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Expect the Unexpected
July 4 is celebrated as Independence Day by our friends across the pond with fireworks, booze and much over-eating. Here in Birmingham I think a few of us were hoping that the club would be somewhat independent of BIH but alas that has not come about.
Oh God, I hear you groan. It’s more speculation about this “takeover”. I can understand the frustration at the moment – the lack of news is somewhat disappointing and after an initial frenzy due to a three-week period of due diligence nothing has happened. Couple that with the cynicism surrounding the timing of the announcement and season tickets going on sale… and we have a whole can of worms.
One thing I think that we need to give more consideration to when thinking about why it is taking so long isn’t just the complexities of business or the enquiries by the HKSE but the “unknown”. What I mean by that is that BIH don’t seem to be an ordinary company – we’ve seen accounts filed 18 months late, we’ve seen crazy consultancy agreements, corporate infighting – there is often stuff going on behind the scenes that we cannot account for or second guess.
Take the Paladini thing from last year. That went on for a long time; although he came out in the press in October he was negotiating from the spring of 2013 in secret. After he lost patience he talked on air to Tom Ross about how much he wanted to buy the club, he intimated he had flown to HK to speak to BIH without even seeing them – and then Carson responded via the press (and Carson rarely if ever spoke to the media at all) with
“Better ask him first if he has enough money,”
intimating that Paladini didn’t have the cash. Then it came out in the press that Carson had demanded £20,000 just to speak to Paladini – something Carson angrily denied via a club statement. Of course a lot was made of this but this is where the unknown springs up again, because there is a whole other story – one that when it does come out will make people think again about the whole situation.
People make the assumption that the club is penniless and is heading for admin but having seen us signing nine players (albeit on Bosmans) with a tenth to come that would indicate Blues are not completely dead in the water. People assume that BIH is heading into troubled waters but they seem to have continued operating for a while without further loans. Even I’ve made the assumption Carson is out of the game due to him being in chokey but something is going on there – today he’s managed to sort a deal where his house doesn’t get repossessed and he’s paying off the bank. How he’s managed it isn’t mentioned but my guess is that he’s struck a deal with one of the people looking to buy the house and he’s sorted it in his favour – how or what exactly he’s done I don’t want to even consider guessing.
In the end, what I’m trying to say is expect the unexpected. I’ve always said to treat speculation (including anything I say) with scepticism and this is why – there is no way anyone knows the full story outside of maybe Carson and a few people at BIH.
Tags: The Takeover
66 Responses to “Expect the Unexpected”
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Yaaaaaawwnn. Sorry Dan, wake me up when there is something new.
Why don’t you take Yeung Junior down the Witherspoon’s and get him pissed?
Unless I am reading this incorrectly, ?. You seem to intimate that nothing is likely to change in the short, [ Possibly medium ] terms, ?.
Blues [ Thank god ] seem to be managing nicely thank you.
BIH, do not seem unduly worried about the delay in selling us,?.
Hardly managing nicely old blue, we have just lost two international players and replaced them with a bunch of league one players, our inspiration stretches to championship survival.
,We are owned by a bunch of chancers headed by a crook, this is as bad as I can remember
I’m at a total loss to understand why some fans believe we are doing well and ticking along nicely.
No ambition -just complete apathy.
Art, read my reply to Tony,
Survival this season is the most we can hope for. Just praying 2 of the teams that came up are worst than us.
With respect Art, I think the point people are trying to make, is that things could be worse. We’re still in business, we’re not close to administration, we have 9 new players to start the new season (whether you rate them or not) and, unless we are specifically told different, negotiations are still ongoing to sell (at least part) of the club. We could be Portsmouth or Coventry, languishing in League 1 or 2, with no hope of getting out. Yes, things could be a lot worse.
Yes you are right but I wouldn’t describe our position as “ticking along nicely.
Surviving would be more appropriate .
Until we kick off the season the club has done everything possible and within budget to keep us ticking over.
Hopefully LC and his staff can get the team playing well and we start off the season with a decent run of results (Winning would be nice), survival in the league has to be every clubs first priority and we are no different.
We are, it seems, solvent for the foreseeable future and until we hear differently that is all we can hope for.
KRO+DNM
Surviving yes, but surviving in the Championship. That, in itself, is a minor miracle. Other clubs in a similar predicament have dropped through the divisions. We’re still in there fighting and a lot of credit has to go to the people working at St Andrews.
When you take into consideration that up to two minutes before the end before the Season finished a lot of Fans were complaining that we would have no players for next Season, that the club had no money and we would be in Administration or worse come July, I would think that we are actually ‘ticking over’ quite nicely. Not as good as we all want, but far better than most fans expected.
Or Blackpool, who have a squad of eight players.
I think we might see a lot of foreign players winging their way into Bloomfield Road this season. A new overseas manager who can bring in cheaper options from Europe. That will suit the Oyston mandate I would think.
Just as I said a few days ago… this in the footy news today:
Karl Oyston told the club’s official website: “We have made, and are making, formal offers to clubs and players as we speak. We are now trying to get these players over to the UK to finalise things, have a medical and sign contracts.”
Hi tony, I meant, by that remark,, That DESPITE the lack of serious funding from BIH, — we are managing o-k,
I agree with you that it would be B****y nice to be able to afford a couple [ at least ] of quality players.
Yes I take your point.
not much to comment about then? wheres staff when u need him lol
BOO! :)
You lot are miserable sods to Dan – give the guy a break, he’s giving us the news as best he can. Don’t shoot the messenger. Dan — my message to you is to keep up the good work. PS When do I get my hands on your book I stumped up cash for?
Doc – as soon as the printers get off their bums and actually print the damn thing without giving me gip.
Dan, You have my email address. I’m in that game (printing/publishing) and am familiar with many horror stories for jobs printed in China. Depends on the company…some are very good but get a poor one and you will see your quids go down the drain when the books turn up with page 38 next to page 96 – upside down! Let me know what the problem is; I’ll see if I can advise.
Aussie – if i can’t resolve it this weekend I’ll be in touch. My new job has brought me in touch with some people here in the UK too which helps as well.
Righto – I’m here if you need me.
Dan, is the launch date of your book being handled by BIHL as still no confirmation?
Ouch! lol
Printers are being a bloody nightmare, yes they are in China. Not happy about it, been sorting them again this morning. I am sorry about that.
Could be worse daniel lets hope it don’t return in Chinese oops! Then again Carson could read it
To be fair, I think Mr Ivery is just making clear what we already knew, that not a lot is happening. Also, as Oldbluenose says, we seem to be “ticking along nicely,” so, we need to just support the team and let other matters sort themselves out. Whatever happens, we’ll know one way or t’other in the fullness of time.
Staffs;, That was the good news, — Blues are ” ticking along nicely thanks “,
As for any possible ” part-sale ” — Let us not hold our breaths, !!.
Right from the start, I’ve been of the mind that, I’ll believe we’ve been sold when it’s announced officially and the new owners are standing in StAns with Blues scarfs held aloft. Not until.
I expect zero and zero is what expecting from BIHL /BCFC
KRO
I’ll just assume that no bad news is good news!
I agree raymondo…always hope when prospective buyer of blues is quiet. kro
if i read this situation correctly the bidders won the preferred status to give them exclusive access to the books, before negotiating a final price,
but wasn’t a time limit put on this exclusivity, and hasn’t that time period now lapsed?
as for carson’s house, carson was convicted for money laundering,
now, let me think, what group of people in hong kong are involved in that kind of activity ?
don’t suppose ronnie and reggie had a house repossessed either
the bosman signings have cost nothing apart from weekly wages,
and buy your logic, if land rover sacked all the employee’s and re-staffed with agency staff, that would be a well run, viable company ?
god knows what type of crap would come off the production line, and nobody knows what is going to happen on the pitch.
Ian – you didn’t read it correctly.
At no time have BIH confirmed any preferred bidders.
Bosmans are also paid a signing on fee.
Also, your analogy is flawed as you do not know for sure that the quality will be lower – you just assume it will.
But other than that…
I know it’s a long time ago bur didn’t Liverpool sign Kevin Keegan from a lower league club!
Ian Rush, Liverpool signed him from lower league Chester,
A Doncaster lad, they signed him from Scunthorpe.
I’ve always said that BIHL have never confirmed preferred bidders.In fact i think they’ve said that Wray wasn’t the preferred bidder.Some know it alls won’t have it though.
Ian crap comes of the production line now, JLR are bottom of the league for reliability always have been Lets not forget the vast majority are mere production hands not much skill involved at all.
Thats a good insight Dan, and I like the way you have come across non-committal in any speculation.
There have been gossip re-CY still pulling strings, but thats all just gossip, in a way you point to something similar. I don’t think he is likely to just lie down quietly and write everything off.
As for BIHL, that is, as you say, a whole different can of worms, hopefully things are progressing quietly behind closed doors and we shall hear something sooner rather than later.
In the mean time we have a new season to look forward to with a new look team, so the future may not be rosy but it isn’t as black as it first appeared.
KRO+DNM
Don’t worry Chris Carson listens to Andy walker…..lol
Dan. How are you getting on in your new job? Hope they are treating you gently so you have enough time to continue to post regularly.
if this group are not the preferred bidders, why are they looking at the books and doing diligence, when nobody else is allowed access ?
why not let all interested parties look into the finances of the club ?
suppose it must be a hong kong thing, as in the past, when ever i have looked into buying a business, the sales agent can usually provide a basic 3 year profit and loss
as for the team improving, time will tell,
but as a 50 odd year old, i have rarely seen a player from a lower league step up and do a better job than an established pro,
sure you can find the odd one, Ian Wright even DJ campbell spring to mind, but clarke is having to do that with virtually 11 new players..
and i’m expecting the fans to lose support in both clarke and the new players as soon as a few mistakes creep in.
and in my opinion the blame lies elsewhere.
We all know where the problem lies and the players, manager or the supporters have no control over that.
As supporters no matter who wears the royal blue should get the support, hopefully the majority of supporters will give the benefit to such a large influx of new players and will give around 10 games to see how things are going before being too critical. The major fear will be if LC keeps fiddling, swapping and changing or putting round pegs in square holes then the fans will jump on the players instead of LC and the coaching staff.
We need patience and consideration to start with and we also need to be vocal and supportive behind the players.
KRO+DNM
Chris these players are more flexible in different positions, the manager entitled to do as he see fits….its the players up need to come to the plate..just my opinion…….
What i meant Mark was we know the problem lies with BIHL.
I agree these players are flexible and most can play in two or three positions, but most players prefer one position, so lets try and keep them in their comfort zone as much as possible.
Maybe LC was panicking last season to try and beat the demon of our home run.
KRO+DNM
With LC as manager I would be that surprised to see Darren Randolph playing as a lone striker!
I was surprised he didn’t try hi last season when things went belly up at home, he did play there in Preseason in Ireland last season, nearly scored too.
KRO+DNM
At least two other consortia that I know of have looked at the books in the past without having bids accepted, being preferred bidders or having exclusivity.
There is nothing official about exclusivity either – read the official announcement.
It’s nothing to do with it being HK – it’s more to do with people saying stuff that they shouldn’t have.
Also – ref players stepping up – are you saying that it’s impossible for players to improve from a division 3 standard upwards? Surely not… Yes it won’t be easy but you are making assumptions that none of them will.
A report in the BM today reckons we were on the verge of signing James Rodriguez and Radamal Falcao (for £3m-ish each) when they were younger, only to be scuppered by red tape/work permits. Oh, what might have been.
Bet those who gave sully a good old moan at have gone quite now lol
If you mean “gone quiet”, I don’t think they have.
no dan,
i am saying that even a promoted team, without additions will usually struggle in the new division, and that is 11 promoted players who know each others game,
blues will kick off with 11 strangers with a handful of friendly games behind them,
and most will only play 45 minutes of each friendly as clarke tries to find the balance,
my opinion is we are in for a long hard season,
The proof of the pudding is in the eating for god sake …we will all end up self harming if we listen to half o this…for no money we have got in better players mostly than the ones that have left this is a start and a much needed one …it can take a few seasons to get a good run on the prem or two years or less if we get behind the players ….none of us believe that the present owners can bring success money wise or football wise ,and want them out …barring pavlakis happen ,but dont take it out of the people that are doing there best to raise the standard ,,……I am putting a £50 bet on blues for promotion for the next couple of years ..I advise you to do the same kro
I think promotion is a little bit optimistic at the moment WM, but I don’t agree with the views that avoiding relegation will be the best we can hope for… that was last season and we managed it. A top 12 finish is what we should be aiming for this season.If you don’t aim high, what’s the point?
we are still in there fighting but spare a thought for Hereford utd who gave us one of the most memorable cup upsets in football and a cracking goal from Ronnie radford
He sorted a deal on his house well done Carson I bet you couldn’t bet against that happening lol
Why are you congratulating a criminal?
I do agree. Why should a convicted criminal be allowed to keep the proceeds of crime? Would be unjust.
Mark does tend to take the alternative view to the rest of us.
He’s a cretin.
Pity he can’t sort a deal on BCFC.
The question who has he done dealings with, bearing in mind those mentioned during his trial?
KRO+DNM
Expect the unexpected Carson out after two seasons lol
So rodriguez and falcao could have come to brum .but didn’t because of red tape ..I shouldn’t worry blues fans they would have been sold before now .The fa seem to be worrying about some of the worlds most talented young players coming to this country and slowing the progression of our future England young talent …I am afraid the fa are misguided ,the biggest threat to English football is the fact that kids are told to move on by the police if caught playing on the green outside their house now .partly because Mrs smiths second hand merc is parked on the green ,no where else to park ,and also police don’t like gangs to form ..also in many schools football is not allowed in the playground anymore ,now parents have to pay for their kids to play football and travel numerous miles to take them to matches..and their latest football kit costs a fortune ..its all these things that are ruining British football .so I say the fa are wrong ,bring on the ragamuffins of the Brazil backstreets that can kick a ball like Pele .allow those young players in to this country…because we certainly ain’t gonna get many bobby Charlton’s here