Has Lerner put the club up for sale?

Geoffery Paine has just submitted the following comment. Of course, it’s far too short to use as an article, but it’s a good subject, so I’ll expand on it;

“I’ve just heard that Lerner has said that as the fans want him to go and he doesn’t think he can take the club any further he is putting Aston Villa FC up for sale.
He wants £250 million. What do you guys think about that?”

Apparently, this rumour first came about from a couple of apparently confirmed “in the knows” on VillaTalk.
I haven’t read the actual comments and don’t know the ITKs history, so can’t really comment on what I think of their accuracy.

But I can give my opinion.

First off, the rumour is not new and the price being mentioned is extremely similar to what I heard at least a year ago, probably nearer eighteen months back and maybe two years or more.
The rumour, as rumours tend to do, has got round fast though. I read mention of it on another Villa site and it was mentioned here earlier.

The question that springs to my mind, is how has this rumour come about?
Who at the club would be privvy to such information?
Faulkner, of course and maybe the club’s Lawyer(s), but that’s about it.
Would any of these go spouting their mouths off? I seriously doubt it.
I very much doubt even Lambert would know. Not until any deal is close to being sealed anyway.

Another thought that occurred to me was, was this conversation with whoever heard it done over the phone or a video call?
As to my knowledge, Lerner hasn’t even been in the country for ages.
That’s ok though, as someone mentioned earlier on here that they’d heard Lerner was coming into the country, but wasn’t going to the game.
Another rumour to back up the original one? I’d suggest so, myself.

Then, there’s the price.
£250 million? Who on earth in their right mind would pay that?
Even a multi Billionaire Oil Baron or Russian Oligarch would baulk at that price, as the truth is we’re nowhere near worth that.
Lerner’s put plenty of money in, granted, but if my memory serves me correctly, didn’t he pay something like £69 million to buy out Ellis?
He also had to buy out the rest of the shareholders, he spent on the Holte pub and continued the revamp of Bodymoor Heath. Say another £20 million at most there.
For roundness, call it £90 million.

Then we have to look at what he’s laid out for players as opposed to what he’s got back and who has a clue when it comes to that?
I’m no expert when it comes to accounts, but I do know the figures can easily be made to look exactly like you want them too, at least over the short term, as long as you don’t break any laws and things add up over time.
Put it this way, I’ve read Accountant Villa fans give their opinions and the truth is, even professionals are as confused as the rest of us.

I read another comment elsewhere that the club is still £50 mill in debt to Lerner.
I’d suggest that’s reasonable, but it’s being paid down fairly sharpish, in my opinion.

And then we have to look at Assets.
Villa park and the Holte pub are worth whatever you can get for them.
No disrespect to Aston, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a desirable area, where you’d want to build a Hotel and shopping complex or whatever. So you’d basically be paying for what VP is; An iconic Premier league ground. I suppose you can’t put a price on that, can you?
Then we have Bodymoor and a pure guess says £10 mill.

We have a chunk of land left that last I heard was worth £25 mill.

And then we have the players. God only knows what they’re worth, but once you take Benteke, Guzan and maybe Gabby out of the equation, I wouldn’t think it’s much at the moment.

I’ll leave you to speculate on what we’re actually worth.

Then of course, on top of the quoted £250 mill, if you were serious, you’d have to pump £50 mill in straight away.

So that’s £300 mill.

I don’t know if this rumour is true or not, but the only conclusion I can draw is that even if it is true, it simply isn’t going to happen, as we’re just not worth it.

So to answer the question posed above, I think it’s utter rubbish.