The Takeover Thread - Duchatelet Finally Sells (Jan 2020)

Goonerhater said:

Today,Thursday,last week.Last month, few months back----its just Ground Hog bollox

Chizz said:

Who holds the cards right now?

If this is a poker game, who has the best hand?

RD owns the club and can therefore call all the tunes. He doesn't *have* to sell, but it's pretty clear that he wants to, and to do so as soon as he can. But he can carry the loss of continued ownership if he really needs to.

The Aussies are diligent, loaded (inasmuch as they have very wealthy individuals within their consortium) and have committed significant time and money into the venture. There's no sign - yet - that they are going to walk away. But, of course, they could, at any time.

The mysterious British consortium (in the style of the Apprentice, I will give them a suitable name: "Figment") seems to have turned RD's (and Murray's) eye. Which indicates that they probably have means of rustling up enough dough. "Enough", but maybe not as much as the Aussies - otherwise, I would assume that RD would bite their fabricated hands off. So, maybe Team Figment have enough dough only to bale out RD if the Aussies' bid fails, collapses or is withdrawn.

It seems to me that the Aussies can muster up sufficient dough, otherwise they are wasting everyone's - most importantly their own - time. So why haven't they closed the deal yet? I think there might be two reasons. First, they may still be shuffling the pack (to extend the analogy) within their consortium, to ensure they have sufficient contributors to the consortium to show enough funding, but that each contributor is ranked within the consortium so as not to fall foul of the EFL checklist. They may be simply ensuring that any individual contributing to the pool of funding who would otherwise be disbarred by (for example) being in a controlling position at another football club is shown to be "merely" a silent investor within the Aussies' consortium and not controlling the direction of the consortium. Put bluntly, they may be finding a different role for Keith Harris that allows him (within EFL's rules) to be a shareholder, but not as a primary investor.

The second reason they might not yet have closed the deal is that RD is acting intolerably. I have no evidence that this might be the case. But it seems that every action he has taken in the four and a half years at Charlton gives rise to the suspicion that he acts in a way that's suboptimal to the benefit of the club. (Yes, I am being kind). So has he agreed a fee? Yes, it appears so. Has he then moved the goalposts? Yes - two centre backs have been sold this month. Is he working diligently for the benefit of the club? No - Charlton still has no permanent management team, no Chief Exec and no Chief Finance Officer, season ticket sales appear to be down yet again and, although a pre-season tour has been arranged, I can only hope the opposition are both lined up (as we won't be able to field an internal Xi v XI match) and not very good (because we won't be either). All this points to someone wanting to ensure he's no longer owner of the club, very soon.

The British consortium - Team Figment - is an unknown quantity. But I will have a few guesses. I think Murray might have some involvement. If so, that would mean three things. First, he will have other investors involved - I don't think he has enough money to complete the investment on his own; and if he did, I don't think he'd want to. Second he would have access to a lot of Charlton people, with whom he could surround himself - Peacock and Curbishley being the most obvious names. And third, he would have unprecedented knowledge of the infrastructure, contractual positions and background of the club. So a Murray-involved consortium would be in a very quick position to close a deal, as DD would be swift, he either has or doesn't have sufficient funding (binary!) and he would be able to garner support from some (if not most) fans, by surrounding himself with proper Charlton people. Moreover, he would be able to construct a deal without the ground and training ground, if that was necessary, as he has intimate knowledge of the costs and benefits of ownership.

So, who holds the cards? I think they all have good hands, at least in terms of serving their own purposes. The Aussies are still in prime position, as long as their ducks (Orville reference) are in line. Team Figment can step in if the Aussies' hand isn't strong enough. And RD can pull the plug, in the style of someone trying to rob a bank with a gun to his own head and shouting "give me all your money or this idiot gets it".

RD fails if he plays his own hand. Team Figment can only play their hand if the Aussies pass. And team Aussie still have some bluffing to complete.

So what do I think? Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

ShootersHillGuru said:

My source says the “other” lot are South American and they have moved ahead of the Aussies.

PeterGage said:

ShootersHillGuru said:

My source says the “other” lot are South American and they have moved ahead of the Aussies.

Galapagos Islands Consortium :-)

magic1999 said:

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Dazzler21 said:

magic1999 said:

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Why did "the quick brown fox jump over 13 lazy fox?"

ShootersHillGuru said:

My source says the “other” lot are South American and they have moved ahead of the Aussies.

SoundAsa£ said:

PeterGage said:

ShootersHillGuru said:

My source says the “other” lot are South American and they have moved ahead of the Aussies.

Galapagos Islands Consortium :-)

I’ve heard they are a consortium from The Falklands....known locally as The Falklands 6.