Key decisions go on hold for Tranmere takeover talks

May 6 2008

THE FIXTURES may be completed and the final League One league table posted but Tranmere’s season of uncertainty remains in full swing this morning.

With issues to be resolved at boardroom, management and dressing room level, no-one at Prenton Park can draw a line under the 2007/08 campaign, let alone plan with certainty for 2008/09.

Revelations in the Daily Post last week that Rovers are talking to potential new investors or owners in the shape of Portuguese group Best Holdings may help to explain why no decision has been announced about the future of manager Ronnie Moore or a number of key players.

Moore’s two-year contract comes to an end this summer as does the one-year arrangement with his number two Peter Shirtliff.

The former player, captain, coach and assistant manager at Prenton Park says he is keen to have another crack at leading Rovers to the Championship after finishing 11 points short of the play-offs this time.

But he has been left in the dark about the club’s intentions and knew nothing about the discussions with Best Holdings.

For the moment Moore is working on ideas and preparations for next season without knowing if he will be able to see them through.

The doubts about the manager’s future are inevitably impacting on the players. Those who are out of contract may understandably hesitate about committing to a new deal when they can’t be sure who they will be playing for in the future.

The senior players out of contract included right back Robbie Stockdale, midfielders Paul McLaren, Steve Jennings and John Mullin, utility player Shane Sherriff and winger Steve Davies.

Davies in particular could be a target for other clubs. Rovers turned down several offers from Leeds United for the 22-year-old winger before he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in September. Davies completed a successful recovery from surgery and made two substitute appearances for the first team in recent weeks.

Scottish clubs have been reported to be showing an interest in Jennings and Stockdale.

Moore is in his second spell of employment under Tranmere’s current owner Peter Johnson. He was assistant to manager John King between 1987 and ‘96, when Johnson’s investment bankrolled the most successful era in Tranmere’s history.

I understand Johnson, now the club president and still holding a controlling 60% of shares, was behind Moore’s appointment in 2006.

Moore has helped to generate a positive and harmonious spirit in the dressing room over the past two seasons and put a smile back on the face of Tranmere’s football after the grim struggle against relegation in 2005/06.

But attendances at Prenton Park have not bucked a national trend of decline in the lower divisions over the last two seasons and Rovers’ promotion challenge faded in the final phase of each campaign.

A change in ownership would probably make it less likely that Moore would be invited to stay on. New owners usually want to put their own management team in place.

Best Holdings won’t be short of contacts in the world of managers and players. The man behind the company, Portuguese businessman Jeorge Rubinstein is, among other things, a football agent.

Best Holdings were unable to appoint a manager of their own during an aborted takeover attempt at Swindon last year. The experienced Paul Sturrock was under contract to the original Swindon board, who did not hand over for control the club to the potential new investors.

Best Holdings introduced a chairman designate, American Jim Little and a general manager, Jose Veiga, who was given responsibility for recruiting players. Sturrock had to work with the players recruited by Best Holdings – notably Mauro Almeida, Franklin Anzite and Ibon Arrieta – but he rarely played them in the first team. The trio’s limited appearances did not impress supporters.

All three left the club after Best Holdings pulled out negotiations at the County Ground in November.

The consortium of local businessmen, fronted by Andrew Fitton, that subsequently took control of Swindon inherited the contracts of the trio and subsequently paid them off.

Almeida, from Portugal, moved to Irish club Sligo Rovers. Midfielder Anzite, from the Central African Republic, moved on to Weymouth in the Blue Square Premier but was released last month after making three senior appearances.

Arrieta, a 31-year-old Spaniard, made six substitute appearances for Swindon and moved on to Romanian club Pandurii Targu Jiu.