed their interest in buying the club that they associated success on the pitch with earning extra money. This alone surely suggests they would pull out all the stops to ensure this, so I'm sure they have a plan already and know who they want to run the club in terms of being chairman/CEO, and quite possibly team manager. There's no way they would be asking Freddy Shepherd to step into the breach, if that was the case he would have sold his shares like a shot. I know it had been rumoured and dismissed that some rich oil sheik was possibly the real buyer of the club as was the case when they purchased Jordan formula 1 team, but wouldn't it be nice if something like that was the case - at least we would once again have the financial clout to compete with the Chelseas Man Us et al.

 

A thought that will distract me all day.

 

 

[Guest Sam04je]

It's been reported in many places when Belgravia initially confirmed their interest in buying the club that they associated success on the pitch with earning extra money. This alone surely suggests they would pull out all the stops to ensure this, so I'm sure they have a plan already and know who they want to run the club in terms of being chairman/CEO, and quite possibly team manager. There's no way they would be asking Freddy Shepherd to step into the breach, if that was the case he would have sold his shares like a shot. I know it had been rumoured and dismissed that some rich oil sheik was possibly the real buyer of the club as was the case when they purchased Jordan formula 1 team, but wouldn't it be nice if something like that was the case - at least we would once again have the financial clout to compete with the Chelseas Man Us et al.

 

A thought that will distract me all day.

 

 

 

blueyes.gif

[Guest Geordie Gaz]

Geoff Lord is the current chairman of the Australian football (soccer) club the Melbourne Victory in the newly formed A-League. A well know corporate identity in Melbourne and former chairman of Hawthorn AFL club, he founded the Belgravia Group in 1990. It now employs over 3000 people in a wide variety of operations, and is one of the largest operators of golf courses and fitness centres in Australia. Amongst the companies owned by Lord's Belgravia Group is Belgravia Soccer Management, which in turn owns a 50% stake in Melbourne Victory.

Source

 

The man/company clearly have no clue when it comes to running a football club eh? :roll:

 

I could sear I posted the same about him in the last thread. Oh well.

[macbeth]

Think maybe your gates are a little out, with intertoto, and a decent enough European run so far surely that will increase Gate revenue, maybe not to the 2005 standards but still there or there abouts.

 

The half year figures are up to 31st January, the second half from then to end of July, or June as it is from this year on.

 

In Jan 2005 the half year gates were 21.2m and the full year ended upo at 35m. This had included in it FA Cup hom e game sagaint Spurs and Chelsea, and UEFA games too.

 

In Jan 2006 the half year figure was 16.1m. There was only one home FA Cup game, against Southampton in the second half, and no UEFA games. There were though more home league games than the previous year, which balanced it out a bit. This was how I ended up with 12m for the second half, rather than the 14m from the previous year.

 

Looking forward to what we can expect form this half year, it wil lbe in between the last two years. Two years ago we had a similar set of Uefa league games, but had two home League Cup games with a total of 80,000 crowds.

[Guest Invicta_Toon]

Geoff Lord is the current chairman of the Australian football (soccer) club the Melbourne Victory in the newly formed A-League. A well know corporate identity in Melbourne and former chairman of Hawthorn AFL club, he founded the Belgravia Group in 1990. It now employs over 3000 people in a wide variety of operations, and is one of the largest operators of golf courses and fitness centres in Australia. Amongst the companies owned by Lord's Belgravia Group is Belgravia Soccer Management, which in turn owns a 50% stake in Melbourne Victory.

Source

 

The man/company clearly have no clue when it comes to running a football club eh? :roll:

 

I could sear I posted the same about him in the last thread. Oh well.

 

in the Premiership? in Europe even?

[Guest shearer_united]

Does anyone have a link to the Belgravia Group website ?

[Guest manny]

www.thebelgraviagroup.com/