[Archived] Times article

[folkdevil]

I missed this yesterday and The Times is subscription only online.

Does anyone know what was said or if they can do a transcript that would be appreciated.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/columnists/kay/article3923681.ece

[Alex Rover]

Here you go:

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/columnists/kay/article3923681.ece

Blackburn’s problems come home to roost

Costly experiment: the acquisition of players such as Rhodes proved a gamble that backfired

by Oliver Kay

Last updated at 12:01AM, November 16 2013

It will be three years next week since Blackburn Rovers fell victim to one of the most catastrophic takeovers English football has seen. The Venky’s regime brought a sense of discomfort from the very start, perhaps summed up by the moment early on when senior figures at Ewood Park shared a sense of alarm that their new owners appeared completely oblivious to the concept, let alone prospect, of relegation.

It was agreed that Tom Finn, the longstanding club secretary, should spell out to the Indian poultry magnates exactly what would happen in the event of Blackburn finishing in the bottom three of the Barclays Premier League — specifically that this would mean dropping into the Championship, not to be confused with the Champions League, and that a serious loss of prestige and revenue would ensue. Finn did not last long under Venky’s. “They don’t like the bearers of bad news,” as one figure at the club put it.

There have been few instances like that over the past three years, in which Blackburn have gone from mid-table in the Premier League (average attendance 25,427, pre-tax loss £1.9  million, net debt £21  million) to mid-table in the Sky Bet Championship (average attendance 14,500, pre-tax loss £36.5  million, net debt £54.5  million).

Sources at Blackburn recall how Anuradha Desai, the Venky’s chairwoman, was furious to learn that Phil Jones had been given permission to speak to Manchester United in June 2011 when, in fact, a release clause in his contract had been triggered. Then there was the moment, late last season, when one figure at the club mentioned the daunting challenge the club would face in trying to meet the Football League’s financial regulations. Cue confused looks all round.

Financial regulations? That would be the Football League’s “Financial Fair Play” (FFP) regulations, which, in short, prohibit losses of more than £8  million in a season. Last season, Blackburn made that loss of £36.5  million after signing players such as Dickson Etuhu, Danny Murphy, Nuno Gomes, Leon Best and Jordan Rhodes in a gamble designed to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt. They finished seventeenth, only four points clear of the relegation zone, after a late rally under Gary Bowyer, their fifth different manager during the campaign.

Blackburn’s supporters might feel that things have begun to stabilise at last; results have improved a little — they are thirteenth in the Championship — the ludicrous pronouncements from the owners and their representatives have stopped, as have the sackings, while the in-fighting behind the scenes has lessened and the wage bill, which far exceeded income last season, has been reduced, though nothing like enough.

This, though, is the calm before the storm. Whichever way you look at it, there is trouble ahead for Blackburn amid a sense of resignation that, even with their parachute payments from the Premier League, it is almost unfeasible to bring this season’s losses down to £8 million. Breach FFP in winning promotion, which, despite Rhodes’s goals, remains a long shot, and they will face a “Fair Play Tax” in excess of £10 million. Should they stay in the Championship and in breach of FFP, they will fall under a transfer embargo.

It is a terrible mess, precisely the kind, in fact, that FFP was designed to deter. It is hardly the league’s fault that a relegated club lavished fortunes on wages for players such as Gomes and Murphy, both since released at considerable expense, and then hired Henning Berg as manager on a deal that entitled him to £2.25  million in compensation when he was sacked after 57 days. Berg’s claim, incidentally, was upheld in a case at Manchester High Court, where Blackburn’s own barrister spoke of a “shambles at the heart of the club”.

Shambles is the right word. Some of the more disreputable investors who have come into English football in recent years are cynical or exploitative. Venky’s, by contrast, have put money into Blackburn, trying to do the right things, but have brought calamitous consequences through their naivety and by investing far too much faith and responsibility in certain individuals at certain times: Steve Kean, who went from coach to all-powerful manager; Paul Agnew, who went from press officer to operations director; Shebby Singh, a Malaysian sports broadcaster who briefly exerted a bewildering amount of influence after his appointment as the club’s “global adviser”.

The upshot of all of this, of the trail of chaos that began with the sacking of Sam Allardyce, is that Blackburn are in a position where they are dependent on the owners who have brought the club to their knees. People are not queuing up to take on Blackburn and its growing debt. The Rovers Trust might be able to meet the club’s value, but surely not Venky’s valuation, which is a different thing entirely. If the supporters’ protests have quietened, it is because the painful realisation has dawned that, if Venky’s withdrew its funding — or perhaps called in a £36.1 million interest-free loan — the club would be in peril.

What is in it for Venky’s now? A sense of pride, apparently, and a feeling that it can put right the many errors that have brought Blackburn to this point. If it recognises that it has a debt to the club, not financially but in terms of responsibility, then that at least shows moral fibre. Promotion to the Premier League, even if came with a financial penalty, would avert several of the more alarming scenarios, but, from here, it looks like a long way back.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Only now are the media and the masses waking up to what has gone on at Ewood....Oh those poor Blackburn fans!

WELL, WHERE THE FOOK WERE YOU WHEN THE FANS PROTESTED AND WERE LAMBASTED FROM PILLAR TO POST!!

[thenodrog]

Very good article which might bring our demise to national attention but which offers no solution to our catastrophic demise (a demise predicted by a number of 'racists', 'killjoys' and 'doommongers' on here since 11/10). However nothing in it that he could not easily have lifted filched from this very mboard.

[Blue Cabbage]

Sums it up to all outside of Rovers supporters, maybe people will recognise the magnitude of mis-management on all fronts.

[thenodrog]

They'll recognise it for about 3 milliseconds before they turn the page and forget it.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Can't help but feel quite a few in media circles will be smirking as this article is circulated.Lets be brutally honest here,have they ever been our ally?...

[Blue Cabbage]

They'll recognise it for about 3 milliseconds before they turn the page and forget it.

No doubt drog, could count the amount of decent, factual articles circulated on your thumbs, including this one

[Stuart]

A report scathing of Venkys and Kean (and Agnew) but stating what any right-thinking Rovers fan knew all along. Yet at the time, all we heard was how bad Rovers fans were. (Well, 1% of them anyway).

Too little, too late, and merely an obituary for the patient who could, nay would, have survived if the cancer had been treated early enough.

Instead those asking for chemotherapy were shouted down - by their own family.

I guess if this is true...

Finn did not last long under Venkys. They dont like the bearers of bad news, as one figure at the club put it.

...it would neatly explain the staying power of the more 'positive', upbeat, and even dismissive, triumvirate of Kean, Anderson and Agnew.

[LDRover]

Strange how there's no mention of the dark lord in the article

[yoda]

The heads must be truly wobbling in the hills of Pune

[G Somerset Rover]

Strange how there's no mention of the dark lord in the article

I'm pretty sure it is he and he alone who is preventing the whole truth from coming out with warnings of court action and so forth if anyone dare point to his dirty hands in this sorry mess. All of the top journo's chasing the story allude to as much.

[perthblue02]

Strange how there's no mention of the dark lord in the article

Must admit that's what jumped out at me as well, as well as when will they get the fact right that Agnew's rise was from a contractor to the club and not an employee.

Could never imagine a contract window cleaner at Marks and Spencer's walking the new major shareholder out to meet and greet could you?

[RoyRover]

People may feel a bit sorry for us, even those who lambasted the fans for their protests, but ultimately they don't care and are just thankful that it hasn't happened to their club. I know, because I reacted in the same way when I saw it happening elsewhere.

[Majiball]

Must admit that's what jumped out at me as well, as well as when will they get the fact right that Agnew's rise was from a contractor to the club and not an employee.

Could never imagine a contract window cleaner at Marks and Spencer's walking the new major shareholder out to meet and greet could you?

that's just how low steve kean had to look within the club for an ally.

[McClarky]

Basically we are the only people who care about this

[47er]

Very good article which might bring our demise to national attention but which offers no solution to our catastrophic demise (a demise predicted by a number of 'racists', 'killjoys' and 'doommongers' on here since 11/10). However nothing in it that he could not easily have lifted filched from this very mboard.

"Doommongers"!! Yes,I'd forgotten that one, thanks for reminding me Theno. At what point, Ewood Spark and others, did doommongers become truth-tellers? As if singing your hearts out for the lads at Ewood can change all this.

[Dunnfc]

Wrong topic.

[thenodrog]

"Doommongers"!! Yes,I'd forgotten that one, thanks for reminding me Theno. At what point, Ewood Spark and others, did doommongers become truth-tellers? As if 5000 proper fans singing your hearts out for the lads at Ewood can change all this.

Edited it for you 47er.

[John]

Very good article which might bring our demise to national attention but which offers no solution to our catastrophic demise (a demise predicted by a number of 'racists', 'killjoys' and 'doommongers' on here since 11/10). However nothing in it that he could not easily have lifted filched from this very mboard.

Remember being told on here at the outset that I had an agenda.

Corrupt, conflict of interest as I always said, Rao Family & Kentaro can burn in acid.

[thenodrog]

Remember being told on here at the outset that I had an agenda.

Corrupt, conflict of interest as I always said, Rao Family & Kentaro can burn in acid.

Anybody who expressed even the slightest concerns whether based on intelligence, experience and foresight knowledge or just base instinct was targetted by the Rovers Fans John. The frothy airheads who gleefully swallowed every promise that the venkymob made hook, line and sinker .

[Andy]

Decent article.

About 2 years too late...

[Guest Norbert]

Can't see it being discussed on Soccer Saturday. Where were these people when we had our club destroyed by.........well we all know who, but I'm not sure this site would want a solicitor's letter from that crook. I hope they all get bum cancer.

[PAFELL]

I'm pretty sure it is he and he alone who is preventing the whole truth from coming out with warnings of court action and so forth if anyone dare point to his dirty hands in this sorry mess. All of the top journo's chasing the story allude to as much.

Yet it is not slander or libel if it is true what is printed. There is more than enough evidence that could be put into print, that would not be either libel or slander. Yet still nobody dares put the truth into print. The FA / prem all know the truth, yet also do nothing.

Protests were always doomed to fail. For one simple reason. Outside of the town of Blackburn and the Rovers fan base - nobody really gives a dam. To the media it is just a story to make a buck from. Folk will only care when the club they support suffers the same as clubs such as Pompey and Rovers.

But the powers that be will continue to remain silent and do nothing. Yet often they charge managers etc for bringing the game into disrepute for speaking out against a refs performance.

But it is the powers that be that bring the game into disrepute. When the head is sick, the rest of the body will be also. The corruption in football starts at the top and works itself down - sadly I can't ever see that picture ever changing.

[den]

Protests were always doomed to fail. For one simple reason. Outside of the town of Blackburn and the Rovers fan base - nobody really gives a dam. To the media it is just a story to make a buck from. Folk will only care when the club they support suffers the same as clubs such as Pompey and Rovers.

People who were always against protesting, would say that Pafell. I seem to remember the argument at the time wasn't because no-one would listen, it was because it would affect the players. If more people had been prepared to stand up and shout louder (and I include myself in this), then we might not be facing the avalanche about to hit us. One thing is obvious, - not protesting, did nothing to divert the avalanche.