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How to buy a football club


Edmonton Saint

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I thought that was a stupid point to make form the reporter even felt like complaining as it's very easy to know who owns us as it's in the legal documents. But have to say makes a mockery of the football league rules doesn't it.

 

It's actually a very valid point to make in general; it was just a very poor way of making it, and holding Saints up as an example. The potential for corruption and bypassing of the fit and proper owners regulations and such like is enormous. Leeds went years without disclosing who they were actually owned by; still no-one actually knows who it was.

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But the shareholders of DMW123etc Ltd will be listed in its Annual Return, which will be publically available from Companies House.

 

If you want to avoid scrutiny you use companies based in BVI etc where regulations are completely weak. Not watching the programme but it does sound like a bit of a ballsed-up way of making a point.

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Although I think they are wrong about Southampton I do think the owner or owner's of a football club should be clear with additional checks about where money is coming from. If this is to be done though it would may have to be run by UEFA or FIFA should they sort themselves out.

 

I thing additional checks should be carried out and that this programme although a little over the top could be a bad vision of the future if we carry on as we are.

 

In NC I trust COYS

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The only thing that documentary really said was that consortiums buy football clubs these days and that it is technically possible for the puppet-masters to own more than one club at a time. Well tell us something we didn't know.

 

The programme lent heavily on the 'sensational' fact that most discussions were carried out in a bar and casino. Again, bugger me. Most business deals are solidified in bars/restaurants/clubs before going on to lawyer's offices. And that one man was bigging up his relationship with a 'celeb'. Shock! Horror! That's never happened before!

 

I'm not sure the programme was really worth the hour of my time, to be frank. I guess when they set about making it they were hoping for something much more juicy but on the evidence presented nothing was indicated to be illegal or even shady. Just business men getting around a rule (not law) by using special purpose investment vehicles - something the City has been doing for years. It is perfectly legal.

 

Sorry, no news here.

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Yes they do it was Ken Bates..he was 'forced' to disclose this recently.

 

Only after he formally took control of affairs. He didn't actually own the club until someone needed to be made public.

 

Incidentally, I hope that Cortese is baying for blood after that. The implication that our ownership by the estate of Markus Liebherr could be anything other then above board is nothing short of libelous.

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I would not be surprised at all if Mr Cortese is writing a strongly worded letter to Dispatches at Channel 4.

 

There statement referencing the passing of Markus Liebherr and it's delivery by the correspondant was abhorent,imo,as though something underhand was taking place.

 

Do your stuff Nicola.

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Yes they do it was Ken Bates..he was 'forced' to disclose this recently.

 

It wasn't just Bates though; they constantly evaded disclosure by claiming that Ken Bates fronted a consortium of various individuals/groups who all owned a stake under 10% each, and therefore they were not legally obliged to disclose. They eventually disclosed as they claimed they had been bought out by Ken Bates alone. So who the previous owers were remains a complete mystery.

 

Edit: see here for the actual ownership statement http://www.leedsunited.com/page/Ownership

Edited by The Kraken
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But the shareholders of DMW123etc Ltd will be listed in its Annual Return, which will be publically available from Companies House.

 

True but if the share holder turns out to be a company registered over seas then you are back to square one. At least DMWSL are registered here in the UK, unlike all those overseas companies which don't even give the pretence of openness. But this is all academic if your shareholders are the likes of Portpin who can hide whatever they want.

 

As an aside, I wonder if DMWSL was ML's full initials - anyone know?

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True but if the share holder turns out to be a company registered over seas then you are back to square one. At least DMWSL are registered here in the UK, unlike all those overseas companies which don't even give the pretence of openness. But this is all academic if your shareholders are the likes of Portpin who can hide whatever they want.

 

As an aside, I wonder if DMWSL was ML's full initials - anyone know?

 

Indeed, wasn't that company SPECIFICALLY set up in the UK to ensure that the takeover could be facilitated in as clear, upfront and legitimate a way as possible?

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It wasn't just Bates though; they constantly evaded disclosure by claiming that Ken Bates fronted a consortium of various individuals/groups who all owned a stake under 10% each, and therefore they were not legally obliged to disclose. They eventually disclosed as they claimed they had been bought out by Ken Bates alone. So who the previous owers were remains a complete mystery.

 

Edit: see here for the actual ownership statement http://www.leedsunited.com/page/Ownership

 

Yeah sorry I was quoting a Leeds fan I know and from reports I had read - there are some pretty interesting stories this one made me laugh http://newsthump.com/2011/05/05/ken-bates-buys-leeds-united-from-anonymous-west-indian-based-ken-bates/

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DMWSL 613 Ltd - is the holding company of SFC and Companies House has the company's registered office as St Mary's.

 

If you do a Companies House Webcheck (http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/bc64222dee22ff622cbc1b2071034341/companysearch?disp=1&frfsh=1311020182#result you will see a lot of other companies starting with 'DMWSL xxx'. In all likelyhood ML used the same company name format to separate his many different UK business interests. This is not uncommon. Rather than have to dream up interesting names for each time you start a new venture etc it is just easier to instruct your lawyer to create a new company with the next number in the series. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if wealthy business people bulk register companies so they can get up and running in a matter of minutes.

 

Whatever, no need to worry just because the holding company has a weird non-name.

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He almost makes it sound as if it's convenient that Markus died. That's pretty nasty.

 

I'll keep my mind open on this one. I doubt there is any football club in the land that is 100% clean and I won't let my allegiance cloud my judgement. Everyone is of course innocent until proven guilty.

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Didn't like the implication that ML's death was convenient, sort of an aside to the ownership. Obviously, if we get to the PL our value will increase dramatically but it must be remembered that we were a L1 club having to battle our way back up again. Total faith and trust in our ownership and ambitions.

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I don't know why people have their knickers is such a twist, if you think about it the whole situation does make the FL's flimsy checks look exactly that, flimsy.

 

Clubs owned by faceless people, often abroad so that they cannot be properly tracked etc. And our unique situation, in which our owner passed away and as such as we all think it moved directly to his estate do we actually know that for a fact ??

 

Am I Bovvered ??? No

 

I believe we are now being bankrolled by a trust fund or the family Liebherr, the one thing that annoyed me was how he made it seem underhand. A nothing statement on a nothing story really.

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watching it on +1.......what a complete let down....

most of the programme is about some bloke called Sim and how he brags about knowing Alex Ferguson

 

whoopie do

 

Indeed and it has been heavily edited. I have a feeling this will provoke some immediate reaction, like the BBC bungs programme did, but fade away after not very long at all.

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That's putting it very, very mildly.

 

It is, however, the bloke can barely read a script, so I'm keeping an open mind as to if it's just his stupidity, or it might not have been what he meant.

 

I suspect the presenter in question, I forget his name, got lumped with the job. He most likely had nothing to do with the making of the programme and was just made to front it.

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One thing that did emerge from the programme is it seems Ferguson is to the Premiership what Murdoch was to the newspaper business...... far too powerful.

 

I don't think one or two men's embellished tales of the influence SAF has can be judged as evidence of anything, to be fair. Especially so when they're effectively trading on his name to make money quickly.

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Originally Posted by Houso

So, let's get this straight. We sack Robson, and then he tries to manage us again from afar?!

No.

 

He gets his mates Lim, Sim, Chim, Kim to buy the club off Mr McDim, whilst also buying the Pigs

 

The curse of Robbo lives on, even from Thailand he's trying to **** us up

 

ahahaha

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Football is such a dodgy business and this sort of thing goes on much more than people realise. This is just like dipping your little toe into the water.

 

As was said above, Leicester is quite clearly an investment vehicle with some powerful people with ''strong'' contacts. Yakubu on loan for e.g........

 

I'd be worried if i was their fans, I much prefer the way we're run. In the long run we'll be stronger.

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I'm surprised pompey got off so lightly. I see arry got a mention in passing again, no surprises there. Does anyone really buy a club for the love of the game anymore? I hope NC and ML did. I'm choosing to believe they did. Our little mention felt like a pathetic attempt from the media to unsettle our club again.

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Let's face it, that programme was pretty feeble. Nothing earth-shattering there, just a few allegations, a few names named and denials from each of them, but nothing more. I can only see one obvious loser in this, and that's Bryan Robson. If he really has been acting as, and paid as, a Manchester United Global Ambassador (loving that title!) he won't be for much longer.

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Let's face it, that programme was pretty feeble. Nothing earth-shattering there, just a few allegations, a few names named and denials from each of them, but nothing more. I can only see one obvious loser in this, and that's Bryan Robson. If he really has been acting as, and paid as, a Manchester United Global Ambassador (loving that title!) he won't be for much longer.

 

agree....they never actually bought a club..let alone two...just captain marvel and some bloke called sim giving it the big one about knowing fergie and investing in football....that was about it...

 

poor programme

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A nothing programme, the reference to Leibherr's death was poor. They tried to make it sound like the company was registered in the name of a dead man.

 

Judging by the quality of the rest of the show it was probably just down to lack of research, nothing to get any knickers in a twist about.

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One thing the programme did highlight was how easily - and naively - ex footballers get involved in the business side. Remember Le Tiss parading himself around in front of the cameras talking about how he was looking forward to being the Chairman of the club when the 'consortium that never was' made its 'bid'. He was made to look very stupid indeed, and if he hadn't already been a legend in our eyes he would have taken a slacking.

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True but if the share holder turns out to be a company registered over seas then you are back to square one. At least DMWSL are registered here in the UK, unlike all those overseas companies which don't even give the pretence of openness. But this is all academic if your shareholders are the likes of Portpin who can hide whatever they want.

 

As an aside, I wonder if DMWSL was ML's full initials - anyone know?[/QUOTE]

 

 

 

DMWSL 613 LImited stands for Dickson Minto WS lawyers

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