May
Newsfile

Newsfile Archive

Takeover talk. Don't you just love it.

The last 24 hours have been fuelled with talk of Sam Hamman and a takeover at Cardiff City.

Sam was linked several weeks ago, there were rumours over the weekend that he was spotted in Cardiff and last night the Echo revealed an offer from Hamman had been made.

After denying an offer was on the table in the Western Mail this morning it now turns out that an offer has been made but has initially been rejected. I'll try to offer some facts which from reading and listening to the media today I believe to be true.

Sam Hamman was in Cardiff last Friday, he made a visit to Ninian Park and was spotted in the City Centre with former Chairman Tony Clemo. Clemo has refused to comment. Steve Borley and David Temme were out of town at a League meeting.

Hamman has confirmed to BBC Wales that he wants to buy into the club.

It is understood that a verbal offer has been made and would mean him taking control of the club with an 80% interest. The sticking point could be that Mr Hamman has offered under 25p a share. Less than the offer made by Clive Sullivan and rejected by Samesh Kumar.

Mr Kumar though is fully behind this bid. At 25p a share if Mr Hamman were take purchase the 8.7m shares available he would invest £1.25m.

The board are meeting today to discuss the offer but after the debacle that surrounded the Clive Sullivan takeover they are keen to keep the exact details close to their chests. The exposure so far is probably more than the club would have wanted.

It has been mentioned that the deal could also involve Ron Noades. Again Noades has been linked over the last few weeks.

So my thoughts.

Well if Steve Borley has managed to attract the calibre of investor of Sam Hamman and Ron Noades then I take my hat off to him. Samesh Kumar has many times said that the club will only do well with the right football people at the helm. Hamman and Noades certainly fit that bill.

While a low offer for the shares may be a concern think ahead. If Sam Hamman were to put £1.25m into Cardiff City he is not going to let it just rot there. That will give him control and let him run the club the way he has run Wimbledon in the past. Building it up to a great success. Its the future we must think of. Sam Hamman can bring us closer to the dreams we all have.

I urge the board to do the right thing. This could be the big one. I don't want to raise hopes, I would suggest we are all thick skinned when it comes to these proposals but this is more than just hearsay.