[Archived] Rovers Might Have Been Sold?

[gumboots]

Pardon?

Oh good I thought it was just me.

[chaddyrovers]

Would the new owner if we get one, want is your manager in? just a thought NOT saying he will or i would.

Would the new owner if we get one, want is own manager in? Like what happens when a new president comes in spain? for

[Rover9]

Would the new owner if we get one, want is own manager in? Like what happens when a new president comes in spain? for

Would the new owner if we get one, want his own manager in? Like what happens in La Liga when a new president is elected?

[brightonrover]

Would the new owner if we get one, want his own manager in? Like what happens in La Liga when a new president is elected?

Hopefully, yes.

[BlueMonday]

Would the new owner if we get one, want his own manager in? Like what happens in La Liga when a new president is elected? :

Gracias

[thenodrog]

That list is a secret list - supporters probable know that there are conditions the trust have to comply with, but what they are, is a mystery thanks to the silent treatment the trustees have given to the supprters.

Quite right too. They can't bring anything to the party can they.

[jw_]

You did not say anything about the price. But other posts have mentioned the club is for sale for 25m. What you said was basicly why buy the club now when the possibility of relegation still exsists. That could imply that you think that if Rovers were relegated then the price could drop. I suggest that 25m is the price wiether Rovers are in the prem or the championship - so no need to wait to see what division Rovers are in for an investor / buyer to buy etc.

It could be but that is not what I was saying so let me make it clear....I am saying that if you or anybody else was in a position to buy a club would you not prefer a Premier League club, I know I would for reasons obvious to any football follower.Of course if I or most on this board had the money to buy Rovers it would not matter if they were in the Championship or Pl because we are fans,but I think we'd be extremely lucky to get a buyer who's a dyed in the wool fan.

[Iceman]

If the Trustees dont want us anymore, why dont they send 1 representative to the fans forums, and discuss the reason why they want out. The fans deserve to know, or so im led to believe

[PAFELL]

If the Trustees dont want us anymore, why dont they send 1 representative to the fans forums, and discuss the reason why they want out. The fans deserve to know, or so im led to believe

I suppose if the trustees cared about the opinions etc of the supporters, they would do. But they haven't got involved, spoken to the supporters in the past 10 years, so I cannot see that changing. For them Rovers is a business, and unwanted business and something I believe they consider a burden upon them. Therefore the mere supporter !!!!!!!!!!

Quite right too. They can't bring anything to the party can they.

Yes it probable is right that the list is secret. But the silent treatment the trustees have given to the supporters cannot be right - not just on any possible takeover - but as a whole. But it is their choice to do so. After all having withdrawn the funding of the club, it is the supporters who are playing a big part in keeping the business going.

[modes98]

If the Trustees dont want us anymore, why dont they send 1 representative to the fans forums, and discuss the reason why they want out.

They own us, it is up to them how much money they put in and whether they wish to sell us on. This is a business world in which they don't have to explain a decision and their reasoning behind it. Plus if they did go to fans and say they wanted out what difference would that make? We would still be for sale for exactly the same price but there would be an increased bad feeling around the club. I just can't see why they would.

I'm a fan of Cadburys chocolate but I don't expect the previous board to come out and explain the precise circumstances that lead to them selling up.

We just need to leave Rothchilds to it and hope they can find a mad man who wants to throw millions our way to keep us in with a shot of getting into europe every now and then.

[thenodrog]

We just need to leave Rothchilds to it and hope they can find a mad man who wants to throw millions our way to keep us in with a shot of getting into europe every now and then.

Or stick around and tough it out until all the other mad men that are around crash and burn.

[47er]

I suppose if the trustees cared about the opinions etc of the supporters, they would do. But they haven't got involved, spoken to the supporters in the past 10 years, so I cannot see that changing. For them Rovers is a business, and unwanted business and something I believe they consider a burden upon them. Therefore the mere supporter !!!!!!!!!!

I don't think they see it as any sort of business, more like an unwanted legacy.

[Grabbi Graeme]

On the subject of club ownership, SSN are reporting that rapper P Diddy is interested in buying Crystal Palace, not sure if it is some publicity stunt although his spokesman has confirmed he is interested in buying the club, apparently he's worth around £300 million.

[joey_big_nose]

On the subject of club ownership, SSN are reporting that rapper P Diddy is interested in buying Crystal Palace, not sure if it is some publicity stunt although his spokesman has confirmed he is interested in buying the club, apparently he's worth around £300 million.

Um, I double checked the date and it is not April 1st. Is this for real?

Didn't Xhibit or someone wear a Rovers shirt at a gig once?

[T4E]

That was The Game joey, was only because we were sponsored by Lonsdale.

[alexanders]

The Game is awesome. Would be nice IF he could own us.

Maybe Dioufy can talk to his best mate Akon?

[Mr. E]

They own us, it is up to them how much money they put in and whether they wish to sell us on. This is a business world in which they don't have to explain a decision and their reasoning behind it. Plus if they did go to fans and say they wanted out what difference would that make? We would still be for sale for exactly the same price but there would be an increased bad feeling around the club. I just can't see why they would.

I'm a fan of Cadburys chocolate but I don't expect the previous board to come out and explain the precise circumstances that lead to them selling up.

We just need to leave Rothchilds to it and hope they can find a mad man who wants to throw millions our way to keep us in with a shot of getting into europe every now and then.

Excellent point, if you think Blackburn Rovers is nothing more special than Cadburys chocolate.

[rivercider]

Refering to that same LET article you have posted the link to, the following paragraph is from

But a deal is not believed to be imminent, and the Williams consortium is only one of several groups from both Britain and abroad thought to be interested in launching a takeover.

Out of curiosity, is it known who these other interested parties were. I believe chowdry (spelling) was one (whatever happened to him?) but others?

Apologies but as someone quite familiar with things that were taking place at the time some "myths" need to be addressed.

1/ The club started meeting with representatives from the investment group fronted by Dan Williams in early March of 2008. The first visit, brokered by an ex-director via a New York accounting firm, was by 3 individuals, one an employee of Plainfield Asset Management (Justin Burley), one was a senior adviser to that company and a former CEO of a large media company (Peter Cuneo), and the other was Dan Williams.

2/ A second visit took place in April 2008 involving just the Plainfield reps.

3/ A third visit with Dan Williams and his banker/adviser took place around that time in London before (and during) the away game vs. Spurs (1-1, great game).

Subsequent to that visit both Williams and Plainfield were contacted by one Alan "Nicko" Nixon and initially avoided his calls and even denied interest. Mr Nixon will doubtless confirm that his "source" was not from within the club's Boardroom nor was it Williams/Plainfield, with neither the Club nor the buyers welcoming the discussions having become public knowledge. Indeed the visits to Ewood and meetings in the area all took place under various covers to avoid any investment talk. There could be speculation that, since middlemen were involved, they had interest in leaking the story to generate interest/fees for themselves, but only one man knows who tipped him off......

As a group who do not conduct business publicly, Plainfield withdraw their involvement in negotiations at that time deferring to Dan Williams, but remained financially committed, and a formal document was drafted and released to the club via Allen Overy of London.

Several "media reports" - yes, including a fake website (set up by a 53 year old man from West Lancashire who also posted his photo on both Cuneo and Williams's bios on other public business networking sites), rumours of several competing bidders and the growing realisation by the would-be buyers that other deals at the time had created a "bubble" and inflated the price led to discussions of a potential lower offer for the club or some structured deal over time, but these were ultimately discouraged by the club and its advisers.

At no time did any of the direct parties involved act inappropriately, there were no leaks from either of the two Williamses, Plainfield, nor Tom Finn or any other current director at the club, and only select trustees at the time were aware of proceedings. There were a total of 3 interviews, two by John Williams and one by Dan Williams all in the LET at the time, and some off the record conversations with respected journalists - no attempt was made by either side to pro-actively contact the press to play anything out in a public forum.

The deal, as indicated by Nicko, was to buy the club for cash (equity) and refinance existing debt (but add no further debt - the commitment to not add, and indeed reduce the club's debts, was clearly laid out by the club as part of the "what Jack would have wanted" part of the equation). The trustees screened and approved the buying parties, reflected clearly by the repeated meetings over a total of over 2 months, and the additional condition of funds to be available for future investments was agreed to. The deal ultimately failed because ultimately the Trustees chose not to move on the price and the total amount of capital the buyers were willing to commit to Rovers was such that if they had paid the price it would have left limited funds for taking the club forwards without selling players/assets. At the time several other parties had contacted the club apparently willing to pay the full asking price and so the Williams/Plainfield group withdrew their interest with no hard feelings and nothing but the greatest respect for the club and its personnel.

With hindsight it seems that none of the other investors/interested parties turned out to have the required funds or were similarly unwilling to meet the valuation at the time which was pretty much as widely reported - around an 90million commitment in total consisting of equity to buy the club, inheritance/transfer of debt from the club itself to the buyer, and a multi-year commitment to invest more in to the club/team plus an understanding to keep on certain personnel and not sell the "prime assets" - i.e. Ewood and Brockall. Williams, Plainfield and the club agreed on all aspects except the actual price of the club - Plainfield at the time had over 6billion in assets, and has only grown since.

Sorry for the long post, but for nearly two years now there have been rumours that the club has some mythical set of covenants attached to its sale - not so, simply a request (non-binding) that a buyer be willing to move the club forwards in a manner Jack would have wanted - or that the buyers didn't have the money - not so, as a group there was enough money to buy Rovers 100x over, they just had one valuation, the club another, and ne'er the twain shall meet, especially when other (now apparently less well financed) bidders were offering full price. John Williams acted as a gentleman and a staunch steward of the club throughout, and lastly to answer a long ago post, Dan Williams and 11 guests flew over twice this season to attend Rovers games at Ewood, and both Cuneo, Burley and two other parties involved have been to at least three Rovers games in London since. Burley and Cuneo both have Rovers memorabilia in their offices and follow the team closely, Williams remains a fan, the banker he brought to Spurs apparently now follows North London's (second) finest - can't win them all.

Hope that clears things up - events as they REALLY happened. Not half as juicy and salacious as some would like, but actual facts. Though one day the mystery may be revealed - just how the hell did Nixon get on to the story to start with..........(in the auto-biography Nicko?)

[Silencio]

Very interesting reading. Nice to hear Dan Williams still attends some games. I think you are getting your dates wrong though, wasn't this all during 2007, not 2008?

I remember thinking that what Williams had to say in his interviews was quite promising. He seemed to want to keep Williams on and make reasonable funds available each year and was honest enough to say we shouldn't have expected him to be like Abramovich.

I am very dubious about us being hawked around the middle east. If The Trust have become that desperate I am worried about them dropping their standards as well as the club's price.

[47er]

Wow that is interesting stuff! Particularly about the safeguards being fairly loose. Can I ask you this question? If there were Rovers fans seriously interested when the price was a whopping 90M (with debts), what is their attitude now the price is very significantly lower? Any chance of them coming back?

That, after all is the dream for Rovers fans, somebody or group with funds who genuinely care about the club. In retrospect that looks like an opportunity missed because the Trust got greedy.

[alexanders]

Why isnt mr Dean Williams and his group renewing their interest now that we have lowered the price? They seem like resonible owners with a genuine interest of the club.

[rovers_rob]

Why isnt mr Dean Williams and his group renewing their interest now that we have lowered the price? They seem like resonible owners with a genuine interest of the club.

Good question, would they be interested in buying now the price has dropped ?

I remember talking to someone within the club when all this was happening and they were convinced that Dan Williams and his pals were going to take over and take the club forward. They also said that he was a nice chap and he was a genuine fan.

There has been a lot of things wriiten about him on this messageboard like "the club and trustees hasd seen through Dan Williams" and "the trusteees shooed williams out of the club" but that doesn't fit in with what I was told at the time.

[MeanGreenMachine]

Very very interesting read, pity the greed of the trust got in the way of the club possibley going foward and progressing.

[HemelRover]

Very very interesting read, pity the greed of the trust got in the way of the club possibley going foward and progressing.

Erm, no. Its not greed. The trust was doing its job. Which was to make as much money as possible for the Walker Trust. Not just for Rovers.

[MeanGreenMachine]

If the post is indeed valid it would show greed by the trust, nothing more. A deal was being done but they preferred to believe the line of other parties being interested paying the full whack for the club, which turned out to be ######. And now with the current talk of the price being dropped, it really is egg on face for the trust.