[Archived] Rovers Might Have Been Sold?

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Yes but unless they are required to by Jack specificially, I can see why they are reluctant to throw money into a black hole.

[Ozz]

Didn't we see exactly what the Trust would do in your scenario when Ince was manager?

Maybe sacking SA and his helpers is a lot more expensive than a decent goalscorer or two though.

[den]

Yes but unless they are required to by Jack specificially, I can see why they are reluctant to throw money into a black hole.

They were required to. That was no secret.

Paul Egerton-Vernon

And Paul Egerton-Vernon, the Walker family solicitor, stressed that there was no question of funding for the club drying up following Jack Walker's death.

"There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding that there is an ever shrinking pot of money that is available," said Mr Egerton-Vernon, who chairs the trust holding company which looks after the Walker businesses including Rovers.

"That is not the case. There are other businesses apart from the club which generate profits which are available.

"The fans need not be concerned in any way. The club is provided for for the foreseeable future. Jack was not a short term man," said Mr Egerton-Vernon"

[AlanK]

Yet they are recklessly splashing out billions on aircrafts, which actually makes one sick.

In what way exactly is investing in a succesful airline reckless? And what the hell does that have to do with football?

[philipl]

In what way exactly is investing in a succesful airline reckless? And what the hell does that have to do with football?

More to the point, there will be a financing deal behind that £5 billion.

Now show me a commercial financing deal on offer that would buy Stephen Ireland....

[92er]

More to the point, there will be a financing deal behind that £5 billion.

Now show me a commercial financing deal on offer that would buy Stephen Ireland....

I was going to link with Nicko's comment on the amount Flybe might well invest in planes but things have moved on quickly.

On reading the article, reference is made to a possible £4.25 billion deal ( the 5 bill is euros ).

But it also says that the firm order is for a quarter of that amount.

[PAFELL]

Didn't we see exactly what the Trust would do in your scenario when Ince was manager?

Alank & Philip are correct. People seem to think there's no investment going in to Rovers, but that's untrue.

It's just not obvious in terms of transfer cash & big wages.

There's a lot of us been saying for a long time the Premiership is unsustainable in terms of current wage bills versus income. The Trust is the best & safest long-term ownership of Blackburn Rovers we can have (without another Jack Walker).

Well unless all players and agents get together and suggest a pay CUT nothing will change. Apart from more and more clubs going like Portsmouth.

You seem to forget, the trustees do not want the club anymore. Success on the field and getting as high up the table as possible is a means of getting back any investment. Even the 3 million a year the trust used to put in would be got back if Rovers finished higher up the table.

[67splitscreen]

" Walker is believed to have ploughed around £100m into Rovers in total and even when he died in 2000, the Rovers' chairman ensured Blackburn had a legacy. He set up a trust fund which diverts all profits from his offshore business into his beloved Blackburn Rovers."

The old ones, are the best, from a BBC article back in 2000.

Must have got lost in translation, bloody Jersey foreigners.

[Sparky Marky]

More to the point, there will be a financing deal behind that £5 billion.

Now show me a commercial financing deal on offer that would buy Stephen Ireland....

Citeh will need him off their books...simple as that....as long as the player is in agreement to come here, then I would think that Citeh would accept some type of payment plan whereby we pay in installments....Perhaps a small amount added for the inconvenience for Citeh....He's young and just the type of player we can build around.

[PAFELL]

Excellent work by Kamy. Top class, in fact.

Nicko, maybe it is time for you to do an article on how fustrated Rovers fans are with regards to the trust / the way some of us can see Jack's dream being damaged by lack of investment etc. May spark a responce from them etc.

Anymore news or information about the second interested party. Or have they signed NDA also?

[philipl]

Nicko, maybe it is time for you to do an article on how fustrated Rovers fans are with regards to the trust / the way some of us can see Jack's dream being damaged by lack of investment etc. May spark a responce from them etc.

Anymore news or information about the second interested party. Or have they signed NDA also?

But you are not going to find a common position on this.

Some fans recognise that the current position is far far better than anything we experienced for 30+ years of supporting Rovers before Jack became involved.

I think most of us are enormously grateful that the Trust did not sell to the likes of Dan Williams whom by rivercider's admission would have dumped us into the hands of an investment vehicle being wound up whilst in protection from its creditors- we'd have been in the same situation as Pompey for the last two years if Dan Williams had "bought" us.

Kamy has painted a picture of the Indians which adds to the general picture of unprofessionalism given by two premature announcements of due diligence and Chrs Nthnl's micro-blogging.

Yes I'd want the Trust to find money to help Rovers prosper on the field but do I really want a bunch of millionaire footballers to get even richer and their parasytic agents take even more out of the game? Cannot say that I do. Unfortunately, these days, we cannot have one without the other.

But overall I am very happy the Trust are being very careful and taking great care of the trust Jack gave them to look after the Rovers.

[G Somerset Rover]

Nicko, maybe it is time for you to do an article on how fustrated Rovers fans are with regards to the trust / the way some of us can see Jack's dream being damaged by lack of investment etc. May spark a responce from them etc.

Good idea but more there's a better chance of pigs flying..

..or in our case being given money for transfers by the Trust.

[Iceman]

Yet they are recklessly splashing out billions on aircrafts, which actually makes one sick.

In what way exactly is investing in a succesful airline reckless? And what the hell does that have to do with football?

It has alot to do with football, in particular Rovers. I seem to remember, talk that Flybe had financial troubles. unless i dreamt it, which i know there was talk of it.

How do you justify spending so much money, and refusing to spend a little bit on Rovers each year. I could understand, if they were not making money at all, then it would make no sense to splash money on Rovers. The 5 Billion spent, shows that they really have no interest in Rovers.

[OJRovers]

Iceman - they've not 'spent' the £5bn on the planes, it is being lent to the company by a syndicate of lending banks and secured on the residual values of the planes themselves, for which there is a fairly fluid market for in America.

Rovers couldn't borrow this much because there is nothing as concrete to secure the finance on.

Although I agree that they are obviously making money elsewhere and have just cut off all Rovers funding.

Seems strange too that they won't even sponsor our shirts with Flybe!

[den]

I am led to believe that the biggest sticking point is future investment, the trust are willing to sell but will not sell to anyone who cannot guarantee investment over a number of years, this was one of the safeguards that Jack put in place before he died. The trustees can of course try and remove these safeguards but that would need every single beneficiary of Jack's will agreeing to the changes and that is not likely to happen.

You're a star Kamy, well done for following this through.

One question though. To the bit in BOLD, why is this unlikely? Who would object? David Brown is the clubs representative on the Jersey Trust. He apparently can't influence the trusts decision to withdraw funding.

[PAFELL]

But you are not going to find a common position on this.

Some fans recognise that the current position is far far better than anything we experienced for 30+ years of supporting Rovers before Jack became involved.

I think most of us are enormously grateful that the Trust did not sell to the likes of Dan Williams whom by rivercider's admission would have dumped us into the hands of an investment vehicle being wound up whilst in protection from its creditors- we'd have been in the same situation as Pompey for the last two years if Dan Williams had "bought" us.

Kamy has painted a picture of the Indians which adds to the general picture of unprofessionalism given by two premature announcements of due diligence and Chrs Nthnl's micro-blogging.

Yes I'd want the Trust to find money to help Rovers prosper on the field but do I really want a bunch of millionaire footballers to get even richer and their parasytic agents take even more out of the game? Cannot say that I do. Unfortunately, these days, we cannot have one without the other.

But overall I am very happy the Trust are being very careful and taking great care of the trust Jack gave them to look after the Rovers.

You appear to forget, that at the moment the trustees are doing NOTHING FOR THE CLUB. I agree history shows they have done a lot for the club. But not now.

I also was a Rovers supporter long before Jack came along, so know what things were like back then. Of course neither myself or others on here want a pompey type situation at Rovers. So yes it is right the trust are being prudent to who they sell the club too. But that is all the current owners are doing today.

Yes I would prefer for the trust to keep hold of Rovers, but if they are not going to invest in the playing side of things, they become pointless owners. They are owners in name only in 2010.

I do not think from what has been said that the Indians are the answer, yet at the same time nobody knows anything about them. Maybe this Shah bloke is only the front man, but is being supported by a football mad multi rich peson or group. So at the moment it is still too early to completely write them off, because we are all ignorant as to what really is happening behind the current bid.

But the trustees today are doing nothing for the club.

If they are doing something, please enlighten us all. Because all I see them doing today, is protecting the club from sharks and that is all.

[T4E]

Iceman - they've not 'spent' the £5bn on the planes, it is being lent to the company by a syndicate of lending banks and secured on the residual values of the planes themselves, for which there is a fairly fluid market for in America.

Rovers couldn't borrow this much because there is nothing as concrete to secure the finance on.

Although I agree that they are obviously making money elsewhere and have just cut off all Rovers funding.

Seems strange too that they won't even sponsor our shirts with Flybe!

From my limited knowledge of the Walker family and associated businesses, they seem to be very shrewd, successful business people.

The English Premier League is probably the most watched, supported and well financed sports league in the World, with billions of viewers, millions of fee paying supporters (be it through ticket sales, TV deals, merchandise or miscellaneous incomes), and in the right hands can be a very profitable place to do business. There are many companies throughout the World that would like to be associated with a Premier League football team.

Despite these two facts, this group of businessmen are desperate to get out. There must be a reason for that. They've been around long enough to know whether or not Blackburn Rovers have sufficient potential to be worth having as an asset - and they've decided that we don't. That for me is the scary truth of the matter.

[doctorryan]

Seems strange too that they won't even sponsor our shirts with Flybe!

Don't brandish logic like that around here. It's too dangerous.

[Guest Kamy100]

You're a star Kamy, well done for following this through.

One question though. To the bit in BOLD, why is this unlikely? Who would object? David Brown is the clubs representative on the Jersey Trust. He apparently can't influence the trusts decision to withdraw funding.

No problems Den, as a fan I care passionately about the club so was a pleasure to try and get some information about these people.

There is stuff that I know that I can't post on here because it could potentially get this site into trouble, however I will say that the deeper I dig the more unconvinced I become about this whole deal.

In terms of getting the will changed it would need the permission of all the benefaciaries of Jack's will. From what I know there are benefaciaries who are determined to see that Jack's wishes are carried out to the letter.

I think that this will not go on for much longer, I would guess that a decision will be made within the next two weeks.

[den]

There is stuff that I know that I can't post on here because it could potentially get this site into trouble, however I will say that the deeper I dig the more unconvinced I become about this whole deal.

In terms of getting the will changed it would need the permission of all the benefaciaries of Jack's will. From what I know there are benefaciaries who are determined to see that Jack's wishes are carried out to the letter.

Fair enough Kamy, I understand that you can't say any more about the trustees.

For what it's worth, my understanding is that there is nothing in writing that spells out Jack's wishes. The legalities are to do with the way the trustees must operate, but there's nothing in writing to prove what his actual wishes were.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

I know it's important that the club gets taken over and receive some kind of investment but at the moment I'll be more than happy to try and punch above our weight for another season. We've been successfully doing it since we regained promotion nearly a decade ago so what's one more year, especially with a squad that finished 10th last season.

As I said on a previous post, I'm no expert on takeover and finance but if I wanted to invest in something, I would do my research, declare my interest, get more information from what I wanted to invest in and then proceed with the purchase. At the moment all we've seen is a group of people say they want to buy the club and nothing else. What are they waiting for? It seems to me that they aren't organised properly. If they can't organise themselves to purchase a club, how are they going to run it.

Assuming there is no progress being made in the background, I say get out now whilst we still can and keep on looking.

[Moppy]

Fair enough Kamy, I understand that you can't say any more about the trustees.

For what it's worth, my understanding is that there is nothing in writing that spells out Jack's wishes. The legalities are to do with the way the trustees must operate, but there's nothing in writing to prove what his actual wishes were.

So it would be down to what the individual trustee's interpret his wishes as, some maybe happy to sell a lot easier than others. But maybe others could veto the sale if they don't think it fits with what Jack would have wanted. All sounds very political to me with lots of possible fireworks going on behind closed doors.

[broadsword]

On and on it goes, when it'll stop, nobody knows!

[Fife Rover]

You appear to forget, that at the moment the trustees are doing NOTHING FOR THE CLUB. I agree history shows they have done a lot for the club. But not now.

I also was a Rovers supporter long before Jack came along, so know what things were like back then. Of course neither myself or others on here want a pompey type situation at Rovers. So yes it is right the trust are being prudent to who they sell the club too. But that is all the current owners are doing today.

Yes I would prefer for the trust to keep hold of Rovers, but if they are not going to invest in the playing side of things, they become pointless owners. They are owners in name only in 2010.

I do not think from what has been said that the Indians are the answer, yet at the same time nobody knows anything about them. Maybe this Shah bloke is only the front man, but is being supported by a football mad multi rich peson or group. So at the moment it is still too early to completely write them off, because we are all ignorant as to what really is happening behind the current bid.

But the trustees today are doing nothing for the club.

If they are doing something, please enlighten us all. Because all I see them doing today, is protecting the club from sharks and that is all.

Even if it is true that that is all they doing (which I very much doubt); how many other clubs in the EPL can claim to have the same level of protection? Is that alone not worth a huge amount in safety terms to a small club like Rovers? We should not be in such a hurry to just dismiss this safety net in our longing to see a new face or two on the playing staff.

[bubblerrovers]

Is anyone confident we will actually be taken over before the start of the season? I can't see the Trust ever getting rid of us