Her er en (etter mitt syn en god) kommentar om hvordan stoda kan være
(de £17 det eksemplifiseres med her er summen Abramovich visstnok oppdaget etter å ha kjøpt Chelsea av Kenneth - kjøperne har altså konsultert med ham...)
(Reverend Ike @ Sep 10 2012, 08:56 PM)
One number that has been thrown around is £17 million as an example of possible undocumented debt that might not have appeared on the books that were scrutinized during due diligence. For the sake of argument, let's say that number happens to be accurate.
The buyers offer £52 million, which they consider a fair price. An indemnity clause, standard in almost all similar contracts, protects them from a surprise £17 million expense down the road. The clause can be unlimited or it can be capped. If Bates is unwilling to agree to an uncapped clause, the next step would be to negotiate a cap.
Anyone but an idiot would assume that Bates knows all about potential undocumented expenses that could pop up in the future and his refusal to agree to a full indemnity clause pretty much makes him look 100% guilty of that knowledge. The new buyers are not idiots. They want to pay £52 million for the club, not £70 million or £80 million after hidden expenses show up later.
If Bates wasn't desperate, he would have taken the £4 million, waited for the exclusivity period to expire, and then walked away on some pretense during the indemnity negotiations. He hasn't.
Postman Pat and Colin W. are both very much in favour of the takeover. All Bates can do at this point is instruct his lawyers to delay the process and hope he can skim some more money into his pockets or into the pockets of his sleazy partners. However, there's very little left to skim, even if another player or two is sold off.
There is no urgency for the buyers - they aren't in the market for just any club, they specifically want Leeds - and they can be infinitely patient. The only thing that is likely to cause them to walk away (again) is if Bates exhausts the current negotiations and asks for something new/bizarre out of nowhere, which indicates no real intention to sell.
If I was a buyer, I would do essentially the same thing the consortium has. Make my offer, protect myself from any significant hidden future expenses, and out-wait a desperate old man who has played his last big con. Of course, this hellaciously dragged-out process has wreaked havoc with the supporters, but you really can't blame the buyers. They are playing the end-game to their best advantage. If Bates blows up the transaction, so be it, but there's no reason for the buyers to change their position and actions as long as there appears to be something reasonable to negotiate.
If Bates does anything to kill the negotiations, even if he blames others, I'd say it's a certainty that Warnock would walk in January, and Postman Pat may go even sooner, if he thinks Bates is driving the club towards administration again. Those two turning their backs on Bates would certainly expose any fiasco as Bates' own fault and destroy his delusional saviour image.
Bates is all about 1) money and 2) a "legacy". There's very little money left, and he won't have a legacy if Warnock and Harvey leave Bates presiding over the remnants of a skint club. Hopefully, dementia won't interfere with him signing before he gives the buyers reason to walk ...
