[Archived] Rovers Takeover Thread

[Paul Mellelieu]

I would rather get relegated and spend time in the Championship than get these kind of goons involved in the club.

The City investment is the tipping point for English football.

[DingleBaiter]

I would rather get relegated and spend time in the Championship than get these kind of goons involved in the club.

The City investment is the tipping point for English football.

Well said Paul. The more I see crap like this happening, the more it makes me proud of my little, backwater club.

At the risk of being churlish, I can't help thinking the City thing is going to end in tears.

At times I wish we were honest enough in this country to adopt the American sports business model and franchise the blighters out into Europe, and let's get back to the Manx Cup nobbling the Dingles.

In all seriousness, there is a time to come when I think the Premiership will end up like the MLS, purely corporate - it's not altogether a bad idea, at least there'd be clarity. Get the Prawn sandwich brigade and the ego-trippers all in the same boat, and set up as a level playing field everyone below. Ticket prices should all be set the same, wage limits, transfer limits, and the power going back to the Association (who should all be proven managers in the private sector, not FA mandarins). Each club signs up to a charter and make em all Communist. Viva la Revolution.

[S15]

I would rather get relegated and spend time in the Championship than get these kind of goons involved in the club.

The City investment is the tipping point for English football.

I'm down with that P-Dog.

The only thing that will be left of the Arabs in ten years is the wage bill.

In fifteen years just FC City, starting in the bottom tier of English football. Would you trade it all for 2-5 years of potential excitement?

Me neither.

[texasrover]

dont worry, all! when i'm rich and famous, i'll buy rovers and bring us back to glory!

oh wait, i live in America where the dollar is worth zippo...

[allrovertheworld]

dont worry, all! when i'm rich and famous, i'll buy rovers and bring us back to glory!

oh wait, i live in America where the dollar is worth zippo...

Must be better than the pound at the mo old boy. We are in a right state over here.

[steven]

Must be better than the pound at the mo old boy. We are in a right state over here.

The AUD$ is doing pretty well. Its nearly 1:1 with the US$ and 2:1 with the Pound! I can't see any Aussies coming in to bankroll Rovers though, although I reckon Lucash could probably afford us considering the salary he's probably on at the Hammers!

As for a takeover, I think it would take one of the best run clubs in the country to the levels of farce that we're seeing on Tyneside, Manchester and Liverpool where stability is a word rarely used.

Status quo is what we need for the moment, especially as I think the football finance bubble is likely to burst in the next 3 years, once the overseas investors realise you can't make a bob out of football.

[stuwilky]

Derby regularly bring in crowds of 30,000 and that is through the worst period in their history.

Once Pompeys new stadium is built they will fill it every week and are also in a massive catchment area.

They barely fill their small ground for many matches now.

[thenodrog]

whereas Bentley can only be ranked alongside the likes of Barry Ferguson .

World of difference Phil we made big money on Bentley.... whereas Ferguson/Viola /Murray contrived to stiff us for at least 2 mill and would have had more if they could.

Yes, Bellamy had a clause in his contract and was determined to go. Bentley was determined to go.

BUT BENTLEY HAD NO SUCH CLAUSE! ABSOLUTE WORLD OF DIFFERENCE.

Savage did go downhill - I'M STILL OF THE OPINION THAT HUGHES INTENDED TO REPLACE HIM AND THAT THE CLUB WOULD NOT BACK HIM! I CANNOT SEE HUGHES ALLOWING AN INFLUENTIAL PLAYER LIKE SAV TO LEAVE WITHOUT HAVING A REPLACEMENT ALL LINED UP.

[DingleBaiter]

World of difference Phil we made big money on Bentley.... whereas Ferguson/Viola /Murray contrived to stiff us for at least 2 mill and would have had more if they could.

Didn't Bellers have a trigger clause of 6.5 million?

[thenodrog]

Didn't Bellers have a trigger clause of 6.5 million?

Quite right db. i've edited it to read as intended.

[DingleBaiter]

Quite right db. i've edited it to read as intended.

No probs - share your sentiments on the Ferguson 'stiffing' too BTW. One of the strangest episodes of recent seasons, along with Egil.

Saw Mr Souness the other night, was going to speak to him but he had one of them angry heads on, so left well alone. Didn't want him to think I was Dwight Yorke and try to break my legs. He was so well-tanned he looked Robert Downey Jr in that new 'Tropic Thunder' film.

Maybe he's trying to pass as an Arab and bring Ali Dia to Man City with his mate Willie Mckay?

[Mr. E]

Just reading the above posts which make alot of sense. I know I am gonna get blasted for saying this but i would rather play in the Championship with the dingles, Preston and the like, than be taken over by anyone. If being sold to an overseas based compay or someone completely unconected to the club is our only option for staying competative in the prem or even surviving then I don't want to be part of that at all.

Spoke to a City fan today who is actually upset about them being taken over again and wasn't happy when Frank took over. He was worried about the youth system mostly and the general 'cheapness' that he thinks the club has become over the years.

We really are selling our national game off and its becoming a joke.

The only real pleasure I get from footy is the live games.

agreed...but the problem with the Championship is that it's ultimate goal is to get back into the Premiership.

Why can't the billionaire clubs just form a Super Euro League or something and leave the rest of us alone. I'd ask why FIFA or UEFA aren't doing anything to protect the integrity of the game, but their interests lie elsewhere it seems.

[S15]

Quite right db. i've edited it to read as intended.

You mention the world of difference?

If we had kept hold of Bentley we would have had a Berbatov style episode where we would have had to sell eventually, however, we have avoided the circus that preceded the inevitability.

You suggesting we could realistically have kept hold of Bentley, for any amount of time, after he made it perfectly clear he wanted out now, is absolute nonsense.

[bob fleming]

Just reading the above posts which make alot of sense. I know I am gonna get blasted for saying this but i would rather play in the Championship with the dingles, Preston and the like, than be taken over by anyone. If being sold to an overseas based compay or someone completely unconected to the club is our only option for staying competative in the prem or even surviving then I don't want to be part of that at all.

Spoke to a City fan today who is actually upset about them being taken over again and wasn't happy when Frank took over. He was worried about the youth system mostly and the general 'cheapness' that he thinks the club has become over the years.

We really are selling our national game off and its becoming a joke.

The only real pleasure I get from footy is the live games.

I would rather get relegated and spend time in the Championship than get these kind of goons involved in the club.

The City investment is the tipping point for English football.

It's getting that way isn't it? The idea of football surely is for it to be a COMPETITION. A degree of uncertainty over who will win. In recent years that has more or less been the right of the "big four" - that was just about bearable.

But now we've got the Man City developments. Willing to bid £120m for Ronaldo in January. 120 MILLION POUNDS on one player. I'll not even mention the credit crunch or that fact that to any right minded individual that is an obscene amount of money, no, best to stick to the football.

£120m - you could buy x2 Blackburn Rovers' for that if the wind was in the right direction. And we're supposed to compete with Man City? We pulled out of spending £4m on Monday night due to a players wage demands (rightly so). Man City wouldn't think twice - here you go here's £70K a week now go and sit on our bench.

Salary cap? Draft picks or whatever it's called in the NFL? Not in the Big Fives interests (a bit like TV replays on dodgy referreeing decisions - they know they get the lions share of 'em).

So what do we do? Tell the Big 5 or Big 6 to stick it? Tell them to go and form a European / Middle East Super League? Who really wouldn't mind seeing a new League with the likes of Preston, Barnsley, Stoke, Palace, Bradford and that lot down the road etc? We could call it "Division 2" (crazy I know) - have a salary cap, develop a good Youth system (you mention the City fan worried about their Youth team allrovertheworld, I very much doubt their new owners are) for English players who could go on to play for England, try and develop something that isn't about who has the deepest pockets but is about who has the ability to develop and bring players through and is reliant on good coaching and management.

Whatever it is it wouldn't be dependent on whoever was the richest (slight irony coming from a Blackburn Rovers fans but when City win the League in 2 years I doubt they'll have a player in there who cost £45K from Scunthorpe). The standard obviously won't be as high but I'd like to think that that is offset with cheaper ticket prices and an EXCITING competition that any of the clubs could win.

Just a few thoughts, no doubt littered with many more cons than pros, but as Paul says above this is the tipping point. Football is on it's arse.

Meanwhile back to the real world - "Why can't we have a billionaire owner too?!? WHY! WHY! It's not fair!!"

[joey_big_nose]

Salary cap? Draft picks or whatever it's called in the NFL? Not in the Big Fives interests (a bit like TV replays on dodgy referreeing decisions - they know they get the lions share of 'em).

I imagine Liverpool, Man Utd and even Chelsea are suddenly finding this an attractive idea! Arsenal will be begging for one....\

It is sort of funy seeing these guys get a taste of their own medicine. The only sad thing being we are going to fall even further behind. Oh well.

[dave birch]

didn't they get a taste of their own medicine when Roman entered the fray?

Salary caps, limitation on foreign nationals is the way to go.

It may even improve the national squad.

An aside, a mate of mine, a Manure supporter, even owned shares til he got the offer, is so jacked off with the premier league, he refuses to watch it.

[Olveres]

One potential problem I see for these Arabs is this:

They pay 120mill for Ronaldo, 100 mill for Torres etc etc. Offer them daft money a week. Ronaldo figures hmmmm yeah I'll have some of this, but on my terms, these terms being a ten year contract, starting salary 150k a week, 10% increase year on year. Champions League win bonus of 1million per game. 6 years into this contract the next Ronaldo is on the scene, but old Ronaldo isn't going anywhere and prefers to sit out his career in the stands earning shed loads of money. City fans are baying at the board for the new "Ronaldo", problem is old Ronaldo is costing them a Kings Ransom so they are hamstrung by their own signings and the new "Ronaldo" ends up elsewhere. I think it is fair to say that you can buy success in the short term but as a long term strategy it is doomed to fail. You can only have so many of the best players. Maybe it will be interesting watching the Big Four break into a sweat for a while and why shouldn't another club be allowed to come to the table and spoil their little party. I must admit though, the Championship looks like a much more exciting league to watch than the Premiership, operating on a much more level playing field. The question is do you want to see your team playing at the highest level it can or at a level where every so often you can actually win your respective league?

[DingleBaiter]

I must admit though, the Championship looks like a much more exciting league to watch than the Premiership, operating on a much more level playing field. The question is do you want to see your team playing at the highest level it can or at a level where every so often you can actually win your respective league?

Simple - we have two leagues. One Capitalist league and one Communist league.

I think, surreal as it seems just now, City situation is similar to what happened to us in 92 with Jack. As always though, the difference will be application - Jack was clever enough to realise his role in the setup and to delegate/recruit accordingly to his expectations compared to their skills.

City however, are in a position now where the manager is effectively of no consequence. An understanding of the Arab mentality helps here, and if my time in residence in the Gulf is anything to go, I really would not want to be Hughes's shoes. Money solves everything it seems, yet brings a certain arrogance & ignorance to the table too. Hughes thought he'd been mis-sold the job under Dr T, as he had little control over player acquisition as it stands. At least in his favour, the transfer window is closed so he can at least work with the squad. The only parallel with Chelski is the finances available, at least Roman seems to step back and let the manager manager - for now - but he's still as flippant when it comes to getting rid of them.

I fear Hughes will be an embodiment of the phrase 'be careful what you wish for' - he wanted a club to match his ambitions, he's now got a club who's ambition outweighs his usefulness.

I'll bet the Trustees & the board are quietly giggling at events at Middle Eastlands. I still wish we had the Emir of Qatar come in, he's not as flash and reckless as these young upstarts from down the Gulf. He'd see our multi-faith room, then knock down McD etc and build a proper one

Seeing as all the buyers we've been linked with so far have all been PR greedy, I'm glad we didn't take them on, as we'd be in a situation eventually where their lack of money would tell, and I'd suggest we'd then become surplus to their requirements. Arguably at least under the Trustees we can 'hold' until we find the right buyer and still know we're being run better than the rest of the Prem IMO.

I liken JW & BRFC to a company in the credit crunch; although the business world will face difficulties, the better the business is run the more chance it has of survival. The victims of the credit crunch will generally be the companies that are badly managed, have spurious business models, or rely too much on credit to operate. Look at these 3 factors and compare the 20 teams in the Prem, and we'd probably be top

[Olveres]

Simple - we have two leagues. One Capitalist league and one Communist league.

I think, surreal as it seems just now, City situation is similar to what happened to us in 92 with Jack. As always though, the difference will be application - Jack was clever enough to realise his role in the setup and to delegate/recruit accordingly to his expectations compared to their skills.

City however, are in a position now where the manager is effectively of no consequence. An understanding of the Arab mentality helps here, and if my time in residence in the Gulf is anything to go, I really would not want to be Hughes's shoes. Money solves everything it seems, yet brings a certain arrogance & ignorance to the table too. Hughes thought he'd been mis-sold the job under Dr T, as he had little control over player acquisition as it stands. At least in his favour, the transfer window is closed so he can at least work with the squad. The only parallel with Chelski is the finances available, at least Roman seems to step back and let the manager manager - for now - but he's still as flippant when it comes to getting rid of them.

I fear Hughes will be an embodiment of the phrase 'be careful what you wish for' - he wanted a club to match his ambitions, he's now got a club who's ambition outweighs his usefulness.

I'll bet the Trustees & the board are quietly giggling at events at Middle Eastlands. I still wish we had the Emir of Qatar come in, he's not as flash and reckless as these young upstarts from down the Gulf. He'd see our multi-faith room, t, hen knock down McD etc and build a proper one

Seeing as all the buyers we've been linked with so far have all been PR greedy, I'm glad we didn't take them on, as we'd be in a situation eventually where their lack of money would tell, and I'd suggest we'd then become surplus to their requirements. Arguably at least under the Trustees we can 'hold' until we find the right buyer and still know we're being run better than the rest of the Prem IMO.

I liken JW & BRFC to a company in the credit crunch; although the business world will face difficulties, the better the business is run the more chance it has of survival. The victims of the credit crunch will generally be the companies that are badly managed, have spurious business models, or rely too much on credit to operate. Look at these 3 factors and compare the 20 teams in the Prem, and we'd probably be top

A slight difference between the JW scenario and this lot, JW loved Blackburn Rovers. This lot are looking for an investment, nothing more, nothing less. I'd rather have a JW than this lot anyday. Can you imagine this lot leaving a legacy to Man City if they ever got out out for whatever reason?

[Plastic Head]

Nine out of the 20 Premier league clubs are in foreign hands now. Soon that will be a majority.

They will look to protect their clubs in whatever way they can. They will have no concern for English football history, fairness or sporting elements in the game.

They have absolutely no feeling for fans and will not be interested in the development of local/British players.

These teams will now be "franchised" out as and when the current owners become tired of wasting money, need to realise their capital or get an offer they can't refuse.

In theory the money received from Sky gives all the teams in the EPL a chance at least to compete at a similar level to the traditional cash rich clubs with big city support.

However this is now not enough.

Even the former richest club in the world is now in serious trouble and will need to be re-financed (bought-out) by the mega-rich fairly soon now.

Manchester United stated collateral of £425M when they were granted a loan allowing the Glazers to take control. However their tangible assets are more like £255M. This was a clever move by the Glazers as it exposes the banks to most of the potential losses. They already have an accumulated loss of £194M since the Glazers arrived. There is no realistic way the club can continue under the Glazers unless either the Glazers find some money to repay loans, the club start to liquidate their assets (ie sell rights, players etc) or they are sold to someone or something willing to repay their debts (the likely outcome i'm afraid).

It is only a matter of time before one of the debt ridden giants cannot find a saviour to bail them out and goes bust.

Puts Rovers position into some perspective. The other problem waiting for the big spenders is the realisation by the public that the EPL is actually pants, characterised by predictability and some awful games of football.

Also, I wonder what would happen if violence started to break out similar to what we saw in the 70's. Not condoning it at all but it's an interesting discussion point. The yanks would run a mile....so maybe the way to reclaim our clubs is to trash the grounds

[Paul]

It's getting that way isn't it? The idea of football surely is for it to be a COMPETITION. A degree of uncertainty over who will win. In recent years that has more or less been the right of the "big four" - that was just about bearable.

But now we've got the Man City developments. Willing to bid £120m for Ronaldo in January. 120 MILLION POUNDS on one player. I'll not even mention the credit crunch or that fact that to any right minded individual that is an obscene amount of money, no, best to stick to the football.

£120m - you could buy x2 Blackburn Rovers' for that if the wind was in the right direction. And we're supposed to compete with Man City? We pulled out of spending £4m on Monday night due to a players wage demands (rightly so). Man City wouldn't think twice - here you go here's £70K a week now go and sit on our bench.

Salary cap? Draft picks or whatever it's called in the NFL? Not in the Big Fives interests (a bit like TV replays on dodgy referreeing decisions - they know they get the lions share of 'em).

So what do we do? Tell the Big 5 or Big 6 to stick it? Tell them to go and form a European / Middle East Super League? Who really wouldn't mind seeing a new League with the likes of Preston, Barnsley, Stoke, Palace, Bradford and that lot down the road etc? We could call it "Division 2" (crazy I know) - have a salary cap, develop a good Youth system (you mention the City fan worried about their Youth team allrovertheworld, I very much doubt their new owners are) for English players who could go on to play for England, try and develop something that isn't about who has the deepest pockets but is about who has the ability to develop and bring players through and is reliant on good coaching and management.

Whatever it is it wouldn't be dependent on whoever was the richest (slight irony coming from a Blackburn Rovers fans but when City win the League in 2 years I doubt they'll have a player in there who cost £45K from Scunthorpe). The standard obviously won't be as high but I'd like to think that that is offset with cheaper ticket prices and an EXCITING competition that any of the clubs could win.

Just a few thoughts, no doubt littered with many more cons than pros, but as Paul says above this is the tipping point. Football is on it's arse.

Meanwhile back to the real world - "Why can't we have a billionaire owner too?!? WHY! WHY! It's not fair!!"

You're right bob but the problem is simple. You are talking about something which is for football fans and the PL is not for fans, it's for a world wide media audience that knows little about the game we want to watch. I was saying this three or more years ago and precious few people were prepared to listen let alone agree but as I said then money has killed the game. It will never be the same again. Interesting to see how many feel they would prefer to be in a different league.

Like you I'd be happy to play in a league competing with the teams you mention, you can chuck in Wolves, Leeds and a few others but how many people would turn up? Would the income from attendances be enough? I don't really have a clue about the lower league finances.

I have to confess I'm indiferrent to the whole thing now. I still have the STs but I already know I won't be going to certain games - I shall miss United and Chelsea because I've decided to do something else instead. It's taken a while but instead of football being the thing we did without question and organised our leisure around, we are now chosing to skip matches. One of my lads has announced this could be his last season at Ewood - if "things don't improve" to use his phrase - he intends to watch lower league next season.

The money has taken our game away, our club cannot compete, the result of most PL matches is irrelevant. What is the reason for being involved?

[Billy Castell]

One day some TV executive at Sky or wherever will say "How much ??!!! I'm not paying that" and then others will start thinking the same. It's like the housing market, prices were going up and up until it was so silly that something the size of a shoebox is sold for £550,000 in some trendy part of London. Then it all goes downhill. TV comapnies can't keep increasing their offers forever, and with what may be a start of the disilusionment of true football fans, the product will eventually become too fake and plastic to be appealing. That will mean the big billionaires who want a profit will shove off and clubs will start to fold. Things will start to go wrong for these clubs in 5-10 years time.

It used to be said by fans of the likes of Hartlepool that they watch 'real' football, but now 1st division/lower premiership fans are also starting to grumble about the state of the game. We have had FC United being formed, and AFC Wimbledon before that, and sometime people are not going to watch Sky Sports or Setanta, because its all about the big 4, who has the most money and so on. That strength of feeling when you watch a game in the top level is dissapating, and football is more about a day out, like watching a film in the cinema or going shopping. That is dangerous, as people who think like that will not be so involved in the game, and perhaps not go to a match if its on TV or they have to wash the car. It's a subtle yet critical change in attitude that may one day bring the show to a halt.

And what happens to the billionaire owned teams when the majority of their fans get bored, give up and get replaced by walking cardboard cut outs?

[Faz_Rover]

To be honest I don't understand people that think there Academy will be ruined by a Takeover. In the past 20 years rovers have "created" only a few good players. Theres Dunn, Duff and Derbyshire. Others would say Treacey, Judge, Marshall etc, but they still haven't had their chance so I wouldn't count them in.

We need investment and we need it quick. Right now we are ok, through the sale of Bentley but what do we do once that money is spent?

Sell another one of our top assests? Get out loans? There is no other option. We have punched above our weight season after season. This WILL stop sooner or later.

The quicker we get a backer the better!

[leftfooter]

I imagine Liverpool, Man Utd and even Chelsea are suddenly finding this an attractive idea! Arsenal will be begging for one....\

It is sort of funy seeing these guys get a taste of their own medicine. The only sad thing being we are going to fall even further behind. Oh well.

And at least one of those clubs will be facing the horrific prospect of losing its Champions League place with the rise of the petrodollar fuelled COMS outfit.

It's unlikely that Chelsea or Man U wouldl be immediately usurped.

Personally I would not be sorry to see Liverpool with its obnoxious incumbents (management and owners) usurped.

And we can expect Arsenal to suddenly start spending big in the next transfer window.......

[CrazyIvan]

I've thought for a long time now that the state of English football is dire. The formation of the Premier League was the death knell for what we know as the English game. It is too commercial, too greedy, too concerned with it's own image and is gradually killing the rest of football. When we got promoted, I often thought that I missed the 'real' football in the first division but I was happy to be amongst the 'big boys'. I don't know how many of you felt the same or feel that now but it'd be interesting to have a poll on it.

The Premier League situation, as it is right now, is quite ridiculous. We have multi-billionaires buying clubs (in this case City) and proposing to spend (probably) billions buying the best players in the world. Did that happen at Chelsea? Not quite. Will it happen at City? I somehow doubt all these players will want to jump purely for the cash but we shall see. City's proposed new owners (this deal hasn't even gone through due dilligence yet!) are saying they will buy Torres, Ronaldo (Cristiano), etc etc and make the best team in the world. Do they honestly think Man U and Liverpool would sell them to City just like that? Saying that, the 'owners' of both teams might decide to sell if they can to get their money's worth! Where will all that end?

I am utterly disillusioned with the Premier League. Don't get me wrong, I love football and I love Rovers. Part of me would love to see this lot of 'big clubs' b@gger off and do their own thing. The rest of us could get on with playing real football for real trophies and a real championship as it used to be. I've said, in another post, that this ongoing situation with the Premier League is going to kill English football because of the lack of the 'trickle down' effect but, if the big teams did leave, it would make the situation worse because all of the money would go to the big team league. Someone has to stand up and set down rules to balance this situation out. Cap salaries, cap transfer fees, remove the power of the agent, introduce a limit on foreign players allowed in the starting 11 of a team and amongst the subs, even in the squad itself. Some of this might make the game less attractive and will generate less money but the fans would come back. Either the Premier League has forgotten who football is for or maybe they just don't give a sh't about us anymore. Personally, I think the second is more likely.