Is Investment Nigh ?
Monday, 26th May 2008 22:05

Is an offer about to be put on the ST Mary's table.

As you know this site hasnt participated in the rumour mongering practised elsewhere on the internet, we hear various pieces of information from a plethora of sources on a weekly basis, but we do our research, check the facts and realise that most of them are total rubbish, as has been proved over the past fifteen months or so, since the first Paul Allen revelation hit the news, thus we havent indulged in the " Saints will be taken over tomorrow" headlines.

However information has been forwarded to the site that suggests that this very headline could be about to be employed, in truth its nothing too revealing, the interest of the constium alledgedly fronted by the local barister Jonathan Fulthorpe has been flying around for months, whats been unclear is who is going to provide the money and when is it going to arrive.

Leon Crouch obviosly was convinced that an offer was imminent several weeks ago as after initially indicating that he would step down after the Sheffield United game, he backtracked in the hope that the offer would provide him with a last minute reprieve.

All indications are that bid might well be put on the table this week, possibly as early as Wednesday !

Jonathan Fulthorpe is obviously the front man for the consortium, a local barister with a fine reputation, he specialises in planning issues and its for this reason that he has been employed by the consortium, the money itself is coming from Middle eastern sources and it seems they are ready to move.

So why do they want a man with a reputation for never losing a planning application at the front, it seems that the real target for the investors is the waterfront area in front of St Mary's, currently used by various industrial companies, it represents prime waterfront lant for residential and retail developement.

So where do Saints fit in, the honest answer is in this scenario nowhere, however the potential investors recognise that owning the football club will act as great leaverage with the City Council when they look to redevelope any land, as has been seen down in Portsmouth with our friend Gaydamak, Premier football clubs are like gold dust and bring prosperity and publicity to the City not to mention money, whilst Saints directly arent needed by the investors for this developement, indirectly they are crucial, and of course the attraction of 30,000 football fans twenty times a year spending money in bars and restaurants shouldnt be underestimated in the rents that could be charged.

Its a good strategy, one that is being used at countless other clubs and in truth although aome would say that it means foreign owners who havent really got the club at heart, the reality is that they are aware for the developements to be profitable initially at least the football supporters money is vital.

With this in mind my understanding is that the consortium have funding in the region of £50 million pounds available initially, it sounds a lot, but when you realise that £15 million will be needed to buy the club, £15 million minimum to build a half decent squad and an estimated £10 million to cover yearly operating losses, its really only funding one decent stab at gaining promotion, of course a return to the promised land will bring in more than enough to build a squad capable of staying up and increased revenues from a promotion campaign will also cut down the losses.

Southampton Football Club though is at the crossroads, although Lowe and Wilde have more than a sizable amount of critics, under them the Club is still in the control of those who do genuinely care about it and it can recover although that recovery will be long and slow, if we take the Arab money then some would say the Club is no longer one of the people, although it would guarantee us a decent stab at promotion.

The failure of the Club to make public its talks with Nigel Pearson last week tends to suggest that something is going on and is going to happen soon, the fact that Pearson himself is keeping quiet also tends to suggest that he is privy to the plans.

http://www.theuglyinside.net/ has never indulged itself in trying to claim to be In The Know, in fact the opposite it has always been disgusted when told of things that should have stayed in the Boardroom and refused to become the mouthpiece of one person or another, however the indications are that events are goint to start moving quickly.