The Birmingham Mail have printed today that the new Oxford United Chairman Darryl Eales had tried to buy Birmingham City before aborting the bid.
Eales is a Birmingham City fan and had attempted to not only buy Birmingham himself but also joined BCFC2014, a consortium attempting to buy the club, earlier this year.
It would appear that Darryl Eales is eager to invest in a football club and buying hes beloved Birmingham was simply too long of a task. It is well documented that the club`s sale is far from straightforward and news such as this confirms what fans already know.
To buy Birmingham a bidder has to purchase the club in stages, so as to preserve Birmingham International Holding Limited`s Hong Kong stock exchange status. There are also preferred customs and non-disclosure arrangements that BIHL insist on, which has seemed to of sidetracked a deal previously.
It could also be said that Peter Pannu has been providing a stumbling block when some deals are in the form of performance related payments instead of cash up front – such as Eales proposal. Pannu is said to have rejected at least one bid without showing it to Hong Kong based BIHL.
Birmingham City continues to be in the subject of negotiations between Soccer Management Worldwide, headed by Jeremy Wray, and Birmingham International Holdings Limited. The Mail has revealed that SWM representatives are in Hong Kong negotiating the rest of the deal after completing their assessment of the club.
Due to the difficulty of even getting this far the deal could be taking so long as Soccer Management Worldwide are simply tying up all the loose ends before actually handing over any money. It is unlikely that BIHL are holding up the deal as they have far more to lose if the club were to enter a financial crisis before the deal is complete.
It is not surprising we hear stories about people who wanted to buy Birmingham but didn`t, drawn out processes for such a high-risk investment hardly seem worth it at times. Alas it would seem the club may even be partially in new hands before the start of the season, unless negotiations somehow take over a month in Hong Kong.
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