Sean wrote: > It might be a reference to Viduka. Wasn't there some issue with his rights so > that we wouldn't make much money if we sold him? >
Yes there was some 'unusual' arrangement around him, Dacourt and Fowler. I think we had a kind of sale and lease back arrangement with Reff/Gerling. We, also, I seem to recall didn't actually pay Viduka directly but I'm unclear on the details. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/nov/02/football.theobserver When does a football club still owe £7.5m on a £6m striker it bought and apparently 'paid for' in 2000? The answer - when the deal involves Leeds United, goalgetter Mark Viduka, a mysterious firm called Registered European Football Finance Ltd (Reff) and ruinous 'buy now, pay later' policies. Reff, a company specialising in the 'sale and leaseback' of footballers, lends clubs money to buy talent. It is fronted by Ray Ransom, an ex-Manchester City defender. The advantage for the club is that the arrivals improve their chances of success; the downside is that the club only truly 'owns' the player once it has forked out all the 'usage payments' for him. Despite their financial problems, Leeds kept up the payments to Reff for Viduka. But then Olivier Dacourt, another of the seven players they had acquired this way, left for £3.5m - far less than the £7.2m they had spent on him. Result: the money still due to Reff for him was added on to Leeds's tab for Viduka, which now stands at £7.5m. The collective bill for Leeds's 'Reff six' is £21.3m of its £78m debt. Mystery surrounds who owns Reff. The fact that it is based in Guernsey and domiciled in the British Virgin Islands means there is no mandatory disclosure. All well-placed sources will reveal is that 'two or three bog-standard financial institutions are behind it, not one or more wealthy individuals'. Barclays is thought to be one of its business partners. 'In a buoyant transfer market, clubs will be fine because they can always sell the player for at least what they bought him for. But in a depressed transfer market, the danger is that you'll get screwed,' a City expert explained. At least Reff will get paid by Leeds. When Bradford City went into administration owing £35.5m, Gerling, Reff's insurers, had to settle for just £1.3m of the £7.3m the club owed Reff. But just last week Bradford's chairman asked for more time to pay the first installment of £750,000. Reff is owed from £100m to £350m for Viduka-style deals with an undisclosed number of clubs. Given the financial uncertainty in English football, it - or Gerling - could yet lose a lot more. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org MARCHING ON TOGETHER (There's it)
