The Sunday Times - Southampton put up for sale at £250m

[stevy777_x]

For what it is worth, I spoke to DaGrosa a couple of weeks ago and he wasn’t able to confirm or deny interest in buying us which was probably due to ongoing proceedings.

AB says the interest is BS, I wouldn’t be so sure.

[SuperSAINT]

3 minutes ago, stevy777_x said:

For what it is worth, I spoke to DaGrosa a couple of weeks ago and he wasn’t able to confirm or deny interest in buying us which was probably due to ongoing proceedings.

AB says the interest is BS, I wouldn’t be so sure.

#ITK_Watch

I'm not sure about it.  Their plan sounds great, in theory, if you've got gazillions of pounds, but not so much if you're borrowing from lenders.

Edited 22 September, 2020 by SuperSAINT

[verlaine1979]

I just can't see DaGrosa finding the investment he needs, not after his relationship with the majority shareholder he brought on board at Bordeaux soured so quickly.

He just doesn't have the profile to attract the money required to buy into the PL. He's a small-time middle man who once sold a few fast food franchises twenty years ago - no one is trusting him with half a billion dollars or more.

[Gordon Mockles]

On 21/09/2020 at 20:13, EBS1980 said:

Make one public while actually working with another group 

As long as it’s not a group that want 100% secrecy, like Paul Allen’s Group cited when interested in buying the club. The Echo ran the story, the club asked them not to, there went our takeover. Thanks DE. Old news but pertinent. 

I do wonder if this Davis loan is just to tidy us over enough until a takeover happens because I do suspect something might be going on and it’s not the potless Yank, De Grosa. We don’t want that ex Bordeaux guy near the club If he’s using debt to buy us. That’s just the beginning of the end. 

I know we wouldn’t be here today talking about an underwhelming midfield loan to replace our captain when we are crying out for quality In midfield & defence & we have a board whom won’t invest a penny. I know that much. 
 

 

[benjii]

7 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

#ITK_Watch

I'm not sure about it.  Their plan sounds great, in theory, if you've got gazillions of pounds, but not so much if you're borrowing from lenders.

Yeah, it's just fantasy. No skin in the game.

I could make a luxury underwater Hotel empire with a moon-base for weekend trips. I just need someone to give me enough money.

[benjii]

6 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

I just can't see DaGrosa finding the investment he needs, not after his relationship with the majority shareholder he brought on board at Bordeaux soured so quickly.

He just doesn't have the profile to attract the money required to buy into the PL. He's a small-time middle man who once sold a few fast food franchises twenty years ago - no one is trusting him with half a billion dollars or more.

Indeed.

On the other hand, I swear to make the underwater, moon-base, monkey-chicken petting zoo a reality. Maybe I should set up a go fund me.

[CB Fry]

5 hours ago, Gordon Mockles said:

As long as it’s not a group that want 100% secrecy, like Paul Allen’s Group cited when interested in buying the club. The Echo ran the story, the club asked them not to, there went our takeover. Thanks DE. Old news but pertinent. 

 

Hahahahahahaha. Jesus wept.

[SuperSAINT]

Dan’s DaGrosa article is up on the athletic.

[Convict Colony]

11 hours ago, SKD said:

Blackmore would have received his info from

someone within the club, who won’t have any say or idea of who Gao is selling to. 
 

although, that being said, the name I’ve been told wasn’t DaGrosa. It was another American, one who owns a NFL team... but that’s was a few months back now, and like Blackmore, they aren’t close enough to Gao to know what’s going on. 

Arthur Blank I reckon

Own Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Utd (MLS) and as linked to Newcaste earlier https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/who-arthur-blank-american-billionaire-15503318

[Convict Colony]

1 hour ago, SuperSAINT said:

Dan’s DaGrosa article is up on the athletic.

Not much we already didnt talk about on here

[alehouseboys]

Spending 100s of £millions on football clubs must be becoming less and less attractive as the days go by. With little prospect of a major revenue stream, the fans, returning any time soon and the future of football very much uncertain, I'd be inclined to keep my money in my pocket.

[SuperSAINT]

22 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Not much we already didnt talk about on here

No, but it’s a good all-rounder to show where we are.  Just don’t get the idea of a bloke who needs to borrow money from others to buy us — how’s he then going to spend anything?!

[John B]

20 minutes ago, alehouseboys said:

Spending 100s of £millions on football clubs must be becoming less and less attractive as the days go by. With little prospect of a major revenue stream, the fans, returning any time soon and the future of football very much uncertain, I'd be inclined to keep my money in my pocket.

Yes very true and with the disaster of Brexit around the corner when the pound is likely to slump further it does not seem to be the right time now to invest in the club

[The Curse of St Mary's]

In addition to Dan Sheldon's article there is also a good piece and on why Chinese investment has cooled and American investment is on the rise. Couple of mentions about saints too. 

 

https://theathletic.com/1887653/2020/09/23/chinese-america-money-european-football?source=user-shared-article

[Marsdinho]

Looks more like a marketing campaign to drum up interest in The Athletic than anything else. Those paid subscriptions lining someone on here's pocket?

[Convict Colony]

50 minutes ago, Marsdinho said:

Looks more like a marketing campaign to drum up interest in The Athletic than anything else. Those paid subscriptions lining someone on here's pocket?

hahahahahaha no it actually has very good articles on there and is worth the like 25 quid i've paid for the next year, insightful and not the rubbish you get for free.

[S-Clarke]

The Athletic is really good, just lots of well written articles and some info you don't hear or see anywhere else.

I got it at the discount a few months ago, well worth it so far.

[The Curse of St Mary's]

4 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

hahahahahaha no it actually has very good articles on there and is worth the like 25 quid i've paid for the next year, insightful and not the rubbish you get for free.

They had offer for £1 per month for 12 months couple of weeks back which I snapped up. Very good content. NFL good as well 

[CB Fry]

5 minutes ago, The Curse of St Mary's said:

They had offer for £1 per month for 12 months couple of weeks back which I snapped up. Very good content. NFL good as well 

I signed up on this deal as well - £1 a month is leass than I spend on Newspapers so worth it.

That said, I think it is only okay. Some of the articles are just over written and overlong.

The recent Saints content- an absolutely shameless bit of club propaganda on our groundbreaking transfer strategy and a interminably long piece on the B team - I could easily live without.

It's worth a pound a month but that's about it. It reminds me of World Scoccer magazine from the 90s - drab and worthy but not particularly engaging.

[Matthew Le God]

5 hours ago, alehouseboys said:

Spending 100s of £millions on football clubs must be becoming less and less attractive as the days go by. With little prospect of a major revenue stream, the fans, returning any time soon and the future of football very much uncertain, I'd be inclined to keep my money in my pocket.

Alternatively... now is the ideal time to buy a club at a lower price than it would cost in non pandemic times 

[100%Red&White]

24 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Alternatively... now is the ideal time to buy a club at a lower price than it would cost in non pandemic times 

It might be if there was any real indication of how this pandemic might progress, if it goes on too much longer even PL clubs are going to run into deeper financial problems. TV companies and sponsors might get cold feet as not the product they signed up to and it could lose its appeal. And then it will only be a lower price if the owner wants to sell it cheap. Maybe that's the "complications", it's been suggested Gao has dropped his asking price from £200m to £150m, maybe potential buyers are looking to pay far less in the current climate. I guess we'll find out how much Gao (and probably Kat) wants out.

[Convict Colony]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

I signed up on this deal as well - £1 a month is leass than I spend on Newspapers so worth it.

That said, I think it is only okay. Some of the articles are just over written and overlong.

The recent Saints content- an absolutely shameless bit of club propaganda on our groundbreaking transfer strategy and a interminably long piece on the B team - I could easily live without.

It's worth a pound a month but that's about it. It reminds me of World Scoccer magazine from the 90s - drab and worthy but not particularly engaging.

Yeah understand but for me content is great as I also read NFL, all interesting football stories,  MMA, Boxing etc 

[CB Fry]

56 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Yeah understand but for me content is great as I also read NFL, all interesting football stories,  MMA, Boxing etc 

I would definitely say I do not have enough interest in multiple sports for me to have a sustained benefit from the Athletic. It's nice they try and find new Saints content 3/4 days a week. Even if it is a bit dull.

But for £1 a month I'm all in. Not sure how they are making money on that though.

[pimpin4rizeal]

Not sure what to make of da grossa, but at least he sounds like he has more of a plan then gao does who seems to be completely hands off.

personally I would love another Cortese type but with the backing to match his vision and ambitions. It’s a real shame we didn’t get to see how far nc could have taken us if Marcus didn’t die 

[EBS1980]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

I would definitely say I do not have enough interest in multiple sports for me to have a sustained benefit from the Athletic. It's nice they try and find new Saints content 3/4 days a week. Even if it is a bit dull.

But for £1 a month I'm all in. Not sure how they are making money on that though.

They announced earlier this month they had 1M subscribers so thats probably how.

[Saint_clark]

Not been that impressed with the standard of writing so far on Athletic I have to say. 

[CB Fry]

43 minutes ago, EBS1980 said:

They announced earlier this month they had 1M subscribers so thats probably how.

Not in the UK they haven't squire.

Their target for the UK is 100k which doesn't feel like a lot when you consider the top level journalists they have signed up - David Ornstein, Oliver Kay, Daniel Taylor and co must be on six figure salaries. Their only income is subs as they are a site with no ads, so if they have too many paying £1 a month I can't see how they are going to be sustainable long term.

The Guardian have a lot more paying subsribers than that, paying more than that plus can supplement income through ads etc. And they are skint.

They have splashed a lot of cash at writers and good luck to them, and maybe in a post-print world they will do okay. But i still suspect they will get swallowed by a bigger player sooner rather than later.

Like lots of digital start ups, lots of reports of attracting investors, but not so much about making actual money. We'll see.

[UpweySaint]

For what it's worth I had an Athletic subscription bought for me as a birthday present and I quite like it. Preferred Carl to Dan but he engages with fans and tries to get their questions answered in pressers so it's good in that sense. The pricepoint is minimal and the quality holds up ....

Re: takeovers I think we'd all prefer somebody who has money they wish to put into the club but currently I would suggest no money but a reasonable plan to progress the club is an improvement on what we currently have.

Have to say I'm in the pro RB Southampton camp. A focus on youth, clever scouting, reasonable levels of financial support are worth the RB initials at the front of our name and scorn from other fans.

 

[shirleysfc]

Burnley now in advanced talks with US investors... I wonder if they were one of the groups who have supposedly expressed an interest in us recently??

[EBS1980]

2 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Not in the UK they haven't squire.

Their target for the UK is 100k which doesn't feel like a lot when you consider the top level journalists they have signed up - David Ornstein, Oliver Kay, Daniel Taylor and co must be on six figure salaries. Their only income is subs as they are a site with no ads, so if they have too many paying £1 a month I can't see how they are going to be sustainable long term.

The Guardian have a lot more paying subsribers than that, paying more than that plus can supplement income through ads etc. And they are skint.

They have splashed a lot of cash at writers and good luck to them, and maybe in a post-print world they will do okay. But i still suspect they will get swallowed by a bigger player sooner rather than later.

Like lots of digital start ups, lots of reports of attracting investors, but not so much about making actual money. We'll see.

No but globally they do and they’ll be what’s paying those wages until the get developed in the UK. Being a loss leader for a few years is probably what they factored in to their expansion into the UK market 

[Master Bates]

Katharina Liebherr not selling her share then.

[trousers]

7 minutes ago, Master Bates said:

Katharina Liebherr not selling her share then.

Source?

[Master Bates]

Just now, trousers said:

Source?

https://insidefutbol.com/2020/09/23/katharina-liebherr-wont-sell-southampton-shareholding-can-veto-takeover/473755/

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Master Bates said:

https://insidefutbol.com/2020/09/23/katharina-liebherr-wont-sell-southampton-shareholding-can-veto-takeover/473755/

Interesting because I was told she was happy. If she doesn't want to sell then I'm guessing she isn't. I think she's been taking for a ride by Gao as much as the fanbase. 

[saint lard]

It’s her late fathers legacy...his name is adorned throughout the stadium and Staplewood. 
I’m not surprised if she doesn’t relinquish her share. 

[trousers]

30 minutes ago, Master Bates said:

https://insidefutbol.com/2020/09/23/katharina-liebherr-wont-sell-southampton-shareholding-can-veto-takeover/473755/

Cheers

[Lighthouse]

14 minutes ago, saint lard said:

It’s her late fathers legacy...his name is adorned throughout the stadium and Staplewood. 
I’m not surprised if she doesn’t relinquish her share. 

It was an investment he made for barely a year of his life. Given her apparent lack of diligence in finding a new buyer last time, I doubt she’s overly invested emotionally. She probably hoped her share would continue to inflate in value and she’d be able to sell it for more than may currently be being offered.

[Matthew Le God]

8 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

It was an investment he made for barely a year of his life. Given her apparent lack of diligence in finding a new buyer last time, I doubt she’s overly invested emotionally. She probably hoped her share would continue to inflate in value and she’d be able to sell it for more than may currently be being offered.

She was the owner in both promotion seasons and the good years in the Premier League, attending a lot of games both home and away.  No one forced her to spend after her father died but she did. So clearly she has some attachment to the club.

Edited 23 September, 2020 by Matthew Le God

[CB Fry]

42 minutes ago, EBS1980 said:

No but globally they do and they’ll be what’s paying those wages until the get developed in the UK. Being a loss leader for a few years is probably what they factored in to their expansion into the UK market 

The Athletic globally is one big loss leader mate. Don't kid yourself that it is making profit in the USA to plough into the UK. It isn't.

It's just hoovering up investor cash in the hope it will eventually get big enough to be sold on to someone else. Nice bit of hype, it's a decent product but absolutely no evidence that it can be sustained in the long term.

Anyway, completely off topic sorry.

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

She was the owner in both promotion seasons and the good years in the Premier, attending a lot of games.  No one forced her to spend after her father died but she did.

Yes, I’m sure she wanted to see her fathers ambition fulfilled. She did, making a substantial profit on the initial investment. So what’s left for her now? St Mary’s isn’t a play park where he used to push her on the swing as a little girl, it’s a commercial property with high resale value. 

[egg]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

Yes, I’m sure she wanted to see her fathers ambition fulfilled. She did, making a substantial profit on the initial investment. So what’s left for her now? St Mary’s isn’t a play park where he used to push her on the swing as a little girl, it’s a commercial property with high resale value. 

Yep. She's shown loads of commitment by seeing her inheritance tied up for years, but inevitably there'll come a time when she wants to cash in. 

[saint lard]

So actor Ryan Reynolds is in to buy Wrexham. 🤷🏻‍♂️
I’d rather him than De Grossa in for us. 
there must be a joke in There somewhere. 

[hypochondriac]

31 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

It was an investment he made for barely a year of his life. Given her apparent lack of diligence in finding a new buyer last time, I doubt she’s overly invested emotionally. She probably hoped her share would continue to inflate in value and she’d be able to sell it for more than may currently be being offered.

I think that's a tad unfair. I can't imagine she would have gone ahead with Gao with hindsight. I'm preparednto accept that she realises she made a mistake and is being more cautious now. 

[Dusic]

5 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I think that's a tad unfair. I can't imagine she would have gone ahead with Gao with hindsight. I'm preparednto accept that she realises she made a mistake and is being more cautious now. 

Yep, this Da Grossa lad seems to have fantastic credentials and is well worthy of being granted a period of exclusivity.

[Master Bates]

48 minutes ago, trousers said:

Cheers

That's alright, sorry it was Mayo (is Mayo a sauce?) and not ketchup/chilli ketchup

[Lighthouse]

10 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I think that's a tad unfair. I can't imagine she would have gone ahead with Gao with hindsight. I'm preparednto accept that she realises she made a mistake and is being more cautious now. 

Well, I had some serious doubts about his investment credentials from sketchy articles on the internet, so I have to wonder how thorough she was in her cross referencing.

[UpweySaint]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/23/ryan-reynolds-rob-mcelhenney-shock-bid-to-invest-in-wrexham-football

 

Not strictly saints but interesting takeover news elsewhere ... Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney make shock bid for Wrexham AFC

[hypochondriac]

57 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Well, I had some serious doubts about his investment credentials from sketchy articles on the internet, so I have to wonder how thorough she was in her cross referencing.

Can't imagine she was that thorough but then you don't know what was said to her behind the scenes. She's also not some professional businesswoman as far as I know the club was just thrust into her lap. I don't think she's ever tried to deliberately screw the club over. 

Edited 23 September, 2020 by hypochondriac

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Dusic said:

Yep, this Da Grossa lad seems to have fantastic credentials and is well worthy of being granted a period of exclusivity.

But if you read the article that says it isn't her decision to make. 

[Turkish]

14 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Can't imagine she was that thorough but then you don't know what was said to her behind the scenes. She's also not some professional businesswoman as far as I know the club was just thrust into her lap. I don't think she's ever tried to deliberately screw the club over. 

Apart from pushing on with a takeover where they had to change the rules so a similar type of character could never buy a English football club again you mean?