[Archived] QATAR group bid for Rovers

[windymiller7]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2627799.ece

More problems for Mrs Desai

No change there then, she's been polluting our club for 12 months!

[martypellowe]

No change there then, she's been polluting our club for 12 months!

I think it's relevant in so far as IF it's found that all non exec directors can be held responsible under international law that any wrong doing at Rovers would hold the whole family liable. Not good news for her and may make her feel even stronger about selling the club.

[Puffsan]

Ok people, we need to bite our teeths together and keep fighting on. Remember the deals is not off until the qataris actually buy another club. And also remember no matter if the qataris buy us or not, we still want VENKYS OUT! Seriously new buyers will come. Maybe in 2 months, maybe in 2 years, rovers will not die with venkys!!!

[gumboots]

I think it's relevant in so far as IF it's found that all non exec directors can be held responsible under international law that any wrong doing at Rovers would hold the whole family liable. Not good news for her and may make her feel even stronger about selling the club.

Problem would appear to be there is no longer anyone to sell it to, if reports from those who seem to be ITK on here are to be believed. I just wish we'd all known sooner that there was even the slightest possibility of our being taken over if we could make life hard enough for the Raos. Some might have got going quicker and we could be looking forward to new owners. Now I understand that there may be very good reasons why we couldn't be told sooner, but there's no harm in wishing.

[martypellowe]

Problem would appear to be there is no longer anyone to sell it to, if reports from those who seem to be ITK on here are to be believed. I just wish we'd all known sooner that there was even the slightest possibility of our being taken over if we could make life hard enough for the Raos. Some might have got going quicker and we could be looking forward to new owners. Now I understand that there may be very good reasons why we couldn't be told sooner, but there's no harm in wishing.

True, but a lot of rumours go way back to the beginning. In hindsight it would have been much better for the club if the deal never happened and JA hadn't got his grubby fingers in our pie.

There may end up being another buyer. There's been a lot of twists to the tale so far and I wouldn't give up until the fat lady finally sings. She's not ready to perform just yet though, and everyone needs to up their support for the cause for the forseeable future. It's deflating news but we have to keep going.

[hawkiiz]

I thought it was more than one grpup looking to buy?

[martypellowe]

I thought it was more than one grpup looking to buy?

Yep, but the Qataris have enough money to make a massive offer without even blinking. I believe the others would not be a quick sale and would provide less motivation for Venkys to sell

[Uddersfelt Blue]

We all need to be a bit patient.

Venkys will be begging someone to take the club off their hands sooner or later.

At the moment it's all about pride and saving face

[gumboots]

True, but a lot of rumours go way back to the beginning. In hindsight it would have been much better for the club if the deal never happened and JA hadn't got his grubby fingers in our pie.

There may end up being another buyer. There's been a lot of twists to the tale so far and I wouldn't give up until the fat lady finally sings. She's not ready to perform just yet though, and everyone needs to up their support for the cause for the forseeable future. It's deflating news but we have to keep going.

Haven't given up and will be considering each potential protest and joining in as and when I can, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of cause for optimism at the moment.

[Doug]

I think I know what you are reffering to.

Edit: Just got a facebook friend request from India!! No sarcastic remarks please! This strategy of hitting social media might just help!!

Edit: Just got another friend request from India... she's drop dead gorgeous!! No, not Mrs.D!!

Thats two down, a billion or so to go!!

[supergrabbi01]

Watching some other club spending tens of millions of pounds on top players and winning trophies while we're languishing at the bottom of the championship knowing that it should have been us, if not for one man's decision it would have been us... It's actually too devastating to think about.

[roverandout]

i feel sick to the stomach with all of this, venkys will be begging to sell us in 12 months, when they have driven this club onto its knees and fans are chucking rotten vegtables at them, they will be thinking, 'why or why didnt we take the offer' i refuse to beleive that this is the end of it because if it is its the end of our club, damn those venkys, why cant they just accept that we dont want them here and move on.

[Steve Moss]

He is 100% spot on.

He might be, at least about the alleged shady dealings being untrue. I haven't a clue. What I do believe, even if Venkys have been as legimitate as they could be in their business dealings:

1. They have failed to honor many of the assurances given the Trust, from my perspective. So if that is true, why should we trust Venkys' spoken word if they haven't honored their written word?

2. Based on the league table, their performance as owners, inclusive of managerial selection and transfer dealings, have been disastrous.

The panel of four consists of conflicting personalities - how can they ever agree on anything?

Perhaps that's why we don't have a chairman? Who stands to benefit the most if the Rovers are a rudderless ship?

Didn't he set a huge personal fund aside for glamour signings?

We don't need glamor signings. We need top drawer, reliable footballers.

Let me turn the question around.

Would you go into a football partnership with Venky's?

No.

[Billy Castell]

As soon as I read the comment about Venky Rao about the club being 'like a baby' made me think if it was a baby, social services would be straight in there, and the courts would be prosecuting the Raos.

[hawkiiz]

Steve Moss: thats exactly my point, as i said in one of my points.

[USABlue]

Banners have to be to the point and dramatic "Please sell because we don't like you very much, but it is nothing against you as a person, we make no assumption on your charecter, and we love Indian food by the way, and your chicken is nice" kind of loses impact.

"Begone Foul Thing" is much more effective.

I have a simple one. JEROME ANDERSON + VENKYS = DEATH TO BRFC

It just doesn't add up.

YOUR MONEY DOESN'T

WASH HERE RESULTS DO

I would refrain from any anti-venky's banners etc...

we havent had any real confirmation of this supposed bid. afterall.. we are not the only club they are interested in!

Oh we haven't?

[USABlue]

Venky's, on Radio Lancs, denying that an offer has been made. Of course that in itself means nothing. The Qataris aren't going to make a formal offer until they know there is a possibility of a deal.

Well that's it for me then, if they say it it must be true. Nice rendition of "We hate you Venky's we do etc etc" at Wigan, loud enough for me to hear it.

[USABlue]

I think many of you will understand when I tell you that both Kamy and myself are feeling utterly gutted today.

An initiative was taken in the face of knowledge about the club (some public, some not) and others joined us in helping the project. The objective was simply to resolve the perpetual crises that have typified the Venky's ownership in the past year by finding new owners who could give Venky's an honourable exit, remove the existential risk we perceive the Rovers are facing and put the club on a financial footing which I would describe as "Trust plus". In other words be secure with a realistic but small annual cash transference into the club.

Initially we succeded beyond our wildest dreams in raising finances for the project but that very success resulted in the project going outside of our management of the process and our ability to use "local" knowledge in trying to maximise the chances of success. The source(s) of the money understandably and rightly took control.

At the same time what had set out with modest ambitions of being a project of tens of millions became a stunning hundreds of millions.

I doubt the project would have moved as quickly as it did had the research not found that a sale of the Rovers was already under way to a purchaser we had no idea even existed when we reported in podcast 14 that there had been three approaches to Venky's and a fourth (which was "us") yet to show their hand.

Doubts about Venky's willingness to sell evaporated and an incredible generous bid was lodged on Friday last week. Andy Cryer broke the story on Saturday evening when it became clear that someone in Venky's themselves had already leaked it to the British press and then there were follow-up stories in the People and Mirror which from my perspective were entirely fair and accurate.

Sadly despite all indications that Venky's had been united in their desire to sell, a four hour telephone conversation from Jerome Anderson to Balaji appears to have changed all that. The family commendably operate on the basis of requiring unanimity in decisions like this and prima facie Jerome Anderson had secured his dissenting vote to frustrate the sale.

Obviously everyone acts in their own self-interest but I suspect I understand why JA saw such a desperate need to frustrate the sale. Not least because I now expect that the non-sale and continued Venky's ownership could be turned and used ruthlessly against the Venky's family's interests. This is my personal opinion and not one I have yet had chance to share with Kamy.

As for the Rovers, our poor dear club has ended up the innocent victim in all this. For my part I need a bit of peace and quiet to think through the lessons, the consequences and the opportunities (if any) of the mind blowing and mind numbing decision by Balaji to vote the way he did.

GReat post philip and I thank both you and Kamy from the bottom of my heart for your efforts. I think now we must somehow find a way to get across to Balaji just what a poisonous snake this JA is, that and a way to out this pig to a point where he is banned from football dealings for life. Apologies in advance if any of my words can cause the site problems, edit as is needed.

[philipl]

The more I look at Venkatesh's words today the more sickened I feel.

There is just no style or panache about these people. Just useless clod-hopping failures.

[USABlue]

The only positive thing about this is i almost forgot what a tosser Steve Kean is!!!

Funny that

[USABlue]

Call it wishful thinking but I am clinging to the hope that if the qataris really want us, they will make an offer that Barry can't refuse.

NOt going to happen, My analogy, you have a wad of cash and want to buy a Rolls, however the dealer has only on ein the colour you want and it is already sold. Do you say oh ok I'll wait till you get another. Do you hell, you buggar off with your cash to the dealer that has one. It's that simple when you have enough cash you just go buy what you want no need to buggar about.

[USABlue]

I just cannot comprehend what is going through the minds of the Venkys! It is such a frustrating and annoying situation. They are destroying our club with SK & JA and now seem determined to destroy any relationship that they may have still had with the fans.

Quote from Venkatesh today: "Money is not everything to us. The passion is there and we don't want to let the fans down." Do they not realise they are massively letting the fans down by NOT selling the club?!?! The only thing that makes sense is to sell up, any layman can see that but seemingly these idiots in charge cannot! Unbelievable! If they really loved this club, like they say they do, they would let us go now.

I look forward to seeing the backlash really unfold because it could be spectacular, especially if the Venkys or JA are spotted near or in Ewood!

NEver mind that, surely if they did not want to let us down Kean would have been gone long ago. The old saying goes that when you are in a hole it's best to stop digging but these plonkers go and get a JCB and dig more.

[USABlue]

I wish there was a way to get this back on track but unfortunately there isn't.

Venky's won't sell. Qatari's don't want to force a sale or get into a long protracted process, so they have moved on and will be buying another club in the very near future.

Tried but failed, I really wish I could say different but can't.

I don't mind admitting that I am gutted, totally flattened tonight. We are stuck with Venky's for the foreseeable future, there are no other viable alternatives.

I feel physically sick.

[hermitstool]

Remember Blackburn Rovers?

I feel closer to tears with every word I read. This was, very probably, melodrama excluded, the last chance to save our beloved football club. Now, it's gone. I am distraught. I can see us in

league 1 by next season, or if the ITK-er's allegations aren't true then at best the championship. We are a rudderless ship and my heart aches at the plight of our club. I feel truly betrayed, the Walker 'trust' have destroyed Uncle Jack's legacy and betrayed all our trusts with their actions. We now have a drink-driving, incompetent, moron at the helm for the foreseeable future leading us to defeat after defeat followed by false platitudes to placate the owners and, to an extent the media. I, personally, already feel like the Blackburn Rovers I love is gone. Such is the despair I feel I can only hope that our club's plight will serve as a warning to others, I sincerely hope that no fan of any other club has to go through what we have, and continue to, experience. I wish to applaud the actions of each and every fan who has protested, you are heroes. We have tried, but I sense our owners are so consumed with hubris that they won't leave, they won't spend, and most importantly of all won't change management. I feel as if we have lost all hope, and can only hope against hope that it is darkest before the dawn. I can't see it, however. I think we will be the club that heralds the beginning of the end for money-rich football as we know it. We won't be the last to plummet, but I sincerely believe we will be the first, the example all remember. It seems to be only a matter of time before people say, "Do you remember Blackburn Rovers? They won the Premier League once...". Such is the world we live in, and we are becoming a microcosm & herald of the problems that beset the modern game. I wish it weren't true. and I wish times would change, I just can't see it, and that upsets me hugely. Thank you for tolerating my rant, but I had to say it, and I don't believe i'm on my own in my thoughts.

[Myles Anderson]

Remember Blackburn Rovers?

I feel closer to tears with every word I read. This was, very probably, melodrama excluded, the last chance to save our beloved football club. Now, it's gone. I am distraught. I can see us in

league 1 by next season, or if the ITK-er's allegations aren't true then at best the championship. We are a rudderless ship and my heart aches at the plight of our club. I feel truly betrayed, the Walker 'trust' have destroyed Uncle Jack's legacy and betrayed all our trusts with their actions. We now have a drink-driving, incompetent, moron at the helm for the foreseeable future leading us to defeat after defeat followed by false platitudes to placate the owners and, to an extent the media. I, personally, already feel like the Blackburn Rovers I love is gone. Such is the despair I feel I can only hope that our club's plight will serve as a warning to others, I sincerely hope that no fan of any other club has to go through what we have, and continue to, experience. I wish to applaud the actions of each and every fan who has protested, you are heroes. We have tried, but I sense our owners are so consumed with hubris that they won't leave, they won't spend, and most importantly of all won't change management. I feel as if we have lost all hope, and can only hope against hope that it is darkest before the dawn. I can't see it, however. I think we will be the club that heralds the beginning of the end for money-rich football as we know it. We won't be the last to plummet, but I sincerely believe we will be the first, the example all remember. It seems to be only a matter of time before people say, "Do you remember Blackburn Rovers? They won the Premier League once...". Such is the world we live in, and we are becoming a microcosm & herald of the problems that beset the modern game. I wish it weren't true. and I wish times would change, I just can't see it, and that upsets me hugely. Thank you for tolerating my rant, but I had to say it, and I don't believe i'm on my own in my thoughts.

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