Roland's sidekick Lieven de Turck was absent from last night's Fans Forum as he was involved in negotiations to sell the club. Three parties are said to be actively involved in discussions. It was ever thus. If Roland insists on complicated clauses, negotiations are bound to be prolonged.
There is an update from the Forum on the club website. It is not much of an update, but fuller notes will be published eventually: Update
It is now claimed that getting promoted has made the club more difficult to sell: 'The large costs around owning a Championship football club are a barrier for sale. The average Championship club loses around £15m a year which is not sustainable, each season ticket holder costs the clubs approximately £1,000.'
Nevertheless, there are owners who are willing to take a punt on such losses in the hope of recouping them in the Premier League, if only through parachute payments after one season in the top flight.
One is left wondering what the point of the meeting was. If there is not a takeover by the start of the season, there will be a special meeting. Clearly it would be desirable to conclude a sale as soon as possible, but I cannot see any taxation reasons why a sale should be delayed until July 1st as some have claimed.
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