[Baggiebob(BBB)]

Former Huddersfield Town owner Dean Hoyle is in discussions to buy back the Championship club.
Phil Hodgkinson, who Hoyle sold the club to in 2019, has stepped down as a director of the club to focus on his other business interests.
Nine of Hodgkinson's businesses were placed into administration in November.
Hoyle retained a 25% stake in the club when he sold it and is now in talks with Hodgkinson's PURE Sports Consultancy Limited to buy the rest.
Lifelong Terriers fan Hoyle was chairman during Huddersfield's rise to the Premier League from League One. He stepped back in 2019 after suffering an acute form of pancreatitis, which led to him spending 15 weeks in hospital.



Do you fans want this, or not?

[Amelia Chaffinch]

I do.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Not the biggest fan of Hoyle after he royally shafted us when he sold to Potless Phil.
However he does have Town's interest at heart. He won't let us down....(unless he sells the club again and shafts us again).

[Amelia Chaffinch]

I think it'll be Phil that's getting shafted for now.

[Lord Snooty]

Never took to the fella. Don't know why, just one of those things.

Fans nicknamed him Potless Phil, even though it was said he was worth much more than Hoyle. However, he's now had all his companies put into administration.

Actually it's a good job that Deano kept hold of 25% of his stake, or else Huddersfield Town itself would be in admin as well.

I don't think Dean would've sold to Phil in the first place if he hadn't got ill, and now it would seem that his buying Town has knackered his other companies as well.

I feel sorry for all the people who have lost their jobs in all this, but glad that we still have our club going and in a really strong position in the league. Are we financially secure? Don't know. DH will probably want to sell up again some time.

[theo_luddite]

I'd say the pandemic did more to knacker his companies than buying Town ever could have done but generally I don't disagree with the sentiments.

Hoyle's money was all put in originally as loans, though I suspect that is because it's "tax efficient". You can call in your loans anytime you want. The timing of it wasn't convenient but when would it have ever been? Had he been able to sell his shares for the value of the loans (or there about) it might have left the club with more money in the pot (until we off-loaded all the mercenaries and their wages) but also an owner who is already in a big hole to try and trying to improve the squad, improve the value of the club and then get a return on their investment.

West Brom, Wolves, Brum and Villa all have Chinese (or Hong Kong Chinese) owners. Wolves and Villas owners have deep pockets. West Brom and Brum, it would appear less so. It took a few seasons of silly money just to get Wolves and Villa promoted and in a decent position to stay up.

Fact is, if we go up again, that ~£100m for the first season will quite easily disappear in a puff of smoke as transfer fees and wages again erode it quickly (hopefully the promotion bonus's aren't quite as barmy as last time). Fulham spent £150m on top of the many £millions they spent just to get up last time. They came straight back down and have done it before.

Norwich, Watford, Brentford have all spent far more than Town in fees and wages in their attempts to go up and now stay up. The two that were first and second last year are bottom and second bottom this season and Brentford are only 3 points above Burnley.

The top line numbers look fantastic, but you need really deep pockets to fund campaigns to stay up for more than a season or two as the top 6 or 8 have enough money to fund two sides capable of beating whatever our best 11 might be.

We and The Blunts have shown you can get promoted with one of the smallest wage budgets in the Championship. Staying up once you get there just blows anything you get straight back out of your bank account. You don't get rich as a result, but it's a blast for the fans for a while until you start losing every week.

[jjamez]

Hoyle tarnished himself for me with the events post prem. In his right to get his money back and what not, but i don't think he went about it the right way and really hamstrung us. Business man first town fan second at the end of the day.

As for replacing Phil, I never took to Phil either had the look of the smarmy business man and had the demeanor of someone you'd see in your pub living it large with all these stories where none where entirely true.

For Dean replacing it depends which Dean is in, is it the solely businessman Hoyle, if so it won't see much change in how we move forward. Dean from when he first took over would see us be a tad braver. But in all honesty I see Dean looking for a quick sale in summer. Everything has panned out where he benefits from it either way and that's very Dean, you just have to hear how he conducts business in everyday life and when he first took over to know he plots away.

Everything will benefit him though. If we don't go up he's got a club that will have been around the playoffs which will entice people, he owns the training ground which could be included and we may have the stadium by the summer, it's still ongoing despite the Phil admin issue. So Dean could be looking at a sale of somewhere between 12-20 mil of we don't go up.

If we go up through the play offs or automatic then the money received can pay what he's owed by the club so happy days for him, but the value of the club will be higher because of the premier League factor, I'd suggest there'd be more interested parties too.

The deal with Evans seems to have died a death, probably because of where we are in the league, why would Dean sell now when there's chance of more money. I also think Evans wanted a piece of the pie too so when he knew he wasn't going to get enough crust or filling of it, he wasn't interested. He may change his mind come summer if we don't go up. I can't see him being interested if we go up, sure it will be a premier League club, but it's the money.

The one I see being interested is that Chris Kirchner who was interested in derby but I honestly couldn't tell you much about his wealth, only that his business seemed to be a quickly growing one

[theo_luddite]

Kirchner apparently pulled out of a bid for Direby and is now sniffing round Both Ends.

Apparently 34 years old, allegedly has huggins of brass, but for some reason rings loads of alarm bells with me.

54 or 64 with huggins of brass sounds like an astute business man.

34 sounds like someone who got lucky (maybe or maybe not astutely) and is now looking for something to play with to reduce his tax bill and could get unlucky just as quick.

Er, Barry Rubery anyone?