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Pompey Takeover Saga


Fitzhugh Fella

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They're such "good value" that despite taking nearly 2 years to get their sh*t together and actually buy the club, the PST were the only people interested in buying Portsmouth FC even when they were a L1 team.

 

Saints were decent value as a L1 club with a nearly-new 32k stadium, additional land, a reputation for developing players (which in itself makes the club a safe bet as a decent going concern) and the Academy buildings, set up and infrastructure. The role of "bestest fans" isn't really a consideration other than for the extent to which they can fill said stadium and plough cash into the club, and whilst we had proven able to get 30k+ attendances regularly in the top flight and 25k+ in the second tier, any punt on Portsmouth's future viability is based on stuff like "250,000 people on Southsea Common", and Skate cup final attendance at Wembley (not forgetting Saints have taken over 40k there whilst in the third tier) whilst capped at a 20k max capacity, and also which doesn't tally too well with the flipside of "I qualified for an FA Cup semi-final ticket by going to one match in 1992" when calculating revenue opportunities.

 

Fundamentally, as they proven when buying it, their club's value is the ground and the number of people they can get into the ground to take money from. Capped at 20k. And the major asset is a crumbling money-sink too.

 

Just for the record, Thierry Henry also sent Newport's manager Mike Flynn a text last week (FAW UEFA badge coaching is cheaper and based in Newport) which has been widely reported as "endorsing Newport's bid to escape relegation", so I shall be expecting Eisner to be touring South East Wales shortly too.

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You seem to be forgetting that they have, over the years, diluted the PST shareholding which if memory serves currently sits at about 48% with the HNWs controlling the other 52%. I can't see any of the HNWs voting against getting all their money back with a cherry on top!

 

In fairness if he can only control 52% depending on the MOI he will have very limited powers without the PST's say so despite having control over the day to day.

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In theory yes. In reality no.

 

Why do you say that?

The trust shareholding will either be for or against a sale. So as far as I can see, unless 1214 (over half) of the 2,426 trust shareholders vote to sell, then the entire 48.48% share of the club will be voting against a sale. That would be more then enough to block a complete takeover.

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Interesting that Williams recognises the need to move away from a fan owned club http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/pompey/ex-pompey-board-member-williams-eisner-gets-my-vote-1-7876812 and already seems sold on Eisner (after the number of times they have been suckered I think I'd be more guarded with my opinion about the potential new owner).

 

I know we have been going on about it on here for ages, but the cost of maintaining Sh!t Park and ensuring it meets health and safety requirements really seems to have become a problem. One that is too big to be covered by day to day income. Investment has become a necessity not a nicety.

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I had a haircut yesterday at the Barbers near Cobden Bridge. The owner is a skate, so a good opportunity for a bit of gentle joshing about the possibility of their club becoming even more Mickey Mouse than it is currently.

I am assured that the deal will be going through, because Eisner knows Thiery Henry, and was persuaded by him to go for them on the basis that their fans were unrivalled in their passion by any others in World football.

The skate wasn't sure that he would use his two votes (his and his son's) to go for this takeover, as he wouldn't want PL football.

 

Frankly, I fail to be convinced that somebody like Eisner would via his investment group Tornante wish to take over a fourth division football club with a decrepit old ground with no prospects for expansion, poor training facilities, massive investment required to address those shortcomings, when there are many other clubs offering a much better return. The skate reckons that Eisner is attracted by how cheap the Club would be and how amazing their support is. :lol:

Successful wealthy businessmen don't buy things because they are cheap. They buy them because they are good value. Pompey is neither even if they offered it to him for a quid, but at a minimum price of £5m he would be getting a sinking money pit.

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Why do you say that?

The trust shareholding will either be for or against a sale. So as far as I can see, unless 1214 (over half) of the 2,426 trust shareholders vote to sell, then the entire 48.48% share of the club will be voting against a sale. That would be more then enough to block a complete takeover.

 

Because no matter what they 'vote for', the result will be in favour of the takeover.

 

They will "make sure" *wink wink nudge nudge* they result is in favour of the takeover.

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Portsmouth fans claiming on Twitter that England fans are singing their 'we're on our way' song. Special breed

 

Pretty sure I was at a Brum game in 1996 and they were singing that song. Might be mistaken, but I know they have been singing that for years.

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Because no matter what they 'vote for', the result will be in favour of the takeover.

 

They will "make sure" *wink wink nudge nudge* they result is in favour of the takeover.

 

you've lost me. Who will make sure?

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Why do you say that?

The trust shareholding will either be for or against a sale. So as far as I can see, unless 1214 (over half) of the 2,426 trust shareholders vote to sell, then the entire 48.48% share of the club will be voting against a sale. That would be more then enough to block a complete takeover.

 

This is also my understanding

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Portsmouth fans claiming on Twitter that England fans are singing their 'we're on our way' song. Special breed

Ten seconds on Google gives you Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Bournemouth, Crewe, Huddersfield, Brighton, Leicester, Grimsby. Countless clubs up and down the leagues have sung it.

 

Portsmyth me right up.

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Ten seconds on Google gives you Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Bournemouth, Crewe, Huddersfield, Brighton, Leicester, Grimsby. Countless clubs up and down the leagues have sung it.

 

Portsmyth me right up.

 

This song was sung by England fans in the 1980's it's been knocking around years

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I can't see any new single owner being interested in sharing ownership of any club with anyone else. If that was me and someone said 'we'll you can own 52%, The trust owns the rest' my response would be short and to the point. ESPECIALLY considering that any new owner is will need to sink considerable sums of money into the club just to keep it as it is. If they want progression the kipper shed will need significant amounts of money invested just to bring it up to current standards, but realistically needs to be knocked down and rebuilt completely. We've gone over the arguments for and against that and I think it's safe to say that everyone knows rebuilding the kipper shed in its current location isn't going to give them a stadium that matches their ambitions (unless they plan to play League One/Championship standard football for some time to come)

Pet project or not, Scrooge McDuck isn't going to be interested in throwing his money into a black hole, he'll want to see a return for his investment. [portsmyth] Having the most passionate fans in world football [\portsmyth] won't earn any owner a single penny more than the stadium is capable of producing in terms of match day revenue.

Not only that, he'll have to put in stupid amounts of money to build a squad and coaching team capable playing in whatever league he wants to be in. A decent PL squad is going to cost what? 30-50 million? Maybe less but whatever way you look at it he's buying a basket case club that needs to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. Hardly what I would term a 'hobby'.

 

 

 

Mind you, he's a guy used to dealing with fantasy so he wouldn't be getting involved in anything he hasn't seen before. I just wonder how many portsmyths he's been told and how long it will be before reality kicks in.

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Ten seconds on Google gives you Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Bournemouth, Crewe, Huddersfield, Brighton, Leicester, Grimsby. Countless clubs up and down the leagues have sung it.

 

Portsmyth me right up.

 

Add Torquay United to that list - although 'we're on our way to the Conference South' rather than the football league would have been more appropriate...

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We also still had an academy full of future gems in League 1. Even in our predicament, all of the best talent in the region was coming to us. It will take millions and millions of investment.

 

Not to mention a ground that less than a decade old, Marchwood, Jackson's Farm possibly as well. Shows how tinpot Lowe and Wilde were really. To make FP safe probably requires a few million investment and that's before it was boxed in by Tesco. No real training ground either and plenty of new sites for a new stadium have been poo-pooed. The guy needs to invest £50-100m on infrastructure at today's costs to make them even slightly competitive in the Championship and that's before any player investment. If the former owners wouldn't do that in the top flight, why would somebody do it in L2?

 

Plymouth and Home Park is good comparison - 3 sides already done, investor funding the new Grandstand, modern parking and rail links outside. Similar fanbase and potential - you'd opt for them if you had to buy a club at that level. Plus their credit rating can't be any worse and no PST politics to wade through.

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Quote from the newspaper article :

"Until that time, there remains a shortage of finer details, yet Williams is encouraged by the background of the American".

You would think that, given their ownership history, they would reserve judgement and do proper due diligence before getting too excited about the latest 'knight in shining armour' !

 

Read more at: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/pompey/ex-pompey-board-member-williams-eisner-gets-my-vote-1-7876812

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A quick google search suggests his net worth is exactly $1 billion - that works out at £810m

 

So a multi millonaire, yes. A billionaire, no.

 

And, for comparison, Katharina is worth $3 billion

 

The wealth of ML was grossly undervalued / unreported at €3bn

 

From an impeccable source.

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