Post by Macmoish on Jan 22, 2017 12:08:13 GMT
Telegraph January 21, 2010
Tony Fernandes flies home from West Ham with mixed feelings
Losing out: Tony Fernandes's love of West Ham could not swing a takeover for him Photo: STEPHEN LOCK
By Jason Burt
8:00AM GMT 21 Jan 2010
He also said that he needed to buy the club outright to make it a success.
In an interview with Telegraph Sport, Fernandes also revealed that he had tried to buy West Ham before the Icelandic takeover in 2006 and had also had discussions a year ago when “the price they were asking was ridiculous”.
Fernandes said he would consider David Sullivan’s offer to take the remaining 50 per cent stake in West Ham — and had already received a text from the vice-chairman Karren Brady asking him to invest – but feared that he was unlikely to accept. “I can’t be a sleeping partner,” he said. “You only have one leader, one strategy.”
The 43-year-old entrepreneur, and chief executive of Air Asia, flew back to Malaysia immediately after being informed that he had lost out to Sullivan to become the club’s owner on Monday night.
Although he believes West Ham are in a parlous state, after the botched Icelandic ownership, he put forward a plan, to be executed over three years, to turn the club around and was confident he could do so.
However, key to his proposals was gaining full control and buying out the failed Icelandic bank, Straumur, which still owns 50 per cent of the club and hopes, therefore, to gain a bigger return for its shareholders.
Fernandes, who is believed to be worth £400million, has also been angered by suggestions that he failed to demonstrate that he has the funding for the deal. “The money is with Olswangs [the solicitors] and I’d like to see anyone disprove that,” he said.
“I would have completely re-financed the club so that it did not have to sell on its young talent again,” Fernandes explained. “To do that I would have needed to get to grips with the balance sheet. But I could not do that by working with a bank that was effectively in liquidation.
I put forward a very detailed plan and explained why I needed 100 per cent control. But we just ran out of time. Straumur said they had to sell on that day [Monday] but we needed another five or six hours. I thought we had done it.
“If you were buying another club, for example, it would be more straight-forward. You would put in your bid, do the due diligence, complete the deal. With West Ham there was Straumur to deal with, who are working under Chapter 11 receivership, and you have a bunch of banks. The owners were bankrupt and the asset itself was, really, insolvent.
There were the owners, the people who own the owners, and the banks. It therefore became evident to me, having started with a negotiation over taking 50 per cent, that the only way to make the club successful would be to gain 100 per cent. Otherwise it was too complicated.”
Fernandes outlined five points in his plan although, understandably, he did not go into too much detail as he does not want it in the public domain. After all, he may eventually become involved in West Ham.
However he said he would have:
1) Fixed the balance sheet, which would involve paying down the debt and “reworking the asset structure of the club”.
2) Invested in Rush Green, the new training ground, very quickly and reworked the scouting system to take a more “French” approach by running an academy on a “European basis”.
3) Brought in new revenues “from a variety of ideas”. He revealed one of these would have been to use technology and social networking sites to make West Ham more accessible around the world.
4) Created partnerships with Formula One (he is team principal of Lotus) to generate money, eg from sponsorship, which would benefit both sides.
Fernandes added: “I see West Ham as the unpolished diamond of the Premier League. It should be a larger and more successful club than it is and so, when the chance came around again to buy it, I felt I could do it and fulfil an ambition.
“I have faith in [manager Gianfranco] Zola and the management team. It wasn’t their fault the club are in the predicament they are in and I genuinely believe Zola will be one of the managerial greats. I made no promises except West Ham would never again be in the situation it finds itself in now.”
Fernandes said that Sullivan had put forward a professional bid and he wished him success. Asked about whether he would invest, he said: “I would have to see whether they share the same vision, otherwise it could be a calamity for the club.
You can only have one leader, one strategy. But I’m never one to say no to anything, especially as I’m very passionate about the club. On the positive side the club has a new owner and it has ended the uncertainty.”
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/west-ham/7039018/Tony-Fernandes-flies-home-from-failed-West-Ham-bid-with-mixed-feelings.html
Tony Fernandes flies home from West Ham with mixed feelings
Losing out: Tony Fernandes's love of West Ham could not swing a takeover for him Photo: STEPHEN LOCK
By Jason Burt
8:00AM GMT 21 Jan 2010
He also said that he needed to buy the club outright to make it a success.
In an interview with Telegraph Sport, Fernandes also revealed that he had tried to buy West Ham before the Icelandic takeover in 2006 and had also had discussions a year ago when “the price they were asking was ridiculous”.
Fernandes said he would consider David Sullivan’s offer to take the remaining 50 per cent stake in West Ham — and had already received a text from the vice-chairman Karren Brady asking him to invest – but feared that he was unlikely to accept. “I can’t be a sleeping partner,” he said. “You only have one leader, one strategy.”
The 43-year-old entrepreneur, and chief executive of Air Asia, flew back to Malaysia immediately after being informed that he had lost out to Sullivan to become the club’s owner on Monday night.
Although he believes West Ham are in a parlous state, after the botched Icelandic ownership, he put forward a plan, to be executed over three years, to turn the club around and was confident he could do so.
However, key to his proposals was gaining full control and buying out the failed Icelandic bank, Straumur, which still owns 50 per cent of the club and hopes, therefore, to gain a bigger return for its shareholders.
Fernandes, who is believed to be worth £400million, has also been angered by suggestions that he failed to demonstrate that he has the funding for the deal. “The money is with Olswangs [the solicitors] and I’d like to see anyone disprove that,” he said.
“I would have completely re-financed the club so that it did not have to sell on its young talent again,” Fernandes explained. “To do that I would have needed to get to grips with the balance sheet. But I could not do that by working with a bank that was effectively in liquidation.
I put forward a very detailed plan and explained why I needed 100 per cent control. But we just ran out of time. Straumur said they had to sell on that day [Monday] but we needed another five or six hours. I thought we had done it.
“If you were buying another club, for example, it would be more straight-forward. You would put in your bid, do the due diligence, complete the deal. With West Ham there was Straumur to deal with, who are working under Chapter 11 receivership, and you have a bunch of banks. The owners were bankrupt and the asset itself was, really, insolvent.
There were the owners, the people who own the owners, and the banks. It therefore became evident to me, having started with a negotiation over taking 50 per cent, that the only way to make the club successful would be to gain 100 per cent. Otherwise it was too complicated.”
Fernandes outlined five points in his plan although, understandably, he did not go into too much detail as he does not want it in the public domain. After all, he may eventually become involved in West Ham.
However he said he would have:
1) Fixed the balance sheet, which would involve paying down the debt and “reworking the asset structure of the club”.
2) Invested in Rush Green, the new training ground, very quickly and reworked the scouting system to take a more “French” approach by running an academy on a “European basis”.
3) Brought in new revenues “from a variety of ideas”. He revealed one of these would have been to use technology and social networking sites to make West Ham more accessible around the world.
4) Created partnerships with Formula One (he is team principal of Lotus) to generate money, eg from sponsorship, which would benefit both sides.
Fernandes added: “I see West Ham as the unpolished diamond of the Premier League. It should be a larger and more successful club than it is and so, when the chance came around again to buy it, I felt I could do it and fulfil an ambition.
“I have faith in [manager Gianfranco] Zola and the management team. It wasn’t their fault the club are in the predicament they are in and I genuinely believe Zola will be one of the managerial greats. I made no promises except West Ham would never again be in the situation it finds itself in now.”
Fernandes said that Sullivan had put forward a professional bid and he wished him success. Asked about whether he would invest, he said: “I would have to see whether they share the same vision, otherwise it could be a calamity for the club.
You can only have one leader, one strategy. But I’m never one to say no to anything, especially as I’m very passionate about the club. On the positive side the club has a new owner and it has ended the uncertainty.”
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/west-ham/7039018/Tony-Fernandes-flies-home-from-failed-West-Ham-bid-with-mixed-feelings.html