Everest boss in Wolves bid
Graeme Souness has stepped up his bid for a Wolves takeover by revealing double glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy as the man behind his £20m bid for control.Graeme Souness has stepped up his bid for a Wolves takeover by revealing double glazing tycoon Brian Kennedy as the man behind his £20m bid for control. Kennedy, the 47-year-old owner of English rugby champions Sale Sharks who has a personal fortune estimated at £250m, is ready to bankroll Souness's attempt to take charge of the Championship club. His identity was revealed on the day that Souness gave his first public response to last week's decision by Wolves to reject a written offer which had been based on the £20m figure quoted by owner Sir Jack Hayward in a radio interview before Christmas. Souness released a statement last night declaring: "We are disappointed our offer has been rejected. We felt we ticked all of the boxes in respect of Sir Jack's demands. "The offer is on the table and will remain so. My partner and I both have knowledge of football and business and would love the opportunity to return Wolves to where they belong - in the top flight." Read the full story in the Express & Star
Kennedy, the 47-year-old owner of English rugby champions Sale Sharks who has a personal fortune estimated at £250m, is ready to bankroll Souness's attempt to take charge of the Championship club.
His identity was revealed on the day that Souness gave his first public response to last week's decision by Wolves to reject a written offer which had been based on the £20m figure quoted by owner Sir Jack Hayward in a radio interview before Christmas.
Souness released a statement last night declaring: "We are disappointed our offer has been rejected. We felt we ticked all of the boxes in respect of Sir Jack's demands.
"The offer is on the table and will remain so. My partner and I both have knowledge of football and business and would love the opportunity to return Wolves to where they belong - in the top flight."The combination of the statement and the identity of Souness's backer is clearly designed to put public pressure on Molineux's heirarchy to reconsider the Liverpool and Scotland legend's offer.
But the signals from within Molineux today were that there would be no change unless the Souness-Kennedy consortium came with a higher offer.
Wolves have known all along that Kennedy was the man backing Souness but insist they are already in talks with other parties at a higher level while at the same time engaging global investment experts Rothschild to explore other possible buyers.
Kennedy and Souness are lifelong friends since school days in Edinburgh - the pair lived barely a mile apart - and the multi-millionaire's presence will certainly add weight to their takeover bid among Wolves fans.
The son of an Edinburgh window cleaner, Kennedy's big break was the acquisition of the Everest double-glazing business in 2000 since when his empire has diversified into home improvements, property and mobile phones.
He has the trappings of success with a Georgian mansion in Cheshire, a Majorcan villa, penthouse on Colorado's ski slopes, private jet and a helicopter.
He also has sporting pedigree having taking over the debt-ridden Sale Sharks in 2003 and turned a crumbling rugby club into English champions.
