Former Swindon Town Chairman Jeremy Wray has been confirmed as part of the company who are now preferred bidders for a 24% stake in Birmingham City PLC.
The company involved have been named as Soccer Management Worldwide Limited and it is understood the group could be in advanced talks with the Clubs parent company Birmingham International Holdings Limited.
The Birmingham Mail have reported that Jeremy Wray was at St Andrews on Thursday as the consortium perform due diligence around the clubs records. The Mail also report that former Birmingham deputy managing director Peter Day, along with journalist Tony Rees are also involved with the group.
Talks for the club are apparently going well but a statement by Mr Wray has stressed that everything is still in its infancy and the deal is not done yet.
Mr Wray – “On Friday 23rd May we were informed by Birmingham International Holdings that Soccer Management Worldwide Limited had been selected as the preferred bidder for Birmingham City FC, he said.
We have been granted a three week exclusivity period to complete final due diligence in order to more fully assess the opportunity.
We are acutely aware that time is of the essence and that all those associated with the club are keen to see clarification of the club`s future after the recent uncertainty.
Whilst there are no guarantees that we will be able to conclude a transaction we would ask for patience whilst this diligence process is completed, and trust that people understand that at this time it would be inappropriate to expand on the nature and detail of our discussions with the club.”
Also involved in the company, as reported by Often Partisan is Derek Peter, who was struck off as a charted accountant for misconduct whilst at Luton town. This was for questionable payments to agents. OP also reports that there are additional complications with tax payments that left Luton with a large bill.
What is actually slightly alarming is that Mr Wray whilst at Swindon did appoint Paolo Di Canio as manager. Given the Sunderland episode I would be surprised if the Italian would be accepted at Birmingham. Would you allow such a man to work at Blues?
It would appear that WSM, by going public, have broken the non-disclosure clause that Paladini also broke when confirming his interest to the media. That bid consequently failed. It will remain to be seen whether such revelations to the press are to have the same effect on this bid. Non-disclosure is an important clause to the HKSE and BIHL have not taken such breaches lightly in the past.
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