[Archived] Rovers Might Have Been Sold?

[chilly]

Chelsea have a massive catchment area which extends throughout London and into the Home Counties.

We don't.

We need to have a season of selling out our ground before we even consider it.

So we don't have Blackburn, Darwen, Accrington, "Burnley", Nelson, Brierfield, Colne, Rossendale etc? Currently only Blackburners support Blackburn, once success as in regular top 6 finishes and good cup runs come more of the BB postcode will take an interest.

[nicko]

Why is no-one noticing that Ahsan's first aim is to secure our premiership status, thats the only aim he's set for us so far in his 1st "5yr phase". Nowhere is he mentioning going gung ho and trying to buy the title in one season. His first aim is to make us stable, after that he slowly wants to build us over 15 years into a champions league team.

So stop with all the posts about not wanting to be man city and "100mill wont win us the prem,he'll be disappointed and leave us in the lurch" etc etc..100mill is there to make us a stable premiership team. Read what he's saying before posting all the pointless negativity.

I thought that was the stand-out comment too. Everything else is hysterics.

It will be great news if there is new money, but not all at once ffs...

[Majiball]

No worries mate, i can understand that you might have had a couple of drinks last night, upon hearing whats happening at the moment All this excitement and Billions being mentioned at Rovers, has made you forget about the small amount of 6mill we spent on Kalinic. It can happen to the best of us

No drinks last night I'm afraid.

Guess Kalinic just hasn't made a 6 million pound impression on me yet.

Let the scales fall from your eyes Maj. You need to stop thinking football and think more like a marketeer.

Granted Beckhams always been over rated as a player but don't diss his influence out of hand. Rem we signed the elderly Archibald and Ardilles and tried seriously hard to sign Gary Linekar to signal the intentions of the club to the nation and raise it's profile.

Beckham for whatever reason commands the front and back pages the world over, and they appear to love him in Asia too. He is 'ambassador' to both the Olympics and the WC bid and attracts publicity like moths to a flame. How much do you think such world wide publicity and air time would cost on the open market?

Oh Gord, is your memory failing you? I remember spending most of last sunner along with Kelbo saying we should try and bring him here then, for the majority of the reasons you have stated.

I was merely attempting to take the ###### out of myself.

It would be a smart move in all honesty especially given recent goings on with the man, a loan ala AC would do us both some good.

On the stadium the one thing we never really had under Jack was sustained success, we won the league and after that really slunk away and never really challenged again. With people the way they are these days a period of sustained success and I have no doubts that we could pull 40,000 evnetually. If we had managed to challenge the year after and the one after that as well, I think we'd have more fans today.

[Mattyblue]

So we don't have Blackburn, Darwen, Accrington, "Burnley", Nelson, Brierfield, Colne, Rossendale etc? Currently only Blackburners support Blackburn, once success as in regular top 6 finishes and good cup runs come more of the BB postcode will take an interest.

For one East Lancashire versus the South East of England is not really a contest! East Lancs- 500000 people, SEEngland- 12 million people.

Two, only Blackburners support Rovers?! You what? There are Rovers fans all over East Lancs and other areas of Lancs.

[niggit]

We need to have a season of selling out our ground before we even consider it.

I see the point, but not too. If we waited until we had a full season sell out, then reduced the stadium, due to the new stand been built. Who is to say that them fans left out for a season with no stand would all come back.

[Hughesy]

There is no negativity in my post. I have a different point of view from you, sadly you have demonstrated on numerous occassions you seem have problems with tolerating different views.

I'd be interested to learn from anyone the following:

1. How will the £300m investment be repaid - including a profit as this is implicit in an investment
   
2. What will be the size of the wage bill and how will this be funded? Bear in mind please JW is on record as saying Rovers ALREADY have to offer higher wages to attract players
   
3. How much will the 45,000 seat stadium cost?
   
4. Where will the additional 20,000 fans come from?
   
5. How is Ewood to be expanded to that level?
   
6. If we are to be title contenders again where will the money come from? This means challenging Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, City and Spurs at the very least. an extra 20,000 fans aren't going to turn up as we challenge for a Europa league spot.
   

All we have heard is how wonderful it will be. I have great difficulty in believing much of this, and frankly 45,000 capacity stadium just confirms it for me

Here's a few things to consider....

1 – Increase revenue (better merchandise sales, more ST sales, probably higher ST prices, bigger sponsorship deals, links to IPL teams in India, Marquee signing like Beckham to help boost profile, perhaps some sort of improved TV deal in India, champions league football etc) may start to drive profit, bigger & better infrastructure & assets – aswell as a better playing squad (therefore worth A LOT more when he chooses to sell after 15 years or whatever).........AS they say ‘Think big’.

2 –Perhaps its more a case of quality than quantity….for instance look at our Squad now – you could easily remove Brown(20k), Jacobsen (30k), Emerton (30k) OR Chimbo (35k) & Zurab (30k) and replace with either none (i.e. Brown/ Zurab/ Jacobsen) or 1. So say you bring 1 into the defence (Young, talented potential on say 25k) – you have a potential asset in a few years, whilst shaving 85-90k a week off the budget. £4.7m a year

Next move to midfield – Grella could go tomorrow and we wouldn’t miss him (30k) £1.56m

Strikers – Roberts goes (30k) – replace with better quality

So there you have added 1 young talent in defence whilst saving £4.7m a year, got rid of a sicknote and saved £1.56m a year & improved our attack for similar wages. Total saving of £6.3m a year…..NOW I understand it isn’t easy to do this over-night, you need interest in players etc but you need to remember this is a long term strategy – Jacob, Zurab & Brown are out of Contract soon (As is Salgado)…You also need to remember that with a wealthy owners we have other options, such as mutually termination.

Next up – In 2012 we have Diouf, Nelsen, Dunn who are all out of contract…again these players are ageing and between them must be taking home 100k a week between them & have no sell on value – again improve them by signing younger, talented players who will have a sell on value…and perhaps on 25-30k a week each, again making some sort of saving….target the £5m type signings who hopefully progress into £15-25m players.

(Figures are estimates based on the reported wages of other players such as Roberts, Zurab, Beattie etc)

Anyway you get my gist.

3 – Who knows….but I assume Mr Syed will be looking at that being part of the £300m+ investment. And also it’s a stand that needs building up, not a whole new stadium…Perhaps he will offset some of the cost by getting a sponsorship for it.

4 – That is the hard bit!! Although it’s more likely to be around 15,000 not 20k. Don’t forget the suggestion was 40-45k stadium, not necessarily 45k. Some ideas - Target the ethnic minority population….arrange travel for supporters clubs & for people in surrounding areas such as the lakes, Preston etc….a natural increase if we have a better team….perhaps make it more of a focal point of the local community….the more going on at Ewood or around Ewood, the more it will attract….Improve travel links (i.e. Rail-link)

5 – Expand the Riverside to Match the JW and your around the 38,000 mark…fill in each corner and you will gain an extra 1500 per corner.

6 – Mr Syed’s pocket…he has already said this is a passion & he doesn’t need to make money on it….he is happy to fund better players….also the ‘correct model’ will help us sign better players, selling young talent for big profits & re-investing it (not disappearing to pay debts or whatever like it has done for the past few years)

[philipl]

BBC coverage

[roversmum]

Taken from today's LT:

Ali Syed said: “This is not just an investment, it is an emotional decision. I have been following them since they won the Premier League and I would not want to be called the club owner if I acquire the club but a fan of Blackburn Rovers.

If this is the case, then we have more than we thought to thank Jack for. God Bless you, Jack.

[K-Hod]

Only Blackburn fans from Blackburn??

I'm from Accrington and I can tell you that most people support Blackburn and Burnley, a few support Stanley then you've obviously got plastic Mancs/Scousers- like rats!

[Kelbo]

Let the scales fall from your eyes Maj. You need to stop thinking football and think more like a marketeer.

Granted Beckhams always been over rated as a player but don't diss his influence out of hand. Rem we signed the elderly Archibald and Ardilles and tried seriously hard to sign Gary Linekar to signal the intentions of the club to the nation and raise it's profile.

Beckham for whatever reason commands the front and back pages the world over, and they appear to love him in Asia too. He is 'ambassador' to both the Olympics and the WC bid and attracts publicity like moths to a flame. How much do you think such world wide publicity and air time would cost on the open market?

I think you will find Maji was being a little sarcastic as both he and I advocated Beckham as both a player and Marketing tool for the club some months ago!!

Mr Syed, there are two guys here with foresight, sign em up, £10k per week? thanks a lot

[Majiball]

I think you will find Maji was being a little sarcastic as both he and I advocated Beckham as both a player and Marketing tool for the club some months ago!!

Mr Syed, there are two guys here with foresight, sign em up, £10k per week? thanks a lot

I'll do it for one, but I want to work as a sports scientist at the at the academy as well!!!

I'll work alonside Wrigley and take some of the weight off his shoulders, my ref's are top notch too!!!!

Lets ask Kamy to send Syed our CV's.

[tony gale's mic]

Sorry to pick this particular post TGM but it represents a recurring theme on here - we can do it the Rovers way. I'm sorry this just doesn't make sense. Would Fergusson, Wenger, the various recent managers at City, Chelsea etc be spending obscene millions on transfers and more on wages if this "new way" could work? Nobody won anything by bringing in players, grooming them and selling them at a profit.

I agree with your view on Lerner and how he has made Villa look a real PL club with the Holte etc. the ground looks fantastic. Just a shame the manager quit, the team has won nothing, Milner is leaving, Friedel is rumored to be next and the owner is demanding players be sold as he's doesn't want to fund more signings. Ten days ago I would have said Lerner was the best example of a foreign "investor" a club could have - just shows how wrong you can be.

It's not his fault the manager spent so much on average players.

The amount which he's funded over the last four years is massive, it's just financially he's got very little return from it.

Our current model shouldnt be based on what Ferguson etc would be doing. That's been City's problem. Syed has five year plans and the first five year plan should get us into a position where we're challenging for the Champions' League slots. It's going to take time before we can even challenge - it may only be a few places but the gulf currently is huge, it's another league practically. Under Lerner Villa did get into that position briefly though they've fallen away a bit, but with better forays into the transfer market we could do that bit better.

If and when we get into the Champions' League we can start to adapt our transfer policy accordingly. However bringing in players, grooming them and selling them at profit isn't far off what Wenger does at Arsenal.

[Balwer]

Only Blackburners? Come on, you forget how big an impact Jack's tenure had on the rest of the world. I'm from Melbourne, Australia and now live in London and have supported Rovers since 93.

[jacko]

Hi All,

Not sure if posted before, here is a link to the interview on Radio Lancs last night (via BBC iplayer, not sure if works overseas). Starts at around 3mins in:

Radio Lancs Interview

All Exciting stuff

[deryck guyler's spoon]

Only Blackburners? Come on, you forget how big an impact Jack's tenure had on the rest of the world. I'm from Melbourne, Australia and now live in London and have supported Rovers since 93.

Onya Balwer.

[Balwer]

Onya Balwer.

Cheers dgs, and like you and me there's heaps of Aussies who support Rovers on this board, as well as Americans and plenty in Asia and the rest of Europe too.

[modes98]

I note that Mr Syed is only 36.

To older eyes, this proposed takeover smacks of the impetuosity of youth and the heart leading the head.

If you've earned £8bn by age 36 your obviously not stupid and don't make rash decisions. Call it what you want at least the guy has big plans and the ability and resources to enact them.

[Balwer]

If you've earned £8bn by age 36 your obviously not stupid and don't make rash decisions. Call it what you want at least the guy has big plans and the ability and resources to enact them.

To be fair we don't know how much of that he's made on his own and how much was from the vast family fortune to which he's the sole heir.

[LeChuck]

Milner is leaving

...for more than double what they bought him for.

A good manager will find another rough diamond with that money, and use the leftover to strengthen elsewhere.

[Iceman]

Taken from today's LT:

If this is the case, then we have more than we thought to thank Jack for. God Bless you, Jack.

+ 1 for you Mum

[OscarRaven]

2 Perhaps its more a case of quality than quantity….for instance look at our Squad now you could easily remove Brown(20k), Jacobsen (30k), Emerton (30k) OR Chimbo (35k) & Zurab (30k) and replace with either none (i.e. Brown/ Zurab/ Jacobsen) or 1. So say you bring 1 into the defence (Young, talented potential on say 25k) you have a potential asset in a few years, whilst shaving 85-90k a week off the budget. £4.7m a year

How very simplistic. What idoits Sam and John williams must be not to realise that we can easily shave 5% of the wage bill for the year so easily.

It's not his fault the manager spent so much on average players.

The amount which he's funded over the last four years is massive, it's just financially he's got very little return from it.

Anyone else a little worried about Sam's abilty in the transfer market with money? Its not like he has a proven track record.

[Hughesy]

How very simplistic. What idoits Sam and John williams must be not to realise that we can easily shave 5% of the wage bill for the year so easily.

Nice of you to quote the full post....

Like I said once...It wont happen over night, however Jacobsen, Zurab & Salgado only have 12 months left....Nelsen, Dunn, Diouf till 2012. And also like I said a money man can afford to take losses such as letting them go for free, or mutual termination. Something we cant afford to do at the moment!

Please do read the full posts!!

[joey_big_nose]

How very simplistic. What idoits Sam and John williams must be not to realise that we can easily shave 5% of the wage bill for the year so easily.

Anyone else a little worried about Sam's abilty in the transfer market with money? Its not like he has a proven track record.

I think he will be okay if we continue down the route of buying young mainly with a couple of older heads. He knows he will get time which wasn't afforded to him at Newcastle and will be wiser for the experience.

[67splitscreen]

To be fair we don't know how much of that he's made on his own and how much was from the vast family fortune to which he's the sole heir.

The link a page or so back, 'Insider' states after a personnel investment of 1b he made close to 100m profit in his company A/C for 2009, 777% increase on the previous year.

I'd say from my limited business experience this man is no fool and is certainly not parted from his money easily.

IMO, I would like to see a softly, softly approach to TEAM! building,

[OscarRaven]

Nice of you to quote the full post....

Like I said once...It wont happen over night, however Jacobsen, Zurab & Salgado only have 12 months left....Nelsen, Dunn, Diouf till 2012. And also like I said a money man can afford to take losses such as letting them go for free, or mutual termination. Something we cant afford to do at the moment!

Please do read the full posts!!

I read the full post and in my opinion adding the full text wouldn't add any additional context. It would only serve to make the message board more difficult to read.

Letting them go for free - why would you do that? It would cost the same and the net result is the player is then unavailable should they be needed (flu outbreak for instance). I think the mutal termination option will have been explored, certainly with Zurab.