NEW YORK – Four young investors from Brooklyn are interested in acquiring a majority stake in the Patras, Greece-based professional football club Panachaiki, the Greek newspaper Gnomi reported.

According to the article, which includes statements by the head of the group, Ashton Bailey, the businessmen have no direct connection with Greece or the city of Patras, but were interested in the Patras team at the suggestion of the expatriate former general manager of the team, Petros Stathakis, who resides in New York and works with them in other professional fields.

In fact, Bailey confirms that the first contact of the group with the current owner of Panachaiki Giorgos Barlos’ camp, fell into the void, as a much larger amount was suggested – according to information The National Herald received- which was more than double for a Greek professional football team that is said to have a fairly calculable debt.

“We made an offer through a lawyer in Athens, after learning details about the team’s debt, but also the prospect it has, as it is estimated at hundreds of thousands of euros. Through this lawyer we contacted Panachaiki’s lawyer and made an offer for Mr. Barlos’ shares, with a slight differentiation in case the team did not get the licensing. Our offer was not accepted. The counter-offer we received was for a much larger amount. We replied that it is far from what we want to invest. We prefer to allocate the money to build the team – because there is no team at the moment – while there is also debt,” Bailey said.

TNH has learned that Petros Stathakis is in Greece and everything is converges towards a last effort being made in order to find the “golden ratio” for the historic Panacheiki to change hands, as it risks not securing the licensing and to suffer another relegation, out of competition this time, to the lower tiers of Greek football.

The group, according to Bailey, invests in real estate, commerce, gyms and restaurants. In addition to himself, the group includes his brother Brandon Bailey and his business partners Joseph Kobzan and Jared Weiss.