Could someone please post the Times article about the takeover.

I've tried to access it but can't get through the process.
Ta.

 

Mr Moneyball buys Barnsley

Billy Beane, the man behind the concept of ‘Moneyball’, is part of a consortium close to completing a £20 million takeover of Barnsley. The Times understands that the baseball pioneer will have a minority stake in a consortium headed by Chien Lee, the Chinese billionaire, and the American businessman Paul Conway, but will be given a seat on the board when the deal goes through and is expected to have a role in how the Championship club is run.

Lee and Conway have been in negotiations with Patrick Cryne, the Barnsley owner, for several months and a deal to buy 98.5 per cent of the club is expected to be announced this month. Cryne, who has terminal cancer, wrote about his illness in a moving letter to Barnsley fans in the match programme for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup game against Derby County, revealing how he is “living on borrowed time” and does not expect to be alive by the end of the present season.

Beane is expected to take a 10 per cent shareholding in Barnsley and fulfil his long-stated ambition of running a football club having enjoyed great success in baseball and inspired the Hollywood film Moneyball, in which he was played by Brad Pitt. The takeover has been brokered by Alexander Jarvis of the Blackbridge consultancy, who was also involved in Lee’s attempts to buy Hull City and Middlesbrough last year.

Beane is the minority owner at Major League club Oakland Athletics. The 55-year-old American is a former professional baseball player most famous for helping to pioneer the ‘moneyball’ strategy of signing players based on statistical data more than the opinion of scouts that allowed the low-budget Athletics to dramatically improve their performance.

Beane has advised football clubs in Holland in the past and has often spoken of his desire to have a hands-on role in the sport, which has attempted to embrace much of his methodology. Chien Lee is also the majority shareholder at French top-flight club Nice, where Conway is a director, and they want to extend their portfolio by buying an English club. Conway’s company Pacific Media Group has helped to fund films such as The Matrix and Ocean’s 11.

 

First line - I genuinely thought was a spoof article.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/mr-moneyball-buys-barnsley-tm0nc9xn7

 

Presumably he was on board as soon as we emailed him a copy of the Spreadsheet.