[Archived] Rovers Might Have Been Sold?

[Hughesy]

I dont think Shah is only looking at the Indian population, think he sees the large proportion of ethnic minorities as the market to drive, which is far greater than 35k in Lancs. Whether the 2001 census said it or not.

A link to the IPL, and possibly an Indian team would help our profile over their, aswell as possibly interest some Cricket fans this end too.

Seems to have gone very quiet on this one again anyway....

[Guest Kamy100]

I dont think Shah is only looking at the Indian population, think he sees the large proportion of ethnic minorities as the market to drive, which is far greater than 35k in Lancs. Whether the 2001 census said it or not.

A link to the IPL, and possibly an Indian team would help our profile over their, aswell as possibly interest some Cricket fans this end too.

Seems to have gone very quiet on this one again anyway....

Or more likely that Rothchilds/Trustees have told him to keep his trap shut, they will not have been pleased that this leaked out the way it did at the end of last week.

[Veevs]

Or more likely that Rothchilds/Trustees have told him to keep his trap shut, they will not have been pleased that this leaked out the way it did at the end of last week.

I dont thing the trustees would mind ramping up the sale atm.. they seem determined to sell and a bidding war would suit them atm.

[RoversSG]

certainly all the passion is with cricket...

Just sounds a little flaky this. The Indian population in the whole of Lancashire is 35,000 according to the ONS, which means they could all fit in Mumbai Cricket Club with room for the Bangladeshis as well. Hardly a mass market to tap for the Rovers. And even converting existing Calcutta fans to supporters of a faraway town in the middle of a country that previously beasted them as a colony sounds a tad ambitious.

I disagree with you on that. Remember Force India in F1? By all accounts, they're doing terribly on the track but they do receive a lot of coverage in India and that's for a sport even less popular than football.

The entry cost for F1 is also much higher than buying Rovers so I'm sure the Force India owners must be very confident of generating sufficient income from India to make a profit on their investment.

[vintageadidas]

Are the Trustees selling to line their own pockets or can they actually not afford to run the club?

[Veevs]

I disagree with you on that. Remember Force India in F1? By all accounts, they're doing terribly on the track but they do receive a lot of coverage in India and that's for a sport even less popular than football.

The entry cost for F1 is also much higher than buying Rovers so I'm sure the Force India owners must be very confident of generating sufficient income from India to make a profit on their investment.

Heard the same.. take the cricket, yes its their favourite sport.. but given the UKs population of 62m people they had double the uk population in their first season watching the sport.. add that to the overall population of india 1.15b and thats one hell of a potential audiance, bound to be a few who like football out there.

Just to reiterate..

England 62 million potential fans.. India 1.15 billion potential fans.

[cletus]

Because it's not that interesting?

I don't think the takeover of little old Blackburn Rovers has much interest when the World Cup is on.

Do you suspect phaal play? That perhaps the interest party is doing this as a PR stunt to curry favour back home? Or if they did take over, they'd change our name to Blackbhuna Rovers. They'd have to be completely madras to do that, it would cause so much argy bhaji. Just so long as there's no beastiality involved, as I wouldn't want them to bang lhasi on the pitch at half time.

Blackburn Rajas perhaps?? We wouldn`t have to change any of the songs much either

[Bazzanotsogreat]

Are the Trustees selling to line their own pockets or can they actually not afford to run the club?

The Walkers are worth £600 million- draw your own conclusion

[bellamy11]

The Walkers are worth £600 million- draw your own conclusion

It certainly isn't that they can't afford it, they just don't want to.

Imagine your dad had a mistress with a heroin habit, which he kept her supplied in because he loved her and ended up pandering to her every whim, but who one day he wanted to see clean.

He then dies, leaving you all his money, and tells you to look after her. Do you keep her in smack forever?

[Balwer]

Just to reiterate..

England 62 million potential fans.. India 1.15 billion potential fans.

England =/ United Kingdom

[broadsword]

It certainly isn't that they can't afford it, they just don't want to.

Imagine your dad had a mistress with a heroin habit, which he kept her supplied in because he loved her and ended up pandering to her every whim, but who one day he wanted to see clean.

He then dies, leaving you all his money, and tells you to look after her. Do you keep her in smack forever?

Yeah, of course I would. Stop asking daft questions, tut!

[ABBEY]

Who has smack adduction?

[Majiball]

It certainly isn't that they can't afford it, they just don't want to.

Imagine your dad had a mistress with a heroin habit, which he kept her supplied in because he loved her and ended up pandering to her every whim, but who one day he wanted to see clean.

He then dies, leaving you all his money, and tells you to look after her. Do you keep her in smack forever?

I'm truly lost for words.

[Ozz]

Makes a change.

[Majiball]

Whatever makes you happy.

[Herbie6590]

One theory which I don't think I've seen discussed - though I might be wrong - is that the club might be sold minus its key assets (in bricks & mortar if you will) i.e. Ewood & Brockhall. This would provide some protection if the owners of the freehold of Ewood / Brockhall were to remain favourably disposed to the club & would prevent a new owner from asset stripping.....would the Trust fit that bill ?

The main downside would be the rent burden ....and whether the owners of Ewood / Brockhall (i.e. the Trust in all likelihood) would be prepared not to bleed the club dry....?

There are pros & cons but my biggest concern is to ensure new owners don't liquidate our major assets and do a runner - in reality all that would remain in "the club" under this model would be the playing staff....which of course could be liquidated but would leave the owners with nothing left to sell to achieve future returns. If a potential owner did want to milk the brand in India - selling all our players would be an odd way to achieve that.

[47er]

It certainly isn't that they can't afford it, they just don't want to.

Imagine your dad had a mistress with a heroin habit, which he kept her supplied in because he loved her and ended up pandering to her every whim, but who one day he wanted to see clean.

He then dies, leaving you all his money, and tells you to look after her. Do you keep her in smack forever?

How about"if your father died and left you several hundred million so that you lived in luxury for the rest of your life, would you spare a few million a year to keep the hobby dearest to his heart going? Especially since members of your family held positions in the club?"

[BPF]

**23rd August 2010**

***Logs into this topic to see no further news regarding takeovers and that the topic has once again decended into racial debate in the desperate attempt to keep the subject alive.***

[braddock]

How about"if your father died and left you several hundred million so that you lived in luxury for the rest of your life, would you spare a few million a year to keep the hobby dearest to his heart going? Especially since members of your family held positions in the club?"

how about nobody cares. they are actively looking to sell the club and that is all that matters. metaphors, similes and hypothesis are useless at this stage. jack walker died and those who now run the business don't seem to have an interest in running the club in the future. i'm just grateful they are willing to keep going until a reasonable buyer comes along who won't ruin the club (or at least so far they have). it's business. i don't look down on the family for not pumping money into the club, it is completely up to them, it is their money now as (i'm guessing) it was left to them in the will. if i left my children money i would let them do what they wish with it or i would not give them it at all.

[thenodrog]

how about nobody cares. they are actively looking to sell the club and that is all that matters. metaphors, similes and hypothesis are useless at this stage. jack walker died and those who now run the business don't seem to have an interest in running the club in the future. i'm just grateful they are willing to keep going until a reasonable buyer comes along who won't ruin the club (or at least so far they have). it's business. i don't look down on the family for not pumping money into the club, it is completely up to them, it is their money now as (i'm guessing) it was left to them in the will. if i left my children money i would let them do what they wish with it or i would not give them it at all.

We are not alone thats for sure. Ashley sunk a Kings ransom into Newcastle. They blew the lot and he tried in vain to sell. Since promotion he's obviously learnt the lesson that Alan Sugar identified in his 'prune juice' theory and declared the purse strings well and truly shut.

What Ashley now knows to his cost is that the opportunity to make money out of football is far outweighed by the potential to lose heavily.

Basically it's a bad business to be in. The debts of the biggest clubs in the land are testament to the foolhardiness of getting on the Premier hamster wheel. Love em or hate em Burnley have shown the only way to make serious money out of football. I'm sure Blackpool will do likewise. It's perceived as being not fair on the fans of course but that is a tiny consideration in the greater scheme of things.

[47er]

how about nobody cares. they are actively looking to sell the club and that is all that matters. metaphors, similes and hypothesis are useless at this stage. jack walker died and those who now run the business don't seem to have an interest in running the club in the future. i'm just grateful they are willing to keep going until a reasonable buyer comes along who won't ruin the club (or at least so far they have). it's business. i don't look down on the family for not pumping money into the club, it is completely up to them, it is their money now as (i'm guessing) it was left to them in the will. if i left my children money i would let them do what they wish with it or i would not give them it at all.

You obviously don't get the difference between a legal imperative and a moral one. Everyone knows its "up to them", I'm just giving my opinion on what they decided.

[The Rover of Finland]

I´ve been away for 2 weeks. It would be nice to know what´s going on with this case. Wouldn´t like to read all this pages.

[philipl]

The fact it is not at all obvious what is happening from perusing the three posts on this page before your's should give you a very big clue as to where we are (or are not) Mr Rover...

We seem to have a garrulous/ suddenly quiet Indian who may or may not have a friend with a violent criminal record and is represented (or not) by a very young British agent whose speciality is spiriting expensive Brazilians away from Man City perhaps competing against a mysterious pal of Mr Thaksin; the rest is guesswork.

[Brfcrule1]

Just a couple of points that need making:

1. One of the consortium was once recommended in business by the earlier U.S. President Bill Clinton. So the early Bill Clinton saw something in one of the consortium that suggested he was good in business.

2. Just because there is little known about the actual Bloke fronting the consortium Mr Shah does not mean he is shady. The fact he has got the backing of one of the top men in the IPL suggests between the members of the consortium money is there & a lot.

3. We can't make any judgements on the bid, how much money might be available for transfers until it comes out who his backers are. Then we can judge and have an opinion. I trust Rothschild to do the necessary background checks on the consortium.

4. We do however need a takeover at some point because when you get to a point when you only have 2.5M to spend on a striker it does become desperate. Although Sam has said he would rather have experience over a relatively unknown player for that money we will never find an experienced player who will score regularly. They are in the next bracket up and given the fact we are struggling to tie up deals for Beattie/Tuncay suggests we need a takeover more than ever. Looking at the overall picture year by year it is becoming more difficult to keep picking up bargains, it seems to be drying up very quickly.

[philipl]

Just a couple of points that need making:

1. One of the consortium was once recommended in business by the earlier U.S. President Bill Clinton. So the early Bill Clinton saw something in one of the consortium that suggested he was good in business.

2. Just because there is little known about the actual Bloke fronting the consortium Mr Shah does not mean he is shady. The fact he has got the backing of one of the top men in the IPL suggests between the members of the consortium money is there & a lot.

3. We can't make any judgements on the bid, how much money might be available for transfers until it comes out who his backers are. Then we can judge and have an opinion. I trust Rothschild to do the necessary background checks on the consortium.

4. We do however need a takeover at some point because when you get to a point when you only have 2.5M to spend on a striker it does become desperate. Although Sam has said he would rather have experience over a relatively unknown player for that money we will never find an experienced player who will score regularly. They are in the next bracket up and given the fact we are struggling to tie up deals for Beattie/Tuncay suggests we need a takeover more than ever. Looking at the overall picture year by year it is becoming more difficult to keep picking up bargains, it seems to be drying up very quickly.

Like the lay out but answering the questions:

1) Bill Clinton and dodgy endorsements are part of the territory

2) Do we know for sure he has this backing?

3) Yes, the Rothschilds will be in the dustbins of Mumbai and Bangkok and wherever else they need to be- if these are serious bids.

4) The market has dried up full stop right now- irrespective of budgets. At the end of the day, there are probably only 500 footballers in the World in squads better remunerated than Blackburn Rovers so let's wait and see what happens.