[Archived] Rovers Might Have Been Sold?

[jodrell]

Just a thought on the farming and East India link. I don’t know if 900 acres is a big or small farm, or what type of land it was. But could they have been growing tea/something else then selling it to The East India Company. Then they sold it and that’s why they are not well known in the area, just another conspiracy theory.

[MeanGreenMachine]

Could be opium farms, 900 acres of them and he would be a billionaire.

[47er]

I am sorry I used those words as I rarely get animated on this board, but frankly your response to my earlier post was very definite and I believe very wrong. You seem to be very clear that some people on here have their own petty agenda and do not have the best interests of the club at heart. I don't think that is true. I think the very vast majority do have the best interests of the club at heart. As you do.

Thanks for that and no hard feelings. Some people on here do have their own petty agenda but I agree with you that most have the interests of the club at heart.

[rebelmswar]

Could be opium farms, 900 acres of them and he would be a billionaire.

Oh dear.

Next we will say it is possible that he rented out the 900 acres to the US government to hide the Roswell saucer.

[Stuart]

Oh dear.

Next we will say it is possible that he rented out the 900 acres to the US government to hide the Roswell saucer.

I'm disappointed in you RM. I was sure you'd have a go at the "zenophobia" post. Too easy?

[Glenn]

wonder where the LT got that bit of information from

I think back fondly to the days when the LET sent us a nasty-o-gram for breeching their copyright by copying their news, when we had both received and run the same press release . For good or bad, blogging and news aggregation seem to have changed the rules on copyrighted "news".

[rebelmswar]

I'm disappointed in you RM. I was sure you'd have a go at the "zenophobia" post. Too easy?

I thought I would leave it as it wasn't spelled with an x.

[booth]

On that 5 Live Facebook page, all sorts of comments are being removed. I asked that Harsh fellow why he hadn't tried to get his money back through proper legal proceedings, he replied. Now both question and answer have been removed.

It seems any attempt to ask questions that may result in a positive response about Ali Syed are removed if they can't be answered properly.

Not impressed with 5 Live, the BBC should remain impartial. It's against their remit as a publicly funded broadcaster.

[BigUts]

The word coming out of the Syed camp is that they're going to release a statement in response to the bbc claims, my thoughts on the subject are why bother?

Surely if the takeover is going through without hitch it would be better let things take their course and not rise to the media bait?

Blackburn Rovers have never been a club that conducts its business in the media, we leave such things to Sullivan, Gold and Brady because it shows a lack of class in my opinion. Lets hope this doesn’t change if Syed does take over, because that would be a real shame.

We already have one self publicist in the ranks, we don’t want another.

Very much agreed. I like the way the club conducts itself in the press...apart from Big Sam from time to time!

[Glenn]

Make sure its once the sun has gone down

You're looking for a vampire ?

[rebelmswar]

On that 5 Live Facebook page, all sorts of comments are being removed. I asked that Harsh fellow why he hadn't tried to get his money back through proper legal proceedings, he replied. Now both question and answer have been removed.

Look at that fellows name really close.

[BigUts]

On that 5 Live Facebook page, all sorts of comments are being removed. I asked that Harsh fellow why he hadn't tried to get his money back through proper legal proceedings, he replied. Now both question and answer have been removed.

It seems any attempt to ask questions that may result in a positive response about Ali Syed are removed if they can't be answered properly.

Not impressed with 5 Live, the BBC should remain impartial. It's against their remit as a publicly funded broadcaster.

I thought all journalism was meant to be impartial if broadcast publicly?? Anyhow, we all know that is a load of bull.

Usually newspapers carry certain stories if an editor/owner has a particular political affiliation (ala The Sun!), but I am quite astonished at the BBC. Maybe it's the journalists themselves that have a particular dislike for Rovers, Blackburn or closet dingles?

To me though, having read the article a couple of times now, there are hardly any startling revelations. Anyone in business will usually tell you that you do p*ss a bit close to the wind from timt to time and it usually goes unpunished (although this is not a recommendation)!

Don't worry, it'll all turn out OK in the end. The trust and the rules laid out seem to prevent a Portsmouth situation, so lets put our trust in them for a change, instead of everyone pre-empting a cock up!

[67splitscreen]

Look at that fellows name really close.

H Shar

[Hughesy]

Ha I said it would be tin hat time!!

We're about where we should be in the shirt sponsorship value -table. Other middle table clubs like Sunderland, Stoke and Brum behind us with their rich owners.. Fulham's done well though.

So you just accept that its fair, based on clubs like Stoke??

Because they probably have 10 times as many fans as us.

So they have around 200,000 fans?? Come on we all know that isnt true...

whoever is sponsoring Spurs is seriously overpaying compared to the rest of the clubs in the league - not the other way round.

You can look at it two ways....either you accept they got lucky & just stay as you are - or you look at how they did it, and replicate it the best you can....Which is where I think the French man earns his corn for Syed???

[Henwah]

On that 5 Live Facebook page, all sorts of comments are being removed. I asked that Harsh fellow why he hadn't tried to get his money back through proper legal proceedings, he replied. Now both question and answer have been removed.

It seems any attempt to ask questions that may result in a positive response about Ali Syed are removed if they can't be answered properly.

Not impressed with 5 Live, the BBC should remain impartial. It's against their remit as a publicly funded broadcaster.

Odd that this Harsh bloke didn't think to google Ali Syed's name at any point in the 4 year period (I think that is what he said, however the comment has since been removed) when he claims to have lost track of Syed's whereabouts, and only 'found' him again in August 2010 when the takeover news began.

Syed's name is plastered all over every piece of news relating to WGA's (albeit vague) activities, I wouldn't have thought it would have proven much of an effort for someone to do a bit of googling, especially if owed £900k.

[rebelmswar]

H Shar

The whole name.

[ewoodpo]

On that 5 Live Facebook page, all sorts of comments are being removed. I asked that Harsh fellow why he hadn't tried to get his money back through proper legal proceedings, he replied. Now both question and answer have been removed.

It seems any attempt to ask questions that may result in a positive response about Ali Syed are removed if they can't be answered properly.

Not impressed with 5 Live, the BBC should remain impartial. It's against their remit as a publicly funded broadcaster.

So are you going to enlighten us with his response to your question? I've been thinking about this Harsh fellow he does have some sort of a connection with the IPL isn't Mr Shah connected to the IPL.

[67splitscreen]

Not forgetting Spuds second sponsor Investec 5m for two years.

The club is also looking for a naming rights sponsor for its proposed new stadium.

[TimmyJimmy]

I don't believe in billionnaires who say they are hapy to spend 300m and get no return on investment. As soon as he said that he lost all credibility for me.

There is no significant financial return on Rovers as a club. The only reason for a foreign buyer are as follows:

1. Money Laundering

2. Increasing international profile for political reasons. (Sheikh Mansour, Chelski, Thaksin)

3. Doing it with someone else's money as a bet on future revenues. (Utd, Liverpool)

Every foreign buyer in the premier league fits this profile except Lerner at Villa and he seems to regret his decision. I don't want an owner for Rovers under any of these circumstances.

1) Forget it, can you point to one EPL owner where you think this applies?

2) So what, if I had the cash I'd be buying the club just to have bragging rights in the pub, what's wrong with an improved profile?

3) Mr Syed will be buying nothing on leverage so how does this apply?

That leaves "There is no significant financial return ..." to address.

Well if you start with the assumption that people with money have the smarts to earn it and then consider that no investor with smarts is going to throw his/her money away then your statement is self evidently incorrect. If the investor puts in 300 million for players and somewhere near 200 million for the club purchase, building a new Riverside, developing the Academy etc., then the investment amounts to something approaching half a billion. There is no way that the club will ever be worth a fraction of that on asset breakup value alone so that tosses the asset stripping worry out of the window.

If Mr Syed walks away in 15 years and the club is worth peanuts then his investment smarts wouldn't add up to much. Either that or he was a fan and didn't care about a return. If he wants his cash back, plus 15 years worth of return on investment, then he will have had to work the resale value of the club up to a very great height PLUS the club will have to carry on having the potential to sustain the value growth or else who would he sell it to?

Whichever way you look at it Mr Syed is either a] a fan and doesn't care about the investment b] he has plans to turn the club into a raging success that would have real value on the world market c] he's walking into financial debacle with his eyes wide open which in turn begs the question - does this foolishness stack up with smarts required to get his money in the first place <and to pre-empt the "he inherited the money" challenge, well he also made 93 million in one year according to his accounts, and that's a pretty good one year return on 1 billion, at that rate he'd get his money back on Rovers in about 6 years>.

Any investor will be on the hook to leave us in a better position than s/he found us. As long as the deal is not a leveraged purchase ie the club is purchased with cash <and that's the proposal on the table>, I cannot see any possible reason for not welcoming the investment with open arms.

Messrs Shah, Syed, mystery Aussy bidder, mystery Indian conglomerate bidder et al all obviously recognise some opportunity to develop cashflows that others have missed. At a rough guess that opportunity would be in the same sentence as the words 'global', 'marketing', brand' and 'TV'.

[LeChuck]

So they have around 200,000 fans?? Come on we all know that isnt true...

Worldwide I'd say they have at least that.

Although it's pointless speculation because we have far more than 20,000 fans!

[rebelmswar]

My link

Here's yer man

IBI P LTD hmmm.

[booth]

So are you going to enlighten us with his response to your question? I've been thinking about this Harsh fellow he does have some sort of a connection with the IPL isn't Mr Shah connected to the IPL.

I can't copy and paste it as it's now been removed, but from what I remember.

According to this fellow on Facebook, he said he was owed 900,000 (currency wasn't stated) and that he'd been trying to get the money for a long time. In 2004 Mr Ali Syed disappeared off the map. Now he's reappeared he wants his money and now isn't afraid to try and get it due to the BBC's report. He's managed to get in touch with Omer Khan, his financial advisor who says he will pass his message onto Ali Syed.

So he didn't add very much to what he had said beforehand. My question was... "Why didn't you go through the correct legal proceedings to try and get your money back?" For me that question was not answered with the information above and it's not a difficult question to answer.

Then within an hour both the question and answer vanished.

The reason I'm now beginning to believe that the 5 Live Investigates team are being a bit naughty is that this guy has posted a lot more messages on their Facebook page. These have not been removed, even though they are potentially untrue and damaging.

However a legitimate question to someone alleging that Ali Syed owes 900,000 (whatever currency) has been deleted.

This breaches the BBC's remit to provide accurate and impartial news in my opinion. It's certainly removing an element of doubt to this fellows claims, which isn't right when it comes to impartiality.

So now I'm left with a feeling that I can't believe for one moment anything that 5 Live Investigates reports. Especially as a few other people's comments have been removed since last night. It seems they are only interested in one side of the story, and if that side is questioned they don't like it.

I mean are they going to investigate themselves for breaching their remit as a publicly funded broadcaster?

[tony gale's mic]

So they have around 200,000 fans?? Come on we all know that isnt true...

Really?

Fans aren't just people who turn up to games you know, shirt sponsorship reaches far more people.

They have a much bigger proportion of fans who don't attend the games than we do.

[ewoodpo]

My link

Here's yer man

IBI P LTD hmmm.

Must be one hell of a grudge this guy seems connected,just have a look at the bottom of the page I noticed this.

Company Name of hvJain.com edit

JAIN GROUP OF COMPANIES, EAST INDIA COMPANY UK. STATE TRADING CORPORATION

[Henwah]

Hmm, there are quite a few webpages linking The East India Company Ltd with this Mr. Harsh Jain chap - claims that it was registered in his name since september 2005. The main info in the pages refers to a Sanjiv Mehta, however there are comments made by Jain claiming its registered to him,

http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3625323&_p=7b49f8ad-7855-4bc9-85d5-a08554aded50

His website also references The East India Company Ltd in the ticker thing along the bottom (http://www.jaingroupofcompanies.com).

Not sure what any of this means (if anything), but it is a potentially interesting link between Syed and Jain