[Archived] Rovers Takeover Thread

[thenodrog]

Everton being linked with a 200m bid from some arabs.

[philipl]

Remember Chris Ronnie getting all touchy over the Rovers board not talking to him?

Perhaps he should have been minding the shop.

Before anyone says Wigan will go down when JJB go bust, my recollection is Whelan sold out some time ago. Obviously there is the stadium and shirt sponsorship which will go.

[waggy]

i read that newcastle had 8 parties intrested in buying them,surely rovers could find out who they are and send them our portfolio

[gumboots]

So now it's Charlton's turn to be bought out by a middle eastern investor. I know they're in London but they're also poor. Why does nobody suitable seem to be interested in us?

[Frisky Jim]

I think that Charlton have permission to expand the Valley's capacity to 40000. Furthermore, I imagine that there is a hefty catchment area in that part of London and that players will always be attracted to our capital city.

The future seems to be very bright for Charlton Athletic.

  philipl said:

Remember Chris Ronnie getting all touchy over the Rovers board not talking to him?

Perhaps he should have been minding the shop.

Before anyone says Wigan will go down when JJB go bust, my recollection is Whelan sold out some time ago. Obviously there is the stadium and shirt sponsorship which will go.

He sold his stake for £190 million.

Wise move.

[philipl]

Thyanks Frisky Jim.

Charlton has huge potential- there is space at the Valley to grow way beyond just a 40,000 seater stadium and the club is seen traditionally as Kent's football club. It probably has a natural hinterland of up to 4 million people and with all the development going on in east London with rapidly improving transport links is an absolute natural to attract investment.

This article about the Charlton tale over rings all kinds of alarm bells.

Rothschilds are reported to be brokering the Charlton take-over which raises all kinds of questionds about what they are supposed to be doing for the Walker Trust.

Also if the Makhtoums are behind the Charlton tale-over and therefore completely out of the running for taking Liverpool, taking a snap shot right now, Liverpool are staring down the barrel of insolvency.

[thenodrog]

  philipl said:

Thyanks Frisky Jim.

Charlton has huge potential- there is space at the Valley to grow way beyond just a 40,000 seater stadium and the club is seen traditionally as Kent's football club. It probably has a natural hinterland of up to 4 million people and with all the development going on in east London with rapidly improving transport links is an absolute natural to attract investment.

This article about the Charlton tale over rings all kinds of alarm bells.

Rothschilds are reported to be brokering the Charlton take-over which raises all kinds of questionds about what they are supposed to be doing for the Walker Trust.

Also if the Makhtoums are behind the Charlton tale-over and therefore completely out of the running for taking Liverpool, taking a snap shot right now, Liverpool are staring down the barrel of insolvency.

Does it not infer that there are a lot of attached strings to BRFC? Some arabs from Dubai are hardly likely to be life long supporters of CAFC are they? They are simply in it to increase their wealth and thats that.

[dave birch]

Indeed, Theno, that's what I'm reading into the "non sale" of the Rovers. There is (to me) something that is putting people off. That something being Jack's wishes for the future of the club.

Pure speculation on my part, but I'll bet it's pretty close to the truth.

[philipl]

I doubt there would be much divergence between what Jack wished for Rovers to achieve and what DIC want to achieve with whatever football club they eventually end-up with.

The problems Rovers have are:

1) catchment population is one twentieth's of Charlton's

2) there is clearly a low upper limit to what can be charged at the gate at Ewood in order to be able to fill it

3) there is nobody in Blackburn a foreign buyer would want to impress, influence or do business with

4) Blackburn is not in or near London

The bottom line is, you could write a business plan to take Charlton to the Champions League and show a chance of making a profit, you cannot do that for the Rovers.

[47er]

There's no evidence of queues of would-be owners to be put off! We are a small town club, we have almost the smallest attendances in the Premier league and fabulously wealthy sheiks in the Gulf are probably unaware of our existence. The only reason to want to take over Rovers is if you love them.The ex-Blackburn guy who now lives in the States might have fulfilled some of the criteria but he didn't have enough dosh! All the other half rumours come to nothing. We are going to have to wait another few decades for the next Jack

The question is how will the Walker family react to the deadlock? They are undoubtedly on the horns of a dilemma since they apparently don't love Rovers like Jack did.. Do they save money and risk their investment going down the drain or do they invest,lose more money and not get a buyer anyway?

Sorry but that's how I see it.

[RovertheHill]

As I've said a few times, there are 3 types of people who take over football clubs

- wealthy ones that love the club because they are fans, and that is all that matters. We've had one of those, we'd be staggeringly lucky to get another

- People looking to make money from an investment. Frankly not going to happen with Rovers for all the reasons phillip mentions above

- People looking for a "hobby" or a "toy". This could possibly happen because frankly if money is the driving force it doesn't matter if it's Eastlands or Ewood. And with Rovers record since the 90's there may be an attraction. However, do we want to be somebody's toy?

[trs]

  RovertheHill said:

However, do we want to be somebody's toy?

Yeh, Kiera Knightleys please

[dave birch]

  philipl said:

I doubt there would be much divergence between what Jack wished for Rovers to achieve and what DIC want to achieve with whatever football club they eventually end-up with.

Sorry, philip, but to my reckoning, you couldn't be further frome the truth.

The Rovers was Jack's passion, DIC would view it as an investment, something to enhance their business. They're not interested in the fans, they're interested in what benefit they can get. They may have had the same aim, but for totally different reasons.

[philipl]

  dave birch said:

Sorry, philip, but to my reckoning, you couldn't be further frome the truth.

The Rovers was Jack's passion, DIC would view it as an investment, something to enhance their business. They're not interested in the fans, they're interested in what benefit they can get. They may have had the same aim, but for totally different reasons.

But both wanted/would want Rovers to win the Premier League and become a dominant force in Europe playing to packed houses with global recognition.

That was my point.

The fact neither could achieve that without a big net loss is why Jack stepped in and DIC didn't.

[Brfcrule1]

I know long time no hear is there any news today in the people on any potential take-over at BRFC also it begs the question if Rothschild have brokered a deal to sell Charlton FC what have they been doing for us? they should be looking for investors for rovers I just hope they are not getting paid for doing sweet FA

[imy9]

Which takeover has actually benefitted the club involved?

There is a story in the NOTW (not the most reliable I know) about:

Portsmouth, Liverpool, West Ham, Liverpool, Newcastle all being in serious financial strife due to the credit crisis.

I for one am happy for the club to be nearly debt free and running within our means.

Unless there is a mega rich Arab out there I do not want a millionaire owner who wants a quick buck... Gillett and Hicks spring to mind!

[nicko]

  Brfcrule1 said:

I know long time no hear is there any news today in the people on any potential take-over at BRFC also it begs the question if Rothschild have brokered a deal to sell Charlton FC what have they been doing for us? they should be looking for investors for rovers I just hope they are not getting paid for doing sweet FA

No, there wasn't.

To be fair to Rothschilds they have been helping Charlton look for a buyer for ab out two years...roughly the same time as yourselves.

The advantage will always be the London thing for any foreign investor. They fly in and want to be at their new 'home' - it's as simple as that.

Rovers are probably over-priced, but very solvent just now...so no need to panic.

When you see Icelandic banks going down like they are the Chris Ronnie enterprise was a classic example of how things can/could have gone wrong. The Icelanders behind JJB were also among his 'team' if he had got Rovers.

Don't think that will be happening now somehow.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

  nicko said:

No, there wasn't.

To be fair to Rothschilds they have been helping Charlton look for a buyer for ab out two years...roughly the same time as yourselves.

The advantage will always be the London thing for any foreign investor. They fly in and want to be at their new 'home' - it's as simple as that.

Rovers are probably over-priced, but very solvent just now...so no need to panic.

When you see Icelandic banks going down like they are the Chris Ronnie enterprise was a classic example of how things can/could have gone wrong. The Icelanders behind JJB were also among his 'team' if he had got Rovers.

Don't think that will be happening now somehow.

Nice to hear from you Nicko. Also great to hear of Rovers' near miss with doom. i think until the financial situation calms down a lot, Rovers are better staying with present owners.

better the devil you know!

[thenodrog]

Two basic rules when considering an investment.

1. Will it make profit from day to day business?

and/or

2. Will it be sold in the future for profit.

Even the keenest rovers fan can see that neither of those applies to BRFC.

[philipl]

Reports this morning that Usmanov and the American who have just under 50% between them are keen to sell their Arsenal stake and that two of the old shareholders will want out when their lockdown agreement expires next April.

So that sounds like Arsenal well and truly in play to be bought out.

[Billy Castell]

So it might not be Usamov or Kronke, as they are seeking to sell up? Could we be seeing DIC finally getting a club after much firtation with Liverpool, or some other Arab outfit?

Problem with us is that we're a small club when compared to Man Utd and co. so we'd be a toy for any rich foreigner, and have no chance of filling a 60,000 seat stadium with 2,000 corporate boxes. We'd be relying on their money to become real contenders, which of course leaves us vulnerable to the whims and fortunes of the person or group we have as our owners. Look at what has gone on at West Ham.

[philipl]

This morning's news is that the Dubai guys are switching from Charlton to West Ham.

It also appears that by using Zabeel for this transaction, they believe they are leaving DIC free still to move in on Liverpool.

[Billy Castell]

I guess Zabeel/DIC are headed by different guys, and the links are weak enough not to cause problems with the same people owning 2 clubs. If what Phillipl says happens, would the Whammers and Liverpool be treated as full on rivals, or will there be a sense of common goals and interests between the to clubs? And would West Ham be a bit of a feeder club?

[philipl]

It is going to be really hard to argue that the reality that Dubai is the Makhtoum family "firm" over rules the legal substance of the two vehicles being in different ownerships.

West Ham and Charlton both sitting conveniently in the East End of London with the Olympics coming up in need of big funding and sponsorship.....

It's all so neat to get Dubai involved down there.

Irrespective of the area round the Boleyn being a dump now but West Ham sits on a straight line between Canary Wharf, Stratford Interchange and the Olympic development and owns TWO football stadium-sized plots of land (Upton Park and the old gas depot the Icelanders bought to build a 60,000 seater stadium on).

There has got to be a deal which gets the Dubai guys to come up with big money for the Olympics, gives West Ham the stadium afterwards and the Dubai guys are left with a lot of land which post-2012 will be getting pretty valuable.

[Billy Castell]

We may have been quids in if the Olympics were held in Accrington.