Shortly before midday Hammam agreed to the deal which saved the football club. He'd negotiated a £200K pay off for himself with another £100k per year over the next three years. That money has to be found from the funds involved in the takeover so ultimately it'll come from Dave Jones' transfer budget.
If Hammam had not agreed then the club would have been placed into administration as there was no way it could cover it's debts.
Initially it's thought Hammam demanded £13m to agree to the deal. That would have covered the £24m for which he is said to be the guarantor and left him with a substantial multi million pound pay off. Of course if the deal did not go ahead then Sam would have had to have taken responsibility for that money. So in the end he decided that to have all responsibility of the debt removed he accepted a pay off of £500,000.
That saved the club with new investors waiting to come in. Money has been made available now to Dave Jones and the council have signed off the stadium taking us into the final 90 day period before building can start.
An EGM on January 15th will answer many questions including the identity of the new investors. It's not thought to be hedge funders now. There is talk of local people being heavilly involved with Paul Guy a major player. Guy already has £3m in the football club and owns PMG with Mike Hall. These guys are committing millions towards the new stadium.
Today's Echo reports here.
Hammam has had his free tickets for every home game taken from him and he will not be life president. He was at Leicester on Saturday and is due to be at Ninian Park today when City face Plymouth. It's also thought that his brother Ned, a current City director will be there. It's been reported that Ned accepted approx £100,000 when Sam took his £500,000 last Friday
After the EGM on January 15th Hammam's share holding will be worth between 4% and 8% (different papers quote diffent amounts). Will we ever see him again after his free entry has been taken away? (Don't forget this is the man who said he'd always pay for his own tickets and never take a penny out of the football club).
So we are in the final throws of the Hammam era. It's been fun, it's been expensive. We have moved to with reach of the Premiership while at the same time being seconds away from possible extinction.
We've had a Millennium Stadium final victory and we've had more exposure than we've ever known.
I think Hammam at the end of the day showed that ultimately he was in it for the money. Most realised this anyway, some were hooked into the "family" thing. Some possibly believed we would be "bigger than Barcelona". The man had energy, charisma and spirit. He also had a ruthless selfish side. That proved as he held the club to ransom.
I'd like your comments on Hammam. Was he good or bad? Did Sam lead us towards a dream or was he driving us to hell?
Could your grandmother get us where we are with £24m or did Hammam have something special?
I'll publish the feedback I receive, good or bad (but not abusive, slanderous or libellous please). Please sign your mail (no need for full names and addresses - but it would be nice to see Mike from Cardiff, or just your Christian name to identify your comment).
Please mail to m4morris@clara.co.uk with your take on the Hammam era.