He’s the one on the left. Not so short, then.From Sports Illustrated online
Texas businessman Ellis Short bought a significant stake in Sunderland, the English Premier League told The Associated Press on Friday.
Short is co-founder of Dallas-based private equity group Lone Star Funds. In August, he acquired more than 30 percent of the consortium that owns the club in northeast England.
I thought Friday afternoons were when you released the bad news. Maybe this is bad news over there. I don’t know. What I also don’t know is who, exactly, Ellis Short is. Follow after the jump to find out with me.
Geez, Short’s wiki is only slightly longer than mine. Not a lot of info there. The SI article mentions that he did not buy the club outright, but instead bought into the above consortium, Drumaville, which bought Sunderland in 2006. Drumaville, to the best of my knowledge, was put together solely to buy Sunderland. Before the new purchase by Ellis, it was a group of nine people, headed by former Black Cat Niall Quinn. There has been no information released as to who sold the 30%+ of shares to Ellis.
So what about Ellis? His money seems to come from Lone Star Funds, a private equity firm based out of Dallas. According to their website, LSF has assets totaling over $13 billion. LSF work all over the world, but not always cleanly. According to the Japanese government, LSF purchased a bank, transferred funds via a shell, and failed to pay taxes on the profit. The government has had no luck in resolving the case. He has also faced problems in South Korea. In 2006, the government sought extradition for Ellis in a case that sounds a lot like the Japanese one.
Beyond that, very little is known publicly about Ellis. He is married, and according to this story, she is a wonderful woman. Ellis also owns a Scottish castle, and is therefore living my dream.
Offhand, he sounds a bit like Mike Ashley before Ashley purchased Newcastle. They both made a shedload of money off of businesses they started, but stayed out of the press for the most part. Seriously, beyond today’s stories on Ellis’ takeover, there is very little else about him online. Wonder if Ellis will pork up and start showing up everywhere in a Sunderland jersey?
By the way, he knows his castle is in Sutherland, and the club is Sunderland, right?
Another take on this at EPL Talk
Thanks to jjf3 for using the tipline on this one
Written by Darkvader on September 26th, 2008 with no comments.
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Nothing will ever be simple for the Hicks family in Liverpool. They were welcomed with the same cautious enthusiasm that met soldiers in Baghdad square (well, we’re led to believe so anyway), and now, they’ve been exposed as rather insidious and dishonest since then.
Liberators on one hand, now they’re the dismal status quo holding us back.
Well, it seems like even a monumental win over Manchester United this weekend STILL couldn’t buy them some second-hand goodwill.
Tom Hicks’ son, Alex Hicks, thought that a night on the town would be a bit of fun, although a drunk American outside the Cavern Club is going to draw some attention, especially when traveling with a small cadre of minders and bodyguards (Rule #1: no matter how restless and crude the natives appear to be, treat interaction with them as something more relaxed than an anthropological journey).
Back at the hotel, a fight broke out, and his bodyguard punched out a security guard and spent the night in the clink.
From the report:
“Witnesses said alcohol and cutlery were hurled out of an upstairs window to the street below. A drunken fracas is believed to have revolved around Alex Hicks and his group of friends.”
He was charged with assault and sent on his way, but it is yet more bad press for the already embattled Americans in charge at Anfield. At least Gillett has been seen at some games recently! He even tried to sing along with You’ll Never Walk Alone!
Still, it’s worth noting that the incident took place at the Hard Day’s Night Hotel, the recent downtown development of a Beatles-themed hotel. There’s an All You Need Is Love joke in there somewhere…
Written by Darkvader on September 18th, 2008 with no comments.
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You didn’t think some non-Scouse was going to write this, did you?
The Liverpool saga this summer has been like every other tidbit of drama I’ve endured at Anfield since Rafa and the Yanks began their fraught courtship. A protracted mess of he-said, she-said wrangling that always ends up public, and yet it seems like they fight about something new every week. First it was the need for transfer funds, then it was the Klinsmann debacle, then it was funds again, then it was Rafa’s job security, then chairman Rick Parry’s job security, and now, funds for Gareth Barry.
It is the definition of “soap opera” through and through: a diverse cast of characters constantly bickering and who never retain any knowledge from week-to-week, so much so that you think you’re forever watching the same bloody episode.
Sadly, the product on the pitch is just as much a part of the same soap. Flashes of brilliance and melodrama punctuated by long periods of sitting around and waiting for something to happen. My beloved club are in grave danger of becoming the ultimate paper team: one that matches up well with their opponents in theory, yet routinely underwhelms on the pitch.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, and every summer, when we bring in one or two big-name players, my excitement levels rises, the teamsheets look formidable, and then, as we witnessed on Wednesday, it doesn’t rise to the occasion.
Looking at this year’s squad brings the same salivation. Robbie Keane, although a little pricey at 19 million pounds, brings a verve and inventiveness that Torres will surely benefit from up front. Too often, the Spanish whiz was left to his own devices up front, and while he created and scored a lot of goals, having a good wingman can only be a good thing. Right?
Should the pair find their psychic connection, they’ll score a lot of goals, and on paper, they’re the best strike pairing in the country. (Lest I forget the exciting intangible that is David N’Gog, a young Frenchman who managed to rebuff the charm and smile of Mr. Wenger)
WANT.
The midfield is unchanged, as the courtship of Aston Villa’s prized midfielder has amounted to nothing but tension and bruised pride. Xabi Alonso was shopped everywhere from Wenger’s treehouse to the exotic gates of Juventus, and nothing happened there. Mascherano’s been enjoying himself at the Olympics (I hear the refs are a little off?), and Gerrard, besides building his new gymnasium, has struggled with a couple of groin strains. I am not concerned, although I might need words with his WAG should the nagging injury persist much longer.
Babel, Benayoun, Lucas and Damien Plessis serve as willing, largely-inexperienced understudies, although in this day and age, the concept of depth is so coveted that I’m glad to have the quality we do.
Contrast this with Arsenal, who essentially become a JV team beyond their best 15 players.
The biggest shifts have come at the back, with a whole slew of new, unknown faces and names: Andrea Dossena joins from Udinese, and if his first match is any evidence, I’m scared shitless to have him patrolling left-back in Aurelio’s absense. Riise is gone, although Hyppia is still lingering should Carragher, Agger or Skrtel need a breather. Arbeloa, another concern at right-back, will share some time with Finnan and the free Swiss transfer Phillipp Degen, a guy I’ve barely seen in LFC Red yet.
Itandje has been mercifully shipped off, and Diego Cavalieri will provide Pepe with a rest every month or so.
On paper (fuck, there I go again), it’s a servicable squad, one that’s undergone a few major changes from last season, and one that should score goals. By pre-season standards, the results of these tinkerings and experiments were far from promising, and we’re lucky to be level on aggregate with Standard Liege heading into the 2nd leg of the CL qualifying round. (The joke is that if we struggled with Standard Liege, imagine how badly we’d fare against Exceptional Liege, or Amazing Liege, or Premium Liege.)
Phew.
Although it’s not good to handicap the team just one match into the competitive fixture list, I see the same tired hang-dog limp that’s plagued us in previous Augusts and that’s put us out of the EPL title race by Christmas.
Of course, I drink the Kool Aid willingly, and there’s still a dim flicker of hope that I’ll wake up tomorrow and Gareth Barry will be a Red. His cup-tied status should lower the price a bit, and given the prevailing joke that Hicks and Gillett have to root under couch cushions these days to come up with transfer fees means that we might still have a chance.
I’m not amused at our desperate haggling over a million pounds and the relative worth of Steve Finnan, but hey, if this were a soap, we’re just playing the part of the idiot uncle from out-of-town for a while.
I am thirsty for the season, and ravenous at the prospect of my wonderful paper team. We look good in print, but we also have a tendency to fold like a sheet of A4 on occasions when strength is needed most.
This all adds up to more of the same, in my eyes. I will go above and beyond in saying that I think we can push for third, but it’ll take a miracle (and the sudden ability to beat the Wigans and Boltons instead of dropping points) to get us much beyond that.
Third place, and a deep CL run for the lads. I think we have a cup in us, so I’ll plump for the FA Cup.
Reading back on that, I’m reminded as to why I love this game so much. All the negatives in the world can’t stop me from reaching for the stars, or at least the stars that I think Liverpool are vaguely capable of.
In the end, with no EPL games complete yet, my predictions look wild, absurd, and ultimately, really good on paper.
Written by Darkvader on August 15th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on American Owners and Fernando Torres and Kicking Scousers When They Are Down and Lingering Bursitis and Liverpool FC and Rafa Benitez and Robbie Keane.
Derby County were a fun distraction in the EPL last season, mainly due to their commitment to futility. 11 points from their 38 games saw them return swiftly to the untelevised comfort of the Colaship, and it saw their manager get fined for a tirade against Phil Dowd, as well as being caught in a sex tape scandal!
And now, they’re enjoying some interesting times once again, as their ex-owner is fighting with the newly-installed American Investment Group! Oh, and they’ve signed 11 new players since the end of the season.
Remarkable times ahead at Pride Park, that’s for sure.
First up, the business business.
It appears that their former chairman, Peter Gadsby, was terminated on Friday. This morning, he made a statement showing his anger at the manner in which he was terminated (perhaps something to do with the persistence he showed in trying to get some investment numbers from the new Yank overlords, and even hinted at possible legal action:
“Following my appointment as a non-executive director at the time of the club’s takeover by GS&E in January this year, I repeatedly sought confirmation that public pledges of an investment of ÂŁ50m – ÂŁ18m to purchase shares, ÂŁ22m to clear debts and ÂŁ10m for new signings – were being honoured… Right up to the moment I discovered that my position had been terminated, no answers were forthcoming.
Nor was there a single official board meeting at which these crucial matters could be raised, an astounding state of affairs for any company, let alone one facing up to serious challenges in a difficult business climate.”
Not particularly inspiring, is it?
His statement continued:
“On several occasions after the takeover, Adam Pearson [Rams’ chairman of football] maintained publicly that the club would go forward “free of debt” as the result of the investment of “substantial new monies” and it was announced that a takeover worth £50m included £10m for new signings.
From the outset, I expressed my unhappiness that such were being made without corroboration and was told that corrected figures would be forthcoming later, when all possible sources of new investment had been explored.”
So we’re looking at possible grounds for unfair dismissal, or some deviation from that if Gadsby himself could only provide evidence that proves what he’s saying.
However, the weird turn here is that he also offered to buy back the club from General Sport and Entertainment!
“I sincerely hope that, in making my doubts about an unhappy situation public, I may help to exert pressure on the owners to produce a full and precisely detailed account of the terms of their takeover, of the amount of new monies invested, the current financial position and the identity of the investors, as well as future financial intentions.
Such is my disappointment and sense of frustration about the situation that I now contend that the current owners should either make good their financial commitments to Derby County and provide the supporters with proof that their initial promises have been honoured or give me the opportunity to buy the club back and return it to local ownership more atuned to the needs and expectations of its outstandingly loyal supporters.”
A rather bizarre game of He-Said, She-Said, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, the club has been out spending money like Charles Barkley in Vegas, bringing in eleven (!) new faces recently. A week ago, the club added Polish loaner Przemyslaw Kazmierczak (Don’t ask me how to pronounce that) to their haul of faces and names who will all need to get acquainted rather quickly:
- former Plymouth Argyle defender Paul Connolly
- midfielder Paul Green (from Doncaster Rovers)
- Watford left-back Jordan Stewart
- winger Kris Commons (from Nottingham Forest)
- Watford striker Nathan Ellington (loan)
- Ex-Sheffield United striker Rob “f*cking useless” Hulse
- Striker Steve Davies from Tranmere Rovers
- Midfielder Ruben Zadkovich from Sydney FC
- Ex-West Brom defender Martin Albrechtsen
- Striker Liam Dickinson from Stockport County
It’s a lot of new faces, and almost enough for a brand-new starting XI! (and they just got turned down by a possible 12th signing, Welsh international midfielder John Oster)
Considering the talent of some players still with the Rams, like Giles Barnes, it’s fair to assume that they’ll bounce back up, but who can say? Let’s just hope for their sake that the ownership situation gets sorted before it becomes too distracting. You get the impression that it’s going to take a lot to keep Gadsby quiet.
Written by Darkvader on August 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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