According to The Telegraph, C&B Holdings have appointed Rothschild and Standard Bank "to seek new investment into the Premier League club". The report claims that Straumur are looking for a "new STRATEGIC investor" having fielded (and rejected) enquiries from a number of parties who were looking to buy the club as a going concern.
I have rehearsed the arguments here a few times. Asset strip the club "stategically" and Straumur and any joint investor will be guaranteed an excellent return on their investment. £80m for the playing staff and £40m from development of the stadium into housing or an East London retail complex will do the job very nicely thank you very much if you have no interest in football. The guys running the club have no love for football nor for the history and traditions of West Ham. Be afraid, be very afraid, because C&B Holdings are acuntants!
I hate to have to agree. Unfortunately, West Ham presents a situation where asset striping is likely to bring in more cash and a higher recovery possible for the banks in control. It is a cruel world out there and this is the sad truth of the story. No one in Iceland or anyone else in the world for that matter gives an iota whether West Ham survive. They will all take the money and run. Even if the long run prospects of investing in a historic London football club are very good, these people are not there to implement a long term turnaround plan. They are there for a limited time (a few months at most) in which to make a maximum possible recovery and salvage some of their losses. I am afraid - very afraid - that we will follow the way of Portsmouth and worse. Unless, a long term investor shows up quickly the end is near. January will be very crucial especially if our position in the League is precarious and seems to be almost "beyond repair". There are many so called investors out there (I suspect Gold and Sullivan are in this category) who although they say they love the club they are only looking to buy a "bargain" and make a quick return thereon. West Ham's survival is not a real concern to these people as long as they can get in and out making a quick return on their moneys. West Ham needs an investor who is willing to invest in its long term potential, not just to buy cheap from the Icelanders and make a quick buck on the deal.
ReplyDeleteExactly mate. I have been waving the warning flags since last April that this was on the cards. By running down the business so that future revenue streams are at risk - ie dropping out of the Premiership - Straumur make it less likely that an offer in the region of £100m for the club as a going concern will be made and therefore give themselves the excuse to liquidate the assets and realise £120m plus. If you were in their shoes and loved money and not football, what would you do?
ReplyDeleteI am loathe to agree also, but yourself & Savvakis are correct. Iceland & the U.K. Government are in a virtual economic war. Even though they did it to protect British investors, the freezing of assets has caused much bad feeling on the part of the Icelandic people. It will not be forgotten. How much sympathy will CB have when it comes to money. Very little. If no buyers are prepared to pay what they want, it's not rocket science. Iceland was an economic experiment in many ways & they invested heavily in property. The worst is yet to come. The corporate property bust. That's the biggy & it has already started in the U.S. Much of Detroit is deserted now, just to mention one. We will survive the season, but the sword of Damocles hangs over our head in my view. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7667920.stm
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8298566.stm
there's just so little if anything we can do about other than hope
ReplyDeletejust a little dark for me lads, there are plently worse teams in the league, when its christmas and we are still bottom 3 then i will listen. So we just came back from 2-0 down and even had a chance to nick it at the end.
ReplyDeleteStop with all the negativity and get behind the team, franco, steve and co