Bari’s American takeover falls through

By: Francesco | October 1st, 2009

TIM BARTON

It’s not old news that the Matarrese family wants to sell Bari. Although they have been in charge of the Pugliese club since 1977, they no longer have the want to be heads of a football club and have had the club on sale for years. Last year former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz was interested in taking charge of the club, but the deal fell through. Then, this summer it seemed they had been thrown a lifeline. Around mid-August, it was revealed that an American entrepreneur was interested in buying the club. He was revealed to be Tim Barton (pictured), a Texan who was the head of JMJ Holdings Corp.

On August 18th, Barton flew to Bari and signed a pre-contract with the club, agreeing a sale price of 25 million dollars and that Barton would take charge of the club in November. He would also have to pay a part of the fee by September 30th. He was greeted by a large number of Bari fans at the airport and was treated almost like a big Hollywood star. He said he was excited to take on this new challenge and that he was happy to see such passionate fans in Bari and that he wanted to take Bari to high levels. It was also revealed that he would be collaborating with some Italian business men from Torino on this, as Barton does not speak Italian or know much about Italian law and regulations.

Barton appeared at every Bari home game this season as well as last weekend’s draw at the San Siro vs. Milan. The Bari fans started to get excited and started bringing American flags to the stadium as well as banners with phrases like “Let’s go Tim. We have a dream!“. However as September went on and Barton still did not pay the preliminary fee, the whole thing started to look a little suspicious. It was reported in recent days that Barton wanted an extension on the deadline but that Vincenzo Matarrese would not allow it. And so, yesterday was deadline day, and no payment came from Tim Barton. It was said that Barton wanted another 30 days to pay the preliminary fee. Matarrese wouldn’t allow it, so the deal officially fell through, as reported today. There has still not been any explanation from Barton as to why he wanted more time to buy the club, and many Bari fans are anxiously waiting to hear one. Some reports say Barton did this whole thing as a publicity stunt, to increase the popularity of his company JMJ Holdings in Italy. We can’t really say if that’s true or not, but it could be an option.

So the Matarrese family will continue to stay in charge of Bari, but they have made it clear that the club is still up for sale. Who knows, with Bari doing so well this year, maybe they will attract a serious buyer who really wants to take the club to new heights.