Here’s a good news story for us, even if it’s the usual load of baloney that comes out of the papers.
Basically one of Microsoft’s co-founders is interested in buying the club;
Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft along with Bill Gates and as you’d guess, he’s worth a load of money.
$17 billion apparently or £11.22 billion in proper money.
While I’d absolutely love this to be true, you have to question it, if Tom Fox’s spiel not long ago saying that Randy Lerner is revitalised and keen for us to push on, is supposed to be true.
My opinion is that if Lerner was indeed revitalised, he’d have put his hand in his pocket and we would be signing at least a couple of decent proven players in this window.
Given that there’s no sign of this happening and indeed Lambert has said we can’t even afford Scott Sinclair, I think Tom Fox was talking rubbish.
So, if that’s the case, a sale is probably still on the cards at the right sort of price.
I’ve noticed a fair bit of debate on here recently about financial fair play and why it would be pointless for an owner to buy the club and pile a load of money in.
My take is that we all know there are ways around this, Manchester City’s stupidly massive sponsorship being the classic example.
Even then, what exactly is the punishment if you break the rules?
I believe you get banned from European competitions.
I’m playing Devil’s advocate here, but would that really be so bad?
Just think; a team that wins the league, but is banned from Europe would surely have a better chance of winning the title next season, wouldn’t it?
I suppose it depends on how important you think the Champions league is, but I’d be quite happy to be challenging for the title and put the CL on the back burner. Then when you’ve got a decent team, you start to comply and eventually get allowed into Europe.
The point is, you build a really good base to work from, with a top quality squad and all the best prospects in the academy.
All that said, it’s probably a fanciful notion and I’m sure you’ll tell me why.
Paul Allen buying the club is probably also a pie in the sky idea, but I’d so much love it to be true.
And even though I’ve previously said I don’t want Villa Park renamed, I think I could actually just about live with “Microsoft Villa Park”. Not that I’d expect Microsoft need to advertise in football.
