[Archived] New Leaked Letter

[philipl]

I think much of the Henry Winter article is probably very accurate. However, I agree with Glenn with regard to merging the Academy and the Senior Training Ground, my understanding is that it is being done in an attempt to gain Grade One status in the new Youth/Reserve team football re-organisation. I may be wrong, but my understanding is that there are no plans to sell the actual land at Academy but merely for the Senior Training Ground to be included in the planning of the new Under-19/Under-21 set-up.

I tend to believe that the e-mail is genuine. I can't believe that so many newspapers would have printed it if there was any doubt and the fact that a respected journalist like Henry Winter would put his name to a piece about the e-mail suggests he must be convinced of it's authenticity. Furthermore the LT have done a huge spread on the e-mail and I doubt that the local paper would have touched it unless they knew it was genuine.

I seem to remember being told at Newcastle in the F.A. Cup match that Hunt was in India in January and of course Simon Williams also left around that time in circumstances that were never fully explained.

Personally, I think the letter merely confirms the shambolic nature of the running of the club since the Rao family arrived. There are one or two interesting bits that are new and again point to the fact that the Rao family are completely out of their depth at every level. However, most of the content is what we already know. I don't think anybody doubts that the club is in serious financial trouble and that relegation has merely added fuel to the fire.

Leaks coming out of Ewood paint a picture of in-fighting and everybody covering their own back rather than working for the good of the club. This letter would confirm that picture as being fairly accurate. Both Hunts and Karen Silk would appear to want to build their own little empire while Kean and Agnew already seem well established as "an empire within an empire". Indeed, the fact that this e-mail has been leaked at this time merely underlines the fact that the factional in-fighting is continuing.

Articles like that written by Henry Winter - and there seem to be an increasing number starting to appear - merely underline the fact that this is a club in crisis and, sadly, the Rao family would appear to have no solutions to the problems. One suspects that Desai would sell in an instant if she could find a buyer as the growing problems at Ewood are, at some point, going to impact on the main business. However, I doubt if they will cut and run unless they can get the price they want and that, I suspect, is not going to happen anytime soon. I think we are in for a summer of more player sales and more cutbacks as the spiral of decline continues unabated.

This is a superb post.

[Bobby G]

Look how quickly Newcastle came out to dismiss "speculation" linking Cisse to Real Madrid. Do you really think this letter was fake? No chance in hell. It was even alluded to in January and many people were aware of its existence even back then.

Not everyone is a Harvard graduate with distinction in English, be it Presidents, Directors or rocket scientists even.

[Mattie456]

Not sure why people are surpised over the apparent poor grammar in th email. CEOs don't all come from the Russell group universities where education standards are still relatively high.

Quite right Jim. I have worked under a CEO of a large company who would have been proud of the spelling and grammar in that email.

I also remember seeing Mike Ashley send a handwritten note out to SSN reporters live on tv one transfer deadline day. Cant remember what it said but it contained cringeworthy spelling errors.

[47er]

From Sun article------"Club sources confirmed the letter is genuine but declined to comment".

[AndyC]

Funny that so many people are just questioning the sentence construction! Look at Hunts background - he was a sales director at a couple of very minor football clubs! The title was always a sham anyway.

I suspect the letter was released as an arse covering exercise (and quite rightly so). because if you look at his record - attendances plummet, club relegated, commercial income decimated. Hardly going to land another job with that on your record unless something was conspiring against you at every level. Hence the leaked letter.

I really feel for him, as its pretty obvious he wasn't allowed to do his job there.

[thenodrog]

Clearly the same letter. How does a journalist read that letter attempting to save the club and describe it as stabbing kean in the back? The amount of info he had to ignore to paint kean/venkys in a good light. I just don't understand why

Kean claiming to be stabbed in the back by a club insider is of supreme irony. Live by the sword you little sh1t!

[AndyC]

Philip - the question I really want answered, is to look at the finances.

What level of debt exists in the club? Considering we have have brought in over £30M from player sales, the accounts would have been extremely healthy if only they had kept the structure of the club when they bought it.

My biggest fear, is that the club has lost around £20M to venkys, anderson, kean, pay offs etc and the club is sactually still massively in debt, without its premier league status and with their largest assets now off the balance sheet.

[thenodrog]

Are they copying the Umbro kit or summat?

I'd be absolutely amazed if they weren't. Levi, nike, etc etc they've done it for decades. It's the Indian psyche. eeez betta .... eeez cheepa.

[Mercer]

More of the Indian press on to it :

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/venkys-shambolic-reign-of-blackburn-exposed/947246/2

[broadsword]

More of the Indian press on to it :

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/venkys-shambolic-reign-of-blackburn-exposed/947246/2

Venky's better get used to this.

Think they're going to find being associated with Blackburn Rovers quite an uncomfortable experience from now on.

[thenodrog]

The person who is owed the biggest apology is Glen Mullan. He has had the crooks that own us sussed from very early on yet got lots of stick for it.

A relative latecomer. tbh I wouldn't even leave the concourse until it was over when those two were paraded in front of the cheering hordes 'Rovers Fans' (that better Matty?) before the Villa match. fair to say that the bloke that took most stick was PhilipL. He can be a bit of a blowhard at times but there are a lot on here who owe him an apology.... and a very humble one at that.

[Mattyblue]

'cheering hordes?'

Not around me.

[Majiball]

Look how quickly Newcastle came out to dismiss "speculation" linking Cisse to Real Madrid. Do you really think this letter was fake? No chance in hell. It was even alluded to in January and many people were aware of its existence even back then.

Not everyone is a Harvard graduate with distinction in English, be it Presidents, Directors or rocket scientists even.

My Scottish is awful, it never got taught at school and doesn't really today. And yet I have many qualifications and a spell checker.

[thenodrog]

Had it confirmed from a source I trust.

To be wrong once is forgivable to be continually wrong is bloody careless.

[thenodrog]

No criminal activity? Nike (Umbro) are very pro active on stopping reproductions of their goods, I would think when this is being done on the instructions of the owners of a club they supply they might be interested to take it further. But according to the Premier League this kind of behaviour is ok and Venkys have done nothing wrong.

Our big hitters... Messrs Straw and Jones should be pressing for an enquiry into the events at BRFC and including Scudamores recent comments.

btw I am lead to believe that the Bundesliga has a 49% non German rule which prevents foreign ownership of clubs. Those krauts are to be admired aren't they?

[den]

Our big hitters... Messrs Straw and Jones should be pressing for an enquiry into the events at BRFC and including Scudamores recent comments.

BBC Lancashire ‏ @BBCLancashire

The MP for Blackburn, Jack Straw, is calling for the football authorities to investigate the finances of Blackburn Rovers.

[chris]

"Venky’s is considering merging the academy with the first team so they operate out of one building at Brockhall Village. This would allow the club to sell off the academy land for more housing."

christ, I've not wasted my time following the depression of the board lately, but hell things are going to get worse then I thought, much worse.

hate Kean, my friends are charging me 50p everytime I say his name now when out drinking.

[Bobby G]

Hunt has been sacked!

[OJRovers]

Jesus

Expect Karen Silk and S Hunt to follow

Kean must definately have something on the Raos, its the only explanation for this lunacy

[thenodrog]

I was against teh Pune trip, but it was a good way to show the Rao's in their true light.

No Bryan. I was against it cos I bloody well knew what they were like! How anyone could not see through that shower bloody well amazes me.

[Bobby G]

I feel disgusted that Im a Rovers fan. Its shameful how they've ruined this good family club.

But shocking thing for me is that they can ACTUALLY SACK PEOPLE! Just not Kean.

[philipl]

This could be interesting.

Hunt has been sacked because he did his job and a printed out forwarded confidential email sent by Mrs Desai to Kean got into the wrong hands.

Hunt gone, Kean stays... perhaps I am putting 2 and 2 together and making more than 4

[Majiball]

This could be interesting.

Hunt has been sacked because he did his job and a printed out forwarded confidential email sent by Mrs Desai to Kean got into the wrong hands.

Hunt gone, Kean stays... perhaps I am putting 2 and 2 together and making more than 4

Future is being discussed???

Aye, how can Kean shift blame onto everyone else and yet the morons who have believed him still do despite the proof.

Chelsea must become like Ewood on Sat, let them know they exactly what we think.

No Philipl I don't think your wrong at all.

[thenodrog]

This could be interesting.

Hunt has been sacked because he did his job and a printed out forwarded confidential email sent by Mrs Desai to Kean got into the wrong hands.

Hunt gone, Kean stays... perhaps I am putting 2 and 2 together and making more than 4

What? Are you suggesting he's nobbin her Phillip? If so then to paraphrase the old poem .... He's a better man then I am Gunga Din!

Moving on to be less recriminating and more prepared ............... The following excerpts from Hunt's email suggest to me that we might all be looking for a new club to support next season OR the Brisa jobby should be considering a new ground to call home OR Lanky Utd is a big step closer to fruition.

"With the bank closing in, I fear that they will look to foreclose and have the potential to implement financial restrictions upon the club that could (as a worst-case scenario) enforce administration."

"Auditors KPMG have put as many obstacles as they can in the way of signing off the accounts due to their concerns. We continue to try and work with Barclays but they are very quickly losing patience as we cannot give answers. We have been forced to agree to additional spending against our wishes (Christmas hampers, sponsoring the Princes Trust event etc) and I am fearful that the situation will only get worse.

During January we need additional funding to pay wages etc. Scottish club Hearts did not pay their players in November and have effectively breached their contracts. By law (supported by FIFA) the players can now annul their contracts, seek other clubs and still chase the club for payment of their wages. Clearly, the club will not receive any fee for any transfers."

"You may also be aware that HMRC (tax authorities) have been chasing Portsmouth Football Club for a debt they owe. HMRC have made a technical mistake in law and therefore cannot claim the money they are owed. They will make sure of course that the next football club that falls out of line, won’t be so lucky. We need to make sure that this club is not Blackburn Rovers."

"We are losing fans/customers at an alarming rate. I am very concerned that fans are voting with their feet and not attending, not purchasing and not engaging with the club. Research shows that only 5% of ex season ticket holders will ever return. We are losing sponsors and suppliers. I am concerned we will lose Umbro if we continue to manufacture Rovers shirts in India for the RoverStar programme. Their contract specifically disallows this and we are putting at risk £800k of annual revenue. The Blackburn Rovers and Venky’s brands are both suffering terribly. Whilst there are negative goings on such as protests, complaints, media stories, unhappy fans etc, then both brands are losing brand equity and consequently, losing value."

"However, we have been too busy fire fighting (protests, media intrusion, finance issues) to do this so far. As you know, I like to be proactive but the current climate only allows us to be reactive."

Barclays / HMRC / Future Parachute monies mortgaged away / possibility of entering Administration meaning players can walk away without transfer fees. The nightmare of BRFC becoming a page in football history is coming ever nearer. Seriously!

Paul Hunt being sacked over that email has in all liklehood saved his reputation.

[Beta Ray Bill]

This could be interesting.

Hunt has been sacked because he did his job and a printed out forwarded confidential email sent by Mrs Desai to Kean got into the wrong hands.

Hunt gone, Kean stays... perhaps I am putting 2 and 2 together and making more than 4

Kean for CEO...