Gamechanger 20 Ltd, the company set up by the US consortium currently in the process of taking over Town, has made priority Land Registry searches relating to the purchase of the Blues’ training ground, a further indicator that the £30 million deal is nearing completion.

Among the directors of Gamechanger 20 Ltd are Mike O’Leary, the former West Brom chief executive and Oxford board member thought to be driving the deal, as well as Brett Johnson, Berke Bakay and Mark Detmar, co-owners of USL club Phoenix Rising, and Edward Schwartz, who is understood to be an Ohio-based portfolio manager.

Town’s Playford Road training ground is the subject of a priority search regarding an intended purchase by Gamechanger 20, which was lodged on February 23rd by a law firm, Gateley PLC.

The Bent Lane site - which was transferred to London & Merchant Properties Limited (then known as Marcus Evans (Guernsey) Ltd) in 2011 largely for tax reasons - is subject to a similar search but only in respect of part of the site with TWTD having revealed on Friday that Evans will keep hold of part of that land following the takeover, presumably an area which has long been ear-marked for development between existing housing.

A priority search is typically only carried out in the immediate anticipation of completing a transaction, perhaps slightly ahead, but usually on the day of exchange of contracts.

It may be that a conditional contract was entered into last Tuesday for the sale of the land and in turn the club as a whole.

It is unlikely that a search of this type would be carried out unless a deal had either been agreed or is extremely close.

Photo: Matchday Images

tractorboyjim added 00:56 - Mar 3 Hats off to you boys at TWTD. The club has made it increasingly difficult, yet you've kept your fingers on the pulse and helped keep The Blue Army up to date. Well done boys and thank you! This is great to see... let's hope it's wrapped up and announced this week 💙🇺🇸🚜
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tractorboyjim added 00:56 - Mar 3 Hats off to you boys at TWTD. The club has made it increasingly difficult, yet you've kept your fingers on the pulse and helped keep The Blue Army up to date. Well done boys and thank you! This is great to see... let's hope it's wrapped up and announced this week 💙🇺🇸🚜
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BlueandTruesince82 added 07:05 - Mar 3 Oh Lee O'Neil you sly fox
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atty added 07:30 - Mar 3 Great work TWTD.
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rabbit added 07:38 - Mar 3 Excellent detective work by the TWTD team, well done.
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LWNR2013 added 07:44 - Mar 3 It's all a bit of a rum'un.
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bluewarrior added 07:47 - Mar 3 I think we can rely on it happening imminently, Information like this more or less confirms it. For me, the announcement of a new manager was the biggest clue. This appointment must have been made by agreement with the consortium otherwise a caretaker would have been appointed until the deal was more advanced.
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rfretwell added 07:48 - Mar 3 All moving in the right direction. No wonder ME has been keeping a low profile despite all the troubles around the club in recent months. Getting in a new manager and negotiating a U.S. based takeover must be pretty time consuming!
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LWNR2013 added 07:50 - Mar 3 Let's hope we'll be like a Phoenix rising.
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Woodbridgian added 08:02 - Mar 3 Just a slight note of caution. All this proves conclusively is that there is a consortium having a very close look, it doesn't necessarily prove a deal is imminent. Land Registry information is public record and anyone can do a search if their prepared to pay the fee.IMO this is far more likely to be due diligence work maybe even ahead of an offer than transactional. But time will tell.

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Muncher added 08:10 - Mar 3 Woodbridgian - this is not a search as in viewing the title for DD, it is a specific priority search to protect the registration of the transfer of the land.
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Northstandveteran added 08:18 - Mar 3 Walmart and a Costco? 😉
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johnwarksshorts added 08:19 - Mar 3 Paul Cook turned a couple of other job offers down, I dont think he would have come here unless a take over was imminent. Great work TWTD.
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Sparky85 added 08:42 - Mar 3 Will the searches bring up the great fire of 2021 though? Great work TWTD as always. All of a sudden it's quite exciting being a fan again
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ArnieM added 08:48 - Mar 3 Blue warrior: did you just say IMMINENTLY!!!! Lol
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BeattiesBackPocket added 09:20 - Mar 3 As tractoryboyjim said well done TWTD great work yet again
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trncbluearmy added 09:21 - Mar 3 listen to muncher on this one does sorta confirm the deal, but these sort things do invariably have the potential for last minute twitches
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LWNR2013 added 09:28 - Mar 3 Last minute twitchers.....Bill Oddie?
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LWNR2013 added 09:29 - Mar 3 I like excitement. Thanks TWTD.
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PortmanTerrorist added 09:31 - Mar 3 I do not know much but I do know that what TWTD says about Purchase Searches is spot on. Obviously it is a bit like exchanging contracts on a house and the deal is not over the line but clearly all confident enough in the deal to start to deploy changes in Management ! Exciting times....please god !
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martin587 added 09:34 - Mar 3 The next few weeks are going to be very interesting on and off the field.🤞
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Bazza8564 added 09:51 - Mar 3 Yes well done TWTD! As we have suspected, what the club is saying is only a small part of reality, maybe by restriction, maybe by a wish to be frugal with the truth. The reality though is that any takeover from this type from investment partners is driven the by the realization of substantial under-performance and undervaluation in the assets themselves. Expect these guys to invest aggressively. And not just on the pitch, they will be looking at the stadium (Cobbold stand 50 years old next year) and give that a facelift that reflects modern stadia. If they are spending £30m to get the club, expect them to be spending £30-60m in the next 5 years net, then turn it for £150m once it is where it belongs in 5-10 years time. It isnt a hobby, they will have significant investment plans to drive it hard. Hang on for the ride, it could be fun :)

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Talbs77 added 09:55 - Mar 3 These searches may take a little time and the deal will also need to be ratified by the league so doubt we will be talking about a couple of weeks but something is obviously pipelined.
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Talbs77 added 09:58 - Mar 3 I'm also hearing there are 2 bids on the table not just the one from the ol USA.
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Pencilpete added 10:14 - Mar 3 This is going to be a shock to Lee O'Neill - he still doesn't know anything about a takeover !!!!
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