Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Time For City To Pull Plug On Thaksin

The saga of the Shinawatra takeover took yet another twist yesterday with the news that the Thai government have frozen his £830m assets that still remain in Thailand. Shinawatra almost certainly does have access to other assets that he managed to get out of the country before the coup that overthrew him last year, but it seems highly unlikely he will use these funds to buy City.

It seem to me that dealing with Shinawatra is neither desirable or advisable. There are too many concerns about the man and his finances that make dealing with him too high risk. The warning signs were there last year when his high profile attempt to take control of Liverpool proved to be an embarrassing fiasco for both parties and City must learn lessons from this.

Wardle's offer at the weekend to sink a further £30m into the club if the Thai deal fell through was a clear indication that the Club has concerns about Shinawatra's intentions and finances and that behind the scenes, all was not well.

Wardle, and the rest of the board should now go a step further and pull the plug on Shinawatra immediately and pursue other options that may or may not include Ranson and/or the mystery American interest.

All the time that the doomed Shinawatra deal drags on, the club are losing crucial time to plan and prepare for next season. We've already lost players and a manager and cannot wait any longer to sort out the playing staff for next year. Before long, there won't be any decent players or coaches left to fill the current vacant positions and we'll end up yet again with the leftovers and ageing players who look at City as some kind of pension fund for the swan-song of their careers.

The club has looked amateurish and unprofessional throughout the takeover negotiations and it's now time for the Board to be decisive and kill off what is an already fatally wounded attempt to buy the club and move on.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're the laughing stock of the Premiership and after next season will be the laughing stock of the Championship... why can we never get it right ????

Anonymous said...

I disagree entirely. Negotiations have been difficult yes, but the bottom line is that this man has the desire, the drive and most importantly the financial clout to make City great again and everything must be done to sell the club to him. One day soon, when Thailand has an 'elected' government, his 'issues' will be resolved and he will run our club in peace.

Anonymous said...

You better pull all the plug off before he uses your club as an easy way to launder his corrupted money!! He doesn't have any desire to run any club, all he needs is just only the way to get more money..trust me...I've seen him doing this before..that's why his assets are being freeze in his country. If you want your club to have a future..throw him away!!!

Bluesology said...

Anonymous 11.45 ....You're not part of Shinawatra's team by any chance? I would say everything must be done to sell the club to new ambitious owners, but not to him - proper stewardship of the club is far more important.

Anonymous said...

This deal looks dead in water now. I guess that if Ranson does return, his offer won't be quite as good as before. What about these Yanks - does anyone know anything about them do they really exist?

Bluesology said...

Reports are that there are two potential American buyers, although that was in the early days. Not sure about current status, but if Shinawatra's bid fails as expected, they or others may come forward sensing City's weakening position and opportunity for a bargain deal.

Anonymous said...

The Board should appoint Koeman NOW and give him the £40m that is coming from BskyB and get us out of this dreadful mess before it is too late.