[Archived] Venky's - Do You Support Them As Owners Of The Club?

[ABBEY]

Google ...venkys judge us in a year... Don't know how to do links on I phone.

[mark1875]

Google ...venkys judge us in a year... Don't know how to do links on I phone.

there ya go pal

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/8992215.Venky_s__Give_us_one_year/?action=complain&cid=9320282

[Andy]

Just read the most recent Rao comment on Kean, backing him and saying 'he is one with talent and we fully back him' and I've lost any bit of patience that was remaining with these idiots.

They will see the public feeling against Kean get worse and worse until it really is untenable.

The problem is, we'll be all but relegated by then...

[Neil Weaver]

Good post Veevs. Maybe I'm paranoid............ but with the level of mismanagement they've shown, the only conclusion I can reach is that it's wilful. If they were purely naive surely they'd have got some things right, but I'm struggling to think of any occasion where, when presented with two options, they've chosen the right one. It's almost as though they take pleasure in inflicting pain on the club and its supporters. I'd better stop there.

All in my (paranoid) opinion of course.

[roverandout]

changed my vote to no having read the article on the 'talented' kean, bunch of muppets, they couldnt run a bath never mind a football club.

[mark1875]

changed my vote to no having read the article on the 'talented' kean, bunch of muppets, they couldnt run a bath never mind a football club.

just changed mine too, cannot believe how deluded and stupid they are being over this matter. playing with the future of the club. They have failed as owners, they have failed us all.

so angry tonight

[roverwhelmed]

I'd love to be able to say I support them, but I just can't. They might have good intentions but, frankly, they are just not getting it. Our football club is slipping through our fingers and I am just praying for a miracle I fear will never come.

[booth]

Well, either way, I'm not too perturbed by Venky's spending (or lack thereof).

I'd much prefer the prudent approach than doing a Pompey or Leeds and spending they don't have for short-term success.

Even when John Williams said we were no longer a "selling club" it was essentially b*llocks, because we still had to sell our best players to have any chance of a transfer kitty (as the Trust weren't willing to dig into their own pockets). I don't mind Venky's taking a similar approach, provided they provide auxiliary funds where needed, i.e. the kind of backing Hughes failed to receive whilst unearthing gem after gem. That money could go a looooong way in the right hands, which is why Venky's underlying problem comes back to their choice of manager.

I very much agree there, but that kind of thinking comes with a caveat. You need a good manager and excellent backroom staff to run a premier league club on a shoestring.

We had that with Mark Hughes, and although some of you may balk at the thought of it we also had it with Sam Allardyce. Not only do we have a novice manager but with a set of novices running the club we're screwed.

If Venky's had have kept JW and co and appointed a solid management team, we could have operated like Stoke for example but now I fear that the damage may be irreversible.

[snatchymcsnatch]

Agree booth, although I think your being very kind calling them novices. They are clowns that have no place running this club. We the fans have spoken and have already turned on Kean - only a matter of time before as a collective we turn on the REAL culprits in this sorry charade.

Get the hell out of our club Venkys.

[jehrover]

There remains this widespread belief amongst people in English football that there is 'no money to be made' in football. Well I say that is complete and utter rubbish. There is a hell of a lot of money to be taken out of football if you do things the right way.

Here's a little idea as to what I'm getting at, lets just remember this is all hypothetical and i'm not suggesting this has gone on in English football, merely that it could potentially.

Just suppose I was to go to a major bank or investment company tomorrow and ask to borrow roughly £40 million, for the purpose of acquiring a Premier League football club from a group of people who are desperate to sell it as soon as possible. (Now you need to ignore the fact that no bank would ever lend me or you that kind of money, but if someone with considerably more security and assets/wealth went asking, who knows?)

I would require £20 million cash with which to buy the 99% shareholding in the club. A further £20 million of debt on the club could be shuffled around into different companies and need not be paid off in the near future.

So I am handed a £20 million loan by the bank, and successfully buy the club, pointing to my other businesses as my means of funding it. I now possess a club in the richest league in the world, which will receive £50-60 million a year in TV money for as long as it stays in the top flight, and will receive parachute payments for 4 seasons even if relegated. The playing squad ALONE is worth in excess of £60 million, that's before you get on to looking at the value of the stadium and training ground, which I imagine would stretch again into tens of millions. So for an outlay of £23 million you get a club with assets that could be worth 5,6,7 times that straight away.

Now as soon as the bank come calling for their money I sell off a player or two, quickly raising £20 million which pays off the debt and leaves me in complete control of a club which really has cost me nothing. Lets remember this has already happened at the biggest and richest club in the Premier League.

The club, which now has technically no debt, can begin borrowing from Barclays Bank, using its vast swathes of land at the stadium and training ground and future TV money as security on the loan. I can reduce running costs dramatically by forcing out several big earners on the board and replacing them with much cheaper alternatives. A similar practice can be undertaken in the coaching staff and playing squad. However, after facing opposition to my scheme from people at the club, I realise I need to bring somebody in who will do exactly as I say, and so I give the job to a somebody who will agree to everything I say.

The clubs supporters might start to become concerned at what I am up to, so I sanction the renaming of one of the stadium's stands after a club legend and forfeit a few hundred thousand pounds by giving the shirt sponsorship to charity. Neither of these moves require me to spend money, yet I do get decent publicity out of it.

So in this hypothetical scenario, even though I bought the club using borrowed cash, I now personally owe nothing, and control £100 million plus of assets with which I can do as I please. I have also become a celebrity overnight, and every sports paper and tv programme features me - the owner of a Premier League club. I can use this publicity to spread the name of my company across the world for free. Bingo.

Worst case scenario - my cost reduction exercise fails and the club goes down. Oh well, there's always the parachute money to soften the blow.

So you see, how can there be 'no money' to be made out of a football club?

[Steve Moss]

I've changed my vote. I'm struggling; can anyone help me with an explanation that does not result in the Raos being either corrupt or cretins?

[Paul]

I'd hope I can. I don't believe these people are either corrupt or cretins but think they very naievly purchased the club having been advised and believing it would be relatively simple to "profit" from the ownership.

IMV the Raos have discovered three things which are both new and alien to their own way of life. Firstly they seem unable to appreciate the need to operate in a manner acceptable to the local culture. Second it would appear the concept of questioning owners or managers views and actions is quite alien to them and lastly English football culture will probably gave come as a complete shock once they became more closely involved.

This doesn't mean I have one jot of sympathy for the Raos - I wish they would sell up and leave - but it what I believe has happened.

If I'm right I feel the current situation is relatively simple. The Raos find themselves in a deep, deep hole. They've probably lost a lot of money and been seriously mislead by a number of people. Having discovered this they now find they are almost friendless and have nowhere to turn to for help and advice.

As a consequence our owners don't know what to do and so are doing nothing. Just how I see it, that's all

[Steve Moss]

As a consequence our owners don't know what to do and so are doing nothing. Just how I see it, that's all

I was fond of this excuse 6 months ago. They've had plenty of time to figure out the lay of the land. They haven't.

[Paul]

I dont think it's an excuse and I most certainly do not support them. I just think it may be the reality. They don't know how to react, every action to date has failed and the Raos are left wondering which way to turn.

[dave birch]

I'd hope I can. I don't believe these people are either corrupt or cretins but think they very naievly purchased the club having been advised and believing it would be relatively simple to "profit" from the ownership.

Paul, here's a simple way to profit from ownership:

Trouser some of the transfer fees on sales. Say 10 mill

Trouser the Sky payment. That's about 40 mill isn't it?

Cut the club adrift on relegation, sell for 10 mill.

That's pushing 60 mill for one years ownership.

What did they pay? 40 mill?

I was for giving them time to settle, that time's up.

A big no vote from me.

[waggy]

i nearly spewed up this morning when i heard venkys were backing keano,they are clueless

[alexanders]

After reading this bullshit my answer is now a big NO !!!!!!!

[Paul]

Paul, here's a simple way to profit from ownership:

Save understand exactly what you are saying but I put "profit" in parenthesis because I meant it in "how can we profit from this situation" way not necessarily in £££££

[gumboots]

I hadn't made my mind up or even really thought about it until i saw the silly grinning faces on SSN yesterday lunchtime - all smiles as though they were not in any way responsible for what is going on at Rovers. Then to cap it all I read that they still think Kean is a brilliant manager and that the mail against him is all being generated by a tiny number of fans. I don't know who is spouting that rubbish to them, but how would anyone but a computer genius be able to send emails from so many different addresses, or persuade people to do it? I am heartily sick of it. Nobody is telling me to write anything or to vote in a particular way - they, Venky's have simply condemned themselves out of their own mouths with their own stupid comments and it is reaching a point where no right minded person could support them.

[Athlete]

I hadn't made my mind up or even really thought about it until i saw the silly grinning faces on SSN yesterday lunchtime - all smiles as though they were not in any way responsible for what is going on at Rovers. Then to cap it all I read that they still think Kean is a brilliant manager and that the mail against him is all being generated by a tiny number of fans. I don't know who is spouting that rubbish to them, but how would anyone but a computer genius be able to send emails from so many different addresses, or persuade people to do it? I am heartily sick of it. Nobody is telling me to write anything or to vote in a particular way - they, Venky's have simply condemned themselves out of their own mouths with their own stupid comments and it is reaching a point where no right minded person could support them.

go on the LT's website this morning its enougth to make people vomit......

[47er]

Looks to me awfully like they are not going to sack Weasel Kean or attempt to sell the club------ so we go down.

Anyone got a Plan B?

[tony gale's mic]

I'd hope I can. I don't believe these people are either corrupt or cretins but think they very naievly purchased the club having been advised and believing it would be relatively simple to "profit" from the ownership.

IMV the Raos have discovered three things which are both new and alien to their own way of life. Firstly they seem unable to appreciate the need to operate in a manner acceptable to the local culture. Second it would appear the concept of questioning owners or managers views and actions is quite alien to them and lastly English football culture will probably gave come as a complete shock once they became more closely involved.

This doesn't mean I have one jot of sympathy for the Raos - I wish they would sell up and leave - but it what I believe has happened.

If I'm right I feel the current situation is relatively simple. The Raos find themselves in a deep, deep hole. They've probably lost a lot of money and been seriously mislead by a number of people. Having discovered this they now find they are almost friendless and have nowhere to turn to for help and advice.

As a consequence our owners don't know what to do and so are doing nothing. Just how I see it, that's all

Your explanation puts them firmly in the "cretins" camp.

[Mike Graham]

no no no no no: they are killing my passion for Rovers. 45 years of following my team, ST holder for 30 of these and we have the worst, inept owners ever, they are killing my team.

[jannerman]

Venkys have made a massive loss:

<snip>

Sam sacked 3 million loss

<snip>

Diouf pay off 2 million loss

Are those two figures accurate?

Getting rid of Sam for nothing might have been tolerable, but paying 3m to get shut?

And surely rather than actually pay Diouf off we could have loaned him out? Would his wages have cost more than that for the remainder of his contract?

Utterly barmy decisions, further reinforeces the thought that they are kids running the parents business.

Used to work in a company that was owned by a single man, and as he got older, more confused, he'd make more and more odd decisions, we used to be in constant fear that one day he'd walk in and demand to paint the entire office purple. "Bernies little fire truck" People used to call it.

Thing was, there were professionals hired and in jobs in sufficient areas to keep the business ticking over, then the COO got booted, but a few years later the company was still solvent. (I ran from the building screaming never to return as quickly as I could)

It strikes me that with Rovers there has been such a new broom job done on the senior team things would take a while to settle, but sadly money and expirence don't always go hand in hand.

Advisors/agents - seem to be be the root of a lot of problems, I guess because most of them are in it for themselves, and not fighting with the passion that fans have?

I've not voted yet, can't decide, the owners need to get smart - fast, and need one or two expirenced hands, but also honest souls, is that even possible any more?

You have to give them credit for getting the away from the underfunding state the trust had it in, but there's been a series of bad decisions thereafter - did they even bother listening to John Williams for advice at all?

[Mattyblue]

One of two things is going on:

1) Steve Kean has taken advantage of a situation that must be unique at a PL club. There is a total power vacuum at Ewood Park, there is no middle management between owners and team manager, therefore Kean has taken on that role himself.

In his regular meetings, as you would expect he can spin the discussion his way, ‘it’s only a minority’, ‘we have increased squad value’, ‘look at what we did with Phil Jones’ , ‘the players love playing for me’, ‘the fans love the way we play’ and so on.

As the owners have little UK presence it is not exactly difficult for Kean to pull this off.

2) Kean has something over the owners that make his sacking a great risk, dodgy dealings? Anderson links? Who knows…?

Either way, it is looking grim to say the least.