Thai steps up City interest
01 May 2007 - 09:42:56
Former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is reportedly leading the race to buy Manchester City.
Shinawatra, who failed in a similar bid to buy Liverpool three years ago, has been granted access to the club's accounts and his advisors will carry out due diligence before deciding whether to launch a £100million takeover.
The Eastlands board is believed to be in favour of talking to Shinawatra rather than rival bidder Ray Ranson.
The former Citizens player has not seen eye-to-eye with the board after a making a series of public announcements following an initial proposal last month.
The City hierarchy have questioned the terms of Ranson's approach, saying: "Ray Ranson's indicative proposals to date have contained a number of material conditions that the board does not believe can be fulfilled.
"Neither the purported '£90million bid' nor further proposals of any sort have been received by the company or its advisers from Ray Ranson."
Shinawatra - a former policeman who rose to political prominence in Thailand before being ousted in a coup - has a reported personal fortune of £2billion.
The now London-based former Thai premier is also believed to be in favour of keeping Stuart Pearce in the hot-seat and would give the under-pressure manager a reported £50million sum to rebuild the City squad.