Gulf weekly

Bit of a dumb question to be fair. The article (in marketing speak) was just a lead generator. It may well have generated a few leads including this one but then there were 5 months of due diligence.

So even if it generated the lead there was never any suggestion it was the main reason.

Having been involved in buying and selling companies it is entirely possible that an adviser, broker etc knew there were some rich Jordanians (or other middle eastern investors) assessing companies and suggested the article may be a way of upping the profile of the club. It was pretty obvious to me at the time that Higgs didn't just wake up one morning with the bright idea himself. It was pretty left field and clearly someone had suggested it.

Its a bit like seeing a ripple on the surface and casting your bait where the ripple is. Until you get a bite you have no idea whether it's a minnow or a whale.

Hopefully we haven't hooked a shark !!!!

I understand the EU Referendum ballot paper will have those exact same three options. 

A firm called Taylor-Wessing claims to have played a role.

Link to Taylor Wessing

Just read the Taylor Wessing press release which ends with..........

"The Taylor Wessing team was led by Corporate Partner Mike Turner, along with Associates Siobhán Langwade and Jemilla Olufeko. They were supported by Al Watson (Head of Planning and Environment), Nash Adjaye (Associate, Planning and Environment), Scott Harrison (Senior Counsel, Real Estate), Joanne Kelly (Partner, Construction), Paul Callaghan (Partner, Employment), Joe Aiston (Associate, Employment), Mark Smith (Partner, Pensions), Emma Aylwin (Associate, Pensions), James Walton (Senior Associate, Finance), Nikol Davies (Partner, Tax), James Stewart (Senior Associate, Tax), Eithne James (Associate, Tax), David de Ferrars (Partner, Disputes and Investigations) and Natalie Todd (Senior Associate, Disputes and Investigations)."

These guys clearly did loads and loads of homework and invested hugely in understanding all aspects of the deal especially the construction, planning and dispute investigation issues. 

I think that is very, very comforting.  They clearly didnt buy the club on a whim. They thought about it long and hard, invested a load of money in top-class legal advisers who asked all the right questions.   The fact that all this was going on behind the scenes and none of us knew is a real surprise in hindsight.  They are clearly a very professional outfit who do things the right way.

My early impressions are very positive.