Venky’s v Indian Government (a) - 13/1/2025 - Re-Arranged Challenge Match

[lraC]

I have just spoken to my journalist contact and he doesn't have much information at the minute. He is going to ask around though and let me know what he can.

He has done the odd interview with Waggott and did not speak very highly of him and mentioned that he was a member of the press fraternity himself with none other than the daily sport. 

Something I didn't know, but interesting shall we say.

[Herbie6590]

2 hours ago, roverblue said:

They seem the sort of owners who will flog the silver before finally selling or us going into admin. The question is if they have enough working cash to get us through till the transfer window opens. 

In summer they can flog Sammy and a few other potentials for a few million. Then it would need to be the training ground like Readings owner is now doing.

Then after that its administration I guess unless a buyer is found?

We’ve already sold the training ground…and re-mortgaged it BTW

[jim mk2]

51 minutes ago, lraC said:

I have just spoken to my journalist contact and he doesn't have much information at the minute. He is going to ask around though and let me know what he can.

He has done the odd interview with Waggott and did not speak very highly of him and mentioned that he was a member of the press fraternity himself with none other than the daily sport. 

Something I didn't know, but interesting shall we say.

 

Have searched around but can't find any references to Waggott having a former life as a journalist

Did find this though - the "Saviour of English football"

https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/34577/Is-this-man-the-real-saviour-of-English-football

[martonrover]

54 minutes ago, lraC said:

He has done the odd interview with Waggott and did not speak very highly of him and mentioned that he was a member of the press fraternity himself with none other than the daily sport. 

Now that is a cap that fits him perfectly.

He is a classless, horrible toad who should be nowhere near the corridors of power at Blackburn Rovers.

[simongarnerisgod]

5 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

 

Have searched around but can't find any references to Waggott having a former life as a journalist

Did find this though - the "Saviour of English football"

https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/34577/Is-this-man-the-real-saviour-of-English-football

he probably wrote the article himself

[JHRover]

If ever you wanted a human manifestation of Venkys reign of terror and destruction of this club and its standards and principles its the employment of Waggott as its highest office holder.

Inadequate, classless, not fit for purpose and just looks and sounds wrong

 

[miqaayil]

5 hours ago, lraC said:

I am hoping that Venky's have been well and truly rumbled this time.

For those who don't know, I went in to see Waggott in November, after E Mailing him about the article in the Indian press about illegal payments being made by the owners.

I asked him about the court hearing carried out, prior to my meeting with him and he was full of bluster about how this was always going to be a formality and given that they had "set a precedent" he enthused that the meeting in March was just to rubber stamp the next tranche. He also disclosed that there was enough money in the bank, for the club to meet it's obligations until February.

One thing I have always had at the back of my mind, is that Venky's stated that they were protecting their investment, by sending these funds, which I guess is a backdoor way of saying that unless they are allowed to send further funds, their investment goes bump.

As we know, they are under deep scrutiny at the minute, so perhaps someone has had a close look at their investment and maybe decided that pumping £200m into it and finding it to be worth around a quarter of that amount (if that) means any further funds are highly unlikely to be protecting anything, in fact quite the opposite, the funds are simply diminishing almost instantly.

It is speculation on my part, but if the Indian authorities are scrutinising funds leaving the country, then maybe they want to know that it is a sound investment and perhaps they are beginning to realise it is far from sound and are on the verge of stopping any further funds being sent.

It is then either put the club up for sale, or administration, which may well happen anyway, between now and August.

 

Guys this is not about funds leaving india... their instruments are from SBI , State Bank of INDIA and constant Loss in investment which affects the bank and economy. So the gov is suspecting some kind of funneling which is why they ask to put equivalent amount in pledge before sending out more of SBI monies, which they won't ...i'm not a financial forensics expert but from what i understand this is in nutshell , The gov is worried SBI will write it off as bad debt... and they afraid to open books in UK incase of a sale which they must.

 

This is my only logical explanation after years of observing this , which explains why they brought their audit guy from HQ. Someone will be the fall guy...i'm only wondering who

[Bethnal]

It is extremely “Blackburn Rovers under Venkys” that the postponed hearing has been postponed. It’s almost funny. It also makes me think that it might be a little bit personal on the Indian judiciary system’s end.

They're not shifting unless they’re made to, we’ve been down this road before.

I personally believe they’ll slowly continue to strip off saleable assets to fund the club, as an exercise in vanity, until the club is taken from them by the administrators (whenever that is - we have a fair chunk of change kicking about, as well as saleable assets in the summer and costs that can and will be cut). I fully expect to see some f*ckery around trying to buy it out of administration, as well. Dodgy desktop valuation and a quiet pre-pack, mark my words. 

I’ve planned a trip up for the Sheff Weds game, but that might be it from me spending money with The Blackburn Rovers Football & Athletic Limited, so long as it’s owned by VLL or another subsidiary of its rotten parent company.

I would absolutely love it if the fanbase came together and ousted them. In the meantime, those of us that want them gone should try to just starve them out. Give them hell at Ewood for the remainder of the season, but BYO refreshments, buy from the local stalls outside the ground, dodge the Rovers Return, cancel your subscriptions and make them feel it financially. It’s the only instrument to force them out that we have left and we’ll all continue to support this club, whether Premier League or Regional Premier Division.

[lraC]

30 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

 

Have searched around but can't find any references to Waggott having a former life as a journalist

Did find this though - the "Saviour of English football"

https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/34577/Is-this-man-the-real-saviour-of-English-football

My source is impeccable so I will 100% guarantee that is correct. 

[robbiethemole]

skyblue here, he screwed Charlton over and did the same for us, the man is a fraud and shouldn't be allowed near a football club

I hope you can get rid of him asap.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

"A man ahead of his time"

FFS!!

Edited March 14 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[rovers11]

What a joke. Probably the best case scenario for Venkys. They can claim to still be committed and blame external circumstances for not being able to put money into the club.

Meanwhile, we sell every and any player of any quality to cover "operational costs" whilst continuing to sign players from the fourth tier of German football and semi-pro footballers.

[rovers11]

4 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

It really feels to me like we have entered the end game now, and that Venkys will not own Rovers in a year. Just too many factors weighing against their continued ownership. Nothing specific - just reached a tipping point that occcurs when you know things will change - sort of similar to when JDT was denied access to the press you knew he was gone in a few weeks. This feels like that just over a longer term.

Id say the vital thing now is to figure out how to give the club the softest landing when the money properly stops as that is surely coming, and get it onto a feasible basis without their support.

What scares me is despite having a very cheap squad we still seem to be utterly dependent on the Venkys money. We really really need to change that. Other clubs have similar low cost squads but are not I believe losing as much money as we are. Why are we so unsustainable? What is our mitigation?

Oh that's incredibly optimistic. They will continue to own the club but say the club must become self sufficient. The challenge could potentially come in around 12 months time when we will have no assets to sell and venkys are not able to send cash over. We have big problems then.

[Armchair supporter supremo]

Conveniently delayed until the summer transfer window is well and truly shut. 

 

Whatever league we are in next season.... This summer Szmodics will be sold to the highest bidder along with any other senior player that is has a value over a million... Tronstadt, siggy, gallagher, dolan, jrc and hyam will all be allowed to leave if a reasonable offer comes in. 

Unless a miracle happens next seasons squad is going to be shockingly poor and lightweight, possibly the weakest we've had since THEY bought the club.

[alcd]

6 hours ago, Herbie6590 said:

It was allowed for FFP at the time - there was a looming rule change so they did it before the loophole was closed.

The EFL are notoriously slow in investigating the wheezes that were used to circumvent FFP. It was several years before the EFL held  Sheff Wed and Derby to account for selling their stadiums to a related company at an overvaluation. Wouldn't be surprised if this issue raises its ugly head over Brockhall and a points deduction is applied. 20 acres of land that doesn't have residential planning permission and isn't in a "local plan" is not worth the £17m transfer price. 

[simongarnerisgod]

13 minutes ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

Conveniently delayed until the summer transfer window is well and truly shut. 

 

Whatever league we are in next season.... This summer Szmodics will be sold to the highest bidder along with any other senior player that is has a value over a million... Tronstadt, siggy, gallagher, dolan, jrc and hyam will all be allowed to leave if a reasonable offer comes in. 

Unless a miracle happens next seasons squad is going to be shockingly poor and lightweight, possibly the weakest we've had since THEY bought the club.

if we don`t go down this season then we certainly will the next,embarrasingly so as well,id`e say our future is`nt very rosy

[tomphil]

Why can't they flog the Neville mansion over here and give that money to the club ?

Seems pretty logical seeing as that was the straw that broke the camels back so might as well put it to use and it shouldn't be a problem seeing as the Indian govt has seized property over there to cover it.

[tomphil]

26 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

if we don`t go down this season then we certainly will the next,embarrasingly so as well,id`e say our future is`nt very rosy

Hence why they were in a rush to secure draw master Eustace.

They and JDT knew exactly what has been coming hurtling down the tracks.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, miqaayil said:

Guys this is not about funds leaving india... their instruments are from SBI , State Bank of INDIA and constant Loss in investment which affects the bank and economy. So the gov is suspecting some kind of funneling which is why they ask to put equivalent amount in pledge before sending out more of SBI monies, which they won't ...i'm not a financial forensics expert but from what i understand this is in nutshell , The gov is worried SBI will write it off as bad debt... and they afraid to open books in UK incase of a sale which they must.

 

This is my only logical explanation after years of observing this , which explains why they brought their audit guy from HQ. Someone will be the fall guy...i'm only wondering who

I've been saying for years they funnel a bit of money out of the parent company every year using Rovers.

All i got was don't be stupid why would they rob themselves !

The lack of understanding of how these things can work via loopholes is frustrating to those who know it can and it can all be above board when facilitated by expert accountants.

Morally and tax wise it ain't exactly throwing straight dice though.

[Hasta]

Good luck to Waggot and the marketing team trying to sell season tickets this summer.

[JHRover]

4 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Good luck to Waggot and the marketing team trying to sell season tickets this summer.

The only calculations currently going through his rancid brain will be how much more he needs to put up prices to counter the inevitable substantial drop in numbers that is coming this summer. 

That's all he's interested in and has made that quite clear in his time here. It isn't about numbers through the turnstiles it is about hitting his own financial targets and I think track records suggest he'd be quite comfortable with a virtually empty Ewood so long as those turning up paid what was needed to hit the target. 

Less paying more not more paying less is his motto.

 

[DeeCee]

They'll sell SS to the 1st bidder that's how they work, imbeciles 🤦‍♂️

[Crimpshrine]

6 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

I’ll make a prediction… Venky’s will own us in a year.

Spoil sport

[Mercer]

18 minutes ago, DeeCee said:

They'll sell SS to the 1st bidder that's how they work, imbeciles 🤦‍♂️

Notwithstanding the court's decision/ruling in August, there will probably be enough available money from Wharton's sale, Raya's move to Arsenal (and our cut of that) and the sale of SS, and Carter, Travis etc, if need be, to get Rovers through the next 16 months.

Sadly, I think our owners and CEO will be unchanged 12 months down the line from now.  IMO, we are a club hopelessly drifting along in a sea of shyte, and, at some point, the contamination will become too severe and that will be the end of Rovers. 

Edited March 14 by Mercer

[AllRoverAsia]

1 hour ago, robbiethemole said:

skyblue here, he screwed Charlton over and did the same for us, the man is a fraud and shouldn't be allowed near a football club

I hope you can get rid of him asap.

Thank you for your concern.

I, indeed we, appreciate it.

I saw what he did and what he wanted to do to you. He is Maggott the Rat, total vermin.