Confimred new owners of Raeding Footbal Club

[Extended-Phenotype]

A goat used to escape a hostile or dangerous situation.

[10539.4 Miles Away]

What is an 'Escapegoat'?

That'll be an old school Whoosh for you sir.

Here he is

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

What is an 'Escapegoat'?

That'll be an old school Whoosh for you sir.

Here he is

Lol, Cheers. Shall I send you an old school Dictionary?

[Norfolk Royal]

Goats were used during World War Two to help dig tunnels alongside allied prisoners of war in German camps. Their main role was to carry bags of dirt back along the tunnels to allied prisoners who would then go outside into the exercise yard and pour the dirt into their trousers, before shaking their legs to get rid of the evidence right under the noses of the goons.

It's a little known part of WW2 history but it is touched on in Brigadier Michael Angora's book: 'Goats - Their Part In My Victory.'

[Tilehurstsouthbank]

What is an 'Escapegoat'?

That'll be an old school Whoosh for you sir.

Here he is

He's not really living up to his name is he?

[andrew1957]

Fair enough, and I apologise for being dismissive of your info. But it just seems to me that the telegraph article is exceptionally onset sided, no doubt with CS as it's source, and I'm sure the club and the Thais have a very different version of events. And if it's true that Samrit hasn't got the money or is in anyway suspect then it seems like the FL are picking up on this and the takeover will collapse, and then the Americans can save the day.

In other words, it's impossible to know what's going on. And this radio silence from the club really isn't helping anyone imo.

If the Americans have more money and think they are a much better option surely we would have plumped for them, especially with the Thai problem of getting money out. But weren't we told that Vibrac had the final say? If thats the case perhaps the US option is better but Vibrac are getting a better deal for themselves only and not for RFC.

Possibly, but given Vibrac supposedly have a relationship with CS and were making things difficult for the Thais I doubt that's the case. My take is that the Americans probably do have more readily available capital, but Sir John is heavily suspicious about their motives and thus has opted for the more genuine but less rich SB. Of course that is based on nothing but intuition and reading between the lines of rumour and speculation. The proof will be in the pudding. But if the Americans are supposedly cash heavy and willing to invest then why are they still faffing around with RFC? Plenty of other clubs out there available on the cheap.

It's all become one big circus, and while I sympathise with RFC's silence on the issue I don't think they've done us any favours during this whole saga. Hopefully it's all over soon.

Have to say I agree. I think SJM definitely has the interests of the club at heart. He knows as well as anyone that after the false dawn with AZ that he will be judged by whether these new owners are the right ones of not. I might be wrong but think the US bid might well be to do with property development at Arborfield and the Mad Stad and have little to do with football. On the other hand Asians are generally obsessed with English football and "hopefully" want to buy the club for the right reasons.

Only time will tell.

[Dixeyroyal]

From what i know (and most of it is from fairly reliable sources) the deal put forward by the American consortium was thought to contain too many conditions that could ultimately put the club at risk. I am led to believe that one of the conditions put forward was that the land surrounding the ground (car park, dome etc) could be used for future development and OTHER commercial activity.

The key word here is OTHER, as the bid never actually stated what this meant, nor was it ever explained in great detail. The whole thing appears to be similar to the bid lodged by Teddi Sagi, who was at least honest enough to say that he wanted to build a shopping centre on the site of the dome and turn the jazz cafe into a lap dancing club!

The deal agreed with the Thai's was preferred because the they had no development expectations or need for OTHER commercial activity, and were happy to agree to development work being an eventual increase in ground capacity and work to accommodate any future rail links to the stadium, together with a commitment to the Academy and new training facilities at Bearwood.
The Thai's also displayed a genuine interest and passion for the game and the club itself, something seriously lacking from the Americans.

[multisync1830]

I don't understand what is making the club look such a viable proposition to Samuelson, surely he's just looking to make money and Reading historically has lost money every year.

I personally doubt is anything to do with Samuelson past an advisory role but you need to look at the bigger picture. Hotel and land is what they are likely to be more interested in rather than a soccer franchise

secondly the Americans want sjm gone asap
Thai's want him around

[multisync1830]

From what i know (and most of it is from fairly reliable sources) the deal put forward by the American consortium was thought to contain too many conditions that could ultimately put the club at risk. I am led to believe that one of the conditions put forward was that the land surrounding the ground (car park, dome etc) could be used for future development and OTHER commercial activity.

The key word here is OTHER, as the bid never actually stated what this meant, nor was it ever explained in great detail. The whole thing appears to be similar to the bid lodged by Teddi Sagi, who was at least honest enough to say that he wanted to build a shopping centre on the site of the dome and turn the jazz cafe into a lap dancing club!

The deal agreed with the Thai's was preferred because the they had no development expectations or need for OTHER commercial activity, and were happy to agree to development work being an eventual increase in ground capacity and work to accommodate any future rail links to the stadium, together with a commitment to the Academy and new training facilities at Bearwood.
The Thai's also displayed a genuine interest and passion for the game and the club itself, something seriously lacking from the Americans.

seems reasonable. Sadly the Americans are all money and no heart and the Thai's are all heart and no money

[PieEater]

The elephant not in the room though is who the other members of Samrit's consortium are.

It's OK for Phoenix to float the possibility of billionaires on their consortium but who is to say there are not billionaires in the Thai consortium.

I say there's not

[multisync1830]

can someone pm the telegraph article as it's behind a wall.

tia

[Royal Lady]

Goats were used during World War Two to help dig tunnels alongside allied prisoners of war in German camps. Their main role was to carry bags of dirt back along the tunnels to allied prisoners who would then go outside into the exercise yard and pour the dirt into their trousers, before shaking their legs to get rid of the evidence right under the noses of the goons.

It's a little known part of WW2 history but it is touched on in Brigadier Michael Angora's book: 'Goats - Their Part In My Victory.'

Fantastic!!

[Pepe the Horseman]

can someone pm the telegraph article as it's behind a wall.

tia

One of the nicknames for Reading FC – the Mad Stad, after the football club’s Madejski Stadium – has never seemed so apt.

After digging into the manoeuvrings behind chairman Sir John Madejski’s ongoing attempts to sell the Championship team, Diary can reveal there is a second bidder in the frame alongside frontrunner Samrit Bunditkitsada, the mysterious Thai billionaire.

Reading’s latest would-be owner is an investment partnership of American billionaires, who are bemused that their takeover offer – £5m equity, £14m for the Millennium Madejski Hotel, and £20m to pay off the football team’s debts – has been relegated in favour of the Asian bid.

Diary sees their point. According to a source close to the negotiations, the US bidders were promised exclusivity to close their deal with BTG Financial Consulting, the recovery company handling the club’s sale, if the Thai consortium hadn’t transferred its full takeover funds to a UK bank by 5pm last Wednesday.

Diary understands Mr Bunditkitsada is still finalising the financing for his £26m takeover, after providing a £500,000 non-refundable deposit on signing a sale and purchase agreement last Thursday.

[multisync1830]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/citydiary/10981418/City-Diary-US-billionaires-bemused-by-bid-relegation-for-Reading-FC.html

Along the exact lines of what I had heard previously, hence my earlier comments.

You are %100 the DB's. Certain posters her owe you an apology. I for one thank you for your willingness to suffer the slings and arrows of outragous knobheads

[Pepe the Horseman]

Come again?

[Extended-Phenotype]

I like the way percent is now a currency.

[ZacNaloen]

Look, random foreign guy on twitter says that article is total bullshite.

Alright.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I love that random foreign guy on twitter. Think he's got a 100% hit r8.

[Ian Royal]

can someone pm the telegraph article as it's behind a wall.

tia

One of the nicknames for Reading FC – the Mad Stad, after the football club’s Madejski Stadium – has never seemed so apt.

After digging into the manoeuvrings behind chairman Sir John Madejski’s ongoing attempts to sell the Championship team, Diary can reveal there is a second bidder in the frame alongside frontrunner Samrit Bunditkitsada, the mysterious Thai billionaire.

Reading’s latest would-be owner is an investment partnership of American billionaires, who are bemused that their takeover offer – £5m equity, £14m for the Millennium Madejski Hotel, and £20m to pay off the football team’s debts – has been relegated in favour of the Asian bid.

Diary sees their point. According to a source close to the negotiations, the US bidders were promised exclusivity to close their deal with BTG Financial Consulting, the recovery company handling the club’s sale, if the Thai consortium hadn’t transferred its full takeover funds to a UK bank by 5pm last Wednesday.

Diary understands Mr Bunditkitsada is still finalising the financing for his £26m takeover, after providing a £500,000 non-refundable deposit on signing a sale and purchase agreement last Thursday.

'The Mad Stad' is not a nickname of Reading FC. It's the nickname of our stadium.

Frankly, if they can't get the opening shot of your article right, which is easy for anyone with a clue about the club, it calls into question the validity of everything else in the article, because clearly the most basic of research has not been done.

[El Diablo]

From what i know (and most of it is from fairly reliable sources) the deal put forward by the American consortium was thought to contain too many conditions that could ultimately put the club at risk. I am led to believe that one of the conditions put forward was that the land surrounding the ground (car park, dome etc) could be used for future development and OTHER commercial activity.

The key word here is OTHER, as the bid never actually stated what this meant, nor was it ever explained in great detail. The whole thing appears to be similar to the bid lodged by Teddi Sagi, who was at least honest enough to say that he wanted to build a shopping centre on the site of the dome and turn the jazz cafe into a lap dancing club!

The deal agreed with the Thai's was preferred because the they had no development expectations or need for OTHER commercial activity, and were happy to agree to development work being an eventual increase in ground capacity and work to accommodate any future rail links to the stadium, together with a commitment to the Academy and new training facilities at Bearwood.
The Thai's also displayed a genuine interest and passion for the game and the club itself, something seriously lacking from the Americans.

seems reasonable. Sadly the Americans are all money and no heart and the Thai's are all heart and no money

Thai's are all heart and no money - Explain this please ( No Money)