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

[Herbie6590]

Our fame is spreading…this is amazing work…

 

[broadsword]

I feel the future of the club is in the hands of an Indian judge.

 

It's been said many, many tonnes on here, venkys have forgotten we exist etc. I don't that hard to believe given the court hearings and all the rest of it. 

All we have is guesswork and hope. Have they sold Wharton in the expectation that the investigation will be over in the summer? Why do I get the feeling that the club is very close to going under?

Why are they even keeping us? It's it something to do with cooking the books? Surely they don't think they can make a success of the club? So what's the motivation? Petty mindedness because of a snowball?

What if the next hearing gets postponed? What if the investigation goes on for another five years? We don't have enough players to sell?

If the investigation ends will they still be under a cloud and unable to find signings because it might trigger another investigation?

Does it even matter what the judge decides at the next hearing, had too much damage already been done?

We're just being left on tenterhooks all the time. I'm exhausted with it

[tomphil]

I reckon they just leave all this stuff up to their finance men and tell them sort it, find a way however or else you'll be locked in a basement and cattle prodded.

Finance men have no idea about anything other than crunching numbers so don't understand for one min about football and how you really need to invest in it.  Then imagine them dealing with people this side at the club who have no idea about finance - and in some cases football - and these are the results of all that we have to accept.

Clownshows on both sides.

 

[alex l]

For those interested, Nick Harris of Sporting Intel has provided this response to a question I put to him re the ownership and how they may exit. Recommend signing up to his newsletter/substack even at the free level, which is what this is from.

Agent of chaos: why the Venkys might not be the real bad guys in Blackburn Alex writes: As a Blackburn fan, it's fair to say the discontent with the owners is growing again. You covered the Venkys quite a bit previously but is there much which didn't make the public domain? And how do you see their ownership being resolved i.e. are they likely to sell or would it be administration or some other means that sees them leave the club? Several other Blackburn fans asked similar questions, including Alan Sheppard: Came here [to last week’s mailbag request page] with a similar question. Especially with the new rules about moving money out of India that seem to have caused cash flow problems at the club. NH: Thanks both. To start, there is a vast archive on Sporting Intelligence of Blackburn material from 2010 and 2011. I went to India for a week to meet the Rao family and look at how rich they really were (really rich) and find out what their motives were. I spent a lot of time with them and in contact with them through 2011 especially. Alex asks about information not in the public domain but I wrote about pretty much all the dodgy stuff as it happened, and by dodgy stuff I don’t mean by the Rao family, but principally by the agent Jerome Anderson, who orchestrated the deal to sell them the club in the first place without making it clear either to Blackburn’s board at the time, or to the Rao family, that he was acting for both of them without telling the other, for a commission at both ends. His aim was to persuade Blackburn to then let his company run the club on their behalf, and import players from all sorts of strange places to give them a world stage in the Premier League (with him as their agent) and then sell them on for profit (for him). Anderson did indeed get such a management contract, allowing him to fire and hire managers and buy players, among other things. the matriarch of the Venky’s clan, Mrs Rao, was naive and massively badly advised, but wasn’t corrupt and had good intentions for the club He fired Sam Allardyce, hired Steve Kean (a client of his management stable) and started recruiting players, often with massive agent’s fees for associates of his. As far as I could judge, the matriarch of the Venky’s clan, Mrs Rao, was naive and massively badly advised, but wasn’t corrupt and had good intentions for the club. The Rao family remain owners and have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on Blackburn since 2011 because, I feel, they do not want to fail. They still think they can get the club back to the Premier League one day. At this point, it’s unlikely that they will receive an offer for the club that would recover a substantial amount of the money they have spent – but if they did, I think they would probably sell. More likely, they will do whatever they realistically can to keep the club out of administration – a scenario in which they would lose control completely. As for currency export issues, these have been happening since late 2011. Remember when there were fears that not having enough money in the club’s bank account at the Blackburn branch might lead to wages not being paid? That was due to currency export issues. One of the moves they made to get out of that one was selling Chris Samba to Anzhi in Russia in early 2012. I will try to look again at the whole situation soon – and if I find anything concrete to report, I’ll write about it here.

[Mattyblue]

So what are they doing on and off the pitch to get us ‘back to the Premier League one day’?

As from where I’m looking we are as far away as ever and the only way we are getting out of this league is in the wrong direction…

[alex l]

Well on one hand a DoF was employed who appointed a coach who has brought an attacking, exciting style of play, with mixed results. The DoF has also been much more proactive in getting players on longer contracts, so players don't keep walking away on a free. Theoretically this provides greater financial stability. 

On the other hand, as we're all aware, finances have been tightened and the promise of last season has pretty much all been eroded.

[Mattyblue]

Exactly, there is always another crisis, another temporary issue, another excuse.

13 years and we a million miles from the PL.

Edited February 2 by Mattyblue

[tomphil]

Samba was another one i got dogs for from a few for saying he was flogged in a ropey deal AFTER the window had closed so Barclays could be squared off.

Never itk it was just bleeding obvious at the time and sometimes 2+2 on the conspiracy table does actually make 4. 

A club in debt nearly going bust as its bank threatens a rit then selling a player to a dodgy Russian club owned by a dodgy guy and likely receiving all or most of the 12 mill at once ?  All brokered by a 'super agent',  nothing to see there eh, where the hell are the authorities on that one!

As for the owners well problems moving currency since 2011 yet here we are in 2024 and the problems have come to a head. In between times we've nearly gone bust several times. Had to have fire sales that lead to relegation, not invested in players when promotion is almost a dead cert, sold the training ground and a whole host of other issues.

What have they done about the currency problem in 13 years ?

NOTHING, just gone around in circles lurching from one mess to another and if anyone out there thinks the next 13 years will be any different you have a hole in your heads i can drive a truck through.

 

[Tom]

For what it’s worth I think Nick Harris remains the best bet to getting the full story told one day especially now he’s gone freelance 

[RoversClitheroe]

2 hours ago, alex l said:

For those interested, Nick Harris of Sporting Intel has provided this response to a question I put to him re the ownership and how they may exit. Recommend signing up to his newsletter/substack even at the free level, which is what this is from.

Agent of chaos: why the Venkys might not be the real bad guys in Blackburn Alex writes: As a Blackburn fan, it's fair to say the discontent with the owners is growing again. You covered the Venkys quite a bit previously but is there much which didn't make the public domain? And how do you see their ownership being resolved i.e. are they likely to sell or would it be administration or some other means that sees them leave the club? Several other Blackburn fans asked similar questions, including Alan Sheppard: Came here [to last week’s mailbag request page] with a similar question. Especially with the new rules about moving money out of India that seem to have caused cash flow problems at the club. NH: Thanks both. To start, there is a vast archive on Sporting Intelligence of Blackburn material from 2010 and 2011. I went to India for a week to meet the Rao family and look at how rich they really were (really rich) and find out what their motives were. I spent a lot of time with them and in contact with them through 2011 especially. Alex asks about information not in the public domain but I wrote about pretty much all the dodgy stuff as it happened, and by dodgy stuff I don’t mean by the Rao family, but principally by the agent Jerome Anderson, who orchestrated the deal to sell them the club in the first place without making it clear either to Blackburn’s board at the time, or to the Rao family, that he was acting for both of them without telling the other, for a commission at both ends. His aim was to persuade Blackburn to then let his company run the club on their behalf, and import players from all sorts of strange places to give them a world stage in the Premier League (with him as their agent) and then sell them on for profit (for him). Anderson did indeed get such a management contract, allowing him to fire and hire managers and buy players, among other things. the matriarch of the Venky’s clan, Mrs Rao, was naive and massively badly advised, but wasn’t corrupt and had good intentions for the club He fired Sam Allardyce, hired Steve Kean (a client of his management stable) and started recruiting players, often with massive agent’s fees for associates of his. As far as I could judge, the matriarch of the Venky’s clan, Mrs Rao, was naive and massively badly advised, but wasn’t corrupt and had good intentions for the club. The Rao family remain owners and have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on Blackburn since 2011 because, I feel, they do not want to fail. They still think they can get the club back to the Premier League one day. At this point, it’s unlikely that they will receive an offer for the club that would recover a substantial amount of the money they have spent – but if they did, I think they would probably sell. More likely, they will do whatever they realistically can to keep the club out of administration – a scenario in which they would lose control completely. As for currency export issues, these have been happening since late 2011. Remember when there were fears that not having enough money in the club’s bank account at the Blackburn branch might lead to wages not being paid? That was due to currency export issues. One of the moves they made to get out of that one was selling Chris Samba to Anzhi in Russia in early 2012. I will try to look again at the whole situation soon – and if I find anything concrete to report, I’ll write about it here.

That's an absolute nothing answer?

And what have they actually done to get us back to the premier league?

It's a load of bollocks.

[Upside Down]

2 hours ago, alex l said:

For those interested, Nick Harris of Sporting Intel has provided this response to a question I put to him re the ownership and how they may exit. Recommend signing up to his newsletter/substack even at the free level, which is what this is from.

Agent of chaos: why the Venkys might not be the real bad guys in Blackburn Alex writes: As a Blackburn fan, it's fair to say the discontent with the owners is growing again. You covered the Venkys quite a bit previously but is there much which didn't make the public domain? And how do you see their ownership being resolved i.e. are they likely to sell or would it be administration or some other means that sees them leave the club? Several other Blackburn fans asked similar questions, including Alan Sheppard: Came here [to last week’s mailbag request page] with a similar question. Especially with the new rules about moving money out of India that seem to have caused cash flow problems at the club. NH: Thanks both. To start, there is a vast archive on Sporting Intelligence of Blackburn material from 2010 and 2011. I went to India for a week to meet the Rao family and look at how rich they really were (really rich) and find out what their motives were. I spent a lot of time with them and in contact with them through 2011 especially. Alex asks about information not in the public domain but I wrote about pretty much all the dodgy stuff as it happened, and by dodgy stuff I don’t mean by the Rao family, but principally by the agent Jerome Anderson, who orchestrated the deal to sell them the club in the first place without making it clear either to Blackburn’s board at the time, or to the Rao family, that he was acting for both of them without telling the other, for a commission at both ends. His aim was to persuade Blackburn to then let his company run the club on their behalf, and import players from all sorts of strange places to give them a world stage in the Premier League (with him as their agent) and then sell them on for profit (for him). Anderson did indeed get such a management contract, allowing him to fire and hire managers and buy players, among other things. the matriarch of the Venky’s clan, Mrs Rao, was naive and massively badly advised, but wasn’t corrupt and had good intentions for the club He fired Sam Allardyce, hired Steve Kean (a client of his management stable) and started recruiting players, often with massive agent’s fees for associates of his. As far as I could judge, the matriarch of the Venky’s clan, Mrs Rao, was naive and massively badly advised, but wasn’t corrupt and had good intentions for the club. The Rao family remain owners and have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on Blackburn since 2011 because, I feel, they do not want to fail. They still think they can get the club back to the Premier League one day. At this point, it’s unlikely that they will receive an offer for the club that would recover a substantial amount of the money they have spent – but if they did, I think they would probably sell. More likely, they will do whatever they realistically can to keep the club out of administration – a scenario in which they would lose control completely. As for currency export issues, these have been happening since late 2011. Remember when there were fears that not having enough money in the club’s bank account at the Blackburn branch might lead to wages not being paid? That was due to currency export issues. One of the moves they made to get out of that one was selling Chris Samba to Anzhi in Russia in early 2012. I will try to look again at the whole situation soon – and if I find anything concrete to report, I’ll write about it here.

All of that is ancient history and nothing we don't already know.

What have they done in the 12 years since?

Why is it that every single time they involve themselves in the club's business it is to our detriment?

Just repeating the same bullshit "badly advised" argument. That has never washed with me and never will. They've had over a decade to right those wrongs and have done absolutely nothing.

This January transfer window is as low a point in the club's history as when they appointed that bald cunt as manager.

I am praying for the day the club goes into administration as it will finally be the end of the venky virus.

The club under venkys is nothing other than a total disaster, a disgrace and a source of constant embarrassment for those of us who truly bleed blue and white.

[Bronzed A Donis]

2 hours ago, alex l said:

More likely, they will do whatever they realistically can to keep the club out of administration – a scenario in which they would lose control completely.

Firstly,  thanks for asking the question and posting the response. I always thought Nick Harris was on "our" side from the outset when most the media were against us.

Unfortunately the above quoted is what we've been reduced too. £200m+ and only 1 extra relegation to show for it, loss of a training ground and 10k less season ticket holders where now success is defined as avoiding going belly up so that they don't lose control.

What's mad is you see all the millions/billions spent by owners in the Prem where teams are top 6/top 10 and have some world class players,  cup finals and you hear media and other fans empathising on money wasted and not run well enough. Yet here £200+ down the drain and £20 million losses every year, despite having cuts everywhere we can is met with, "what else do you want"

Whether they were or are well intentioned is immaterial , we lose money hand over fist, the football club has less assets. They are not fit to run the club, even their best efforts (allegedly) in appointing a DOF , giving Academy players a chance , employing JDT, they completely undermine through their current and historical actions.

[broadsword]

"I feel, they do not want to fail. They still think they can get the club back to the Premier League one day."

 

pardon my french, but fuck me, what would it look like if they wanted to fail?

[tomphil]

How much of the Brenford model have the last 2 windows resembled ?

or

How much of the later Bowyer/Lambert and early Coyle period have they resembled ?

[ABBEY]

talking of parasite agents , that ennis deal sounds like agents getting some chunk . How else do you explain someone  paying 500 k for ennis ?

[Rogerb]

14 minutes ago, ABBEY said:

talking of parasite agents , that ennis deal sounds like agents getting some chunk . How else do you explain someone  paying 500 k for ennis ?

See my post on Ennis thread

[RoversClitheroe]

https://m.facebook.com/groups/134875663886441/permalink/1360527637987898/

If anyone wants to upskill the FB lot.

[Mars Rover]

6 hours ago, broadsword said:

"I feel, they do not want to fail. They still think they can get the club back to the Premier League one day."

 

pardon my french, but fuck me, what would it look like if they wanted to fail?

They'd probably fuck that up, too, and get promoted.

[DE.]

I could sit my 6 year old niece in front of a Year 11 GCSE paper and she wouldn't want to fail, but neither would she have the knowledge to answer any of the questions. With that said I'd expect by the time 13 years had passed she'd be able to handle it comfortably.

With that said, with Venky's it'd be more like plonking my dog in front of the paper and watching as it got eaten. 

[Mike E]

40 minutes ago, DE. said:

I could sit my 6 year old niece in front of a Year 11 GCSE paper and she wouldn't want to fail, but neither would she have the knowledge to answer any of the questions. With that said I'd expect by the time 13 years had passed she'd be able to handle it comfortably.

With that said, with Venky's it'd be more like plonking my dog in front of the paper and watching as it got eaten. 

And then employing endless children to piece it back into a coherent document.

[Upside Down]

1 hour ago, DE. said:

I could sit my 6 year old niece in front of a Year 11 GCSE paper and she wouldn't want to fail, but neither would she have the knowledge to answer any of the questions. With that said I'd expect by the time 13 years had passed she'd be able to handle it comfortably.

With that said, with Venky's it'd be more like plonking my dog in front of the paper and watching as it got eaten. 

They aren't that intelligent. Don't be so disrespectful to your dog.

[levi]

4 hours ago, RoversClitheroe said:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/134875663886441/permalink/1360527637987898/

If anyone wants to upskill the FB lot.

That's the first i've heard of that facebook site

 

I've joined and i honestly can't believe how many people are on the side of venky's...the mind boggles

[RoversClitheroe]

2 hours ago, levi said:

That's the first i've heard of that facebook site

 

I've joined and i honestly can't believe how many people are on the side of venky's...the mind boggles

Tried my best.

Doesn't help when old uneducated men try to intimidate me for being anonymous? Very weird lot.

Gave up after a while with them.

[Upside Down]

17 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Tried my best.

Doesn't help when old uneducated men try to intimidate me for being anonymous? Very weird lot.

Gave up after a while with them.

Epsilons.

[RoverDom]

6 hours ago, RoversClitheroe said:

https://m.facebook.com/groups/134875663886441/permalink/1360527637987898/

If anyone wants to upskill the FB lot.

Is it bad I don't know the answers to the questions to get in?