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Pocketing Expenses
The Birmingham Mail today led with a front page story about Peter Pannu taking £430,000 expenses from Birmingham City in the accounts released last week. There has been some understandable anger and Pannu has seemingly reacted badly to questions about his remuneration.
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going” sang Billy Ocean in the eighties. In Pannu’s case, he’s gone all the way to Hong Kong and has now bunkered down after an onslaught of questions from the local media about his pay package from Blues. Tom Ross has been tweeting over the last couple of days about the questions he has put to Blues’ “acting chairman” whilst the Mail have spent the last two days solid putting questions to Pannu via email to try to build a clearer picture of what is happening.
The Birmingham City Football Club accounts show “Directors’ emoluments” of £687,611 from the previous year, of which £687,611 was paid to one director. This means that a single director of BCFC’s total pay package was £687,611 for the year ending June 2012.
We know that this pay package went to Mr Pannu as he confirmed that he was paid £250,000 gross (circa £125,000) net by the club for his role. However, it’s the remaining £430,000 that is the interesting bit. Mr Pannu told the Birmingham Mail that these were “pocket expenses”, chiefly for funding his team of assistants’ wages when in Birmingham and working for him, and travel to and from Hong Kong.
I find this explanation bizarre in the least. I’d like to know why Birmingham City are paying the wages of his assistants via Mr Pannu’s salary rather than being paid direct – it seems an odd way of doing things. I can understand that whilst Mr Pannu is in Birmingham he requires a place to live, a car and that sort of thing and I’d fully expect him to receive benefits in kind of that nature because of the position he is in. However, to received £430,000 in benefits in kind seems excessive.
Having spoken to an accountant, I’ve been reassured that these are not business expenses. Receipted business expenses would be accounted for elsewhere in the accounts as there are different tax rules for them. Expenses which are not purely business-related are taxable and are included as benefits in kind. What concerns me – and is a question I’d like to put to Mr Pannu – is that the club may be paying excessively for his spending. For example, if Mr Pannu handed in a credit card bill and asked for it to be paid without receipts then it would have to be paid as a benefit in kind, with the club paying PAYE and National Insurance contributions on top. Thus an expense of £500 would actually cost the club closer to £1000. I’d like some sort of reassurance from Mr Pannu that isn’t the case.
I think the thing that Mr Pannu doesn’t understand is that if Birmingham City were flying high in the Premier League – or even if we were just in a situation where the club wasn’t hurting for cash then whilst I think there would be some grumbles most people would accept it. For example, in the relegation season whilst the football club paid out 80k in directors’ emoluments the UK parent Birmingham City PLC paid out £729k to directors, including £383,000 in benefits in kind – which passed without much comment.
Secondly, and again I don’t think Mr Pannu understands this is that people are confused as to who he is employed by. He receives a wage from BCFC but does he also receive a wage from BIH as an executive director, chief executive officer and managing director? Admittedly, he only was appointed to that role in recent times but the announcement made clear that he had a consultancy role with BIH via his company Asia Rays Ltd – was he being paid by them too via that?
Thirdly the parent company Birmingham City PLC’s accounts have not been released and are overdue. I’d be intrigued to see if the total directors’ emoluments in those are the same as they are for the club – and if not, I’d want to know who was being paid by the holding company.
Mr Pannu has complained about media pressure from the Birmingham Mail and Tom Ross because of the questions over the last few days. It appears that once the questioning becomes anything he might be remotely uncomfortable with that he shuts the door and bunkers down, blaming anyone and everyone for the club’s financial misfortunes. To blame the fans for a deal not going through is incredible; to imply that it’s his management that has kept the club solvent is just shocking.
Mr Pannu – if you think this is media pressure and this is hatred from the fans, all I can say from past experience is that you’ve not seen anything yet. I personally wouldn’t like a situation whereby it’s the fans versus the board and I don’t think it necessarily has to come to that. Rather than hide in Hong Kong the time has come to face up to what is happening and to prove that like L’Oreal, you are worth it.
Tags: Peter Pannu
95 Responses to “Pocketing Expenses”
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Brilliant article and one I totally agree with.
Hello Thongs too
Most Blues fans have been voicing their concerns and doubts about Peter Pannu, it’s taken almajir a little while, to come round to our way of thinking !
Totally agree almajir.
Even PP’s most ardent supporters ( I have been ‘impressed’ at times with some of his decisions in the past myself ), will have to agree that his comments in connection with the amount of £430k being questioned, are totally wrong and un-called for.
To think that a party pulled out of negotiatons due to the “fans’ response to the club and board”, is totally unjustified and does not do much for his credence. The decision by this group pulling out had nothing to do with the accounts, BIH being w****red, CY facing a serious criminal trial etc.??
The amount of £430k represents about 10 staff spending £43k each on flights, accommodation, sustenance etc., each per year. Impossible. PP has called for transparency himself in the past so we shall see if he is willing to practice this mantra himself. Will he f***.
Just when we thought it could not seem anymore surreal…
does everyone recall that the gold brothers and sulliivan were paying themsleves 500 k each per annum
The Gold’s and Sully ran a very successful business and because of this, they earned a decent wage. I see nothing wrong with that.
When the club is on it’s arse, it’s a very different thing to take that sort of money out especially if the club is in it’s arse because of you and your group!
If what PP is saying is true he must be able to support the £430k with receipts otherwise how did he arrive at this amount.?
The paper trail always leads to the truth.
Thank You! Very well written. (as usual) I agree with you it’s time for Mr.Pannu to stop hiding and prove that he is worth what he’s apperntly being paid.
And of course tha fans of Birmingham City Football Club is the clubs greatest assets so I do hope that Mr.Pannu is aware of that. And that he prove that to us as well.
As always, acting speaks louder than words.
I have worked for a company that went from one of the world’s greatest to insolvency. Once reality hit, the expenses policy was pulled and all extravagence was eliminated or so they told us. Turned out the CEO was commuting from New York to Toronto in the executive jet, execs were blowing 50 grand a time at NFL matches and the books were being cooked to award huge exec bonuses. Workers walked away with what looks like next to nothing, execs walked into their new CXX roles with multi million dollar pay offs. He who holds the purse divis the spoils. Thats how it works! KRO.
And people claimed no money was leaving the club for Hong Kong?
In my opinion Pannu won’t show his face in Brum again
Next time he is in UK will be to sign us over to administrators once anyone or anything worth any value is sold.
Am quite looking forward to a trip to Yeovil next season, back to the good old bad days.
But it’s not the 25million some people are still claiming is it?
Are your eyes open now?
Paying a director an overinflated expense account does not equate to HK siphoning money off from the club.
Whatever it equates to it’s daylight robbery of our club
it might if it was helping Yeung’s court fight.
he said he had struggled to get his defence together because his income was frozen and needed more time.
well maybe one scenario might be that more time was needed to build up the amounts from the uk month by month?
It wasn’t though.
This discovery can open a bag of worms IMHO.
Can we be assured that the salary of Zigic is going exclusively to Zigic ???
A semi professional club who shall remain nameless found out that sums of money allegedly paid to a a player included payments to the manager.
This is strictly irregular but would explain the high salary of Zigic seemingly way over any other player & signed off by one person with no regard for a relegation scenario.
I agree, obviously got no proof but just got a gut feeling this is the tip of the iceberg, when/if it all comes out we will see some very creative accounting.
is anyone else thinking this may be being diverted to a certain other person who shall remain nameless
kro
Until such time that PP sheds some light on the ‘expenses’; rumours, innuendo and downright conspiracies shall reign.
Fair play mayor a great article again,it’s about time mr pannu stopped acting the usual tough guy and came to his senses,he should come back to face the music if he’s big enough as the net is definalty starting to close in on him as he bundles from one cock up to another,and if you are looking in pannu then mayor is right “you ain’t seen nothing yet” because if you carry on the way your going you won’t have nothing to sell down there if you get “my drift”as no one will want to be associated with us,which leaves you in a right mess doesn’t it??mr pannu and Carson yeung you are the cancers of our great club and your time is up.once our national papers start picking up on things they are like a dog with a bone and won’t let go of you until they get there result…I’ve said this for the last 18 months now that it will end in tears down there and the police being called in,it happened with wheldon,kumars,and the Brady bunch as it will happen with you if there is not a line drawn under this saga very quickly and common sense does not prevail mr pannu..beware of the wounded tiger.
Just a word for Tatts really. Hes been bashed from pillar to post lately about not confronting Pannu, (so has Tom Ross) and whether its right or wrong i can understand why. However you can see the tables slowly starting to turn now, the main and ross both understand that the people need answers and they are coming to a cross roads where they can no longer remain impartial because it is becoming very one sided in the fans favour. I’ve been happy to read over the last few days, along with this blog an increase in pressure on Mr Pannu. Ive never really had any thoughts on him in the past, im all for employees of a company getting a high wage, if it can be justified. However if a company is in a situation whereby it is having to sell its prize assets to remain as a going concern then i think that rules out any sort of justification. With regards to Mr Pannu, im afraid you lost me in the Tom Ross interview and with what was reported in the mail. That you would do anything to keep this club afloat and your not afraid to upset people, well maybe you need to be reminded because as i understand, it was the party you represent that put this club in the financial position it now finds itself in. of course i maybe wrong. KRO!
Not by me.
People haven’t seen what goes on behind the scenes – believe me I know for a fact when I say there is much more that has gone on than you have seen.
Agreed. I privately have been guilty of being critical but in hindsight if tatts and tom had gone both barrels straight away Pannu’s just going to clam up, as we will probably see now. I can only begin to imagine whats going on there, i’ve heard bits and pieces through a couple of people but haven’t we all. One way or another it all has to come to a head soon there isn’t going to be any winners, its now just a race between who spills first between the media and Pannu. KRO
Is there no way that the football league or FA could get involved? Are they aware of what is happening to our club? It seems bizarre to me that when a prospective buyer emerges to buy a club, there is a fit and proper persons test carried out, but once ownership changes hands any further board room dealings are ignored. I, like many other fans, feel totally helpless at the moment.
I doubt that they’re interested, they tend to be very laissez-faire
At last the penny drops.
I’ve been on about these frequent trips to HK for years now. Why is there a constant need for him to be in HK? Looking for investment? What do investors come knocking on your door in HK then? Is it something to do with tax being linked to residential time? I actually don’t know what PP does? He’s never here? i thought we paid him to run the club but the people doing that job are probably on peanuts.
Also the fans have got to do something now, gods sake we were ripping down goalposts for far less (not that I condone that)
Step up the Trust. Lead us in our hour of need.
Here’s a thought
The national media are beggining to pick on this, at last (e.g. Guardian, talksport). i.e. this is now finally being deemed newsworthy, and that was before PP “explained” (ha!) the £700K, blamed the fans for the collpase of a possibly ficticious takeover prior to Foxtrot Oscaring back to Honkers.
As has been said on here a zillion times, you just couldn’t make it up…….and therefore media interest may well be sustained.
So, the question is can we, the fans, make some capital out of this and use it to bring some pressure. Well I think we can. …
But bedsheets and sing songs or stone throwing in the car park are no good – makes us look like mindless eejits and won’t get reported cos it’s not original.
We need to use the Leeds game to do something different to rgeister our disatisfaction. It needs to be original, planned and announced to the media. It needs to be something everyone in the ground can and will do. Ideally jointly arranged by the Trust and OP
It’s purpose will be clear, and 2 fold
1. to highlight and further raise awareness of what’s going on
2. To demostrate to potential buyers that we are united, loyal, passionate and ABOVE ALL reasonable.
NO idea what we should do though….!!!
All wear Peter Pan masks ???
I’m sure somebody can think of something better…..
Wave wallets like Pannu did at us in Maderia
Brilliant. Wallett waving, perfect. accompanied by a round of “where’s the money gone”. (i’m tempoted to suggest we do it every time Zigic touches the ball but that would be childish…)
Dan – would you support organising this (perhaps by posting a short article) if the Trust agreed to do likewise?
Can i ask you again 2 days later al hurley, would you still like to keep him on now in any takeover?? If your answer is still yes fink ur the only 1 pal!
He’s made his position untenable on an ongoing basis by his words and actions over the last few days. Shame.
How about a minute of slow clapping at a certain time in the game?
I think that would sound brilliant
Just clapping no singing
Preferably next time we’re on the box
Never seen or heard this done before
It would have to be a certain minute in the game that has significance. The same idea as the Club Brugge applause.
18th minute then the 75th minute? 1875?
Or just turn our backs on him & do a Brummie version of the “Poznan”..called the “Pannu”…
These are all great ideas.
18th and 75th minute we all turn our backs, and wave our walletts.
let’s make sure on 17 amd 74 minutes we start a loud rendtion of KRO, which has to stop abrubtly at the start of the 18th and 75th minutes.
Ever heard of a musical called “Oh What A Lovely War”,,,,,,seeing as how “Precious Peter” is blaming the fans for everything,,,,,instead of We Dont Care About being sung,,,,,how about one of the main songs from that show,,,,,,Just to let “PreciousPeter” know our tru feelings ,,, “We Dont Want To Lose You,,,,,,But We Think You Ought To GO”
A few years ago Palaca fans had a sit in at Selhurst after a game as the catering staff had said they would stop serving Bovril. The catering manager came out and came on the PA to say they would reverse the decision. Fan power!
This is a million times more severe!
I vote after Leeds we all peacefully invade the pitch (going nowhere the Leeds fans) and refuse the leave the pitch until addressed by PP or a fellow director.
Whilst I admire the sentiment, who do you expect to address you?
Carson is in HK. So is Peter Pannu. It might be too late on a school night for Ryan Yeung. Who’s left?
Paul,
Are you suggesting we raise banners at the next home match?
.
.
bed sheets????
Lets go to Stans dressed as convicts with perhaps paper-macke balls and chains – to reflect the fact the whole club is being held hostabge by these Hong Kong jokers. Try and get the UK Media to support it which they will (anybody remember “Fans United” at Brighton a few years back. Perhaps we could even get the HK Media interested and aware, would that be a slap in the face to all associated with BIH (past and present) if the protest was shown on Hong Kong TV (you know how they hate losing face….)
Almajir, you are correct. I do my husbands business accounts and business expenses are recorded elsewhere- along with receipts or proof it is indeed for business use.
It equates to nearly £36,000 a month! It’s an utter pee taker and someone connected to the club has to look into it. Just as the Xtep deal really needs seriously investigating, because things just don’t add up.
I cannot see Pannu answering any of your questions directly, he’ll just keep his mouth shut or blame someone else, like we see him do all too often, to avoid a direct answer.
We really need the BIHL accounts published- I think they hold a lot of answers, but can’t see them released before they go bust. I think they will keep announcing a date and put them back again a couple of days before.
Pannu should ask Hui and Wong where the money is and ask Xtep for a refund as they didn’t succeed on promoting us in china. If something is faulty or doesn’t work properly, you are entitled to a full refund and that’s what Xtep should be giving to blues.
There are some serious questions to be asked all round, but as unless you’re on the inside you’ll never know.
How are they allowed to get away with it all?
Apparently, we play football ocassionally………
As most of you will know I have stuck up for Mr Pannu in the past (note I use the phrase “stuck up for” rather than “supported”). I try and be fair minded and see both sides and I still believe that its fair to say he has done a good job in very difficult circumstances to keep us solvent. And he’s right to say that CY’s situation and dwindling gates are compounding the situation.
However, even I think he’s gone too far this time in 2 regards
1. Buggering off back to HK in the midst of the expenses scandal without properly explaining it
2. Blaming the supporters for the breakdown of the takeover
In terms of rank stupidity, it’s hard to see how his handling of this situation could be surpassed. This is up there with Gerald Ratner telling everyone his jewwllery was “crap” and other such infamous PR disasters. As a consequence anyone who was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt (and I’m sure that many many fair minded fans, like me, could see both sides) won’t do so now.
Does it matter ? Well yes it does. I believe that it will cause even more people to stay away from Stans now and, with apols to PCVOR, I think with some justification. Lower gates in turn make us lesss attractive to buyers.
He’s not going to talk himself out of this situation, this has gone too far now. He’s tried to communicate with the fans via the media and ballsed it right up. The best thing Mr Pannu can do now is keep quiet, stay away and sell the club.
Nawty :)
Sorry i’ve stayed away all season because i felt my monies were being taken advantage of, i.e. no matter how much the fans put in and if we had 25000 every week he would still be selling assets
and stalling on selling the club to suit other agenda’s like Yeung’s trial and stalling on BIHL & BCFC accounts and BIHL not trading in HKSE.
The only way out is to force them out and without one simple way of doing this we all have our own idea’s, e.g. not going, singing Yeung song, bedsheets maybe very soon, not buying a season ticket, writing to F.A. or Football League etc.
Admin may be our saviour even if it means relegation as we may go down anyway, or admin around March and 10 point deduction doesn’t happen till next season.
I just can’t see any other way to get rid of them quickly, this could drag on to this time next year and with all the assets sold, i hope not but there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
I hold my hands up Mate I was wrong,,,,,,you were correct.,,,,,,,slight change of subject,,,,,can you remember what it was that Pannu was accused of when serving as a police officer ? and wernt the charges dropped due to the main witness disappering,,,never to be seen again,,,,,,it wasnt corruption was it,,,over inflated expense charges,,,,,it is said Leopards never change their spots [ or fat cats with a persecution complex! ]
Bribery
Dan dyou fancy the CEO job at the Blues?
No ta
Why not?? You can make your salary up!!
Cash Cow is the word that comes to my mind.
Comment edited. Please be careful bandying around accusations
Great Article – Top of your game Dan..
Pannu is a desperate, broken ,incompetent man…& it is all beginning to rapidly slip away from him.
Reducing assets to sell, bungled sale of the club, & administration full speed ahead.
This regime had their pants pulled down by Sullivan & Gold over the price, & have single handedly
managed to to take a Major Trophy Winning, Premiership Football Club to the brink of the third tier of English Football . With two years of inepitude & rank poor governance of the club.
Pannu has also now blamed the arrest of Carson Yeung for the club’s financial problems.
No shit Sherlock…!!
Yet the reason he can’t sell the club is none of the above .. Apparently its the supporters fault .!!
You really can not Polish a Turd……
Is PP really incompetent or is it all just a game and part of the CY masterplan?
CY’s Masterplan….??? – Not going to well at the moment..
But it is most certainly incompetence , they have systematically dismantled their own investment..
they simply do not possess the wit to be anything other..
Yeung has gambled big time and has lost. The master plan was for Blues to be successful and for him to make a ton of money – he didn’t spend £80m to destroy the club.
are we finally getting to truth of the matter good work
No disrespect but the auditors should never have signed this off unless it is monies just paid to PP and they have no clear business link.
Blues are no longer a valid going concern as they have a negative current asset value.
Big question is how BIH funded the loan?
What the intercompany transactions have been in the last 3 years? You can bet there have been loads of ‘expenses’ paid to HK over the years. (some this year in operating expenses?!)
BIH accounts and cash-flow statement is what is needed. Without that we will never know.
100% agree blueboy.
He is fleecing the club who have no money to spend on transfers; I wonder how much the Caddis deal would have cost in the Summer? 430k would have been a large chuck of it.
kro
One big question is why did PP publish the accounts now?
The Cynic in me thinks it is cause he does want to come back when the s**t hits the fan.
There is no way it is cause he wants to be a good director!
If there was nothing to hide and he had the clubs interest at heart he would be here, banging the drum for the blues and explaining his actions – basically the minimum requirement of a Director.
To keep running off to HK seems to be a journey of convenience – a bit of pressure and off he goes, hiding behind the veil of secrecy,ignorance and misguided belief he is doing the best for BCFC and its future.
How much the price of loyalty? A handsomely paid Director blaming his employer smells of desperation and unprofessionalism.
Sums up the current situation really.
Just hope the next owners come back to haunt these people.
Almajir, the effort you put in is amazing and through your diligence the facts are starting to surface and pressure starting to mount from other sources.
Thank You.
I’ve never posted a comment before, but thoroughly enjoy the reliable and frequent updates through this website – so thanks!
I’ve just been discussing our whole situation with our accountant here in my office and she is bemused as much as the fans are! Questions must be raised as to how these figures and accounts were approved by the auditors without full explanation, and that is just the tip of the iceberg!
And for Mr Pannu to then have the audacity to blame the fans for the lack of interest in buying the club. My dad and I have season tickets and have invested heavily in the club for the past 10 years (and appreciate that other fans do much, much more than we do!) – but to then accuse us of putting off buyers is only going to make us question further and demand answers. As has been said, he hasn’t seen anything yet!
I will be a bluenose for life, but I do sometimes wonder where we go from here…
Time to act and ASAP.
We need suggestions and a leader. The wallet is a good one. Just concerned it could affect the team plus there is likely to be more Leeds fans at the game than Blues so it could be drowned out by ‘We are Leeds’
one thing everybodies missing here, potentially
The accounts say that there’s no paperwork covering our loans from CY.
Now i’m no expert but I would have thought that this placed the risk on him, not BCFC. When woolwich lent me my mortgage cash they put an agreement in place with me to make sure they got it back. If CY’s stumped up in good faith with no paperwork to cover his arse, more fool him.
PP has gone down a hell of a lot in the estimation of Blues’ fans, not only for the amount he has drawn from a club which has to sell players to survive, but also for the accusation that he has lost a chance to sell the club on account of being questioned about what is happening to our club. It seems that PP only wants to show any good things he may have achieved and cannot comprehend that we might question something that, on the face of it, looks dodgy.
great article dan, seems like this is gathering pace and petter pan dont like it , well tuff shit mate its long overdue and long may it continue. Us fans want answers and deserve answer, think the timing of the accounts coming out coinciding with Pannu running off to hide in HK AGEN, wit all this going on is a joke. If like he said us fans av scared the last bidder off (never heard nothink so childish in all my life) than wtf are you doing out there? Get back here an face the music, but no that takes a real man of dignity somethink you and your chinese counterparts servly and will always lack. Pressure getting to you Pannu?? good and as dan saId YOU ENT SEEN NOTHINK YET!
I went to B.I.H.L. Offices on the 19th floor of a tower block in Wanchai Hong Kong last week.
I handed in 3 protest letters to PANNU.
I handed them toReceptionist who handed them in to the Office just around a corner.
I’m sure PANNU was there so I asked if he was and if I could see him and I got a blank look.
I waited for 5 minutes or so but no-one appeared.
If say 20 people went in there and beseiged the place it might make the papers and prompt Ross and Danter to plug our cause to get rid of these shysters once for and all.
John – did you get a sense of what was going on? What kind of offices are they? Did it look like the hub of a huge empire or a corner-shop outfit?
well done fella, a great effort, probably didn’t see them because they were probably hiding under their desks!!
It’s all so murky and sinister. I’d be willing to bet that he is indeed pulling two salaries.
My main question is how the hell did he think this was going to go under the radar and not be noticed when the accounts came out? Perhaps he is in denial about his actions having an effect on the finances of the club. Perhaps he feels privileges and therefore above the austerity at the club that everyone else is seeing / feeling.
He is the top dog at the club and you know what they say about power corrupting?
I work in Telecoms and am going to suggest my company use PP’s actvities to advertise our Global VideoConferencing products. Half a mills worth of toing and froing expenses versus a few grand in Videoconferencing call charges???
And we do HD!
First class standard tooing & froing if you don’t mind, plus 6 star hotels and nothing less than 5 star restaurants even if you just want a cup of tea.
Who needs Tatts and Ross when you have Nursey – Tons of new info here (NOT!) http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/andy-goldsteins-sports-bar/130111/nursey-lescott-villa-and-butlands-birmingham-future-189042
Great article! Like Alex, I’ve tended to the view that PP was doing a decent job in trying circumstances; however, he needs to give answers to the many reasonable questions that are now being asked.
Another worrying thing for me is the reported £2m bonus PP will get for the successful completion of the sale of BCFC. What is going to be the source of that sum? BIHL/BCFC?
its about time somebody phoned dominic littlewood because theres a lot of rogue trading taking place here (opinion) :)
I think the geezer off watchdog would be funnier as they always have some comedy sketch (usually in a disguise) of busting them.
“Funding his team of assistants”. How many were there? Also depending how much they were paid ie if it was low enough they would have paid less 40% tax or less. Doesn’t make sense to the naked eye.
great article as usual,
are you able to do a little research and find out how much a hong kong money laundering legal team would cost to hire for 12months?, and if its anywhere in the region of £430,000?, to pick a profession and amount purely at random
Neil
It wasn’t used for that.
CY and PP go back a long time together. I would like to bet that CY is fully approving of the expenses incurred by PP. You can guarantee that this expenditure is linked in some form to the court case, asset freeze and CY’s overall situation.
Great piece of journalism Al, probably your best yet. I am sure we all dream that one day rather than facts full of doom and gloom you will be breaking news of major new signings!!
As soon as the CY affair broke it was curtains for the club IMO, many months ago I posted that there was ever only going to be one outcome, the selling of the family silver followed by admin and the desertion of the culprits out of reach of any justice that may be ness. We all know what is coming we just have to hope that amongst the vultures that will circle at that point there may be someone out there with a genuine interest in reviving us.
The modern world of football clubs.
CY assets frozen, Pannu 430K expenses…..hmmmmm
sounds like the club is being bled dry to literally bail out Yeung, this is going from bad to worse
i think her majesty’s inland revenue need to take a close look at Mr Pannu. I know we are all guilty of fiddling our expenses a little. Only last week I had a BK Flamer that I claimed for which was nothing to do with my job. When I look back now I feel totally ashamed of myself, and I would urge similar reflection by Mr Pannu.
What should concern us now is the next step..there is little appetite for a championship club amongst the money men. Look at Pompey , Barnsley are also in trouble, everyone is looking for a sugar daddy and our gates are hardly brilliant. Im more concerned now than at any time in 45 years of supporting this great club. Administration is not the great escape
Do you know what? I suddenly feel quite sorry for Lee Clark. The guy deserves our praise for putting up with this behind-the-scenes crap and no moaning. Fair play to the guy — let’s give him our support.
Awesome article almajir. Nuff said on that.
I do think however that there is no chance of anyone in HK stepping up and willingly be open and honest to the Birmingham City fans, and that includes PP. The whole HK fiasco, for the length of it unfolding, has shown more and more corruption the deeper it is delved into. Right now, I’m assuming that PP is a lot more than uncomfortable, and is becoming increasingly distant with each wave of pressure.
I honestly hope that our fledgling Blues Trust has the weight behind it for recognition, should we ever be rid of CY, BIHL and namely PP, when we have new owners. I’m positive we will, at some point, but the paying fans need recognition from the word go.
Meanwhile, let’s see what happens right now, because if it wasn’t for your investigative journalism determination almajir ..there would have been no story worth selling a paper for.
I’m surprised PP pays UK tax on the £250k ‘salary’ part of his remuneration given he is so seldom in the UK
Agree, he says his paid all the tax, does he mean on the £680k @ 50% rate when the tax may only be 22% for his ‘assistants’, depending on how much they earn’t.
The question to ask is, should his assistant’s be working in the UK.
Did they have the correct visa’s to work in the UK or were they just on a ‘holiday visa’?
Were they or Pannu breaking the law by working / employing foriegners to work here illegally.
Does Pannu keep going to HK to avoid paying UK tax?
Do the assistants call it a wage and be able to claim allowances against tax in HK, rather than it being expenses in the uk to which vat would be payable in UK and not tax deductable in HK?
why is it that people think our precious club is some sort of cash cow when it had no money seriously. loving the piece in the mail about zigic turning down offers cus hes too comfortable here and has a contract manu would be proud of ha and now pannu. maybe we could bribe him to sell the club faster. kro
Interesting that Butland and Zigic do not appear to want to leave the club. Bizarrely, the players (particularly Zigic) could end up saving the club from this mess. If they refuse to go this January, surely Pannu will be forced to sell the club at any price he can get and very quickly in order to avoid administration and Yeung losing his money….
Would be great if all the players did refuse to move on as it would force pannu’s hand to either sell or go into admin.
Yes some players will too cheap if we went into admin, but they may go for a low price anyway after pannu’s statement last week about his desperation to sell.
Wether Pannu is paid in any form by BIH is actually irrelevant, what matters is his contribution to the entities he is a director of. It’s to be expected anyone that is a director of a company should be rewarded by that entity.
My fear is the lack of distinction between BCFC and BIH – I worry his interests are the parents while the expenses are paid by the subsidiary.
I’d like to see the 6% non BIH shareholders petition an EGM to vote on the remuneration package for all Directors. I believe in this circumstance those with a direct interest are prevented from voting, and remember we are talking of those with shareholdings in BCFC not BIH.
I’m unsure what is required to petition such and EGM in the UK are but I’m guessing there is someone on here that knows.
[…] Expenses Pt II A week ago, I ran an article on this site with respect to the wages of Acting Chairman of BCFC Peter Pannu. Mr Pannu had been […]