Is It Heaney Or Brent For Argyle?

It now appears that the administrator for Plymouth Argyle has finally found a preferred bidder to buy the club.

Lead administrator Brendan Guilfoyle had narrowed the contenders down to two potential bidders, believed to be Kevin Heaney and James Brent, but hit a huge stumbling block when one bidder wanted a mortgage secured on the Home Park stadium to be written off or become unsecured.

That £1.4 million mortgage was supplied by Mastpoint, a wealthy group of investors and shareholders led by former Argyle Directors Sir Roy Gardner and Keith Todd.
After almost two weeks of discussions the BBC reports that a deal has now been struck with Mastpoint who have now agreed to give up the security of the mortgage on Home Park in return for a delayed payment of their cash if and when Argyle return to the Championship.

The preferred bidder is rumoured to be Heaney, a housing developer and owner of Truro City Football Club, although Heaney has strongly denied the speculation linking him with a take over at Argyle.
Bizarrely, Todd and former Argyle Directors Yasuaki Kagami and George Synan have been linked with a Heaney-led buyout of Argyle.

If this is true then the majority of Argyle fans will not welcome the return of three Argyle Directors who financially mismanaged the club causing several members of the backroom staff to be made redundant, not pay the wages of the players and the staff for months, let bills to local suppliers go unpaid and finally to force the club into administration and a 10 point deduction!

Recent Mastpoint member and Japanese businessman Koichiro Abe is also rumoured to be part of the consortium led by Heaney.

The arrival of just Heaney as the new owner of PAFC would be welcomed by most Argyle fans but the inclusion of three failed Argyle Directors as part of a new consortium just doesn’t sit right.

The second bidder is reportedly property and hotel developer James Brent and he would appear to be the better option but at this stage he is, unfortunately, not Guilfoyle’s choice of preferred bidder.

Whether it’s Heaney or Brent the process to take over Argyle will run for several weeks yet.