[Archived] Oh Boy, I'm Not Too Sure I'm Excited About This....

[orwot]

then why is it tha we are always hearing "the gap is widening" between the premiership and lower leagues? dropping down would be disasterous just considering the money missed out on through TV deals let alone attendance, money lost on players looking off a sinking ship etc.

though i don't like the idea of foreign owners with one eye on a quick earner, but then again, to be competing at the right end of the table for a considerable amount of seasons would be sweet!

[Eddie]

If we dropped a division we'd be down with Preston, Wolves, etc. One round of boom and bust billionnaire mismanagement we could be "doing a Leeds".

So yes I am serious.

Edit: typo

If you think the risk of mismanagement is great then you should consider what impact losing out on premiership revenue would be. We would struggle to carry on with our falling crowds and the loss of the tv money. Thinking that you would rather see this club relegated than taken over by an investor is idiotic, especially when you consider that we have experienced just how great a wealthy investor can be. We probably won't get another local man who has the same ties to the club as Jack Walker, but we could well find someone who is willing to put money into the club and has a genuine interest in seeing it run well and do well. We are in a position at the moment to be able to weed out the investors and wait for the right one to come about, if we were relegated we could well be put in a position where anyone with a bit of cash would fit the bill.

[robborover]

Sky Sports Link

Sky sports have summarised it here.

With the likes of Pompey, Villa, Spurs and Liverpool all recently agreeing deals I think we should keep an eye out. Rovers are a decent club with some good players and no debts. If we don't find someone with the money then someone else will, and we'll fall down the leagues.

I'm all for it, but only if it's done properly.

[b12_simon]

If you think the risk of mismanagement is great then you should consider what impact losing out on premiership revenue would be. We would struggle to carry on with our falling crowds and the loss of the tv money. Thinking that you would rather see this club relegated than taken over by an investor is idiotic, especially when you consider that we have experienced just how great a wealthy investor can be. We probably won't get another local man who has the same ties to the club as Jack Walker, but we could well find someone who is willing to put money into the club and has a genuine interest in seeing it run well and do well. We are in a position at the moment to be able to weed out the investors and wait for the right one to come about, if we were relegated we could well be put in a position where anyone with a bit of cash would fit the bill.

That's a straw-man argument isn't it?

I didn't say I'd rather be relegated than be taken over by an investor, I said that I'd rather we were relegated than be taken over by someone who could push us into "doing a Leeds".

[gazsimm]

Sky Sports Link

Sky sports have summarised it here.

With the likes of Pompey, Villa, Spurs and Liverpool all recently agreeing deals I think we should keep an eye out. Rovers are a decent club with some good players and no debts. If we don't find someone with the money then someone else will, and we'll fall down the leagues.

I'm all for it, but only if it's done properly.

we could be seeing a host of world stars back at ewood then like Robbie Slater and Georgie Donis

[Eddie]

That's a straw-man argument isn't it?

I didn't say I'd rather be relegated than be taken over by an investor, I said that I'd rather we were relegated than be taken over by someone who could push us into "doing a Leeds".

Has that happened yet with any of the foreign investors? As far as I can tell every example of foreign investment in the premiership has so far been a success. The only possible exception to this is at West Ham, but that has been down to the players more than the new owners who produces the cash when it was needed.

These are men who hare very good at what they do, they are hardly going to pump millions into the club and then see then not take care of their investment. If you want to look at Leeds then what it really shows is that local investment and executives are just as likely to run the club poorly as foreigners are. I would be happy with any investment if JW and some of the other board members and executives stayed in their positions.

[orwot]

Has that happened yet with any of the foreign investors? As far as I can tell every example of foreign investment in the premiership has so far been a success. The only possible exception to this is at West Ham, but that has been down to the players more than the new owners who produces the cash when it was needed.

These are men who hare very good at what they do, they are hardly going to pump millions into the club and then see then not take care of their investment. If you want to look at Leeds then what it really shows is that local investment and executives are just as likely to run the club poorly as foreigners are. I would be happy with any investment if JW and some of the other board members and executives stayed in their positions.

personally i disagree. the only example we have seen over even mid-term time period is chelsea; hardly a business success is it? fair enough. they may be moving in the right direction but only with sustained millions behing pumped into the club. 4 years of loses on the trot?

[BrianPotter]

As JW says, the trustees have a duty of care to the club, and if someone was to come in who could support the club in a better way than the Trust can, and take it further than the trust can then, and only then would it be considered.

The problem for the trustees is that over the past five years the money side of football has spiralled out of control. At one time the money available on an annual basis from the trust was significant and meant that we had more financial clout in the transfer market. The support and investment from the trustees has in no way decreased over this time, and nor has their commitment, it's just that with the crazy money flying around in the football world they are unable to make as much impact. They will go on supporting the club as they always have, but to take us to the next level would need serious investment and that would need to come from elsewhere.

If the right person doesn't come along, then I'm sure we will remain as we are.

[FourLaneBlue]

Has that happened yet with any of the foreign investors? As far as I can tell every example of foreign investment in the premiership has so far been a success. The only possible exception to this is at West Ham, but that has been down to the players more than the new owners who produces the cash when it was needed.

Guess you never heard about what happened to Wimbledon then.

If we can get the right investor then great but there is no rush as the club is being well-run at the moment. We won't be able to challenge top four on a sustained basis whatever as there won't be another Abramovich and even if there was Rovers wouldn't be his port of call.

John Williams is making the right noises. The correct type of investor would be welcome but I don't see any pressing need to sell ourselves unless the deal really is perfect for the club.

[b12_simon]

Has that happened yet with any of the foreign investors? As far as I can tell every example of foreign investment in the premiership has so far been a success. The only possible exception to this is at West Ham, but that has been down to the players more than the new owners who produces the cash when it was needed.

West Ham is hardly an unqualified success, as you say. Also there's that tool up at Tynecastle. I don't know how many trophies (not that investment = trophies) would make a Hearts-style soap opera worthwhile.

These are men who hare very good at what they do, they are hardly going to pump millions into the club and then see then not take care of their investment. If you want to look at Leeds then what it really shows is that local investment and executives are just as likely to run the club poorly as foreigners are.

My points have been more about crap investors than singling out foreign investors, if it's come across that way then sorry. I don't care if an investor is English, American, Chinese or Martian as long as they've the best interests of the club at heart. It's the asset-stripping/owner getting bored of his toy (ok this hasn't happened to Chelski yet but it's there for them in the way that relegation, never to return is a constant threat to our club) that worry me.

I would be happy with any investment if JW and some of the other board members and executives stayed in their positions.

There you and I agree. John Williams is one of Rovers' best assets and long may he remain in charge!

[Gav]

Why do we need to be taken over?

We currently pay wonderful wages, have reached 3 semi finals in as many years, play in Europe and have the cheapest season tickets in the premiership.

Shove any take over, i'd much rather be a Blackburn Rover than an Aston Villa.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Whether the story is just old news is now firmly open to debate,Williams has openly stated that the club IS looking for outside investment before....we were all aware of that.

I can only pray to god that if that sad day does come(and I believe it will) that a parting of the waves between Rovers and the Walker family/trustees happens then this famous old club comes into the ownership of the right people with the right intentions.Rovers with their sky money financial clout/projected 30th richest club in the world ARE a very lucrative financial prospect, we are no longer the 'once famous outfit that had fallen on hard times' of 20 years ago, people need to realise that.Add to that the clubs history and current healthy minimal debt situation and I think some of you do Rovers a disservice with your 'nobody would be interested' comments.Who is to say many would be billioniare investors would not be attracted by Rovers David against Goliath image alone?

Whever happens in the future .......This is a special club and first and foremost its the people of Blackburn's club

[Roar of the Rover]

i dont want one, id rather stay as we are

these billionaires are destroying football

IF it does happen then we should have guaranteed European football every season

[Roar of the Rover]

Sorry to say but tribalfootball.com is the worst site, it said we were on the verge of signing Mido when we were way off.

[Roar of the Rover]

Sorry to say but tribalfootball.com is the worst site ever, they are always way off the mark!

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

''Second wave'' of Premiership investment.......good timing Mr Williams?

[joey_big_nose]

IF it does happen then we should have guaranteed European football every season

I am not sure about that. Currently there are about eight clubs who would still have the same or more money than us even if we did get an investor: Big four (obviously), Villa, Pompey, Spurs, Newcastle. West Ham will also if they stay up.

Unless we found some lunatic who would be willing to pump extravagent funds into a tiny club like ourselves (only likely to happen if there os a minted rovers fan, a la Jack) we would really at best be hoping for the arrangement that Pompey have got- reasonable investment.

My personal opinion is that we are in a very good position now, why rock the boat? The past three seasons Spurs and Newcastle have massively outspent us and we managed to fight our corner against them. A new foreign investor could really upset the balance at the club and undermine what Hughes is achieving.

[ihateburnley]

On reflection I think we can sometimes get carried away with what money can actually buy in football. We have got a good team at Rovers and not a massive amount of money needs to be spent anyway - we are in the top half and within touching distance of Europe despite having a relatively average season.

If anyone wants to buy our better players we are in a position to demand top whack anyway, which in turn we can either spend on more Ryan Nelsens and David Bentleys, or put aside for a rainy day.

What I'm trying to get at is yes, more money would be welcome, but would it necessarily come hand in hand with more success? I don't think so. It's very well saying if we had £30m (for example) to spend on players we could go out and buy some truly worldclass players, but we would basically still have issues in attracting them to our club.

I think we should concentrate on keeping hold of the nucleus of our squad - Friedel, Nelsen, Savage, Reid, Bentley, Pedersen and McCarthy - and aim to beef up and improve our squad with cheaper, promising targets from lower divisions/abroad. For example instead of forking out £6/7m on another big-name striker (again, for example), we could go for a prolific Billy Sharpe-esque striker for a quarter of the price.

If we start trying to match the spending record of the likes of Spurs, Newcastle, West Ham and Villa, then I'm afraid we're kidding ourselves and we're onto a loser. I believe our board has long-term ambition but short-term prudence and I am perfectly happy with that, as I believe that is what Blackburn Rovers is all about.

[thenodrog]

Why do we need to be taken over?

We currently pay wonderful wages, have reached 3 semi finals in as many years, play in Europe and have the cheapest season tickets in the premiership.

Shove any take over, i'd much rather be a Blackburn Rover than an Aston Villa.

Point being that if we are relegated to the Championship through not being able to compete financially in the Prem we will lose TV revenue and those season tickets will take a sudden hike upwards.

[laughatthedingles]

Personally as long as Mark Hughes is in charge i'm all in favour of us getting a new investor, I believe he would not just buy willy nilly, he would still buy the right players with the right attitudes not just Lucas Neill's as panic buys on 60 odd grand a week. He would look to buy more Bellamys that are quality players to take us on to the next level but cost that little bit more.

The only downsides for me would be if the investor got bored and also what would happen to our season tickets although knowing Rovers fans if they go back up to what they are this season they'll just say no thanks, no matter how well the clubs doing.

[Gav]

Point being that if we are relegated to the Championship through not being able to compete financially in the Prem we will lose TV revenue and those season tickets will take a sudden hike upwards.

.....and if we're taken over by some foreign consortium the same rule will apply, season ticket prices hiked up as they have been at almost every other high profile club thats been taken over.

We currently are looking at a 1million pound loss, even we can continue to compete at our current level by giving a million out of 35 back to the supporters.

[Roar of the Rover]

I am not sure about that. Currently there are about eight clubs who would still have the same or more money than us even if we did get an investor: Big four (obviously), Villa, Pompey, Spurs, Newcastle. West Ham will also if they stay up.

They don't have 1 thing that we do have.....

Mark Hughes

[Eddie]

On reflection I think we can sometimes get carried away with what money can actually buy in football. We have got a good team at Rovers and not a massive amount of money needs to be spent anyway - we are in the top half and within touching distance of Europe despite having a relatively average season.

If anyone wants to buy our better players we are in a position to demand top whack anyway, which in turn we can either spend on more Ryan Nelsens and David Bentleys, or put aside for a rainy day.

What I'm trying to get at is yes, more money would be welcome, but would it necessarily come hand in hand with more success? I don't think so. It's very well saying if we had £30m (for example) to spend on players we could go out and buy some truly worldclass players, but we would basically still have issues in attracting them to our club.

I think we should concentrate on keeping hold of the nucleus of our squad - Friedel, Nelsen, Savage, Reid, Bentley, Pedersen and McCarthy - and aim to beef up and improve our squad with cheaper, promising targets from lower divisions/abroad. For example instead of forking out £6/7m on another big-name striker (again, for example), we could go for a prolific Billy Sharpe-esque striker for a quarter of the price.

If we start trying to match the spending record of the likes of Spurs, Newcastle, West Ham and Villa, then I'm afraid we're kidding ourselves and we're onto a loser. I believe our board has long-term ambition but short-term prudence and I am perfectly happy with that, as I believe that is what Blackburn Rovers is all about.

That's very true, but in order to reach that next level we need one or two more top quality players and in order to do that we either need some amazing scouts or some more money. The areas we need to increase the quality is up front and central midfield and those are quite possibly the most expensive positions to buy players. I don't understand how some seem to be clinging to this idea of this proud small town club that doesn't spend big and overachieves. It was only a few years ago that we were one of the biggest spenders in world football, let alone English football. It's very nice being proud that our team has got to where it has through a mixture of selling players, good finds and a bit of luck, but that is hit or miss. I don't think if we stay as we are now that we will be finishing in the top 10 for the next 5-10 years and as a supporter I want to see that and even more.

[FourLaneBlue]

Point being that if we are relegated to the Championship through not being able to compete financially in the Prem we will lose TV revenue and those season tickets will take a sudden hike upwards.

Yes but would we be more or less likely to be in danger of that under the present administration or under an unknown new owner?

More money can't guarantee a place in the Premiership. Look at West Ham and Charlton...both have probably spent more heavily this past year or so than ever in the past yet both are staring relegation in the face.

A very cautious stance needs to be taken towards any investor. There's never a guarantee they would be beneficial for the club.

[Eddie]

Yes, but more money under the current management would probably be a good thing. I'm not advocating going out and throwing millions around, but it would be great to have it there when we identify a target.