Another consortium enters race to buy English Aston Villa

A British-based consortium known as AV06 now has entered the picture in regards to buying English Aston Villa.

Deputy high court judge and leading solicitor Nicholas Padfield QC confirmed he is at the forefront of the new takeover bid. Padfield said he had lodged a preliminary inquiry, though it is believed club chairman Doug Ellis likely has received a number of proposals from Padfield and his backers, who are currently unnamed.

Former Oxford University graduate Padfield and consortium members have joined lifelong Aston Villa fan Michael Neville and American billionaire Randy Lerner in the hunt for club ownership. There also is a Swedish consortium interested in taking over the club and installing Sven Goran Eriksson has manager. That group is led by Athole Still, Eriksson's agent.

Doubts still exist as to whether Lerner, the owner of the NFL Cleveland Browns, will reactivate his interest after pulling out Wednesday following talks with Ellis.

AV06 already have plans in place for appointing David O'Leary's successor, and have lined up a list of players who could be brought in to boost a squad that narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League last season.

"We have been in contact with the club," said Padfield, who was approached by the consortium to work on their behalf. "We have made a preliminary inquiry. I believe there will be a meeting. Whether it's next week, or the week after, or who it is with, I don't know.

"My role is to head the consortium and try and negotiate a bid if the consortium is satisfied with the answers to the questions that have been sent to the club. We want certain questions answered as to whether the club is in fact up for sale and what the position is as regards the team management and whether anyone has been appointed. Unless we have answers to those questions, then we don't know whether there is any solid base to proceed further."

Consortium sources are confident their bid is line with others. Although not making any guarantees, they are optimistic of initially making Aston Villa a top-10 club.

"Our money is as good as anyone's and is already in place and we will make money available for players and look after the well-being of the club," said one consortium source. "We will get the right people in to run the business, and that will mean a professional board who will liaise with the fans."

There are genuine doubts about Doug Ellis' willingness to relinquish control, as evidenced by Lerner, whose negotiations broke down on Wednesday. The club hoped Lerner's interest could be revived but a Browns spokesman suggested otherwise.

Browns spokesman Bill Bonsiewicz has been quoted as saying, "(Lerner's) interest is over" but it is likely Lerner was still mulling things over this weekend.

Any future talks, however, would have to go through Rothschild, Villa's financial advisers, and Seymour Pierce, the corporate brokers working on behalf of Lerner, effectively taking Ellis away from the negotiating table.

Eriksson also has been tempted by the prospect of becoming an investor. Interestingly enough, he will possibly follow through on a statement he made to the "fake sheikh" in January when he told an undercover journalist that Aston Villa was ripe for a takeover.

Eriksson's business adviser Lars Sternmarker returned from a 10-day trip to the Far East, and his first phone call was to Still.

"Sven is interested in any club, national team or job in football involving a team that can be competitive for winning titles," Sternmarker said. "I'm aware that a consortium is trying to buy Aston Villa and I will be talking to Athole Still about it."

Neville has yet to meet Ellis, though he insists talks are expected in the next few days. He expects immediate progress if a deal is to be made.

"It needs to be brought to a conclusion as quick as is practically possible," Neville said.

To aid that process Neville claimed he would be willing to work with, and not against, Padfield's consortium.

"I have heard that [Padfield] is a Villa fan and, if that's the case, I don't know why he doesn't call me and say 'Why don't we join forces and get it done together?'" Neville said. "I would be willing to do that. There are no egos in this consortium and all I want to make sure is that Aston Villa is taken forward in the appropriate manner. If that means we have to join forces with one or two consortiums, then we would do it. Aston Villa is the priority not the egos of consortium members."

Padfield's admission that "my first love is Chelsea" might put those hopes to rest.

Neville's willingness to work with another group suggests his own consortium might lack funding, though he rejected that suggestion.

"There's no need for us to join forces with anyone at all," he said. "But the more consortiums that come in, the longer the process will take and probably the higher the amount of money that will have to be paid."

That is unlikely to have escaped Ellis' attention.

Aston Villa's Olof Mellberg said the players were not being affected by the speculation over the club's new owners and who will be manager.

"The takeover talk doesn't affect us too much because we're just concentrating on our fitness," Mellberg said. "When we go on the tour to Germany and Holland next week, we can focus on the games and get ready for the start of the season.

"It's not that difficult to stay focused. You can see in training that we're working hard and that's what it's all about."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.