- 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
HK Round-Up
Whilst there seems to be more rumblings in the transfer window here in Brum, there has been quite a bit going on in Hong Kong of late and with that in mind I thought it would be good to round up some news and talk about what it means.
January 31 means transfer deadline day here in England but it’s going to be an important day for Carson too as it marks his first court appearance of the new year. Carson will be back in court as his mother and wife try to convince a judge not to allow the repossession of his house on Barker Road as they apparently own three quarters of it. In truth, this case has dragged on and on and I don’t see there being a complete resolution tomorrow in truth but should they fail I suspect the bank will be eager to take the property (valued at some £12million) as they look to recoup their outstanding debt.
It’s been a busy time in the BIH offices of late as well, with three different announcements in the past three weeks. Taken at face value they are pretty much standard regulatory edicts to the stock exchange but reading between the lines there is something happening and it does affect BCFC.
The most important one was made last Tuesday and concerned the accounts for BCFC and Birmingham City plc. Whilst we knew that those accounts were available (and had been for some time), it was only really spoken about in Hong Kong in the South China Morning Post article of a few days prior. Mr Pannu was forced into that announcement because there are rules that state if something is printed in the public domain that affects the value of the company’s shares, then the company has to print a clarifying announcement.
It’s interesting that whilst Mr Pannu (and I must stress he disputes this) told the SCMP that he didn’t want to talk to the fans and it seemed evident he didn’t want to talk to the press either, he HAD to make an announcement to the shareholders and the regulatory authorities. It appears that Mr Pannu can’t ignore everyone, as much as it seems he would like to.
There was also an announcement the following day about the BIH accounts. Again, this is a regulatory thing – BIH have been forced to show how they are trying to get their house back in order and this was nothing more than an update. However, we do know that the auditors have been in Birmingham looking through the books and talking to people and it might just be possible that Mr Pannu will indeed get the accounts out. As much as the accounts (supposedly) need to be in place to sell the club, it will be interesting to see what there is in them with respect to the Xtep deal, debts that have been racked up and the land deals that Carson have made that have gone south. I’m not expecting many skeletons to be outed but I think there will be some details to dig into and maybe some more scraps of information to try to put together what the hell has happened out in Hong Kong with the parent company.
There was also an intriguing announcement a couple of weeks back about a couple of directors being disqualified. Again, the names don’t mean much but the reasoning behind the disqualification is interesting in itself – it’s as though Mr Pannu has looked for ways to get rid of directors. Without an AGM in two years plus where a director can fail re-election (a fate that has befallen the former Mrs Carson Yeung, Li Wing-Sze of late in another intriguing subplot), the only way directors have been culled has been by resignation or disqualification. This means of the eight directors (exec and non-exec) only four have been appointed by shareholders – and with the board needing two more to be back to full strength there will be even more people brought on board who the shareholders might not necessarily agree with. One wonders how the average investor feels about the current performance of the board – or if they’re even aware of what is going on.
As January closes I suspect February could well be another interesting month – particularly if the sales of players fail to materialise. Mr Pannu will then have the unenviable task of trying to bring in quick cash investment to the club else there is the potential they could lose everything with administration. I will admit I have no idea how it will pan out.
Tags: BIH, Carson Yeung, HK, Peter Pannu
41 Responses to “HK Round-Up”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
That’s 2 minutes of my life I won’t get back.
Don’t be a doughnut!
I could read about this stuff all day long.
Piece by piece its all revealing itself – thanks again almaj
A bit like an Ebay auction, the offers will come in as the deadline ends.
Let’s get it done so Lee can concentrate on what he does best, getting us up that table.
I think we’ll do Forest and climb further up the league much to the chagrin of the boo boys and antis.
we wont do anyone without king and its looking everlikely imo that he will be sacrificed although a bid from wolves for him and davies (another of our goalscorers )has been rebuffed for now.
its also looking like butland has refused chelsea which means more uncertainty for the rest of the squad roll on tomorrow
We’ve won matches without King
Can’t be arse to look em up though.
Some games, like Leeds, he was dreadful.
Paul,
Come on Paul even you must acknowledge KIngs contribution to our current league position with out which we would be in dire straits .
and i cant be arsed to labour my point about king sufice to say if we sell him we will go down hes our leading scorer by a mile where else will the goals come from hes scores 3/4 of them
kro
King got a boot in the lower thigh early on, one of the many that the mini-ref failed to notice.
What’s this got to do with the thread.
Paul,
Examine Lee’s record then you’ll realise why I can’t agree with you.
His league and cup record at the Blues is just awful.
Yes there have bee mitigating circumstances but his record without injuries was still awful and he has also made a contribution to the reduced gate revenue and our current financial state.
The biggest mistake he made was appointing his back room team – he should of got rid of them but he didn’t.
These are just my views and I really do hope he can turn things around but I doubt it.
I’ll say it again, what more do you want?
Is he supposed to win every game?
Saturdays result was a revelation but he’ll never please you or the rest.
For most 8 points clear of relegation is deemed as doing OK.
6 points
It is okay if you did not have a squad which was challenging for automatic last season and had it not been for all the cup games probably would have done so. This is the same squad minus a couple of loans and with some loans the manager wanted and the most expensive signing made in the past 2 years in Ambrose. As we were all these things I suggest being just above relegation is NOT ‘okay’.
I do admire blind loyalty in quotes such as “did we expect to win every saturday?” No, but I think we have won on 5 since August….
Lee Clarke is the luckiest manager in the world- he cant afford to be sacked!
Pete i can’t agree with you. the fact that blues were playing in the europa league actually helped them play better because they were playing against a better quality of oppossition so they had to play at a higher standard which helped them in the league. If they hadn’t had the cup games they would proabably have finished mid table. Even CH recognised that they over acheived last year!
Maybe if Dave Watson had stayed Jack butland wouldn’t have made as many errors as he has and we would be further up the league,but we also lost andros townsend and someof the players haven’t produced the form of last year.
Hughton might have the belief they over achieved, but what he did rove was the team is capable of doing. I do not see how you can claim the games meant we performed better in the league. But okay agree to differ. However, Andros Townsend is your reason/claim why we are a much worse squad? He was on the bench for many a game with Hughton. Anyway, Clark has had opportunities to go to the loan market, etc- he purchased Lovenkrands who has been a bad buy and more expensive in wages. As for Butland- he has made errors but also had blinders as did Myhill at times. I agree I would have gone in for Myhill as part of Foster deal- but if this is the only changes how can that be a team capable of top 4 now batling to be out of bottom 4 and this be ‘okay’???
I thought hsbc would take over ownership of blues if finances become lets say uncontrolable by the current regime?
No chance
Mmm,
How about reject all bids and have to take an expensive loan out with an associate in china, thus sucking more money out.
BIH governance is a joke. Group accounts should give some cash-flow statements which will be interesting
king should’nt even be playing for us and deep down paul you know it
Well, I for one am optimistic (compared to how I have been feeling recently at least!)
Look,
– we have turned down a second offer for Burke, £500k offer from Nottingham
– we have turned down a bid from Wolves for King and Davies…. Remember stories saying we were going to give King away??
– All this after Butland refused the Chelsea gig (fair play to him – no point going anywhere to play 3rd fiddle)
All this shows we are not going to bend over for other clubs to **** us. There is still a day and half to go until the window shuts, so still nervous times. BUT, as much as I dont like Pannu, he’s no pussy!
On top of that,
– We have won our last match… away, to one of the in form teams
– Our kids are showing the senior players how to fight for survival
– We are 8 points away from relegation
– Form IS improving
– Accounts are soon to be produced to help facilitate a buy out
For the love of god, I like a moan as much as the next man but for the good of the team lets stop all this negativity and take some of this good news as a step in the right direction!!!
Top comment Alex.
I’m resigned to losing players in the next 48 hours, but unless the other clubs stump up the right amount of cash, they can go forth and multiply.
Administration looks a frightening propostion; however we can have a say in our destiny. Either bend over and take below market bids, or stick to our guns and strive for mid table. Butland asides I dont see Burke/Davies/King leaving unless we get serious bids.
Whilst most of these comments are off topic, I really fancy 3 points against the Ginger one as well.
KEEP RIGHT ON
Well said!!!! KRO
Far point- if we were go to bend like that we would be doing crazy things like letting an England keeper go for £4m to Baggies without negotiation and then accepting half from Chelsea (regardless is player accepts offer..). As for turning down Wolves offer- what was it did they offer any money..? Is it a fact we have rejected Burke bid? I hope this bit is true.
Interesting and rational blog post about the latest shenanigans. The problem with having a foreign owner is that they are so far removed from this country that they cannot possibly have a real feel for what’s going on on the pitch or in the stands. Presumably they didn’t mind that when we were in the Premiership as we looked all kinda sexy and our being there meant we were swimming in cash. Now, though, they own a club that means a great deal to its fans but isn’t dining at the top table anymore and so I wonder how arsed they really are about us.
As for us fans, we are having to readjust our position. Yes we still all love the club but it’s changed — the object of our affection was like a girlfriend or boyfriend who for a few years had become all glamorous, articulate and well-dressed who went shopping at Selfridges and ate caviar. We found it a bit unusual but we liked it. But now it turns out it was all just a passing fad and the club is back to what it used to be: your best mate in jogging pants going down to Asda to get a sausage roll.
Doctor D;, Your first paragraph, put it, so succintly indeed, !!. That always was/is our biggest problem. !!!.
On a positive the pain in my sides from laughing so much at the boys in baby blue and pink is reminding me how it can all come tumbling down for any team, not just our beloved Blues.
If the Vile get relegated, watching them get dissasembled like they gloated at us would be a classic.
Thanks for the above info almajir.
Sometimes I think that our owners and their moves would make for an interesting soap opera which would give Dallas a run for its money. Thing is our drama is for real and with all too unpredictable outcomes which keep us on tenterhooks.
Do you believe there is the possibility that if we do not get the required amount of funds to keep us going until the end of the season, that one of CY’s associates will come forward with yet another ‘small’ loan to keep us going??
If they do not and we end up in admin., would they not lose alot of their money as well considering they are owed a fair amount by BIH/CY in connection with BCFC??
What no one has mentioned in regards to the rejected bids is are they being turned down because they are not cash up front and therefore of no value to the clubs current plight.
Because no-one knows , Chris.. Not your question or most of what they post about.It is all conjecture on their part.Worry for worry’s sake …
Chris c , how do you know this? If I was the board I would loan from where ever till summer , keep the players and keep us in the division , but lands price will go up too when they know we’re not so desperate and hopefully a buyer is found and the club is worth more with better players ?? I wish one of Many rich supporters could loan or have a stake in blues and have a charge against the club just till we sell etc , dreaming but let’s not get down to the kitchen sink as we will be worthless n in div 1 !!
10,000 fans could all put in £200 and the £2 million raised may save us
who’s ready to pay up??
We got less than that at the Leeds game.
No chance.
Murph, i dont ,read the post i said are they not they are i’m as much in the dark as the next man.
KRO
Sorry bud , miss read it, but cash is king , but still think there’s a way out other than giving away our jewels , wish jasper or someone would get a group together locally and buy the club , the dans would respond with better crowds etc knowing people with the club at heart are in charge , show your colours mr carrot , please
Murph,
you say Jasper etc to buy the club but the owners don’t want to sell. Yeung is banking on winning his case in May and coming back as owner in League One with no players, but that won’t bother him as his ego is all he needs.
Or Yeung etc are totally unrealistic in their value of the club, so no one makes an offer, even Chan seems to have pulled out because they are asking too much.
As each day goes by it looks like madness that they didn’t take Paladini’s offer, as it is the only one they will get at that price.
The price of the club is falling and as any prospective owner knows it will be a firesale for the club as it is for the players, if they wait long enough.
Watford alledged to have made or will make £2 mill offer for Nathan.
Chris , I believe he does want to sell as not just he’s money ,? Div one ? He’d be to embarrassed and no point in owning a club at that level as how is he going to promote that in china ! That is if your right and he just wins he’s court case and has a trick up he’s sleeve ? He bought us to make money I believe with his backers n it’s gone tits up !! He’d take 25 mil and run in my opinion
Here’s a thought !!! How a about if we all renew our season ticket now for next year ? Goes into the club and we don’t give away our best assets and we may see them pull on the blue shirt for a good while longer ?? Just a thought
everyone buys there season tickets now? yeah then what happens next year when we need the money from season ticket sales.. your opinon just puts off admin for a few more months, i dont think pannu is silly enough to let that happen thou hopefully no-one bids for us then the mugs get no money at all 80 million loss.. and hope we get brought for 1p by a rich arab
Yes and the cupboard will be bare Tom as they will just sell all the assets by 11 pm Tomor n pull the shutters down !! Do you think Carson n co will go to admin with nothing in the shop to sell ??? Yeh Wer get picked up for a penny as that’s all Bcfc as in the name will be worth !! Wake up