Mark Rudan and Tara Rushton preview Melbourne HEart's clash with Wellington PHoenix at AAMI Park.
Melbourne Heart is on the verge of a $12 million takeover. Source: AAP
MELBOURNE Heart is on the verge of being sold for $12 million to a consortium led by New Zealand entrepreneur Bart Campbell.
The Courier-Mail believes that the consortium has submitted an offer which has been accepted by the Heart's board, with the two parties now ironing out the finer details.
The Heart have received several offers in the past year and came close to selling to a Shanghai-based consortium, which offered around $9 million for a full takeover.
Embattled Melbourne Heart coach John Aloisi insists he is the best man for the job despite his team slumping to a 3-1 derby loss to Melbourne Victory in round 11 of the A-League.
It is believed that the new proposal includes a 100 per cent takeover of the Heart and could be concluded in January, in what would comfortably eclipse any previous sale of an A-League club.
The imminent sale is an intriguing backdrop to Friday's clash with Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park for winless and bottom-place Heart and probably indicates why the current board will not consider sacking underperforming coach John Aloisi.
Campbell is a sports marketing guru who led the takeover of Melbourne Storm from News Limited (publisher of The Courier-Mail) last May.
London-based Campbell is in Melbourne and remained tight-lipped when contacted by The Courier-Mail on Thursday.
John Aloisi defends his role as head coach at the Heart after Mark Bosnich claims he should consider resigning after a 3-1 loss in the A-League's Melbourne derby.
"The Melbourne Storm are not buying Melbourne Heart,'' Campbell said, but he refused to be drawn on whether he was part of a separate consortium.
The Courier-Mail believes although Campbell is believed to be one of two Storm owners involved in the takeover, the rest of the consortium is made up of non-Storm businessmen.
Campbell, a former New Zealand High Court barrister, now works as chief operating officer for the sports division of Chime, the fourth-largest sports marketing and communications group in the world.
Heart negotiations have been led by chairman Peter Sidwell, who did not return the The Courier-Mail's calls on Thursday night.
It's 16 games without a win for John Aloisi now as Victory punishes Heart after Patrick Kisnorbo's 20th-minute red card in a 3-1 A-League derby win at AAMI Park.
Aloisi, whose contract expires in 2015, said that he had not heard anything and the rumours hadn't affected his team either way.
"It doesn't affect me because I don't know anything about it,'' Aloisi said on Thursday.
"Once people start to mention it to us we might start to think about it but it doesn't affect us as coaches or players, they're focused on the Wellington game.''
Discussions have taken place over several months with the consortium, who believe the Heart have enormous potential.
While the Heart's average crowds have hovered just below 9000 since entering the A-League in 2010, their fiscal prudency is what has attracted potential investors with the club believed to have turned a small profit last season.
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