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Old Shuck

Investment and Cardiff City: Interesting!

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Have been reading about the state Cardiff City & the way Peter Ridsdale (of all people!) managed to get them out of the financial mire, threat of administration and lack of direction and leadership the club had as a consequence in 2005.They were £30 Million in debt and owed £1.7 Million to the Inland Revenue-who were demanding payment immediately and in full.Ridsdale had numerous meetings with potential investors but he writes, no-one but no-one, was interested in putting any money into the club until there was a change of control there-in otherwords, their version of Delia (Sam Hammam) had to go.No change=no investment.Hamamm didn''t want to let his ownership go, but, eventully, knowing it was the only way forward, agreed himself at an EGM to vote for a change of control-voting, in effect, himself out.At this meeting, it was agreed to dilute the shares that he held , so his shareholding in the club went from 82% to less than 4%. Investors immediately made good their promise with multi-million pound cash injections that saved the club and gave them a firm financial footing from which to operate from. Their steady climb back to becoming one  of the top six-eight clubs in the CCC on a regular basis has come about as a result of Hamamm handing over control, knowing that by clinging on to power, the money would never have come in and the club would, at best, floundered, been relegated and have a very uncertain future.As many have pointed out on here, Delia''s grim determination to hold on here and hope for, what can only be regarded as "free money", to maintain the present status quo, is what is holding us back, and I wonder if, should she ever look to "step back" in the way Hamamm did at Cardiff, we might not secure similar interest and new investment ourselves?

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God post OS...there''s no such thing as ''free money'' particularly in these times. There has got to be a ''something in it for me'' consideration with potential new investors, and with Delia Wyn double still very much in control there wont be anything of significance left for the sort of money we need to attract.

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[quote user="Old Shuck"]
Have been reading about the state Cardiff City & the way Peter Ridsdale (of all people!) managed to get them out of the financial mire, threat of administration and lack of direction and leadership the club had as a consequence in 2005.

They were £30 Million in debt and owed £1.7 Million to the Inland Revenue-who were demanding payment immediately and in full.
Ridsdale had numerous meetings with potential investors but he writes, no-one but no-one, was interested in putting any money into the club until there was a change of control there-in otherwords, their version of Delia (Sam Hammam) had to go.

No change=no investment.

Hamamm didn''t want to let his ownership go, but, eventully, knowing it was the only way forward, agreed himself at an EGM to vote for a change of control-voting, in effect, himself out.

At this meeting, it was agreed to dilute the shares that he held , so his shareholding in the club went from 82% to less than 4%. Investors immediately made good their promise with multi-million pound cash injections that saved the club and gave them a firm financial footing from which to operate from. Their steady climb back to becoming one  of the top six-eight clubs in the CCC on a regular basis has come about as a result of Hamamm handing over control, knowing that by clinging on to power, the money would never have come in and the club would, at best, floundered, been relegated and have a very uncertain future.

As many have pointed out on here, Delia''s grim determination to hold on here and hope for, what can only be regarded as "free money", to maintain the present status quo, is what is holding us back, and I wonder if, should she ever look to "step back" in the way Hamamm did at Cardiff, we might not secure similar interest and new investment ourselves?
[/quote]

 

Should you have not started with "From my point of view..." ?

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[quote user="Old Shuck"]Have been reading about the state Cardiff City & the way Peter Ridsdale (of all people!) managed to get them out of the financial mire, threat of administration and lack of direction and leadership the club had as a consequence in 2005.They were £30 Million in debt and owed £1.7 Million to the Inland Revenue-who were demanding payment immediately and in full.Ridsdale had numerous meetings with potential investors but he writes, no-one but no-one, was interested in putting any money into the club until there was a change of control there-in otherwords, their version of Delia (Sam Hammam) had to go.No change=no investment.Hamamm didn''t want to let his ownership go, but, eventully, knowing it was the only way forward, agreed himself at an EGM to vote for a change of control-voting, in effect, himself out.At this meeting, it was agreed to dilute the shares that he held , so his shareholding in the club went from 82% to less than 4%. Investors immediately made good their promise with multi-million pound cash injections that saved the club and gave them a firm financial footing from which to operate from. Their steady climb back to becoming one  of the top six-eight clubs in the CCC on a regular basis has come about as a result of Hamamm handing over control, knowing that by clinging on to power, the money would never have come in and the club would, at best, floundered, been relegated and have a very uncertain future.As many have pointed out on here, Delia''s grim determination to hold on here and hope for, what can only be regarded as "free money", to maintain the present status quo, is what is holding us back, and I wonder if, should she ever look to "step back" in the way Hamamm did at Cardiff, we might not secure similar interest and new investment ourselves?[/quote]Unless I''ve misread all the stories about the Cardiff takeover, the way in which Hammam "stepped back" was by being paid £27m for his controlling stake in the club, plus an extra £500,000 as  last-minute demand!One Cardiff director commented: "That [the £500,000] was money which would have been spent on players. But instead it''s gone into Sam''s pocket. It was the only way the deal was going to be done. I know people say he''s a complex character but at the end it was total greed abnd self-interest. It was amazing but football is a murky world."  What the deal was meant to do was wipe out a large proportion of Cardiff''s debt of around £30m.Later, as it happens, Cardiff found itself in a court battle with a finance company called Langston over the repayment of a £31m loan. In court the club said it believed the man behind Langston was Sam Hammam.Complex characters in a murky world.

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"...their version of Delia (Sam Hammam) had to go..."   -not opinion, fact! He was their majority shareholder, so he was their version of Delia!And she is hanging on!Anyway...Interesting about what Hammam was said to have received in lieu of his stepping down-maybe not so altruistic as it seemed!

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[quote user="Old Shuck"]"...their version of Delia (Sam Hammam) had to go..."   -not opinion, fact! He was their majority shareholder, so he was their version of Delia!And she is hanging on!Anyway...Interesting about what Hammam was said to have received in lieu of his stepping down-maybe not so altruistic as it seemed![/quote]Old Shuck, there have been a great many adjectives used about Sam Hammam but "altruistic" is not one of the more common ones!Two serious points. The Cardiff situation seems complex and there is still a court case pending, but that £27m deal was supposed to wipe out most or all of the club''s debts of £30m. The debts are now £32m.If Delia did some kind of stepping aside deal and either had her debt repaid or agreed to waive it NCFC would still be heavily in debt. Nearly all the debt is owed to banks, with around £2m to the Turners.

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"with around £2m to the Turners. "

...and that £2m becomes immediately repayable if Delia/MWJ leave.

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Thanks to all who have put meat on the bones of what I originally posted.

Remember, all I had to go on was Peter Risdale''s book-which is extremely interesting, not least what he claims about agents and bungs, which is, even by the murky stories and standards we already have learnt about, quite shocking!

Nothing is as simple as it seems, is it?

OTBC.

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