Julian Jenkins, the former Cardiff City director who led a group seeking to buy Yeovil Town, has revealed his Simul Sports consortium had three attempts at buying the club.
He hit back at “untrue and unfounded accusations” by chairman (we assume he still is anyway) Scott Priestnall and director Stuart Robins who have publicly stated that Simul did not have the finances to complete the deal.
In a statement congratulating SU Glovers, a business led by Matt Uggla and his mother Julie Anne, on the acquisition, posted on his social media, Jenkins called on “all fan groups to unite behind the new owners.”
He said: “I want to be clear and on the record that as a group we made three genuine attempts at a fully funded acquisition, with the most recent taking place in late December of last year.
“Although we were ultimately unsuccessful, we recognised that it would have been counterproductive for the club’s long-term stability and our ownership aspirations to make public comments due to the sensitivity and seriousness of the club’s future at the time of the attempted takeovers, even in the face of untrue and unfounded accusations about all three bids.
“I want to assure everyone that we acted in the best interests of the club and with the utmost integrity throughout the process.”
The most public attempt made by Simul, backed by Damien Sinngh, the Chief Finance Office for online graphic design tool, Canva, along with former Yeovil midfielder Marc Bircham, collapsed in May and Jenkins’ statement suggests they were back in the running in the race ultimately won by the Ugglas.
In his statement, he expressed his gratitude to the Glovers’ Trust which supported his bid to buy the club, adding: “It’s now time for all fans groups to unite behind the new owners and support their vision for propelling this great club forward. Achieving great things is only possible when everyone works together towards a common goal, and I urge everyone to embrace the spirit of achive by unity.
“I hope the club will soar to new heights and achieve incredible success on and off the pitch under the stewardship [there’s that word again!] of SU Glovers, which I believe the supporters and its community truly deserve.”
Very classy! Appreciate it and all the best.
— Matt Uggla (@matt_uggla) March 1, 2023
In April 2022, Priestnall told supporters that he had agreed a deal with Simul but said the group “never put any money on the table.”
He said: “I did not negotiate a deal, I did not hold out, they never put any money on the table and that is the truth. So there has never been a deal in place to sign, it’s just been ongoing discussions and that goes for any takeover (offer) you have heard about. Nobody has put any money on the table to buy the football club.”
In September, Robins told Three Valleys’ Radio‘s ‘In Conversation With….’ programme, that he had it “on pretty good authority” that no other group had put money on the table to complete the deal.
He said: “The difference with me was I did and when the time was to sign the cheque, I did it, as you would with any transaction of this nature.
“There was never any danger of working with the other parties you have mentioned, because they simply did not put the money where it should have been to conclude that transaction.