Radio Swindon

[sonic youth]

The point I wanted to make was that Bob's saying the Wills family don't want to sell, yet, in a quote attributed to him on 19/9/06 he said:

"If someone came along with an offer that can be substantiated, then the board would be duty bound to put that offer to the shareholders with the appropriate recommendations."

Further to that comment, the Adver reported on 26/9/06 that:

"The director also reiterated the board was deadly serious in terms of listening to offers."

Why have the Wills family changed their mind? Were they playing games and issuing a challenge to see whether the Trust had the balls to put their money where their mouth was?

Lastly, Bob insisted that they want a concrete offer before entering into an NDA in order to do due dilligence. How on earth do you make a concrete offer for something that you're unable to gauge the value of? It'd be similar to me popping into Tesco and buying a big black box, totally unaware of the contents.

The tentative offer to express the interest in buying the club has been made - both parties admit this. The offer outlines what they intend to do and how this will be achieved but does not contain any details of finances.

Surely the logical step would be to enter into an NDA so that the Consortium can value the club and make a concrete offer if they wish. Whatever the outcome, the details of the club's finances will be kept confidential so what's the worst that can happen?

It seems like a stalling tactic to me.

[sonic youth]

I'm sure Mr Davis did us proud.

Scousers have no place on the BBC!

[Simon Pieman]

Bob Holt makes me so angry. I've just spent the last 30mins explaining to my mum the politics of the football club. She says that I should be protesting  

[Ardiles]

Well if your Mum's for it, you've got to protest.  End of story!

[fatbury]

It's going to be a match not to miss for one reason or another tomorrow

[ronnie21]

I thought Paul Davies came over very well, whilst Holt made himself look a right twat!  

[pauld]

I thought hertha had it about right - I'm getting myself a TShirt made saying "Wierd bloke from the Trust"  

[WorcesterRed]

The tentative offer to express the interest in buying the club has been made - both parties admit this.

.....but the point here is THAT WHEN BUYING A HOUSE, YOU PUT A PRICE ON IT AND NEGOTIATE FROM THERE.

Holt was being clever and making it easy to understand for us 'simple' folk, using the analogy of buying a house. Ed Hadwin then said to him that if you buy a house YOU SET A PRICE THAT YOU WANT AND NEGOTIATE FROM THERE.

Holt is an absolute walking PR disaster - has not got a clue - look at the cock up he made over the Wise staying/going fiasco. :blahblahblah:

Sorry for those that read this forum and thisis - have posted something similar on thisis

[genf_stfc]

The tentative offer to express the interest in buying the club has been made - both parties admit this.

.....but the point here is THAT WHEN BUYING A HOUSE, YOU PUT A PRICE ON IT AND NEGOTIATE FROM THERE.

Holt was being clever and making it easy to understand for us 'simple' folk, using the analogy of buying a house. Ed Hadwin then said to him that if you buy a house YOU SET A PRICE THAT YOU WANT AND NEGOTIATE FROM THERE.

Holt is an absolute walking PR disaster - has not got a clue - look at the cock up he made over the Wise staying/going fiasco. :blahblahblah:

Sorry for those that read this forum and thisis - have posted something similar on thisis

I think the point is that when you buy a house, you go round and have a look at it first, then you get a survey done to see who actually owns the building land and rights of access, whether there are any disputes, if its likely to fall down etc etc.  Then you put an offer on it.

I would equate that to being able to have a look at the f*ing accounts for the club !

[Batch]

Actually you do usually make an offer before surveys are udertaken. No point in paying the man to survey a house if they aren't going to sell.

I hate to play devils advocate (actually I don't) but this time Bob Holt came across as quite reasonable in the BBC interview.

When I say reasonable I mean a man who had no exposure to the past boardroom cock ups would think that he had a good point.  Of course if you scratch the surface of what he said you'd see that it was in fact devoid of anything of substance and that comparing buying a house to buying a business is rdiculous.

Personally I dislike the smarmy, "I know better than you", devious, contradictory entity that is Bob Holt.

[WorcesterRed]

I think the point is that when you buy a house, you go round and have a look at it first, then you get a survey done to see who actually owns the building land and rights of access, whether there are any disputes, if its likely to fall down etc etc.  Then you put an offer on it.

I would equate that to being able to have a look at the f*ing accounts for the club !

I appreciate the point that he was TRYING to make but he cocked up - YOU DON'T BUY A HOUSE WITHOUT KNOWING THE VALUE OF IT BEFOREHAND. A seller puts a price on the house and the buyer/seller THEN NEGOTIATE.

[Batch]

I think the point is that when you buy a house, you go round and have a look at it first, then you get a survey done to see who actually owns the building land and rights of access, whether there are any disputes, if its likely to fall down etc etc.  Then you put an offer on it.

I would equate that to being able to have a look at the f*ing accounts for the club !

I appreciate the point that he was TRYING to make but he cocked up - YOU DON'T BUY A HOUSE WITHOUT KNOWING THE VALUE OF IT BEFOREHAND. A seller puts a price on the house and the buyer/seller THEN NEGOTIATE.

That is indeed true!

[RobertT]

Actually it would be more like buying a flat than a house, and a flat with a very short lease from a freeholder that didn't like the present leaseholder and was owed money by them.  The Flat may or may not have some extra charges against it, and the current leasholder would be selling it with no guide price, no recent planning consents for the alterations they had made, no documentation at all in fact.  There may be very public suggestions of subsidence at this flat as well.

[reeves4england]

Actually it would be more like buying a flat than a house, and a flat with a very short lease from a freeholder that didn't like the present leaseholder and was owed money by them.  The Flat may or may not have some extra charges against it, and the current leasholder would be selling it with no guide price, no recent planning consents for the alterations they had made, no documentation at all in fact.  There may be very public suggestions of subsidence at this flat as well.

 I'm liking that agrument!

Listening to Bob Holt is a waste of time. It's pathetic how nobody knows what is going on at this club

[pauld]

To be fair to Bob, I think his original metaphor has been slightly overstretched during the course of this discussion  I'm sure he was just trying to be helpful in explaining the process to us all.