Often Partisan

Pannu to HK; it’s not the end of the world

Sometimes you’ve got to feel a bit for Peter Pannu. After Tom Ross revealed on twitter that Pannu was heading back to Hong Kong until September 15th, ostensibly to talk to Carson and BIH directors about money etc, fans got understandably agitated about who would be left behind to mind the shop. With a week left of the transfer window the idea that 17 year old Ryan Yeung is likely to be the only BCFC director left in the UK is kinda worrying. However, it needn’t be so.

I think the fear amongst fans is that there will be no one in the UK to sign off transfers; with the squad looking threadbare the idea that Blues won’t be able to bring in any new faces is understandably quite scary. One of the main problems cited by the previous management at Blues is the communication barrier; with our owner six thousand miles away and six hours ahead of us, there is the feeling that it’s harder to get things dealt with quickly. I know from speaking to the Commercial department back in June that it wasn’t until Blues moved their person dealing with Xtep from HK to the UK that things got easier to sort out with them. Having people far apart, even in the electronic age does make things difficult.

However, what it doesn’t do is make it impossible. As is the case with most high-flying businessmen, Peter Pannu lives on the end of his Blackberry. Anyone who has seen Pannu around BCFC will surely have noticed his phone never strays far from his hand, and of course via that phone he can deal with emails, calls etc. Being six thousand miles away merely means a few quid goes on the bill; I doubt very much Mr Pannu will be spending all of his time away in the bars of Wanchai sipping martinis. I suspect he’s going to be very much still involved in the day to day running of the club.

Furthermore, whilst Pannu has to okay the money side of things, the nitty gritty – ie contracts etc – are handled by BCFC’s very capable Head of Football Administration, Julia Shelton. She will be the one sorting out the necessary paperwork to get clearance from the FA and the Football League, and as such she’s very much the most important part of the process that sorts out transfers for Blues.

Throw in the fact that Blues are able to get loan players from September 8th through to December time, and the transfer deadline isn’t such a big deal at all. Free agents can be signed outside the window also; it’s not like Blues have any money to buy players anyway so the only important bit before September 1 for me is the selling of players – and that most definitely can be handled by phone, fax and email.

In short, it’s probably a good thing Mr Pannu is off to HK. He’s told Tom Ross that he’s going to get answers re the financials of BIH whilst he’s out there, and to seek the latest re Carson’s scheduled court appearance on August 30. As much as people want to criticise Mr Pannu, right now he’s not doing anything wrong. Let’s leave him to get on with his job and see who else Blues can bring in.

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22 Responses to “Pannu to HK; it’s not the end of the world”

  • Sticky Vicky says:

    However, what it doesn’t do is make it impossible. As is the case with most high-flying businessmen, Peter Pannu lives on the end of his Blackberry.

    You call Peter Pannu a high flying business man. Out of curiosity, what other business has Pannu ever run? Is his promotion rather more to do with who you know than what you know?

  • alexjhurley says:

    Agree totally. This is dead simple.

    Blues need money and the most likely source of money = far east. So the main boss goes to far east to get money and handles day to day stuff remotely via phone & email.

    Common sense has prevailed, well done Pannu – priorities 100% right.

  • Brucie says:

    Do you trust Tom Ross to get his facts right? When exactly does Pannu go?

  • old bluenose says:

    Looking at it logically, why would he need to be out there until 15th September. Surely any meetings should be completed in at most 7 days. Maybe he is using his considerable legal influence to aid Carson Young’s case.

  • will says:

    “Throw in the fact that Blues are able to get loan players from September 8th through to December time, and the transfer deadline isn’t such a big deal at all.”

    That’s all well and good, but Hughton doesn’t want to be waiting till December to get himself a settled squad, especially given that we haven’t had the greatest of starts to the season.

  • JD Wilts says:

    The most relevant remark is that ‘its not like Blues have any money to buy players.’ Unfortunately thats all too true so lets not get over excited about buying strikers etc – all we will get are some right time/right place free agents and possibly loans (although with a coice of clubs who would loan to blues at present?). You’re so right – its still all about selling players (Dann,Zigic, Jerome and possibly Ridgewell) and that can be done from HK as well as UK.
    The worrying Q is – where has all the money gone and will it just continue disappearing? We would all like to think that Pannu can give answers on his return but I suspect he won’t.
    All respect to CH – you have taken on one hell of a challenge! KRO

  • W.P. Beds says:

    I doubt very much Mr Pannu will be spending all of his time away in the bars of Wanchai sipping martinis.
    Above comment is laughable.
    Why did PP outside the ground last Thursday respond to the True bluenoses
    who were singing ‘Wheres the money gone’
    repond by taking his wallet out of his pocket and waving it at us.
    Then quickly hightail it into the ground.
    Approx £50 million has been earned from last Feb till now so why
    does the club not explain where it has gone

    • almajir says:

      In the pockets of the players – pure and simple.

    • Letsby Avenue says:

      Extrapolate this:

      £750,000 income for Barry Ferguson to Blackpool
      5 weeks wages Nikola Zigic = £250,000
      Carr, Dann, Ridgewell and Jerome if all on half pay = £250,000

      Then we have the other 14 players to pay, Admin and club staff, manager, coaches, physios.

      One sale has kept us going for 5 weeks.

      We need to keep going for 12 months.

      With Carson Yeung unable to play nor raise money, the club have to generate that income.
      And service debts and loans.

      It might have been feasible if we hadn’t got relegated.

      That’s where the money has gone – keeping Blues in business.

  • Jk1875 says:

    What does Pannu’s bolt for “freedom” mean?

    It means that no money will be spent on buying any players.
    It means that BCFC is no longer a priority for this very rotten and very little cabal.
    It means that ANY offer for ANY player is acceptable.
    It means that the die is cast, let it fall where it will; we are Blues & always will be.

    KRO.

  • emlyn hall says:

    I may get slaughtered for this and already tried to tweet Tom Ross but surprise surprise no reply, but I honestly believe the Chinese really want the best for BCFC. Pannu for me is the brains of the outfit. Yeungs Passion maybe for money in the long run but he has the club to heart, just not much idea on running a club! Fans have been harsh to Pannu as he’s the one in the firing line but he seems to back us to the holt. If somebody can prove to me that this bloke is an idiot and no love for the club I wait for your replies. I just don’t see it. Remember, its not him with the money and we may not have paid a fee for players but we’ve brought 9 in already!

    • almajir says:

      Pannu is a bit of an enigma. The thing is, he’s clearly not a football person, and this is affecting us in our business dealings – and he’s bombastic, and will retaliate to what he sees as people provoking him. On the flip side, I do believe he’s trying to do the best he can for us

    • Cocka says:

      he mocked the fans in madeira by waving money before entering the ground, can anybody try and defend that?

    • Stratty says:

      1) Zigic on 50k per week, no prem experience!
      2) No relegation clauses in any contracts!

      Enough evidence that PP is inept!!

      Also Tom Ross is always going to stick up for a guy that showers him with free tickets and what exactly qualifies Mr Ross to judge whether Pannu is a good businessman or not? It doesn’t matter whether Pannu is a nice guy or not, he is simply out of his depth here.

      If you look at cold hard facts, it is difficult to have any sympathy for Pannu, he takes his money so he takes the flak that goes with making schoolboy errors.

      The only thing Pannu has proven that he is good at is “Mushroom Management”, we as fans are being kept in the dark and are being s**t on!

      Finally, HK is 7 hours ahead.

      KRO & in CH we Trust!

      • almajir says:

        Before you start, you should know that Zigic’s contract wasn’t done by Pannu, but by Michael Dunford. Not all contracts had relegation clauses, but the only two I know that definitely didn’t were both sorted by Dunford.

  • R Smith says:

    Let’s remember one thing, Yeung paid £81 million for the club, it is not in his interest to allow it to fail and his long term plan must be to make us a success.
    As for Pannu he’s an employee, not the mastermind behind Blues business strategy and whatever happens it will not be down to him. Having said that a few lessons in diplomacy and communication skills would improve his standing with me no end.

  • John baiks says:

    Who got agitated

  • Carl says:

    I feel sorry for PP. He’s doing his best to keep the club ticking over and not going into administration – which is a good thing. Yeh, I would like us to buy a great striker but minus 10 points and worse isn’t appealing.

    Why do people continually ask where the money has gone? Surely we all know by now that the holding club had debt in purchasing the club and it needs to keep payments up on the borrowings for this financial black hole thanks to relegation, etc, etc.

    Have we even got the parachute payments yet, does anyone know when the first instalment is paid? There’s no point harping on about parachute payments all summer if we’d already gone into administration by the time we actually receive them! I’m more than happy to rid of players who don’t want to be outside the Prem’ to keep the club going (hey Mr Gardner)

  • Bluenosesol says:

    When PP was interviewed by the media once the news of the CY debacle broke, he was cringingly ill prepared and came across as a man way out of his depth. It is clear that he is avoiding the media and the fans as he either does not know what is going on or worse knows what is going on, but knows that the truth would be too much for the fans to bear. I hear many of our fans who dont just give PP the benefit of the doubt, but insist that even though they haven’t a clue what is on his agenda, that they are convinced he is 100% doing the right thing. I fear it will, but pray it does not all end in tears. If it doesn’t, it will be a bloody miracle!

  • […] with it’s current financial issues. No doubt with Peter Pannu flying out to HK as discussed yesterday, there will be further discussions between the board of BCFC as to how the parent company is going […]


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