Roy Of The Roasters

Interesting article (and good photo of the ground). You may need to zoom in...... One of the things that caught my eye is some info on shortlisted bidders: - John McEvoy (shareholder in both an NHL Ice Hockey team and Major League Baseball side - An un-named American group "with vast amounts of money they are willing to invest....." - Anders Holch Povleson (Danish Billionaire and owner of clothing firm Asos) - Un-named Dubai based businessman - And, of course, Ashley (apparently bidding £20mm which is not reckoned to be sufficient). All the above are said to have "substantial wealth". The sale process has apparently been delayed a few weeks, but for good reasons; the number of credible bidders requires more due diligence than had been expected. One fly in the ointment is that some of the bidders are said to have cooled their interest, a) because the asking price has apparently crept upwards, possibly to up to £40mm, and b) because they're not happy about potentially paying off Chansiri in order to avoid a 15 point deduction next season. In terms of the actual investment needed, it's estimated that the new owner will need to cough up £100mm in the short term. This figure includes not just the club and the ground, but refurb costs for the stadium and a virtually completely new squad. (One analysis of the squad suggests that with a few exceptions the squad is of non-league or L2 standard).

Maybe stating the obvious, but it depends who the other bidders are, what they're bidding and what their plans are. If Ashley were the only alternative to Chancers reign of destruction then I'd drive him to Hillsborough myself. But equally he comes with a bit of a reputation, so I'd like to see what other options are on the table.

I hope the administrators will not automatically choose the highest bid, but rather look at a bidder that a) has an actual plan for the club, and b) whose finances are sound and secure in the long term. Last thing we want is another rich boy who blows it all in the first few seasons then struggles to pay the bills.

It's a starting XI of Championship players who would normally be warming the bench or sent out on loan to a L2 side.

I don't know why, but somehow I've got this image of an inflatable pig floating over that lot......

If there's one thing that makes me happier than seeing Curacao at the World Cup, it's learning that their manager is called D**k Advocaat........

He's wee, he's sound, he's worth ten million pounds........

I'm assuming that includes the years Rangers were climbing back up through the leagues. Greatest of respect, but for a team with their resources getting 3 points pretty much every game in Scottish L2 and L1 should be a given.

I hope he does well. But if he's smart he'll know when to move on and not outstay his welcome.

That and the fact that with a clean sheet financially, well capitalised owners, and management who actually know how to run a football club on and off the field, we could potentially be so far ahead of them that the wider world won't even notice them any more. They're a seriously worried bunch right now.

Of course, if there is one thing you can always be sure of, it's that we'll roll over for a team on an even worse run than ourselves.....

The way things are going he might welcome it. He gets another pay-off and doesn't have to carry the can.

Right now, every point feels like a win.

He does have other businesses. And no, I understand they are not particularly successful. And I think, fundamentally, that's the problem. He is not poor as you or I would understand it, but he has a cashflow problem. He is (or was) reliant on revenue from other business interests to prop us up. And that revenue is no longer reliable; it's not turning up where and when he needs it. I'm sure he still has enough personal wealth through his family business to enjoy a lifestyle way beyond our expectations though. But the loss of face must hurt. I'm sure the business community in Thailand are well aware of his failings.

It certainly puts things into perspective. Chumpsiri has obviously lost sh*tloads on us. Yet he'll still walk away with millions. He'll just pick up the pieces and carry on with his life.

Yeah. A mere £ 15 million. That'll teach him.....

They'll be the ones offering the equivalent of £50MM in bog-paper.....

Or thought (as hinted at in other threads) that he could just make it go away with a few words in the right ears.

I do find it odd how he gave the club up almost overnight having tried to hang onto it way beyond any possibility of turning things around. Maybe he genuinely didn't understand the peril he was in?

They must be a pretty insecure bunch if they're losing sleep over a rival with no owner, negative points, bottom of the league, a makeshift team, one win all season and heading for relegation.

I'm still not voting for him......

Exactly that. And he enjoyed playing up to the role. The trouble with him as our manager is that he polarised opinion. He would have been hugely divisive and some of us would never have let him off the hook for his previous affiliation and occasional off the cuff comments. I suppose in his way he was an honest enough bloke who enjoyed the rivalry but could keep it in perspective and wasn't afraid to give us credit when it was due. It's a shame the current incumbent across the city can't see things that way.

Well, we've already got an 'oven ready' kit.... If they buy a Season Ticket.....

I think there was an element of 'perhaps he's finally learned from his mistakes'. Combine that with a famous promotion campaign in 2022 / 23, the appointment of bright young manager and a dramatic survival the following season, and a 2024 / 25 season which started full of promise and you can maybe understand why we didn't have the appetite to rock the boat. In answer to what changed, I think Chansiri's periodic cash flow issues, which up to that point had merely been an embarrassment and inconvenience, became the new normal round about March this year and at that point the wheels started to come off one by one and by season end it had become clear that we were in serious trouble. Then the best players were allowed to walk, the coaching staff left when their contracts expired, and our totemic manager finally lost patience and negotiated his own departure. Come the beginning of the new season, with the club struggling to even fulfil it's opening fixture, I think even the most optimistic Owls fan realised that enough was enough.

And yet some managers do actually find it difficult. Just ask Russell Martin.