Perth Glory owner Tony Sage has confirmed he’s on his way to England to finalise the sale of the A-League club to a London-based investment group.
Perth Glory owner Tony Sage is travelling to England to finalise the sale of the A-League club to a London-based investment group.
Sage says he’s close to finalising a majority sale to London Football Exchange (LFE) which will result in them acquiring an 80 per cent stake in the Glory.
Sage will remain in control of the Glory as LFE group chairman while retaining a 20 per cent stake in the club.
“For the last 18 months I’ve been looking for a partner,” Sage told 6PR Radio in Perth.
“I’ve had three or four close encounters but they’ve wanted to change things.
“They wanted to change the name of the club, change the colours. So, yeah, I’ve been very reluctant to do it that way.
“I came across a group in London that have a fantastic vision for football.
“They want to own seven clubs around the world like the City group but instead of the City group rebadging Melbourne Heart to Melbourne City and Yokohama City, New York City, they will let each club keep its own identity.”
LFE launched in 2018 with the aim of using crypto-currency to create a football stock exchange and market where fans, traders and investors can acquire shares or purchase merchandise and experiences direct from football clubs.
As part of its plan, the group intends to acquire seven professional football clubs of which Sage said Perth is just the first.
“There’s an offer in for a French club, an Italian club and an EPL (English Premier League) club at the moment,” Sage said.
“They wanted to get things done quickly and they just said ‘why don’t we start off with an Australian club?’
“We’ve been negotiating, I don’t know how it leaked, but obviously lawyers talk, and I’m in Dubai now on my way to London and hopefully it’s signed in the next few days.”
Sage said his role as chairman with LFE will mean he will be in control of the Glory and any others clubs the group acquires internationally.
© AAP
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Mathew Leckie played a pivotal part in Melbourne City claiming an 8-nil win; playing a role in several of his team's goals.
The loser of the Sydney Derby will be under immense pressure entering the final three matches of the season.
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
Sydney moved into fourth with their point but Glory's finals hopes are now officially extinguished.
Anthony Caceres is a player with immense talent and has a fantastic work rate, broke the deadlock against the Mariners in the 74th minute.
The Wanderers coach admits he has stuff going on in his personal life, and insists he has full support of playing group.
