Ok, there’s nothing else to talk about with regards to the Villa, so I suppose we might as well go with the latest takeover rumour that has come from Neil Moxley at the Sunday People.
I’m quite surprised by this one to be honest, as Moxley is generally a decent reporter and his piece actually suggests that the American pair of billionaires have been having discussions for weeks.
How Moxley knows this, is beyond me, unless it’s been deliberately leaked to him; something that I can’t see having come from anyone on Villa’s side of the deal.
So the only other possibility is that it’s come from someone on the buying side’s party. Something that strikes me that Randy Lerner wouldn’t particularly like, as we all know he likes to do his business privately; something I actually really like about him.
So, to say I’m cynical about the whole thing is an understatement. But let’s go with it, eh?
Joshua Harris is apparently an ex wrestler with a very decent amount of poke behind him (around $2.7 billion), who went on to found an investment company, Apollo Global Management.
He has form, in having bought out an NBA and NHL franchise, for a combined $700 mill.
David Blitzer it seems, is more a pure money person, with a background in investments at the Blackstone group. I’m not seeing any sporting background on his part, other than he was involved with Harris, with at least one of the previous mentioned franchises.
Which is the part that makes all of this story a bit dubious to me.
Is buying a Premier league club a good investment?
I’d suggest not, especially with the money that’s involved these days.
I’ve seen arguments that we might be able to at least challenge for the top four with £75 million invested in the first team.
I’d suggest that’s total pie in the sky, myself, as we’d need quality, highly paid players all over the pitch, with expensive back-up sitting on their backsides on the bench.
And we all know what many think of that when MON tried it; a total waste of money, which has put the club in the position it’s in today.
It’s not specifically an opinion I agree with.
My opinion says that if you want to really challenge, you have to waste money in this way. It’s the way it is, as much as I dislike it.
So basically we need a fairy godmother, who’s willing to seriously splash the cash.
Which is why these American money people quite frankly scare me.
Randy Lerner was a bit of a one-off, in my opinion, in that he was born into money, so never really had to make it on his own. Hence, he was probably more willing to lose some money, knowing that he’d owned a Premier league club. More of a status thing, where the money was secondary, if you like.
I don’t see Harris and Blitzer having the same mindset at all.
And it could indeed be a case of Donner und Blitzen. Or loosely translated, Thunder and Lightning.
