EXCLUSIVE: US tycoons in Norwich City investment talks

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

14 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

Hmmm. Doesn’t look quite right, does it. I will have my staff in tomorrow to see if I missed out a zero…

It seems my figures were, er; not exactly well calculated. In Boris Johnson style I have therefore taken full responsibility by sacking my staff.

[Big Vince 318]

1 hour ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

Only a fool would denigrate Smith's input into the club when the club is in an infinitely better state now than it was at the start of her tenure. 

Nonsense. She has six relegations on her CV.

[Trevor Hockey's Beard 526]

2 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

It seems my figures were, er; not exactly well calculated. In Boris Johnson style I have therefore taken full responsibility by sacking my staff.

Operation Save Big Purple Dog.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,543]

4 minutes ago, Big Vince said:

Nonsense. She has six relegations on her CV.

She has as many promotions on her CV, plus a massive growth in the club's market value during her tenure. 

[Big Vince 318]

Just now, littleyellowbirdie said:

She has as many promotions on her CV, plus a massive growth in the club's market value during her tenure. 

Promotions count for nothing if you are immediately despatched to where you came from. Market value of the shares only benefits her not the club. Still self funding and needing to sell players every year to carry on operations.

[BurwellCanary 216]

24 minutes ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

Soto and Sargent 😂

Fair point - there must be others though?

[hogesar 9,658]

2 minutes ago, Big Vince said:

Promotions count for nothing if you are immediately despatched to where you came from. Market value of the shares only benefits her not the club. Still self funding and needing to sell players every year to carry on operations.

Why not peddle some more of your Delia socialist / train set / ignores investors BS just so I can laugh at you yet again?

[Ken Hairy 3,771]

2 hours ago, Monty13 said:

Thanks Badger wasn’t aware club had officially commented. That does make this all seem very odd then.

They haven't. ITV claiming an club source, and the club officially commenting are two very different things. 

[hogesar 9,658]

34 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

She has benefitted more by not selling though as the price of football clubs and the amount of money in football has increased by loads year on year.

She's been a good owner and I believe she loves the club but it is not a misrepresentation to say she has profited enormously by being the owner for the past 25 years. Even an emotionally invested old socialist (as some on here like to call her) isn't as wet behind the ears as you'd like to think to know that keeping hold of an asset in an industry that keeps going up makes financial sense.

Continues to ignore that she wouldn't have known the value of the club would rise as our finances have meant we could have easily not been promoted once in the past 10 years and we've been in difficult financial situations too.

It also ignores her age and lack of family meaning her chance to enjoy all these hundreds of millions...

[littleyellowbirdie 2,543]

6 minutes ago, Big Vince said:

Promotions count for nothing if you are immediately despatched to where you came from. Market value of the shares only benefits her not the club. Still self funding and needing to sell players every year to carry on operations.

Actually, each and every one of them has been hundreds of millions of pounds that have gone back into developing the club,keeping it away from receivership, and strengthening the squad so we've achieved promotion back to the Premier League more and more frequently. Easy for nobodies like you to dismiss that from the sidelines. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by littleyellowbirdie

[Newtopia 517]

1 hour ago, Tetteys Jig said:

It’s absolutely ideal really. The only thing else you’d want from an owner that Delia and Michael don’t have is money and sporting strategy expertise and this yank lad ticks both them boxes perfectly.

Definitely I also want an absolute guarantee the club will not be exposed to bankruptcy if it all goes wrong.  With Mickael and Delia I think they always knew the club was more important than they were, and the club needed to be around in perpetuity 

[lake district canary 4,531]

24 minutes ago, Big Vince said:

2 hours ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

Only a fool would denigrate Smith's input into the club when the club is in an infinitely better state now than it was at the start of her tenure. 

Nonsense. She has six relegations on her CV.

Ah, the glass is half empty factor, when taking everything into account and in terms of development, the club is unrecogniseable from the almost bankrupt and ailing club she took over. 

Poor old Vince, if only her surname had been Chase.......

[Monty13 2,231]

37 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

Monty, as well as that, the EDP has said it understands the investment will be through the purchase of shares. Hence the apparent contradiction!

I hope it goes ahead because I can’t wait to understand how this is going to work.

In my head for all these things to be true there’s only a few possible outcomes:

1) They will buyout existing shares.

2) And/or a small amount of new shares.

3) They will buy new shares and D&M will also to maintain majority.

4) They will buy new shares but existing shareholders will be given new shares to balance out.

1-2 are deeply unexciting and don’t sound like investment.

3 just seems incredibly unlikely or a small investment.

4…is a minefield.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing but I’m definitely in the camp that doesn’t understand how investment comes in and D&M maintain their majority.

[king canary 7,604]

4 minutes ago, Monty13 said:

I hope it goes ahead because I can’t wait to understand how this is going to work.

In my head for all these things to be true there’s only a few possible outcomes:

1) They will buyout existing shares.

2) And/or a small amount of new shares.

3) They will buy new shares and D&M will also to maintain majority.

4) They will buy new shares but existing shareholders will be given new shares to balance out.

1-2 are deeply unexciting and don’t sound like investment.

3 just seems incredibly unlikely or a small investment.

4…is a minefield.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing but I’m definitely in the camp that doesn’t understand how investment comes in and D&M maintain their majority.

Yeah it is very confusing.

The only other thing I can think is that the reports have gotten confused between staying majority shareholders and staying the largest shareholders.

[Monty13 2,231]

26 minutes ago, Ken Hairy said:

They haven't. ITV claiming an club source, and the club officially commenting are two very different things. 

Journalists reach out to organisations and individuals for comment. There’s no way ITV would state what they did unless they had spoken to a club source, that’s just not how reputable journalists work.

It’s not like the club have to make an official statement from one of their platforns for something to be “official”. Otherwise ITV are lying which is highly unlikely something they would do, possibly mistaken but again unlikely.

[Monty13 2,231]

1 minute ago, king canary said:

Yeah it is very confusing.

The only other thing I can think is that the reports have gotten confused between staying majority shareholders and staying the largest shareholders.

That was my assumption. I presume they will stay the largest but not majority, can’t see any other scenario where serious investment happens. That said the ITV report is the one that claims an official source denying they will lose majority.

[Ken Hairy 3,771]

18 minutes ago, Monty13 said:

Journalists reach out to organisations and individuals for comment. There’s no way ITV would state what they did unless they had spoken to a club source, that’s just not how reputable journalists work.

It’s not like the club have to make an official statement from one of their platforns for something to be “official”. Otherwise ITV are lying which is highly unlikely something they would do, possibly mistaken but again unlikely.

Not disputing that, but it's still not official. Media make false/mistaken claims every single day. 

Until the club ACTUALLY makes a statement its not official, like I said. 

[littleyellowbirdie 2,543]

1 hour ago, Monty13 said:

I hope it goes ahead because I can’t wait to understand how this is going to work.

In my head for all these things to be true there’s only a few possible outcomes:

1) They will buyout existing shares.

2) And/or a small amount of new shares.

3) They will buy new shares and D&M will also to maintain majority.

4) They will buy new shares but existing shareholders will be given new shares to balance out.

1-2 are deeply unexciting and don’t sound like investment.

3 just seems incredibly unlikely or a small investment.

4…is a minefield.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing but I’m definitely in the camp that doesn’t understand how investment comes in and D&M maintain their majority.

It's not as complicated as that when you reflect on the fact that the only purpose of bringing in a new stakeholder is to inject capital into the club to give it a better chance of competing at Premier League level. With that in mind, and given what ITV News has stated that he'll finish up a minority stakeholder it's practically a certainty that new shares are being created reflecting the current market value of the club and how much capital Atonassio wishes to put in. 

Doing it this way means that all of the money is available to the club without falling foul of FFP rules. 

From his perspective, the potential losses will not be huge given the club will still have capital value that he'll have an equity stake in and the potential rewards will be very high in that, if his money makes the difference between Norwich establishing itself in the Premier League, then he'll be in a prime position to move into a position of majority stakeholder down the line for a lot less money than simply buying a Premier League club.

Speculating a bit further, if this is what's happening then it raises a question of whether we're going to be a bit more ambitious than just trying to put together a Championship-winning squad this year and look to put together a Championship-winning squad that can be refined into a competitive Premier League squad without wholesale change. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by littleyellowbirdie

[Mello Yello 2,289]

2 hours ago, Trevor Hockey's Beard said:

When Banham Poultry went toes up Michael Foulger kept the farms, some for himself and some in trust for the family.

I have heard a rumour that Michael's farms have gone bust - which might be possible given the current cost of feed - so his shares could be available.

I don't suspect there's any fowl play and hopefully nobody's going in front of a beak....

....and did he sell them for a poultry sum?....

Edited May 29, 2022 by Mello Yello

[Nora's Ghost 157]

2 hours ago, CanaryCuddles said:

Not necessarily. I would however say that only a fool would invest in the club without proper corporate governance being put in place as a prerequisite. Also I assume they would require the right to appoint a representative to the board.

They will want full control in exchange for their investment and Smith will never let go of her 'final word'.

 

It's a non starter and why no-one else has taken the club on.

[Nora's Ghost 157]

3 hours ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

Only a fool would denigrate Smith's input into the club when the club is in an infinitely better state now than it was at the start of her tenure. 

I suspect you weren't even out of nappies back then.

 

Relying on hearsay for your knowledge is very unreliable.

[littleyellowbirdie 2,543]

14 minutes ago, Nora's Ghost said:

I suspect you weren't even out of nappies back then.

 

Relying on hearsay for your knowledge is very unreliable.

 

17 minutes ago, Nora's Ghost said:

They will want full control in exchange for their investment and Smith will never let go of her 'final word'.

 

It's a non starter and why no-one else has taken the club on.

Criticising a theory because it's based on a comment allegedly from within the club, not to mention reported by a reputable outlet, and then going on to make categoric statements of what will happen with absolutely nothing to back it up amuses me somewhat. 

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by littleyellowbirdie

[ricardo 7,384]

11 minutes ago, Mello Yello said:

I don't suspect there's any fowl play and hopefully nobody's going in front of a beak....

Will he sell them on higher perches.

[Mello Yello 2,289]

Just now, ricardo said:

Will he sell them on higher perches.

It was just a yolk....nothing to get eggcited about....

[hogesar 9,658]

3 minutes ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

 

Criticising a theory based on a anyonymous comment claimed to be from within the club from a reputable outlet, and then going on to make categoric statements of what will happen with absolutely nothing to back it up amuses me somewhat. 

 

Not only is Nora an Ipswich fan, he's a really thick one too.

[ged in the onion bag 855]

From Milwaukee!    HAPPY DAYS!  

[Badger 2,405]

1 hour ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

it's now in the region of 150 million, making it 300% growth over 14 years, which amounts to 8% growth per year on average. 

His return, would also presuppose he didn't invest any more in the club.

He could have made a similar, but safer, return in the stock market with dividends reinvested - not as much fun though 😉

 

[Badger 2,405]

1 hour ago, Dr Greenthumb said:

I never knew that, just reading up on their status. They’ve turned it round nicely!

Yes, I think that they could do well if they are sensibly managed with no stupid rush for quick promotion. In times eir natural advantages should see them as an established EPL team.

[TIL 1010 4,738]

2 hours ago, Monty13 said:

“However, the Canaries have stressed that any investment would not lead to a change in the status of Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones as joint majority shareholders.”

That seems a pretty official comment to me. You don’t “stress” something if you don’t want to say anything. I’m pretty sure the clubs PR team aren’t that cr@p.

Any official statement the club issue on matters is put on the club website and there is nothing there. This ' quote ' is from an ITV article and should be treated with a degree of caution as only a fool would say such a thing in the middle of what are surely protracted and delicate let alone confidential talks surrounding the future of our club.

@Diane

[TIL 1010 4,738]

15 minutes ago, Mello Yello said:

It was just a yolk....nothing to get eggcited about....

We shell just have to wait and see.