*Birmingham Daily Post*
Monday, 13 January 1975

Bendall keeps quiet on Villa shares purchase By lAN WILLARS

Ronald Bendai!, the man behind the purchase of large blocks of Aston Villa shares, remained strangely quiet yesterday about his reasons for buying them.

“I have absolutely no comment to make.” he said. “There has been a lot of conjecture and speculation but I am saying nothing.”

Mr. Bendall, who already had £25.000 of shares recently paid £13,000 for shares held by former director Harry Parkes and is now negotiating to buy £20,000 worth of shares from former chairman Jim Hartley.

If he succeeds in buying them it would give him a stake of £60,000, and make him the biggest single shareholder in Villa apart from Doug Ellis, the chairman.

Hartley and Parkes were thrown off the board 27 months ago following a bitter feud between them and Ellis and this latest development could lead to another war.

The scars of that battle have still not completely healed with both sides remembering the unhappy events of August 1972 when first Ellis was ousted and then Hartley.

Villa supporters were caught up in the boardroom struggle, too, with 7.000 shareholders being asked to adjudicate at the annual meeting and the extraordinary meeting that followed a month later.

Mr. Bendall’s decision to buy large blocks of Villa’s shares looks, on the face of it, extremely ominous.

The big question which remains unanswered is: Why should a successful ‘chartered accountant want to buy £60,000 worth of shares in a club that pays no dividends?

It could be that he is merely seeking a seat on the board because he is unhappy at the shareholdings of the other five directors on the board.

Mr. Harry Parkes, who confirmed his sale to Mr. Bendall, said last night:

“I have no idea why he should want the shares. I don’t think I have ever met the gentleman.

“The transaction took place when a stockbroker friend of mine said he had a client who would like to purchase my shares if I wanted to sell them.

“I understand a similar arrangement has been entered into between Mr. Bendall and Mr. Hartley but I repeat I am not aware of what Mr. Bendall’s Intentions are.”

Parkes added:

“I have certainly not sold my shares out of any maliciousness to Doug Ellis or Aston Villa. In fact. I still have several shares in the club.”

Ellis was also not available for comment last night.

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*Birmingham Daily Post*
Tuesday, 14 January 1975

Ellis lends Villa £100,000 By RANDALL NORTHAM

Doug Ellis, the chairman of Aston Villa, has backed his club’s faltering promotion drive with an interest free loan of £100,000.

Ellis was unavailable for comment last night, but the rest of the board confirmed that the loan had gone through making Ellis’ stake in the club around £160,000.

This means, I believe, that Ellis has made a bigger personal commitment to Villa than any other West Midlands club chairman have in their clubs.

The loan was arranged before the recent shareholding of Ronald Bendall, who hopes shortly to have £60,000 worth which would make him the second biggest shareholder.

He insists that he is not interested in a takeover but in any event Ellis’ £100,000 loan would seem to preclude that possibility.

It will also give Ron Saunders, the Villa manager, greater bargaining power in the transfer market and make Villa’s bank manager more amenable.

Ellis’ gesture is all the more praiseworthy because it comes at a time when, like the rest of the country, soccer is facing a recession.