Anyone got a spare 6 million?

McDonna29 · Post by **McDonna29** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 8:54 am

EADT wrote:Ã‚Â£6m will buy you Ipswich Town

BY DEREK DAVIS

November 1, 2005 07:18

IPSWICH Town - yours for Ã‚Â£6 million.

That is the price chairman David Sheepshanks last night told potential investors they would need to pay to secure control of the Championship club.

There would be a couple of strings attached, not least satisfying major stakeholders that the new owners would be suitable and could guarantee the long term future of the club.

Blues' chairman Sheepshanks last night made it clear he would happily step aside if the right buyers for the club could be found, and named the club's price and caveats.

He said: Ã¢â‚¬Å“If everybody were to convert their loan notes to shares, it would cost between Ã‚Â£5m and Ã‚Â£6m for someone to buy the majority of the club. That would also be providing that all the shareholders agreed to dis-supply the argument that they have to be bought out.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“The Ã‚Â£5m-Ã‚Â£6m would buy new shares and give someone on paper 51%. That money would go into the club, which would be fantastic for the short term.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“However, the Board would probably also be looking for greater security than that and would be looking for the right long term future for Ipswich Town.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“It is not just about buying the shares but also about managing the club going forward, so they would need the business acumen to manage this multi-faceted business.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“It is also about having the ability to command the respect of bankers, major stakeholders and creditors, such as Norwich Union, the Bank of Scotland and Barclays.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“This current Board has those people's confidence and any destabilisation of that would be viewed with great concern.Ã¢â‚¬Â

The club have raised Ã‚Â£4.5m over the past three years from a share issue, loan notes and debentures but need more.

Sheepshanks denies people are ready to invest but not while he is at the helm, but is willing to listen to any genuine parties, if they exist.

He also dismisses claims that the current Board are obstructive to new investors. He said: Ã¢â‚¬Å“We have been looking for larger investors but we have not found anyone.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“The Board are in no way an obstacle to new investment. On the contrary, we are the catalyst to new investment.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“And, despite rumours, getting the full value of the loan notes turned into shares is not necessarily a condition of any sale.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“If we could wave a magic wand and could find the right type of investors, who had the club and the community ethos of the club at heart and the financial resources long term, then the Board would move over very quickly.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“We will open every door and carefully scrutinise any proposal.Ã¢â‚¬Â

Ã¢â‚¬Å“We have seen every single person who has shown any interest in investing in past three years.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“We have actively pursued people who we thought might be the right people.Ã¢â‚¬Â

Sheepshanks also dismissed fears that the club was in trouble financially, even though it will, as expected, announce a loss for the last financial year when the annual accounts are published next week.

He said: Ã¢â‚¬Å“We are not a club in crisis. We are constrained but we are in a reasonably sound position.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“We have a stable club, with lots of pluses, although the one area of weakness is we don't have a fairy Godmother or father. We do not have anyone with the type of wealth that can help us fulfil our potential.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“We have a number of irons in the fire, some warm, some cool, but in the meantime we continue to run the club as professionally as we can.Ã¢â‚¬Â

And he once again denied the club were going to announce a further share issue.

He said: Ã¢â‚¬Å“We will not go for another share issue because we see that as a sticking plaster solution. It would not create enough money. It is the long term future of the club that we want to ensure.Ã¢â‚¬Â

Bluebird · Post by **Bluebird** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:02 am

Come on rossi don't be shy your club needs you!

hallamblue · Post by **hallamblue** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:06 am

This is a bit cheap isnt it ? - Ã‚Â£6million for the WHOLE CLUB ???
I realise that would be investors would also be taking on our debt - no small feat there.

But does anyone else think Sheepy is now begining to "show his slip" a little - ie a way of walking away from his labour of love with some dignity ??

McDonna29 · Post by **McDonna29** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:09 am

hallamblue wrote:This is a bit cheap isnt it ? - Ã‚Â£6million for the WHOLE CLUB ???
I realise that would be investors would also be taking on our debt - no small feat there.

But does anyone else think Sheepy is now begining to "show his slip" a little - ie a way of walking away from his labour of love with some dignity ??

Admittedly actually naming a price is a bit strange, though it's nothing anyone interested in taking over the club couldn't have worked out themselves.

I'm pretty sure that Sheepy and the board have been publicly saying for some time that if the right investor came along with the right money and right motivation they would be happy to move aside, so I'm not sure that's anything new really.

Post by **Dazza** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:17 am

This is to shut up the people who say they would take over the club if Sheepshank isnt there. Sheepshank is saying Ã‚Â£6m is the bid, come and take the club if you want, but of course there isnt anyone like this, so it wont happen.

But good on Sheepshank for shutting up these people who make silly rumors.

PS: Rossi, when you do buy the club can you make this the official form? K, thx!

Diddy Dubz · Post by **Diddy Dubz** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:19 am

bluebird wrote:Come on rossi don't be shy your club needs you!

God, if he owned us I'd hand my season ticket back in!

The Odious Mr Rossi · Post by **The Odious Mr Rossi** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:19 am

bluebird wrote:Come on rossi don't be shy your club needs you!

hhhhhmmmmmmmm.........let's see. ...........buy a business with debts of 30 million for 6 million...........mmmmmmmmm.........wouldn't that leave me still 24 million id debt???? No thanks....looking forward to my retirement too much

Bluebird · Post by **Bluebird** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:27 am

rossi wrote:
bluebird wrote:Come on rossi don't be shy your club needs you!
hhhhhmmmmmmmm.........let's see. ...........buy a business with debts of 30 million for 6 million...........mmmmmmmmm.........wouldn't that leave me still 24 million id debt???? No thanks....looking forward to my retirement too much

phily bon bon · Post by **phily bon bon** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:30 am

rossi wrote:
bluebird wrote:Come on rossi don't be shy your club needs you!
hhhhhmmmmmmmm.........let's see. ...........buy a business with debts of 30 million for 6 million...........mmmmmmmmm.........wouldn't that leave me still 24 million id debt???? No thanks....looking forward to my retirement too much

come on rossi your team needs you

Bluebird · Post by **Bluebird** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:38 am

On a serious note, I wonder how much the current board paid for and /or invevsted in the club???

I seriously doubt the total will be as substantial as Ã‚Â£6million - does anyone know???

The Odious Mr Rossi · Post by **The Odious Mr Rossi** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:56 am

Daddy Dubz wrote:
bluebird wrote:Come on rossi don't be shy your club needs you!
God, if he owned us I'd hand my season ticket back in!

Just goes to show what a shallow-minded bigot you are, then, doesn't it.
Personally I wouldn't mind who took over so long as the club benefitted.

Bluebird · Post by **Bluebird** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:00 am

rossi wrote:
Daddy Dubz wrote:
bluebird wrote:Come on rossi don't be shy your club needs you!
God, if he owned us I'd hand my season ticket back in!
Just goes to show what a shallow-minded bigot you are, then, doesn't it.
Personally I wouldn't mind who took over so long as the club benefitted.

Rossi 1-0 Dubz

Riviera · Post by **Riviera** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:01 am

i can see this going into extra time and pens

Mork · Post by **Mork** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:16 am

Does that read to anyone else, just like the club are putting up a "FOR SALE" sign?

the-mole · Post by **the-mole** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:31 am

I think Sheepshanks has hit the last chance saloon - club anouncing a loss as expected?? hello is it only me who is concerned about this. We are 30m in the red yet we are making an expected loss??

Everything he says or does stinks or contradiction and despiration. The guys ego is getting in the way of proper business sense now.

So you buy a club for Ã‚Â£6m yet take on Ã‚Â£30m of debt - why would anyone want to do that? He should have gone with Burley, clean sweep was needed then but he has hung on and has openly put people off challenging his position. For 2 days a week (one of them being a saturday) I will do his job for free, will actually save me pie money from dining in the executive suite on Matchdays!!!

I think sooner or later we will see just how much Sheepshanks loves this club and just how poor his ability is to run it correctly.

Luke · Post by **Luke** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 6:08 pm

If Rossi has 6million then im a dutch man

lunchbox · Post by **lunchbox** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 6:19 pm

would anyone be willing to put all that money into what effectively is a black hole?

ippers · Post by **ippers** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 6:36 pm

Not unless they have either a hell of a lot of money or there is say 4 or 5 different ppl willing to invest. At the end of the day most ppl wuld be happy with just a couple of million to invest in players to make us competitive as oppose to a Chelsea situation.

Dubai Blue · Post by **Dubai Blue** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:41 am

Well the value of the club is an interesting question. I would be interested to know just how quickly the initial 30 million are being paid off. If they are gone in 10 years then that means that we are finding 3 million in repayments every year plus interest. That means that after 10 years a 6 million investment is looking very handy indeed !

Looking at it a different way you could take a gambler's approach. If a 6 million investment could be converted into 2-3 million for the squad you might hope to be in the prem in the next 2-3 years and then a couple of years there could see this debt shrink very quickly indeed. Even more handy.

All you need is someone willing to invest 6 million and say goodbye to it for a few years. It's hard to believe that there aren't hundreds of people like that in the UK alone. We just need to find one who's a fan if ITFC.