David Sullivan: licking his lips at the prospect of owning another EPL club
Ex-Birmingham City owners David Sullivan and David Gold have that ownership itch once more; after selling their stakes in Brum to Carson Yeung, it appears that they’re ready to get right back in the game with a bid for West Ham United. Their offer, submitted to Rothschild (the bank appointed by Icelandic creditors to find new owners), is around 42m pounds, and outlines two proposals.
The first would see the duo buying the club outright, while the other would see them buy a 50% stake and guarantee funds for new players. In the second scenario, Sully and Gold would cough up 21m for their 50%, with another 21m to work out the short-term debt and strengthen the squad in January.
Any way you slice it, this has to be good business for the Hammers, who are floundering in the wake of the Icelandic banking collapse. CB Holdings, the company formed by creditors and headed by Straumur, were assuredly hoping for more interest and a bigger offer in the region of 80m, but with the amount of debts owed by the club — 49m to several banks, 19m to Sheffield United over five years after that Tevez mess, and another 15m to cover transfer fee installments that haven’t yet been paid — Sullivan and Gold represent the best offer they could hope to get. The mere fact that the club’s been “on the market” since October and only the Midlands pair has come in with a proposal would confirm that grim truth.
So let the gamesmanship begin; current chairman Andrew Bernhardt assures that the club is in no hurry to sell, while Gold and Sullivan almost certainly have other targets in mind for their mega-millions. Which side will blink first? If Zola has anything to say about it, he’ll have a word with Bernhardt to make sure there’s money in the bank come January 1st.
I’m not sure another shakeup is what we need right now. But the money wouldn’t hurt. In my opinion, this is a mid-table squad that is under performing. If they sort it out, we don’t need to buy in January. Maybe another striker and a center back to replace those that we (asininely) sold in August.
I was thinking about it this morning, Hadley, and I’m on the fence. Shake-ups are never good, especially when they come in waves, but honestly, CB Holdings is gonna sell to whoever comes along and makes a competent bid because the debts are high and they want to try and recoup some of their money. You could do a lot worse than these two.
Maybe, with that in mind, the latter option is good. Give ‘em half and let them put 20m in the bank for players and paying down debts.
Yeah, money is never a bad thing in the Premier League. Especially money from people who have stable money and who know how to run a football club (presumably). I’d rather these two or the American guy than someone who will try to turn us into Man City or something. I don’t know if I could handle West Ham actually winning things. The 1980 FA Cup and the wonderful, heartbreaking 2006 final were quite enough.
Well, that is all well and good and sentimental until an oil tycoon buys us. Then I will probably sing a different tune.
The Bongo Hammers has a nice ring to it. Somehow a p0rn peddler just seems suited to east Laaaandon.