Place Your Bids

I thought this might be a spoof, but apparently, the US company charged with trying to sell the Mighty Whites of Tranmere Rovers, has put the club on eBay!:

The club is not happy apparently but at least it will generate publicity. However, it would be worrying if we get another American owner as we had past problems with Mr Osterman, Chester City had problems with Terry Smith and the US owners of bigger clubs (Liverpool and Man Utd) have hardly endeared themselves to the fans.

• Historic brand and fan base in FA football dating back over 100 years;

  Low cost of entry for club with significant potential for promotion to the second division or potentially the Premiership;

The ad is here, but may be taken down soon.

Of some concern is this business jargon:

• The potential to pay for a portion of the acquisition through subsequent divestitures of excess/ non-income producing real estate with NO financial risk to the common shareholders;
• Ability to generate pro-forma double digit returns on for the new investors;

UPDATE: 30 July

The eBay listing still exists but is showing as ended. Meanwhile, Peter Johnson, fresh from not smuggling drinks into Edgbaston issued this statement:

• Statement

  Posted on: Thu 30 Jul 2009

  As fully documented in the Liverpool Daily Post earlier this year, Tranmere Rovers Chairman Peter Johnson has appointed Dornoch Capital to broker a sale for his shares in the Club to a responsible US investor.

  However, Mr Johnson was very disappointed to discover that Dornoch Capital had chosen ebay.com as a route to find a potential buyer and would not have given permission for them to do so had he been asked. Mr Johnson has instructed Dornoch to remove the ebay listing immediately