Eales has a lot to answer for

[windmill]

No team should ever lose, but it happens doesn't it? Should Spurs sack Pochettino for drawing with League 1 and League 2 clubs? Pretty shocking to happen again.....

FA Cup is a great leveller. You follow Spurs?

 

[Gary Baldi]

FA Cup is a great leveller. You follow Spurs?

Nah. Not fussed about them. Find their fans funny though

 

[Sith Lord]

Would not surprise me if DE got wind Satori was in prime position to buy the Stadium off Kassam or Kassam letting him free reign to finish off the stadium. Thus given Kassam some kudos over in Monaco circles. I.E Sartori's Russian billionaire father in law!

Also at the same time gives DE a slap.

All hypothetical guff off the top of my head, but you never know.....

 

[OUFCGav]

No team should ever lose, but it happens doesn't it? Should Spurs sack Pochettino for drawing with League 1 and League 2 clubs? Pretty shocking to happen again.....

But as is likely the Spurs board have said they don't give a **** about the league or fa cup, they are only interested in the league/champions league. Therefore it will be acceptable to them to experiment with a reserve team.
At Oxford Clotet was appointed on the basis of buying in to a development plan, trusted with a budget which he blew on some questionable quality players, and told to compete for promotion. Losing 0-7 at home to a side in the same division would likely be a major black mark, even if it wasn't the one that pushed him out of the door.

 

[unification]

Speaking of Sartori, has he done anything of note since enquiring with us? No rumours of him turning up at other clubs that could be marketable at all?

I don’t recall him saying ‘never say never’. One wonders whether he may be lurking in the shadows somewhere!

 

[LondonRoader]

That is an attack on the individuals and does not address the actual issues, other than some guesses on your part. Lets stick to the facts. They presented online research to back up their points. Where were they demonstrably wrong?

You do realise this is a fans forum where anyone can write any old shite and it doesn’t become fact, people are looking at things far too seriously and take what is posted on here as gospel.
We can all bitch, moan, criticise, support and applaud on here, it’s just a place to express opinions not some kangaroo courtroom as some like to use it as.

 

[Sarge]

Speaking of Sartori, has he done anything of note since enquiring with us? No rumours of him turning up at other clubs that could be marketable at all?

I don’t recall him saying ‘never say never’. One wonders whether he may be lurking in the shadows somewhere!

Shadows in Monaco, shadows deep in the bowels of the breeze block.....or standing in the shadows, where the in crowd meet? .....if it's the latter it could indeed be an, err, Secret Affair

 

[Lundinsponytail]

But we’ve only been told these things by the same people. People that really wanted sartori’s involvement. The back sartori campaign has followed the exact line of the back the methven bid, do all u can to make Darryl/tiger look the terrible option, so that fans support the other. Darryl has turned out to be nowhere near the evil asset stripping venture capitalist he was made out to be, and tiger could equally be the same. The same people only ever mention the positives with sartori and the negatives with tiger, why do u think that is. If sartori has come in and completed WE we would be paying rent to his holding company while he developed and made money on the surrounding land (sound familiar). Yet it’s given as an example of tiger asset stripping at Reading. I also think the sartori bid was very heavily reliant on WE, so that could have been the delay for which Darryl pulled out when he found he had been punted nothing more than a dream. I’d be happy to get investment from either party it’s clear we need it and Darryl has been open in saying with himself

I've just had a telephone call, alerting me to the fact that someone is lying about the Sartori bid on the forum. Hence my (brief, I hope) return. No surprises that it is little lickspittle Dave...sigh.

Here are the facts about the "Sartori bid". Donald and Jeremy Faulkner will confirm that they are true, if asked. If necessary, I can simply do an email dump. Which I will do if people keep on lying. I don't give a damn if everyone forgets about Sartori altogether. But I'm not going to let liars propagate a false folklore.

1. Sartori approached me last January and said that he wanted to buy an English football club
2. I introduced him to Donald in February
3. Donald - after doing his own research on Sartori - introduced him to DE shortly after, as DE had indicated that he wanted out and Donald clearly felt that he was a credible bidder
4. After some negotiation, Sartori (with Donald as supporting minority interest) made a bid in March. It was rejected. He made another bid. It was rejected. He made a third bid. It was accepted by DE and went into due diligence
5. As part of due diligence - and responsibly, as the bid had been accepted - Donald and Faulkner introduced Sartori to Kassam in April. They met, twice, in Monaco to negotiate a wrap-around lease on the Kassam Stadium
6. Sartori had hired property consultants to do the due diligence on both Grenoble Road and the likelihood of a move elsewhere. The consultants reported back that buying the Kassam Stadium was total pie in the sky, and moving elsewhere no more than a 30% likelihood in the short to medium term, so he had better make sure to get a solid lease from Kassam.
7. Sartori - as Donald will confirm, if asked - had the backing of Monaco for OUFC to become a partner club if he could get Oxford promoted to the Championship. But not in League 1. Therefore, his plan was to inject significant capital to gain promotion to League 1, either move the stadium or build the fourth stand as part of the new lease with Kassam and start the partnership with Monaco.
8. The deal was due to complete in early to mid June, but on June 8 DE wrote to Sartori to say that the deal was off, and that he had decided that he wanted to continue as owner.
9. Three weeks later, Michael Appleton resigned. Two weeks later than that, I heard for the first time that a new bid had been made for the club (mid to late July) at a higher figure than Sartori/ Donald. A couple of weeks after that, in August, "Tiger" appeared at his first OUFC game and has been hanging around, on and off, more or less ever since.

The Sartori bid is history. No need to discuss it at all (unless it is to set the record straight). And there are no facts to suggest that Sartori would have been successful or unsuccessful. It was well-funded (ask Donald) and the due diligence had been done very, very thoroughly. But he still could have failed. Of course he could.

But if you want to defend Tiger's bid, then just do so on the basis of its own merits (or lack of them). Don't try to pretend that the reason that people have misgivings about Tiger's record is because they are, or were, Sartori supporters. If anyone, including Sartori, had asset stripped any local club, questions would, and should, have been asked. If anyone had spent a whole season hanging around any club behaving as if he were the owner, without having actually brassed up, people would ridicule him, let alone ask questions. These questions have nothing to do with Sartori. They are genuine, obvious questions that only so-called supporters who have been 'bought up' by vested interests would pretend not to be interested in.

 

[Deleted member 462]

But we’ve only been told these things by the same people. People that really wanted sartori’s involvement. The back sartori campaign has followed the exact line of the back the methven bid, do all u can to make Darryl/tiger look the terrible option, so that fans support the other. Darryl has turned out to be nowhere near the evil asset stripping venture capitalist he was made out to be, and tiger could equally be the same. The same people only ever mention the positives with sartori and the negatives with tiger, why do u think that is. If sartori has come in and completed WE we would be paying rent to his holding company while he developed and made money on the surrounding land (sound familiar). Yet it’s given as an example of tiger asset stripping at Reading. I also think the sartori bid was very heavily reliant on WE, so that could have been the delay for which Darryl pulled out when he found he had been punted nothing more than a dream. I’d be happy to get investment from either party it’s clear we need it and Darryl has been open in saying with himself

I've just had a telephone call, alerting me to the fact that someone is lying about the Sartori bid on the forum. Hence my (brief, I hope) return. No surprises that it is little lickspittle Dave...sigh.

Here are the facts about the "Sartori bid". Donald and Jeremy Faulkner will confirm that they are true, if asked. If necessary, I can simply do an email dump. Which I will do if people keep on lying. I don't give a damn if everyone forgets about Sartori altogether. But I'm not going to let liars propagate a false folklore.

1. Sartori approached me last January and said that he wanted to buy an English football club
2. I introduced him to Donald in February
3. Donald - after doing his own research on Sartori - introduced him to DE shortly after, as DE had indicated that he wanted out and Donald clearly felt that he was a credible bidder
4. After some negotiation, Sartori (with Donald as supporting minority interest) made a bid in March. It was rejected. He made another bid. It was rejected. He made a third bid. It was accepted by DE and went into due diligence
5. As part of due diligence - and responsibly, as the bid had been accepted - Donald and Faulkner introduced Sartori to Kassam in April. They met, twice, in Monaco to negotiate a wrap-around lease on the Kassam Stadium
6. Sartori had hired property consultants to do the due diligence on both Grenoble Road and the likelihood of a move elsewhere. The consultants reported back that buying the Kassam Stadium was total pie in the sky, and moving elsewhere no more than a 30% likelihood in the short to medium term, so he had better make sure to get a solid lease from Kassam.
7. Sartori - as Donald will confirm, if asked - had the backing of Monaco for OUFC to become a partner club if he could get Oxford promoted to the Championship. But not in League 1. Therefore, his plan was to inject significant capital to gain promotion to League 1, either move the stadium or build the fourth stand as part of the new lease with Kassam and start the partnership with Monaco.
8. The deal was due to complete in early to mid June, but on June 8 DE wrote to Sartori to say that the deal was off, and that he had decided that he wanted to continue as owner.
9. Three weeks later, Michael Appleton resigned. Two weeks later than that, I heard for the first time that a new bid had been made for the club (mid to late July) at a higher figure than Sartori/ Donald. A couple of weeks after that, in August, "Tiger" appeared at his first OUFC game and has been hanging around, on and off, more or less ever since.

The Sartori bid is history. No need to discuss it at all (unless it is to set the record straight). And there are no facts to suggest that Sartori would have been successful or unsuccessful. It was well-funded (ask Donald) and the due diligence had been done very, very thoroughly. But he still could have failed. Of course he could.

But if you want to defend Tiger's bid, then just do so on the basis of its own merits (or lack of them). Don't try to pretend that the reason that people have misgivings about Tiger's record is because they are, or were, Sartori supporters. If anyone, including Sartori, had asset stripped any local club, questions would, and should, have been asked. If anyone had spent a whole season hanging around any club behaving as if he were the owner, without having actually brassed up, people would ridicule him, let alone ask questions. These questions have nothing to do with Sartori. They are genuine, obvious questions that only so-called supporters who have been 'bought up' by vested interests would pretend not to be interested in.

Blimey u return more often than, Nigel farage.

So what have I lied about Charles?

I’ve said I thought sartori bid would have included being sold on the WE idea, u have confirmed he had planning consultants look at it.

I have said u have never mentioned a negative on the sartori bid but only on the tiger one. Still true, when I mentioned his father in law also had money laundering associates in the past, u dismissed it.

And that the stadium either at WE or he Kassam would be in a sartori holding company with us still probably paying rent and him developing the areas around. Is that wrong? Was sartori going to put WE all into Oufc’s name?.

Did u express similar concerns about eales and Ashton that u have over tiger ? Is that the lie? Do u favour the sartori bid, and list only positives about it? Have u ever stated one single positive about tiger being involved ?

Is it a lie that I’ve said de might be more interested in the tiger bid if it’s investment, where as I get the impression that js was a complete takeover ?

I’ve also said I’d be happy with either party and from the start it’s the evidence that I had the issue with that we didn’t know that these associates will be or are even involved ? Do u know they are for a fact now? Can u email drop that?

Do u know tiger can’t or won’t be able to do any of those things listed as sartori’s ambitions other than the Monaco link?

Nice to have the personal insults back though

 

[Itsthehopethatkillsyou]

aww - so close to a 'twinning' with Monaco (would have been a possibility that had we ever got the 4th stand our capacity would have been bigger than our 'parent' club lol).
Anyone remember the Juventus link up that was mooted (to the point of a black and white striped kit being made) many moons ago?....

 

[Scotchegg]

Interesting synopsis Charles. Spare us the 'just had a phone call' dramatics though! You've been viewing the forum. 'Viewers' are shown on the forum home page as 'members online'.

PS Tend to agree that the Sartori saga should really be consigned to history now.

It wasn't a phone call, someone put a Charlie shaped light in the sky as a distress signal!!!

 

[MJB]

Interesting synopsis Charles. Spare us the 'just had a phone call' dramatics though! You've been viewing the forum. 'Viewers' are shown on the forum home page as 'members online'.

PS Tend to agree that the Sartori saga should really be consigned to history now.

I think the main reason why people won’t let the Sartori situation go is that it felt, fleetingly, like the next positive step for a club like us after all the good work DE had done for us as a League 2 side.

As Charles himself has said, there’s no guarantee Sartori would have been a success. But he seemed to have a plan, the drive and resources to take us to the next level, rather than (at best) plateauing.

DE will have his reasons (financial I’m sure, and fair enough, we all looked after number one) for renegading on the deal but for a few days or weeks there we had a fleeting glimpse of how things might have been.

Of course we have, and must, move on but it’s only natural to feel like the club itself potentially missed out on a big opportunity. Particularly given that a knowledgable man like SD, who obviously has the club’s best interests at heart, was seemingly supportive of the move.

 

[Deleted member 222]

So after all that Sartori just wanted OUFC as a feeder club for Monaco to swap players from one club to another and I’m sure in the long run it would of been more beneficial to Monaco than OUFC. No different to Man City setting up New York City.

I might be in my own but I’m certainly very happy not to be a feeder club to Monaco and glad the bid fell through. Maybe Eales realised the Monaco links weren’t in the best interest of OUFC.

 

[yellowbow]

Until DE shows his hand I can’t assume that anything that he’s doing at the present time is in OUFC’s best interests. It would only be guesswork because we’ve got absolute zilch to go on. I don’t mean to knock DE, he’s been a great owner up to a point. But until all this uncertainty is put to bed we have to be wary of what’s happening, it’s human nature. He must realise that without feeling that he’s being attacked by toxic ungrateful oiks.

 

[Oldman159]

Not that it has ANY bearing on the pythonesque saga that is OUFC, there are about to be some very Interesting developments in the financial world, it seems. Foreign 'Investors' buying property and institutions etc will be required to show where their money comes from. ?

Don't suppose it will retrospective though.

 

[Paul P]

I've just had a telephone call, alerting me to the fact that someone is lying about the Sartori bid on the forum. Hence my (brief, I hope) return. No surprises that it is little lickspittle Dave...sigh.

Here are the facts about the "Sartori bid". Donald and Jeremy Faulkner will confirm that they are true, if asked. If necessary, I can simply do an email dump. Which I will do if people keep on lying. I don't give a damn if everyone forgets about Sartori altogether. But I'm not going to let liars propagate a false folklore.

1. Sartori approached me last January and said that he wanted to buy an English football club
2. I introduced him to Donald in February
3. Donald - after doing his own research on Sartori - introduced him to DE shortly after, as DE had indicated that he wanted out and Donald clearly felt that he was a credible bidder
4. After some negotiation, Sartori (with Donald as supporting minority interest) made a bid in March. It was rejected. He made another bid. It was rejected. He made a third bid. It was accepted by DE and went into due diligence
5. As part of due diligence - and responsibly, as the bid had been accepted - Donald and Faulkner introduced Sartori to Kassam in April. They met, twice, in Monaco to negotiate a wrap-around lease on the Kassam Stadium
6. Sartori had hired property consultants to do the due diligence on both Grenoble Road and the likelihood of a move elsewhere. The consultants reported back that buying the Kassam Stadium was total pie in the sky, and moving elsewhere no more than a 30% likelihood in the short to medium term, so he had better make sure to get a solid lease from Kassam.
7. Sartori - as Donald will confirm, if asked - had the backing of Monaco for OUFC to become a partner club if he could get Oxford promoted to the Championship. But not in League 1. Therefore, his plan was to inject significant capital to gain promotion to League 1, either move the stadium or build the fourth stand as part of the new lease with Kassam and start the partnership with Monaco.
8. The deal was due to complete in early to mid June, but on June 8 DE wrote to Sartori to say that the deal was off, and that he had decided that he wanted to continue as owner.
9. Three weeks later, Michael Appleton resigned. Two weeks later than that, I heard for the first time that a new bid had been made for the club (mid to late July) at a higher figure than Sartori/ Donald. A couple of weeks after that, in August, "Tiger" appeared at his first OUFC game and has been hanging around, on and off, more or less ever since.

The Sartori bid is history. No need to discuss it at all (unless it is to set the record straight). And there are no facts to suggest that Sartori would have been successful or unsuccessful. It was well-funded (ask Donald) and the due diligence had been done very, very thoroughly. But he still could have failed. Of course he could.

But if you want to defend Tiger's bid, then just do so on the basis of its own merits (or lack of them). Don't try to pretend that the reason that people have misgivings about Tiger's record is because they are, or were, Sartori supporters. If anyone, including Sartori, had asset stripped any local club, questions would, and should, have been asked. If anyone had spent a whole season hanging around any club behaving as if he were the owner, without having actually brassed up, people would ridicule him, let alone ask questions. These questions have nothing to do with Sartori. They are genuine, obvious questions that only so-called supporters who have been 'bought up' by vested interests would pretend not to be interested in.

Would be interested to know that if the change of heart on the sale was all about the bottom line, why didn't Eales go back to Sartori asking for an improved bid? Or did Sartori contemplate increasing his offer to match that Tiger's? I assume Sartori is still interested in an English club? Maybe DE has negotiated staying in control with significant investment and the outright purchase is a non starter but if not then surely there is milage in an improved final bid from Sartori, given the shambles that this present bid seems to be lurching in to?

 

[Scotchegg]

You have to question whether Satori was trying to get the club on the cheap considering his first 2 bids were dismissed out of hand and the 3rd one failed too. The money invested by DE and the relative value of our playing squad in the summer was in the public domain so do we think DE was out to make a few quid too, or did Satori undervalue the club?

Also, if Satori wanted to take us on a journey to Championship feeder club and PL success, why not stump up a few extra quid to do it? Or, why not look at a clubs such as Birmingham or Reading that could avoid the hassle of sorting out stadiums and the lottery of promotion?

As with the whole WE debate, it is easy to put any spin on the situation (especially if you are being paid to do so) but business is not about comic book good and bad guys.

 

[Lundinsponytail]

Fascinating. Because you yave

You have to question whether Satori was trying to get the club on the cheap considering his first 2 bids were dismissed out of hand and the 3rd one failed too. The money invested by DE and the relative value of our playing squad in the summer was in the public domain so do we think DE was out to make a few quid too, or did Satori undervalue the club?

Also, if Satori wanted to take us on a journey to Championship feeder club and PL success, why not stump up a few extra quid to do it? Or, why not look at a clubs such as Birmingham or Reading that could avoid the hassle of sorting out stadiums and the lottery of promotion?

As with the whole WE debate, it is easy to put any spin on the situation (especially if you are being paid to do so) but business is not about comic book good and bad guys.

Fascinating. Because you have always given precisely the impression of believing that some of your fellow fans are indeed 'bad guys.'

For the record, what you say is doubtless correct. If Sartori had offered what Tiger offered he would have been successful. You are also right in implying that there is nothing wrong about the owner of a private business selling to the highest bidder.

Probably best to leave out the nonsense about selling to the highest bidder being in the best interests of the club. Cos it then gets rather embarrassing when said bidder then spends 7 months scrabbling around trying to find the funding. Doesnt necessarily inspire confidence, does it?, that when the club needs further investment going forward that it will be forthcoming.. ..

 

[LondonRoader]

I've just had a telephone call, alerting me to the fact that someone is lying about the Sartori bid on the forum. Hence my (brief, I hope) return. No surprises that it is little lickspittle Dave...sigh.

Here are the facts about the "Sartori bid". Donald and Jeremy Faulkner will confirm that they are true, if asked. If necessary, I can simply do an email dump. Which I will do if people keep on lying. I don't give a damn if everyone forgets about Sartori altogether. But I'm not going to let liars propagate a false folklore.

1. Sartori approached me last January and said that he wanted to buy an English football club
2. I introduced him to Donald in February
3. Donald - after doing his own research on Sartori - introduced him to DE shortly after, as DE had indicated that he wanted out and Donald clearly felt that he was a credible bidder
4. After some negotiation, Sartori (with Donald as supporting minority interest) made a bid in March. It was rejected. He made another bid. It was rejected. He made a third bid. It was accepted by DE and went into due diligence
5. As part of due diligence - and responsibly, as the bid had been accepted - Donald and Faulkner introduced Sartori to Kassam in April. They met, twice, in Monaco to negotiate a wrap-around lease on the Kassam Stadium
6. Sartori had hired property consultants to do the due diligence on both Grenoble Road and the likelihood of a move elsewhere. The consultants reported back that buying the Kassam Stadium was total pie in the sky, and moving elsewhere no more than a 30% likelihood in the short to medium term, so he had better make sure to get a solid lease from Kassam.
7. Sartori - as Donald will confirm, if asked - had the backing of Monaco for OUFC to become a partner club if he could get Oxford promoted to the Championship. But not in League 1. Therefore, his plan was to inject significant capital to gain promotion to League 1, either move the stadium or build the fourth stand as part of the new lease with Kassam and start the partnership with Monaco.
8. The deal was due to complete in early to mid June, but on June 8 DE wrote to Sartori to say that the deal was off, and that he had decided that he wanted to continue as owner.
9. Three weeks later, Michael Appleton resigned. Two weeks later than that, I heard for the first time that a new bid had been made for the club (mid to late July) at a higher figure than Sartori/ Donald. A couple of weeks after that, in August, "Tiger" appeared at his first OUFC game and has been hanging around, on and off, more or less ever since.

The Sartori bid is history. No need to discuss it at all (unless it is to set the record straight). And there are no facts to suggest that Sartori would have been successful or unsuccessful. It was well-funded (ask Donald) and the due diligence had been done very, very thoroughly. But he still could have failed. Of course he could.

But if you want to defend Tiger's bid, then just do so on the basis of its own merits (or lack of them). Don't try to pretend that the reason that people have misgivings about Tiger's record is because they are, or were, Sartori supporters. If anyone, including Sartori, had asset stripped any local club, questions would, and should, have been asked. If anyone had spent a whole season hanging around any club behaving as if he were the owner, without having actually brassed up, people would ridicule him, let alone ask questions. These questions have nothing to do with Sartori. They are genuine, obvious questions that only so-called supporters who have been 'bought up' by vested interests would pretend not to be interested in.

I’m pretty surprised you put this info out into the public domain, for little more than a quibble on an obscure Internet forum.
Anyway I wonder why DE did pull out of the Sartori deal, maybe it was because of your involvement and letting out details!
Like you said maybe ask Donald and Faulkner and they might back that reason up.
If that is the case, why not put your ego away and keep tight lipped until the deal was done.

 

[Scotchegg]

Fascinating. Because you yave


Fascinating. Because you have always given precisely the impression of believing that some of your fellow fans are indeed 'bad guys.'

For the record, what you say is doubtless correct. If Sartori had offered what Tiger offered he would have been successful. You are also right in implying that there is nothing wrong about the owner of a private business selling to the highest bidder.

Probably best to leave out the nonsense about selling to the highest bidder being in the best interests of the club. Cos it then gets rather embarrassing when said bidder then spends 7 months scrabbling around trying to find the funding. Doesnt necessarily inspire confidence, does it?, that when the club needs further investment going forward that it will be forthcoming.. ..

Another phone call Chaz? With regard to the months of scrabbling around for funds, I guess that can only ever be truly judged if and when a deal is completed. If we waiting even longer but the end product was a deal for club and stadium etc then we'd all be grateful I guess. In the scheme of things, time is not essential right now, even with problems on the pitch.

My concern is that your original bid was trumped by DE due to him paying more, and Tiger seems to have a better chance due a raised bid. So are DE and Tiger so frivolous that they're happy spending an extra few million, or were your guys looking to get a deal on the cheap. Because penny pinching is not what I want from any future owner.