[Archived] Blackburn Rovers' dealings with influential agent Jerome Anderson comes under scrutiny

[Ste B]

I am not going to post or repeat daft rumours just because someone who 'knows' is spreading it. I suspect some other posters probably prefer sending round e-mails because they know posting doubtful material here would leave them open to understandable legal action.

Or indeed that the site owners didnt want it posted here to protect us.

[deftangel]

I can only presume they (Ed: The LET) found out nothing suspicious about it.

Which from their point of view in serving a lot of concerned Rovers fans should be news in itself. I'm more inclined to presume they didn't bother.

ParsonBlue talked well about the passion and emotion of a fan in our current position. Under such circumstances we all look for the causes and seek to apportion blame. Having worked out who to blame and believing that we cannot effect any change we do what I believe the psychologists call 'anger displacement' ie we look to take it out on the wife/cat/Nicko. I believe that the comments you make are simply intended to redress the balance in the 'debate' and that you have zero hidden agenda.

What I've been trying to say in a clumsy fashion put much more succinctly. Well played.

It would help to take the heat out of all these exchanges if you would go public on some of the issues that you view negatively (as you have done with the Myles comment above) and that what would balance out the vast majority of the times when you declare things as non issues.

I'm assuming by publicly, you mean in his day job. Bear in mind for that to happen his clients need to buy a story that probably has very little interest outside the domain of Blackburn fans and put it either online and/or amidst the limited space of a newspaper. That's before you even get to the question of whether that's the right place for him to editorialise. I think the explicit statement on this forum should be good enough in that regard for everyone here. It would just help if statements are read for what they are, not for what passionate emotional fans want them to be in the absence of anyone from Venky's to shout at.

Forget this mortgage stuff. These people have dough. They want to spend it to make themselves look good outside their own country. Do you think they plan to trash the place and make their name mud here and back home?

Common sense tells you that is not - and could never have been - their plan.

Their plan, as far as my reading it goes does not strike me as an intrinsically bad one. The problem is, their current implementation of it has gone more than a bit pete tong and they've got as much to do with that as any bad luck with injuries, referees and the like.

[greco]

I broke the tales. Warts and all. Other people followed them up.

You want stories to be malicious?

Getting a sore head now.

where did i say, i wnat malicious stories. I pointed out, that your pieces were quite gentle, when compared to other journos.

Personally I don't think you are a Venkeys plant - the accusation is laughable.

perhaps not a plant per se, but i gotta admit, that sometimes the saying, you sratch my back and ill scratch yours, is something i have considered in his case. I cant say its fact, but sometimes, i just get that feeling.

Whats with the attacks on Nicko? I cant understand it all, except for some people on here are angry about the club and seem to be taking it out on someone that is and has provided some great insider knowledge and tips on up and coming bids, club news etc!

A lot of the attackers need to grow up and mods need to take a tougher stance on this. Its hard enough being a rovers fan at the moment than having to read the amount of trash spouted on here!

when i went to business school, the first thing we were taught, was to evaluate the source of information. The only way to do so, was and still is to ask a lot of questions, then read some more. Ask follow up questions, get a bunch of other opinions and wash rinse repeat. Perhaps thats an attack in your world, in mine its logical and infact. i would consider it naive, if one didnt do it.

[nicko]

where did i say, i wnat malicious stories. I pointed out, that your pieces were quite gentle, when compared to other journos.

The takeover story was as straight as it could be...even with the chicken gags.

The Anderson link was matter-of-fact.

The Kentaro link tried to explain how it would work and what the point was.

The Maradona story put the boot in...check...

And the Kean for manager tale was a simple case of keeping your ears open and asking a few questions.

Lots of people want to slant a story maliciously if they miss it first time round. Your club has always come in for easy stick as it has been regarded as a soft target by the media for many years. Long before Venky's.

[Exiled in Toronto]

This mortgage business is a good example of where the passion and worries of BRFC fans lead to one interpretation and an outside view lead to another. What seems to be worrying most is Venky's motive in taking it out, which is impossible to accurately discern at this point. What Nicko seems to have done is what I would expect an emotionally uninvolved journo to do: get some context. Which he has done in checking out what other clubs do. Hence why this is not, to the outside world, a story - yet. They appear to have done somthing that most other clubs do. Why? We have no idea at this stage. Why do other clubs do it? A variety of reasons, some probably shady. Why didn't the Trust do it? No idea either, but it's worth bearing in mind that the Trust were the anomoly in a set-up to run a club. This will only be a story if Venky's do something with the money other than spend it on extra players and increased wages ahead of receiving the Sky cheque.

[rebelmswar]

What happens if we don't get the Sky cheque? That is what worries me.

[broadsword]

What happens if we don't get the Sky cheque? That is what worries me.

It's a bit like Northern rock, keeping a business afloat by spending money ahead of actually getting it in. Or a little like a Ponzi scheme.

It could just be a convenience with not wanting to pump money in from India which would take a hit on exchange rates, fees etc, and the money is there if really needed to avoid defaulting on a loan.

Or we could entertain the doomsday scenario that in fact they've realised just what a waste of money it all is, and don't want to waste any of their cash on it.

I guess we will find out in teh fullness of time.

[roversmum]

Not terribly different from a credit card in a way ... The cash is there if you need it; the only question is are you capable of using it sensibly?

[nicko]

What happens if we don't get the Sky cheque? That is what worries me.

Are you joking with that one?

Every club in the Premier League relies on the Sky cheque...Sky rely on the Sky cheque keeping them all afloat or their world crashes. So let's not get too silly here.

As for the mortgage. You can set up a facility and not use it. Who says it has been dipped into yet and to what degree?

I have spoken to some of the agents involved in the re-negotiating of deals and everything was done in a correct manner, including the payments.

You may recall Big Sam was paid off in full and on time.

There has been expense, but nothing scary.

If you went down it would be a financial pain. But there are ten or more clubs living with that concern right now.

[Bobby G]

We wouldnt have been talking about going down on December 10th. It was literally about top 10 football if not higher.

[rebelmswar]

Are you joking with that one?

Every club in the Premier League relies on the Sky cheque...Sky rely on the Sky cheque keeping them all afloat or their world crashes. So let's not get too silly here.

As for the mortgage. You can set up a facility and not use it. Who says it has been dipped into yet and to what degree?

I have spoken to some of the agents involved in the re-negotiating of deals and everything was done in a correct manner, including the payments.

You may recall Big Sam was paid off in full and on time.

There has been expense, but nothing scary.

If you went down it would be a financial pain. But there are ten or more clubs living with that concern right now.

Not what I meant.

[Manchester Blue]

One final point, wouldn't you agree that all this would go away if only Venkys would learn how to communicate with the fans.

Not quoting the whole post just to save space really but i think it's a spot on post you've made. I think too many people have become obsessed with thinking Nicko has an agenda when he has states his case and his reasons. You don't have to agree with him but why people insist on telling him to do one or accusing him of allsorts is beyond me.

[Fylde Coast Fan]

Some people on here are a bit hysterical when it comes to Venkys. Foreign ownership comes with a long list of horror stories and they've not done themselves any favours so far.

There's a growing list of charmers in the media who are going on my black list. Custis at the Sun, Lawton & Ladyman at the Mail are top so far.

[philipl]

timmyjimmy has put it extremely well.

However, there are still some problems that cause huge unease:

- the Trust never took out a mortgage against the club's Sky income. To that extent the finances are in a worse state under Venky's than under the Trust.

- we have paid an enormous figure to an agent who has great notoriety and not delivered anything anyone could at the moment say has benefited the club.

- the club's management has been totally changed and from a fan's standpoint the club's league position, standing in the community and respect within football have all plummeted since the changes were made.

Clearly communication has been and remains atrocious. Paul Agnew is failing every bit as badly as Perfect Relations in India failed. When we do hear something it is the form of some garbled we are/are not about to try to sign this month's marquee flavour or absolute garbage about Venky's never using debt or third party finance when one minute spent looking at their published balance sheet shows that to be untrue.

But the situation is worse than that. There have been legal letters and verbal threats of legal action- one within the past week- which has driven communication between fans underground. It has resulted in fans distrusting each other on the MB because some of us who are in some of the know can only hint at what is going on.

We are now six months since Venky's first appeared as suitors an I guess there must be at least 10% of the readership of this MB who will by now have spoken personally or know someone they trust who has spoken to one of the many central actors in the events surrounding the takeover and Venky's custodianship since buying the club.

People bump into people all the time- one poster on here who nobody would ever accuse of spinning has PM'ed me with an evidenced and wholly believable story which reflects appallingly on what the Venky Brothers were doing with a certain agent four to five months ago. I very much doubt that will surface on the MB but it produces another fan who might have accepted nicko's posts as gospel before and now probably reads them as spin.

This roller coaster is not over. There is both some truly surprising fantastic news and some pretty grotty bad news lurking in the shadows and please no PMs- I am not saying anything but it has nothing to do with the title of this thread.

[bob fleming]

So the seriously wealthy billionaire Venkys take out a mortgage but we don't question it. "Other clubs do it". "It's the norm" but then maybe they're not owned by supposed seriously wealthy billionaires who have "put their money in". What better way of getting it back?

They get rid of the well respected Chairman who would have offered good advice and provide the perfect outlet to the fans and press but no they chose to listen to Jerome Anderson.

We still have no Chairman.

We also take on Jerome Anderson's son as a footballer after his 3 minute cameo playing for Aberdeen over the last six months.

The wage bill has surely gone through the roof.

We've allegedly extended the contracts of a number of Pros without relegation clauses in (I have no idea if this is true, but suspect it is otherwise it would have been removed when first posted). Whose idea was this?!?

The experienced Manager was replaced by a novice who had to fly to India to earn a 2.5 year contract on the back of not very much at all other than being "a thinker".

We employ another Anderson client as Asst Manager, a man the manager had never met.

We sign a player for £3.5m who has yet to kick a ball for the first team.

We're bottom of the form league.

Ronaldinho, Beckham, Kaka and some other worldies have turned us down for some reason or other but it did get the new owners' brand name in the press.

None of the new owners are anywhere to be seen at the first home game in around a month.

What have I missed? There must be some other highlights? I have to disagree strongly that it's all an over reaction to be concerned about the decision making and events that have taken place to this point. Actually, "concerned" is the wrong word, "seething" is probably the word I'm after.

Having said all that, wait for it, we will have to wait and see won't we? But my God. It doesn't look good. In fact it looks bloody awful. How are we supposed to have any faith at all in these people?

Do burnley have a supporters branch in Pune?

Junior is a plus point, I'll give you that.

[John]

Good and accurate summary Bob, happy days.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

This roller coaster is not over. There is both some truly surprising fantastic news and some pretty grotty bad news lurking in the shadows and please no PMs- I am not saying anything but it has nothing to do with the title of this thread.

I dont know whether to laugh or cry at that news philip!

[Mattyblue]

'Pretty grotty news' is par for the course these days so I can roll with that. But FANTASTIC news also! ooooooo phill you tease

[roversmum]

So, does the good news balance the bad news?

[RovertheHill]

The post from Bob sums up everything that is in the public domain so far and the post from Philip sheds some limited light on what is going on behind the scenes. I'm not a lawyer so correct me if I'm wrong but generally aren't threats of legal action made when something is said/published that is either not true or cannot be substantiated? Or can you be sued these days for telling the truth simply because someone else has more money?

That aside, there has been a massive clash of cultures here - an Indian management culture and the English football culture. To me it was pretty obvious this was going to happen. I'm just hoping beyond hope that 1) we stay up, 2) we reconsider our management for next season and 3) most of the doom-mongering is just that and proves false. I've got everything crossed.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

One thing is certain - it ain't boring.

The one thing that Nicko has said - which I have always agreed with. They didn't buy Rovers for it to fail. Though laughed at - some of their ideas of raising the profile of the club do have some merit. Unfortunately most other things have been, at best, ill informed or thought out. Having said all that - you don't make a fortune without some business knowledge. As they are finding - running a football club is like nothing they have ever done (which would be the same for all of us). We can only hope that we don't get relegated and they learn from the numerous lessons that can be learnt from this season.

Season ticket prices (if we stay up) will provide a good litmus test as to whether they truly understand the club, its supporters and the Blackburn area in general. Any significant hike in what is a generally depressed area will be a disaster for attendances. If they then pay off the mortgage - and splash a little cash in the transfer window - things will start to look a little brighter.

[imy9]

I don't really care at the moment what is happening in the shadows, all I care about is remaining in the pl then we can look at Kean, communication and anything else.

Phillip- under the trust- whom we should trust remember, they hired Anderson to flog the club and paid him for it, that's how desperate they were to sell, so how could we be safer in their hands? They even allegedly kept the Benni money when it should have been invested into the club, regardless of the mistakes that they have made Venkys will want Blackburn Rovers to be successful, if you know Indian culture then you will know why.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

WHY IN GODS NAME DONT THEY JUST SIMPLY TALK TO US,THE FANS...THE REAL LIFEBLOOD OF THIS CLUB?!!!

So much misunderstanding could have been avoided,so much good will and knowledge could have been gained.

[imy9]

The world cup is on

[John]

When they talk there is contradictions - they have also not kept their word on the management.