Later today could be a day that sees Nottingham Forest fans put in a much better mood should the projected takeover led by John Jay Moores come to fruition as expected.
The deal itself, for Moores to head-up an 80% stake in the club, and remove it from the hands of the despised Fawaz Al Hasawi, has been agreed in principle before Christmas. The American side of it is all seemingly tickety-boo, no problems existing Stateside and the £50m ready to seal the deal.
The ‘delay’ has seemingly come from the Al Hasawi side, with the deal having a few wrinkles that need straightening before Moores, who was once the owner of the MLB franchise the San Diego Padres, takes a majority control of the club.
According to the Nottingham Post, Al Hasawi and the Moores consortium are “due to enter into further discussions” with a plan of “finally ironing out the last remaining details” of the deal that will see Al Hasawi step back into a diminishing-over-time 20% silent ownership of the club.
A deal couldn’t come at a more opportune time for Forest fans after this weekend. Already sitting just above the relegation zone in 20th place in the Sky Bet Championship table, the Reds meekly exited the FA Cup at the hands of Wigan Athletic, a team actually below them in the table. The fans have lost any semblance of patience or faith in current manager Philippe Montanier, a man likely doomed to the dole office after the American takeover.
It was a result where the performance of the side was brought into even more stark relief by the absence of club captain Henri Lansbury whose head had ‘been turned’ due to the increasing furore of teams beating down Forest’s door to gain his signature. However, given leave from the side, Lansbury decided to head off for a round of golf; much anger from Forest fans followed.
To increase the misery of the weekend, one of Al Hasawi’s ‘friends’ decided it was ‘wind up Forest fans time; and started trolling them on Twitter after the Wigan game. Talk about salt being rubbed into already raw wounds, Emad Alqahtani fair gouged it in there and rubbed it around.
Whether or not the takeover is actually formalised tomorrow is another thing, the Football League need to ratify the deal – a mere formality seeing as all involved like Moores, his business partner Charles Noell and others involved all said by the Nottingham Post.”
Completed or not, any shred of news from tomorrow’s meeting in London will be most welcome for Nottingham Forest fans after the weeknd that they’ve just suuffered.
