- Home
- Birmingham City
- Current Squad
- Adam Legzdins
- Jonathan Grounds
- Paul Robinson
- Ryan Shotton
- Maikel Kieftenbeld
- Robert Tesche
- Stephen Gleeson
- Clayton Donaldson
- Diego Fabbrini
- David Cotterill
- Rhoys Wiggins
- Che Adams
- Lukas Jutkiewicz
- Viv Solomon-Otabor
- Jacques Maghoma
- Greg Stewart
- Jonathan Spector
- David Davis
- Michael Morrison
- Tomasz Kuszczak
- Paul Caddis
- Development Squad
- Academy
- Ladies Team
- Sophie Baggaley
- Alex Windell
- Meaghan Sargeant
- Jess Carter
- Kerys Harrop
- Freda Ayisi
- Kirsty Linnett
- Bella Linden
- Andrine Hegerberg
- Abbey-Leigh Stringer
- Melissa Lawley
- Charlie Wellings
- Chloe Peplow
- Rebecca Lloyd
- Connie Schofield
- Emily Westwood
- Cheryl Edwards
- Corina Schröder
- Ashlee Brown
- Coral-Jade Haines
- Aoife Mannion
- Ann-Katrin Berger
- Out on Loan
- Former Players
- Boards and Advisors
- Appearance Data 2014/2015
- Current Squad
- Factfiles
- Series
- Sponsorship
- Website Info
- Social Media
- Contact Me
Last Resort
With six days left to go in the window and still no major departures the time for Birmingham City to raise some much-needed finance is ever decreasing. There has been talk amongst some of the nationals that Blues have started to waver over their prices for players and one has gone far enough to suggest that Marlon King may be allowed to leave for nothing to save on wages. With player departures bound to cause more anger amongst fans, the question has to be asked – is it worth it?
In his interview prior to leaving these shores, Mr Pannu indicated that sales of players was necessary to ensure that the club had the cashflow to see out the season. This was backed up by comments in the accounts that to ensure the club remained an ongoing concern money was needed from transfers. Therefore it’s reasonable to assume that the club could well head into administration if not enough money comes in, with the attendant problems that would cause.
However, I must profess that I’m starting to wonder if selling off three or four players to keep the wolves from the door is worth it. Selling players isn’t solving the financial problems Blues have – it’s merely putting them off for a little longer. Whilst there are no less than 19 players out of contract by the end of the season which would undoubtedly help the removal of some of the larger amounts from the wage bill Blues also have an £8million drop in turnover to factor in as the parachute payment halves next season – which equates to a wage reduction of £160,000 a week or so alone. This would surely cause problems with bringing in new players and with most saleable assets gone the ways for the club to bring in lump sums of cash would continue to dwindle.
I will confess that administration scares me. It should never be more than a last resort as it takes the business decisions out of the hands of the people running the club and puts them into a professional bean-counter. Judging by what I’ve seen elsewhere administrators tend to be pretty merciless in the way they cut costs and because of the way the football creditor rules work the people who would suffer wouldn’t be the players but the hardworking office staff – not to mention the local companies who would lose out on any debts owed by the club.
That being said I think we’re in last resort territory. The current owners have had 18 months to deal with what to do with the club whilst Carson has had his assets frozen, and have had plenty of time to sell the club properly via a company which specialises in this sort of deal such as Seymour Pierce. It seems evident that it’s just not happened – whilst the only publicly known bid was fronted by Paladini I’ve heard whispers of four or five potential bidders who have been put off from buying the club due to the excessive asking price asked for it, amongst other things.
So the question is – rather than selling off the family silver for brass pennies, why not hold on to what we’ve got and try to utilise them to keep us in this division? If we sell many more players it doesn’t matter if we don’t suffer a 10 point deduction, we will not have a squad capable of staying in the Championship. Is the pain of administration worth it to ensure that the club does get sold without being stripped of playing staff much further? I will confess I believe that it may just be.
Tags: Administration
112 Responses to “Last Resort”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
My thoughts exactly.
I agree
I can’t see Marlon King being allowed to leave on a free, that spanked of a made up story. He’s got 18 months left on his contract which to me makes him an asset rather than a burden (I can’t see him being on more than 15 grand a week). We’d have covered that by selling Burke for 300 grand. The only reason you would want to let him go was if he was trouble behind the scenes.
What I could see though is an agent trying to negotiate a move away for him. In ordinary circumstances he’d be looking for a pay rise in the summer with a new contract and I can’t see that being forthcoming. More likely is that his agent’s gone into to try and get a better deal and Pannu sent him packing with words to the effect of ‘see if you can get a better deal elsewhere’.
Marlon King reportedly on £18k per week
£650000 a year flat with a £3000 goal bonus.
Wrong.
But almajir, if we go into administration won’t King etc get loaned out and then released at the end of the season anyway, like Huselkepp did at Pompey last season. Other than getting rid of CY, I don’t see how we would benefit from administration. Relegation would still follow, they can deduct as many points as they like.
My big worry is that PP has already made it clear he will not let the club go into admin, and if he cannot sell players then something far worse may happen, such as selling off the ground and leasing it back.
Pannu’s wages would be chicken feed in comparison to the administrators fees too.
Can’t see the club selling the ground (unless it was to the council) as who would want to buy it, I guess it’d be worth 20 million in a quick sale. It wouldn’t cover the fact that the club you are trying to sell would subsequently be worth 2 pound fifty.
it wouldn’t be the club selling the ground it would be Yeung and Pannu who could sell it once they have sorted out the charge that HSBC has on the ground.
The ground is only worth about £10 million minus what they owe HSBC.
To be honest I’d much rather see PP return the extortionate amount of expenses he took. So far JJ has gone for £500,000, that isn’t a lot. We won’t offload ziggy any time soon, JB is set to go somewhere though, probably for a bargin price on the last day. Burke…I wouldn’t want to lose him, not yet.
Is it unreasonable for me to think that a lack of player sales so far would have something to do on PP banking on beating Leeds?
just a few things:
1. Would Pannu sell assets such as Butland, Redmond etc? Surely this devalues the price of buying the club for potential investors?
2. Why would he allow us to go into administration where again, someone could buy us for a pittance and CY PP won’t be getting the now asking price?
3. If we dnt sell anyone in this window, is it because no one wants to buy Butland etc or simply because secretly a deal for a takeover is close and part of that deal is to KP hold of player assets?
4. But then why is their so much coverage of players being told they can go on a free etc? Paper talk, stirring? Also if we are in as bad as situation as being said, surely the £300,000 bid for Burke would of been accepted?
Agreed Dave, the risk of admin is the greatest threat to pp/cy because the club would be sold by the administator for peanuts and they would get little out of the proceeds. I guess players will go cheap next week but then a club sale has to go through by march and blues must stay up for the gamble to work. I stilll think there must be a buyer close to pp.
that is why Pannu will sell any player as it is the only way to avoid admin and he won’t let that happen while he can earn nearly a million pounds a year.
i bet the £680k a year increases by the time the next years accounts come out in October 2013.
With only the Paladini offer, if it is still on the table.Would this still be the best deal for PP rather than go into admin.Pride before a fall comes to mind!
Spot on been saying it for weeks
Excellent article Almajir.If Pannu was a real businessman this situation could have been avoided.If we are successful in a little brinkmanship perhaps someone may come in last minute with a realistic bid for Butland .If a local administrator-sympathetic to the cause- could be appointed it would make a big difference.If we get a London chap who really regards it as a pain to come up the M40 it could be disasterous .Whilst administrators and receivers have statutory duties and responsibilities you have good ones and bad ones.Clearly Pannus ability to score own goal after own goal causes me to doubt whether he would be capable of appointing the right man. Secondly I don’t understand why Pannu won’t take a reduced price for the club.Surely 10 Million or even 5 is better for his employer than having to run the gauntlet of administration.Unless of course they are planning some sort of cosy pre pack which ends up with the club clear of debt being picked up on the cheap by of their cronies. Nothing would surprise me with this lot!
I would imagine that the banks will apply to the courts to appoint the adminsitrator not PP
I think the banks are ok at the moment? From what I gather HSBC are well secured and dont have any reason to panic.I may be wrong but if we are going to be trading whilst clearly insolvent I woul;d have thought that its PP as Chairman and director who may have to call in the administrators.
Is there any good news?
Only that I suspect that if we do go into admin and it is run properly that we would have a few groups in the running wanting to take the club on.What a breathe of fresh air new owners would be!
not really
you could end up with venture capitalists like Cov did and all they thought was to strip it to the bone and sell it but they didn’t understand football business i.e players contracts, players values and stadium costs.
now they are saddled with it as no one will pay £30 million for a league one club with £50 million debt.
Free transfers don’t create cash flow Burke for 300k is not cash flow to speak of first instalment be lucky to get 100k
I hope every club sits back with the philosophy that the players will be cheaper in admin and to be honest admin is the only release from them. At present I reckon we will be stuck with them till they take us to league two!!
We are family? I Wudnt treat a dog how they treat us!!!
No Installments hence the refusal of the offer.
I sincerely believe that ‘potential bidders’ for the club are waiting for HSBC or HMRC to take the club into Administration rather than consider Pannu’s terms. If so, the sooner it happens the better and keeping players now will improve our chances of avoiding the drop after 10pts are deducted.
Just in case there are no interested buyers prepared to strike a deal with the Administrators, I hope the Supporters Trust are forming a strategy to run the club ( as is happening at Portsmouth).
Administration will be bad news but it might be the best option for our long term future.
Could somebody please explain HSBC’s options within this long running HK pantomine ….
HSBC have a debenture on St Andrews…when could they enforce that ?
How much does BCFC owe HSBC ?
Could HSBC take-over the day to day running of the club, & look for a buyer ?
Could they just decide to sell the Stadium , to recoup their investment ?
HSBC could take over the day to day running via forcing the club into administration in certain situations – but they won’t. Banks notoriously do not want to get involved with football clubs.
Don’t rely on HSBC to do anything as they will not.
Majir, I am confused, i thought we were debt free save for the CY loans. What exactly do we owe HSBC?
The only debts we have are Yeungs loans. HSBC only refused overdrafts,we don’t owe them anything – yet.
So why do HSBC have a debenture on the ground ?
Correct me if i’m wrong i thought we owe 6mil to hsbc and thats why they hold a note on the ground
We don’t.
We owe them about £250k according to the last accounts.
Let’s lift the doom Dan
Do a piece on the demise of the filth and cheer us all up.
More of the same tonight please
I can’t measure the joy its bringing me :)
PS. I am having an amnesty day on me ‘get down the ground’ posts :)
Sorry mate, I try not to mention the claret and baby blue mob.
I’m sure you don’t need me to talk about them to laugh though…
Nah i don’t blame ya mate but it’s come at the right time.
I will actually shit a brick if they get done tonight
Come on Al, break your rule just this once. We need cheering up. Can you imagine the stick we’d have got if the WE’D lost to a fourth-tier team?
Bout time too the blokes an eejit :)
If the club goes into administration CY and PP get nothing and I do not believe they will let this happen before the court case. They were playing hardball in sale negotiations only a few weeks ago and if administration was an imminent threat I am sure that the price they were haggling for would have been lower than quoted in the media.I believe PP has mentioned the threat of administration in order to justify some unpopular player sales that are required to maintain cash flow. There hasn’t as yet been any problem with wages or mention of HMRC liabilities buiding up. I am sure CY needs some kind of sale value from BCFC and this is only possible if the club avoids administration.
Always believing in cock up rather than conspiracy I think that Blues will only fall into administration by “accident”. In other words, one of these months they will not be able to meet the bills and, having no line of credit, the creditors will finally lose patience. I think that we (the fans) should be preparing for that right now. The really important bit will be who is chosen as administrator. If they are organised, the fans can have a real influence over this.
Slightly different viewpoint (as an accountant)
Currently we are not a viable going concern. Our liabilities are greater than our assets.
Very simply, that means the club is worth nothing. (assuming losses for the foreseeable future)
Players values as per the accounts were approx £1.8m
If we sell any players for over their accounts value they create a net asset for the club, thus increasing the value the club is worth. So Pannu selling players helps achieve extra value for him/PP.
Interesting point is that homegrown talent has a zero asset value in the accounts. Therefore Butland is valued at £0 in the accounts. Obv if we sell him for say £4m, that will increase the assets of the club by £4m( assuming all the money gets paid to Bcfc)
I think the auditors opinion on Bcfc being a going concern only signed because PP ‘claimed’ a £6m bid for butland and that is a net inflow of cash and assets. If we don’t sell anyone the next accounts will be nearly impossible to sign as a going concern, unless CY writes off his loans! And we all know that is never going to happen
Surely the ground is an asset? Agreed there isn’t much value in the players, but I believe the players valuations etc should sit outside the main accounts.
Instead of trying to sell of players to lesson the amount of wages in the club why not loan out the players now, at least that would give them some more time to sort out a propper solution instead of selling off half of the first team and leaving us with effectively a league 1 worthy side. CY should be hung for what he has done to the club. KRO!!!!!
I don’t understand what CY and Panu will do at the end of the season even if they do sell players now it is only a short term remedy. At the end of the season what will they do, they will have a club worth les and les and possibly be in the 1st division with no players. Do you think they have a plan or are they winging it and are prepared to loss the lot.
Sent from my iPad
they will sell more players.
we will get £8 millon less next season meaning at least 8 players on 20k a week or even more if that many aren’t earning 20 k WILL have to go by the start of the season.
Zigic, Davies, King, Carr, Murphy, Burke, Fahey and probably Spector at a minimum.
Quokkasskip has made some very interesting points here. I think Blues fans are resigned to losing Butland and I like many am not too concerned about losing him. There was clearly a tremendous amount of hype about Butland and in hindsight we should have snapped up the £6M Soton bid for him. I think his value as fallen not so much because we are in the mire but mainly because he hasn’t lived up to the hype.I will be over the moon if we can £6M now as this may help us avoid a mass clearout.
Do you think that the outrageous salary being taken out by PP is to fund CY as his assets are frozen?
Not at all.
Carson’s assets may have been frozen but he is allowed a certain amount of money to live on.
Not all his assets are frozen.
his mate won’t let him go short, will he?
Chris
Pannu isn’t taking money specifically to give to Carson.
What the hell is pannu “hiding”??he has an interested party on these shores (whether you like them or not)and yet he’s prepared to gamble with the clubs future with admin….like you have said they have had plenty of time to sell,instinct after this amount of time will tell us these idiots are hiding things.
Lots of talk on here about selling players to help the club survive, a view I think, is erroneous. The club will see only a modicum of profit ie. enough to pay director’s salaries etc whilst I see the rest disappearing into the black hole that is BCFC accounts. That’s where the last £30 mill has gone. It’s time to bite the bullet and accept that as no potential profit can be realised from the sale of the club Mr Yeung is quite prepared to see the club go into administration after he has squeezed the last drop of juice from our flesh. KRO, wherever it may lead!
So you don’t agree that a large amount of money earned by the club goes to the player’s pockets?
75% of it.
thought it was 64% of turnover according to the accounts?
wages were £24 million i think
10 million loss from previous year
leaving 5 million profit
from 39 million turnover.
there is no massive amounts of hidden money going abroad
Scandalous that we are to be picked over for our best talent by other clubs. The abolition of the tribunal system has left clubs with no protection from predators such as Newcastle and Southampton
(interested in acquiring Jack Butland) who could both be in the Championship next year anyway.. I console myself with the fact that, in football, what goes around comes around …
that only applies to players over 24!
For give me for these stupid thoughts,,,,we are all so certain pP and CJ are in the process of selling the club,,,,,has any thought been given to the other side of the equation.
They bet on getting the “Prem” money and avoiding relegation.
They bet on getting promotion,,,,,and lost
They are betting on avoiding “Admin” by player sales
They are betting that the club will hold out until “May” before it does go into admin and CJ wins his case and regains access to his funds to continue in his merry ways
You can bet that if he does the sale of the club wont be carried through and we will be stuck with him for the forseeable,,,,this mess will continue as long as we have gambler owners,,,,,,until the last card is turned and the last loaded dice rolled
Prewar, should Carson win his case , I would be quite happy to have him remain as Owner of the club.. He hasnt done a lot wrong for Blues , he was overtaken by circumstances and he dished out the money for Players when things were good with him, the ones who dont get blamed on here are the Players who we had at the time who forgot to turn up for matches after the Cup Final.. They and the Manager are the rteason we went down, not Crason Yeung..I have more dislike for most of them than I will ever have for CY..
Are you serious? CY and PP don’t know how to run an English football club. They paid way over the odds for the club and the financial irregularities we have seen tell us more than the silence or lies coming from the Board – of which how many have resigned rather quickly?
I will not dispute or argue with your opinions but could you tell me who backed Mcjudas with his choice of players,,,,,,and even after leaving Blues proved he was a loser,,,,,,CJ has bet on everything he could and lost,,,,,,he has won only one hand [ or foot depending on how you look at it ] since taking over,,,,,,the “Brady Bunch” called his bluff after raising the ante,,,,he lost on the price of the club,,,,,,,he lost on relegation,,,,,,he lost on player signings,,,,,,,,,,lets just face it CJ is just a loser and while we are stuck with him,,,,,,,,
AND he,s onto a loser with PP in his team in court as he will not be able to twist the truth to suit himself or his client
agree
and there is little we can do
hope he loses and we get sold, but maybe via admin
hope he wins
and as you say this debacle continues, with him probably running a league one team with little investment.
Almajir – I’m probably being petty here, but wouldn’t the win-win situation be if the didn’t sell any players in the next week…then accepted a bid for the club from one of the potential new owners, therefore then not needing the finance to pay wages as in 2-3 months time the club won’t be a concern of BIHL/CY or PP? It seems the simplest way – BIHL would get some money back, rather than very little or none at all, it would leave the club in a better state and the fans would be appeased. From what I’m gathering PP/CY are living in Cloud Cuckoo Land and that’s why they’re not seeing this scenario. Are you of the opinion that CY’s mindset is that he still thinks he’s adored over here and he’ll return from his trial innocent and just carry on? If so, that mindset is well and truly warped!
Best situation maybe for the players to refuse to move, so forcing the club into admin and the players know they will still get paid
100% agree with you Almajir.
The wolves may well be at the door with admin just around the corner, but selling players just to stay in the championship for 1 more season seems pointless.
We are all in a tough spot at the moment ( a little part of me still believes in LC ) and if we are going to go down, lets go down fighting.
If a club wants Marlon, Davies, Redmund or Butland, fine – but make them pay a premium.
Balls to the idea that we have to sell and to the clubs who want our best players on the cheap
Also a big fat finger to the Evening Mail. The Villa lose a LC semi and they want “answers” from Lerner, the man that’s invested 100 mill +. Meanwhile our club is being bled dry and we don’t hear a peep
Role on a week Saturday
KEEP RIGHT ON
Sorry to say its too late,
PP set his stall out weeks ago and the vulgers are waiting to pounce.
I don’t think he will stop until he gets at least £5m-even if this means selling 5 players.
It’s a compete mess.
If the forest game was to be blues last ever game would St Andrews be big enough?
Are you serious? It would still be half empty with only the regulars turning up. And to be quite honest that’s how I’d want it to be. Death with only the ones who cared witnessing the final breath.
instead of being a martyr sign up to the Blues Trust
what amount of money is owed to carson yeung?? I only hope we dont sell/release players this window then in a few months time we still go into adminstration.
We don’t know how close we are to admin. For all we know PP could have been trying to manage expectations!
Butland is not worth 6m yet for instance. Clubs are trimming wages. That is why we can’t offload high earners that McCleish signed
Besides it’s not in the owners interests to let the club go into admin. We were in a worse position last year when we had to slash 20mill off the wage bill. I still can’t believe you don’t have a budget at the start of the season. I mean we refused Butland sale then. I very much doubt Southampton offered 6m upfront but was probably linked to performance related bonuses.
LC was allowed to sign players. Am rose for a fee as well. Loan signings ain’t free either.
McLies may have signed them but dummy Yeung & Pannu should have insisted on relegation clauses.
Just another example of how useless they are as football businessmen.
This really is an unholy mess. CY’s and PP’s thinking and actions have been flawed in many respects and the more desperate the situation, the greater the risks they are taking.
I believe any possible hold-up of a sale is the loan made by CY and BIHL to Blues which is over £21m. The problem is the sale price has to be paid to BIHL and I don’t think that CY can bare to lose his over £14m loan, because it’s debatable how much of the BIHL sale price he’d actually see. The £40m he was quoted as saying he wanted is the sum total of his investment but he really will struggle to get half of that if he is fortunate and the longer it drags on, the lesser the chance of any return.
If we manage to get to the end of Jan without a substantial sum paid into the club’s coffers, then we will either go into admin before season end or some group will take the opportunity to make what they believe will be a reasonable offer.
Even if CY gets off his criminal charges, it would not be before June/July that his assets would be unfrozen, and even then, has he really got the resources and will to find £10 – £15m to not only make up the EPL shortfall of £8m but the further funds needed to start the 2013 – 14 season??
Who else can we sell?? What else can be cut or reduced from the club?? How many more fans will be driven away from the club??
It all points to CY trying to do one as soon as he feels he gets a realistic offer. But he should try and do something while it still is ostensibly in his control, go into admin and he will have all decisions taken away from him and will suffer the biggest financial loss. Don’t believe many will have sympathy for him then.
The date of the meeting from the Blues Trust is pivotal for all of us now, and we should try and prepare to play a part in things as far as is practical. Getting advice and guidance and preparing aims and objectives should be a priority. What areas of expertise can the Trust provide?? Would the city council be involved in any way?? Would HSBc willing to talk with us about the debenture or any re-financing/loan regarding the club?? Would CY or PP willing to sell a part of the club to the Trust?? Are the Trust in a position to raise any sort of finance??
We should use this as an opportunity to give ourselves a greater voice and say in the way things will be carried forward.
stay solvent stay up then go in to administration end of the season 10 points loss new owners
p/p and c/y end up with nowt p/p is making us a laughing stock at the moment but us noses
could have the last laugh kro
So far we haven’t sold any players for substantial fees. If we sell our best players for peanuts then it really is close. We would have taken chris Burke offer for instance but we are at least playing hard ball. He will probably go for say 500k now
I also don’t know why for instance we don’t subsidise zigic’s wages for instance so he can go out on loan if we so needed to cut costs So desperately?We could save half his wages for instance.
We will have a better idea by the end of this month. Until then it’s just speculation to sell papers and agents touting for business
Because no-one has actually shown any real interest in Zigic, even on half pay.
I think we may have been assuming that a) Carson & PP are competent businessmen, and b) that they care enough about BCFC (other than the money tied up in it) to waste much time worrying over the club’s future. Frankly, I don’t think it’s on their radar any longer, other than to drain the last penny out of it.
The club needs rebuilding from the bottom up, and guess what? It’s us that’s at the bottom.
Wingman, you are correct.
Lets no forget every six months going forward CY earns 500k interest on ‘his’ loans and PP ‘earns’ circa 350k.
This is just the monies we know about. BIHL will also be paying people with effectively Bcfc money.
PP/CY are rent surfers, sucking money out. Probably have done from day 1.
I will sign up with the Trust but don’t really think us fans have any say in what will happen.I don’t think many of our players are that attractive to other clubs- certainly not at this early stage in the transfer window.Burke,Redmond Butland and Davies may appeal,but only at bargain prices.I think Eveshamblue overestimates the worth of Zigic .Even at half wages I doubt there would be any takers
I think the best option is to let it go tits up. Glum I know but consider this: If we sell Chris Burke to Notts Forest for £300,000 or thereabouts it pays wages for 6 weeks for Zigic. The season has another 14 weeks or so to run. What is the point in selling players because nothing is going to get resolved and the value of the club just weakens. Hopefully we don’t sell any players of worth in this window, they don’t get the funds needed to continue and we go into administration. Yes it means we most likely will get relegated but we can start again. I have made a promise to myself that I will not renew my season ticket while Yeung is in charge – this hurts like hell as I have been watching them since 1967 but I am not prepared to give my money to him.
“I will confess that administration scares me. It should never be more than a last resort as it takes the business decisions out of the hands of the people running the club”
And you think that is a bad thing? I can see a few negatives about administration but this ain’t one of em
In these days of very expensive away tickets, the Charlton game is looking reasonable at approx £40 including coach travel!
Admin doesn’t really scare me… it means CY and PP dont get squat, and the last time we were in Admin we were brought by DS & DG.
Simplistic I know, but as long as it means hong kong claws are no longer stuck into Blues, then it can only be an improvement.
I say Hong Kong, and not CY & PP because I just dont like the way they do business over there. Just seems far too secretive
Another good article Amajir and I agree with your final conclusion.It would appear administration is inevitable so let’s get it over with sooner rather than later.This slow death is horrendous!
I’m Puzzled and the following may be a little simplistic…. but here goes!
As Mr Yeoung’s assets are frozen at this time, with the resultant bar on any investment into ‘his’ companies (including Birmingham City Football Club) and should these companies suffer because of the enforced lack of investment, what would happen should (eventually) Mr Yeoung be found innocent of the charges brought against him?
F’instance. If due to the lack of investment, BCFC are relegated and/or are placed into administration resulting in, what I gather, would be a substantial financial loss, would Mr Yeoung receive any compensation or remuneration for his losses? and if so, from who – as said, should he be proved innocent.
I’m not familiar in any way with legal or company law hence the above, but I’d be interested to know what the consequences for BCFC and also Mr Yeoung and co. would be if Mr Yeoung was found not guilty on all counts.
He would probably remember all the times he was told that the fans sung We dont care about Carson – W*ker and think – You know what? This 75 million they have unfrozen? Think I’ll spend it on baling out the Shite!!
Robbo’s signed his contract!
Last season we were fortunate enough that we had assets that people wanted. This season we are scraping the barrel and almost appear to be pleading with clubs to come and buy from us.. If the last of those players leave in January it will be interesting to see what happens in the Summer.. No assets of value left, it will certainly be time for Pannu to call it a day as he’ll have no other options..
I cant believe they turned down 6 million for Butland when all his done is let it so many goals think we should have sold him or loaned him out to the conference for a season, the biggest burdan is Zigic all his done is rape the wages, yeah hes scored the odd goal here and there but one of the biggest wastes of money ever spent at birmingham.. then again we did have nafti and tebily for years
Yeah, total waste of money. That tin pot league cup he practically won for us is not even worth mentioning… in fact the whole day at Wembley was totally miserable.
Seriously, some people have short memories.
And Butland? All the goals he has let in?? Nothing to do with our crap defense? What about that Gordon Banksesque save he made in the dying seconds of the Brighton game? The future England keeper and you would have sold him at the first offer…….. DOH!!
Have to agree, Butland pulls off a world class save in nearly every game. So many saying he is over rated, I would argue the opposite. Someone is going to get him for a song, I just hope we have a decent sell on clause as he will be worth over ten million in no time at all. PS dont forget to bring along a lapsed Bluenose for the Forest game. If we all do that we will get a half decent crowd!
Alex Harley ?
I believe that whats happening at Blues is just the same as at Pompey – Leeds and even Rangers – ie greedy incompetent arrogant shysters who saw the opportunity to av a piece of a cash cow – they are complete Knobbs who care not about the club or the fans or the community – people like Peter Pan are the scum of the earth and really do belong in prison or worse !!!! and is yet again evidence just how far our beautiful game and club as fallen in grace – unfortunately there is Fcuk all we can do no matter what the well intentioned may say – its all down to Peter Pan and the Oriental sweeny Todd and dont bank on them doing us any favours at all
Just to add my thanks Almajir for all your informed articles on our beloved Blues!
Not sure if this has already been mentioned but If players are sold by the end of Jan, the cash received could then be transferred out of the club to BIHL/CY. I don’t think there is anything to stop us from then going into admin or being sold with the players and the cash no longer in BCFC. Hope I’m wrong!
Almajir;, Please can you inform us about the possibility of going into Administration, !!.
Would I be correct in assuming that almost the entire Admin-staff, would be made redundant, ??.
GOD FORBID, — They have done sterling work under parlous circumstances, !!!!!!!!!!!!!.
We’ve got a squad that is capable of being on the play off’s. We have a manager and his chosen staff who are leading them. It doesn’t bare thinking about keeping our players when we are going to keep LC. We haven’t seen any winning progress and I doubt we will see any such performances in this last run of the season either.
Pannu has done us over (from a certain point of view) and CY has suffered asset freezing and facing trial.
It doesn’t matter what any of us think, what will be will be. Bad decisions have led us to this, and if league one and a clearout is what is needed, then it will be.
(in my opinion)
Paulo;, Sadly, I am in complete aggreement with your sumation, !!!.
there must still be a bit of breathing room before admin if the news of Robinson signing until the end of season is correct?
new york city blue – you’re talking rubbish again – guvnor
If anyone else mentions we have a squad capable of being in the Play Offs I will scream. We haven’t.
Butland is a good keeper but rotating full backs plus HMS Caldwell do not make for a solid defence.
Both Burke and Redmond have underperformed vs last year, and we have no Mutch, N’Daw or (at the moment) Fahey, which equates to a non-combative Midfield.
Marlon can score but he’s injury prone and Ziggy alternates from amazing to red carded, whilst Lovenkrands is in the box marked ‘decidedly average’.
The bench is full of kids and crocked older players.
How the HELL is this a Play Off worthy side?????
We are where we are due to lack of investment and LC shouldn’t have to carry the can for inept performances from a squad that isn’t good enough to compete.
We need to buy not sell but that’s not going to happen.
Next step? Survive.
Neil;, I must admit that I was one who did NOT think we [ should ] be play-off worthies, !!.
The way you have outlined the playing [ and non-playing due to injuries, etc;, ] Shows why we should never have been deluded as to think we may have been, !!.
bluenoseneil..
your argument is based on players who are suddenly decidedly average! Can you honestly think of any reason at all why that might be? You’ve pointed out the one’s you aren’t happy with, and do you honestly think that if any of these players that we had last season went, that they would continue their ‘average’ form? I think not.
The team has a new lease of life in it from the young lads, and as you pointed out we have Butland as well. Add to that our experienced players and you honestly think that no one in this entire world could take our team and make them believe in themselves, trust each other and gain the confidence in themselves and their team, as well as think about tactics themselves ..as well as play them?
I think there are quite a few blokes out there who could do that, but we aint going to be graced with such knowledge and experience and man-management.
Basically, we have plenty of potential, but zero tactics in how to make them get results. Add to that a very large portion of fans who wont get behind the team, because they all think the same thing! The direction we are heading means we should not take it out the team, but on those above them. Bad decisions, bad choices, bad tactics, bad business judgements, bad management (from top-down) and a complete lack of foresight.
Back the team, back the shirt, and consider how selfish and arrogant the owners / senior board have been and are being.
It’s too easy to level the blame at LC when he has had very little luck and no money to spend.
Couple that with trying to fit square pegs into round holes and the problem manifests itself week in, week out. Lets compare last year to this, and apologies if it isn’t 100% accurate but I am not a stats man:
– Goal – Myhill/Doyle now almost exclusively Butland with Doyle making cameos. Butland is class and has stayed fit but he has a harder job as the 4 in front are stretched due to soft Midfield and their collective ages. I will come to that later…. = no real problems
– Right Back – Spector/Ramage now Caddis/Spector/Mullins/Packwood/Burke/Robinson. Caddis would’ve been nailed on in that position had he been fit, but he hasn’t been = Bad luck. Not having an adequate back-up = also bad luck (Spector) and lack of funds
– Left Back – Ridgewell/Murphy now Murphy/Gordon/Robinson/Hancox. Murphy also nailed on but he’s also injury prone = bad luck. Is Robinson an adequate back-up? Maybe but he’s old. Switch to Hancox who’s raw and needs game time = problem area and lack of funds
– Central Defence – Davies/Caldwell/Pablo now still the same but Caldwell is 2 yards slower and Davies has had his purple patches but Pablo can’t stay fit. Deaman could be back-up but under-played = problem area and lack of funds
– Midfield – Redmond/Burke/Townsend/Beausejour/Fahey/N’Daw/Mutch/Gomis/Elliott now Redmond/Burke/Gomis/Elliott/Mullins/Ambrose/Reilly/Hall/Fahey/Morrison, half of which haven’t played through injury and absences, and the other half have been inconsistent = bad luck and lack of funds
– Forwards – King/Zigic/Wood/Jervis/Asante now King/Zigic/Lovenkrands/Asante and its clear to see our lack of goals is not only emanating from Midfield not being up to par but also we only have one out of this bunch that regularly hits the net = lack of funds
YES I admit money and tactics all come into it BUT we don’t have the same tools as before and as much as I love seeing Callum Reilly, Will Packwood et al getting involved it just goes to show that we don’t have depth, even if strength comes from having to play them early on in First Team games.
You can have the best tactics in the world but if the team aren’t able to collectively function because that’s not how they are built to play, no amount of tinkering will improve it to make them competitive. I think CH got lucky last season through a combination of tactics, motivation, good loan signings and a little luck. Difference so far this season is our tactics have been mixed, motivation is questionable, our loanees have for the most part been average and our luck has been shocking. But the toolbox has different stuff in it!!!!
Conclusion? We need money and we need to get it by offloading the dross that aren’t delivering us anything meaningful so we can loan in some players to keep us out of the relegation mire.
Take your pick as you see fit, because when the BBC reported “senior players can leave” I think it was a clear indication to me that some of them can get out there and play for the shirt all they like but they can’t carry 3 or 4 players on the pitch week in, week out who give us little or nothing.
Oops sorry missed Rooney up front….naughty naughty!!!!!
ha ha, forgot Rooney …he was my daughter’s favourite!! Well, I do like your term ‘The toolbox has different stuff in it’. A good analogy, and I do agree with that. I agree with we have been injury hit to the rafters and we are missing some damned good players. Murphy, Spector, Packwood and my choice Fahey (controversial lol), are all ones who we need. If only Stevie Carr had of been able to maintain his level time after time, but yes changes are apparent. I think Ridgewell was one of the very few that CH just couldn’t work with, and when Beausejour left, I really did notice that one.
But really, we have had so many different managers, and of so many varying methods that they each use. Steve Bruce left tactics at the training ground and Chris Hughton is simply a constant mathematician, but both had something about them that protected and loved to teach, and it showed.
It was Pannu’s choice to not pay any compo for a manager this time, and he shoppped around the lower leagues for one, bypassing everything that potentially we needed, but it’s his responsibility and his decision. I’ve read a lot about Clarky at Huddersfield, and it’s surprising. Fans were split there too. I know we have no money and an interfering CEO but my main point is that with the lads we have on the pitch (and on the bench) things could and should be better. We have the potential to get through games easily and it does show at times. What we have is a defensive line that is so split apart that its easy to pick apart. It’s the method that is being put in place, and it does get tinkered with because midfield is always inconsistent.
Yes we need money, but we could do with a fresh pair fo eyes. Especially in LC’s two ‘staff’.
If we are still paying staff wages and not missing paying the Vat man who is going to put us into administration?
Local business are not likely to rock the boat and as we have not bought any player for substantial money we are not being chased by other football clubs.
Am I wrong or is the only major debt is with CY and is he likely to pull the plug?
I was thinking along these lines for some time. The media always say we are desperate and about to go into admin but are we? I mean we got no money but we still sign players eg robbo and all these loan signings need money. We havent defaulted on wages yet despite paying high earners.No one is picking up our players on the cheap yet either. Perhaps PP was taking a swipe at the low attendances in their cash flow projections?
It’s very true we have no investment and we are suffering as a result but we have no owner effectively who can dip into their own pocket and are paying our own way. Our debts are not huge in football terms and we posted a substantial profit last year to pay off our debts the previous year. We have reduced our outgoings substantially. We are in the process of restructuring the club to a lower division which takes time as there are contracts to run down.
This summer we will have a reduced parachute pyt hopefully but also our wage budget will get slashed again with all these player contracts expiring.
The club will never grow until the outcome of the CY court case is known and zigic is off the wage bill probably circa summer 2014.
The sales this jan will be to balance the books till the summer.
Oh and there is no transfer embargo currently on us
As you say it will be very painfull but being saying it for weeks as it sorts out the slow death we are suffering.
it need doing asap then the club, manager whoever that may be and fans can come together and move forward.
at the moment we are all fragmented, pulling in so many directions and struggling with our own ways of coping with it and protesting about it as none of us see any way but a lingering death.
COMPLETELY AGREE WITH THE GAMBLING ANALOGIES PUT FORWARD BY SEVERAL COMMENTATORS. I HOPE WE CAN KEEP AS MANY PLAYERS AS POSSIBLE WHATEVER SUPPOSITIONS ARE BEING CALCULATED. I FEEL SORRY FOR L.C. IN ALL THIS ASWELL. ITS JUST A SHAME HE IS BARELY COMPETENT WHICH EXACERBATES OUR WOES.
new york city blue – these are excessively wise remarks