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Blog Update
Yesterday was the busiest day ever for Often Partisan in discussion terms with over 200 comments made on a single article. It also saw the site surpass last year’s total pageviews with 104 days left of this year and is on course to break 2million pageviews for 2013 alone. Thirty thousand people access the site every month from 109 countries worldwide,
I think it shows the feelings of frustration running around the club that so many people felt moved to comment on a story about feelings of frustration. There definitely seems to be a wide variance in opinion and I think it’s good to see some of that passion come out on the site.
It’s been a tough year for us Bluenoses and whilst I’m not of the belief it’s going to get any easier soon it gives me hope that the fans of the club will come together in some way to get behind the team and to show them that we aren’t completely apathetic to what is going on off and on the pitch at St Andrews. Hopefully it might show any potential new owners that there are fans out there who are ready to embrace a new era.
As for Often Partisan – I promise I’m going to do what I can to continue to try to post news and more importantly analysis of what is happening to Blues. I’m still receiving information related to my last trip to HK and I’m hopeful I’ll be able to share at least some of it soon on here.
If you would like to affiliate your business to the site or to offer help, you can click this link.
76 Responses to “Blog Update”
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i think its a disgrace that we are not getting coverage eg sky talksport.can the local journos do more.
are we a smaller club than Portsmouth!
Nope but were too far north of Watford
If we need an example of what can be done, it’s Swansea. Back from the dead and owned by the fans, surely the second city’s club can do the same. If we all invested the money we got from selling our shares to Carson Yeung we’d be able to buy the club when we inevitably go into administration
I totally agree with this and have been saying so for some time. Maybe the Blues Trust could help set up a Company in which we could all invest in shares and then, when there is sufficient capital, launch a bid for the club. It would be great for it to be owned by the fans and not by some idiots in HK. I used to own shares in BCFC and reluctantly had to sell than when CY took over. I would willingly reinvest the money in a new takeover company if I had the chance and I’m sure a lot of Bluenoses would do the same.
Guys I totally agree with this idea. I am sure fans would join together to try and raise money to purchase some kind of small stake in the club in the future. I would be willing to pledge an amount each month to raise funds to try and do something postive. If 15’000 fans came up with £125 a year it would be a start. Its probably difficult but it would be something. I feel helpless at the moment.
It’s a good idea but it needs some serious business minded people to take ownership of it and I also believe a figure head to be the face of it. I wonder if we’re too far gone down the road of apathy to make this happen but we need a messiah (or a few of them) to get involved and want to lead us.
Ali i totally agree that it needs some business minded people to get involved and a few big hitters. Personally im on a low wage but I could put personally put 30-40£ a month towards a fund,im sure others could put more. As for it heading too far down the apathy route,its never too late to start acting to sort something out….saying that is well,just adding fuel to the apathetic fire.
I wouldn’t be sure where to start I have to be honest but surely we cannot carry on doing nothing and praying for a change?.
I keep saying it, but this is what a Trust is for… and they need people not only to join but to help lead it…
Almajir, i was pretty much refering to this happening under the banner of the Trust..I may email them later and suggest some kind of attempt to raise more funds and empower fans,personally doing my math I do not believe it is beyond our reach!….i could be wrong.
As was I – the Trust is the way forward but it would be so much stronger if there was a figurehead with serious business clout and connections to be the face of a fan buy out and to lead it.
I am a trust member and encourage as many people as possible to join it. I just feel it needs a stronger body of people onboard. I’m not trying to belittle thie work so far – far from it. I think they’re been brilliant ploughing a furrow but I think biggers hitters are now needed to join the trust to kick start this action.
and that sum conveniently equates to “£1875 followed by 3 zero’s a number we should all relate to lol.
Its an omen!!..
As a 53 year old supporter I often wonder why I have spent so much time, money and effort on the Blues, I have sponsored events, travelled abroad whenever possible and I also bought the shares and the extra shares on the second issue. I didn’t even sell mine back to CY and they were taken off me without compensation! As a sponser I was offered free tickets which I declined and paid full value for. Going to watch the Blues was even cited in the divorce of my first wife, quite sad as she came from Small Heath LOL!
My point is that I’m gutted to see the state of BCFC at the moment and I’m sure that there are many other “life long supporters” that feel equally bad and as a businessman I would be more than happy to give money to help the future of my club, I would do it without want of monetary reward, to see the Blues where they should be on a sound financial footing is reward in itself.
I would be more than willing to donate money for the benefit of my life long love, but not to line the pockets of anyone that doesn’t feel as I do!
So how do you join the Blues Trust and how can we influence how we as supporters can try and take over the club, as I am willing to chip in?
Gibbsy
I’ve posted the link a couple of times already – http://www.bluestrust.org – click that, read it. it tells you how you can join and what you can do…
Tim I totally agree with you. I think we should at least float the idea of doing something more proactive. I’m sure when the Small Heath Alliance founders set the Blues ball rolling all those years ago they would not have intended the club to be taken in this direction, ran abroad by owners who are frankly grossly incompetent and pretty much untouchable.
I think supporters need to change the way clubs are ran….the amounts of money in football today are vast and I do not think we could “takeover” the club, some kind of percentage in a consortium must be possible?.
We could be in League Two in two years, conference in three, it pains me! I know the Trust want to talk to the ownership to try to help improve our voice as fans…but what’s the point if nobody is listening!
We the fans of BCFC will be here longer and stronger than any so called committed owners, especially the ones we have ruining our club at the moment.
Keep up the very excellent job of your Blog, without you we would know very little, you actually put the local newspapers and daily UK national papers to shame, it shows just how woeful our press are.
KRO for ever.
Wholeheartdly agree. The BM and nationals are a waste of good paper.
Very depressing to be a Blues fan at the moment. Carson could have sold The Blues to the Palladinis for upwards of £30k. Now he would be lucky to get 30 p. Thank goodness Zigic will be leaving at the end of the year. His wages must be a terrible drain on the club. Panue must have been responsible for this wage hike when a club gets relegated. Absolutely ridiculous. Does Zigic get his wages when he is injured? As he always is.
Zigic is not to blame for what he,s paid !! The club agreed to pay him whatever amount he gets when we signed him !! Its not his fault that Yeung and Pannu have systematically set out to take the funds to HK for their own use !! Yes folks we are the cash cow for them !!
Just concentrate on starvong these people out of our club !! DONT BUY A THING !! NOT EVEN TICKETS !! They will soon be gone with NOTHING in their pockets !!! Either put up with the situation OR actually DO something POSITIVE to get rid of the Chinese !!!!
not buying tickets is not the answer. we have to attend the games and get behind the team and make some noise. The financials are out of our control, we must do what we can as supporters within our powers or else the club will be in a poorer state in Div 1. we MUST all stick together and support the team we love. KRO
You’re wrong and Mike is right. We don’t have a team at the moment or a club. Revenue is being milked to reduce BIHL’s losses on their purchase and Pannu is taking advantage of Yeung’s position to rape the club of £1.6m a year. Getting behind the team, as people put it, merely prolongs the position.
As an analogy, if you have a piece of land riddled with Japanese knotweed then you have to suspend any usual activity, gardening or building, whilst you clear the pollutant. We have to suspend our usual activity of watching our team play football in order to rid ourselves of our pollutant: Chinese rotweed.
When that is done then we can pick our club up from wherever it has fallen. As Mike says, and I have said for a long time, we have to cut off BIHL revenue from ticket and associated earnings. The loss of that source of revenue would concentrate their thoughts about a sale of the club.
It is pointless going to watch a team of fringe and unwanted players gathered from the lower reaches of professional football, cynically put in front of us in the expectation that people are so one-eyed and fanatical in their feelings for the club that their critical reasoning is bypassed and they will watch anything running out in a blue shirt. By paying to attend matches fans are not helping the club: they are making Pannu rich and reducing BIHL’s losses from their ludicrous purchase.
Attend the ground but don’t go in. Ten or fifteen thousand people shouting outside on a match day would be heard by the players on the pitch and would be reported by national newspapers and television and get publicity, the lack of which is being bemoaned on this site. That would have the additional benefit of showing prospective new owners that there is a great body of support for the club. We need to get our club back: we don’t have anything to support at the moment.
Maybe it could be agreed by all bluenoses,to pick, just ONE game, that no one attends. This would certainly be noticed, by the british and maybe other media and at the same time, some kind of information sheet,could be presented to the press,with all the information of our grieviances,about the lack of support for the club,from Pannu and Carson. It appears they clearly have no interest in the club,so something (non violent) needs to be done, to get them to state their intentions.
A good idea John but like Coventry you’ll still have a very small number that would attend. I think they get about 1k of their own fans at the moment. Certain ST holders would say, ‘I’ve paid so I’ll bloody well go’ or you’ll have the ‘I’ve not missed a home game since Gil Merrick made his debut so I’ll be attending’. Because of our super passionate supporters I think we’d still have around 5/6k home fans in the stadium which might not make the same impact.
10k-15k supporters outside the ground, boycotting games will not happen. This is because the instinct of the true supporter is to turn up and watch the game. I accept your thoughts and would consider the action you suggest if the outcome that we all want, would be highly likely. But this is not the case. We have to accept whether we like it or not, is BIHL has us by the proverbials and it is likely to continue until factors outside of our control are concluded. Are we powerless? probably not. I have stopped buying merchandise or spending money at the ground, but who knows what difference this is making if any?.
I am gutted as much as you are that we are being used as a cash cow to keep Yeung afloat. BCFC will be our club again.
I will be there on Saturday.
if anything it will cause more infighting, the last thing we need at the moment…
How about singing GET CARSON OUT then sing SELL OUR CLUB at the Bolton live game
I think it is a credit to yourself in the way you keep us fans up-to-date with the goings on at BCFC.
You give it honestly and with simple clarity that all can understand.
There are a lot of supporters out there who do care and feel helpless because they can’t vent their frustrations at the people who run the club.
I would love to show PP or CY how I feel but an empty stadium is not the answer, nor will it ever happen.
I disagree with slating LC’s son or any other member of the club representatives families, there will always be the odd idiot who shows disrespect. We all have opinions and you allow us to air them and hopefully those in power also read Often Partisan and know how we feel.
Keep up the good work.
I’m sure the Chinese are well aware of this blog. As to whether they read it…. or give a flying f..ig, who knows.
Keep up the good work Al.Take over Take over Take over,that’s the news we are all waiting for.
Nothing doing on that front mate.
if those 30,000 subscribers paid £5 to a fund to buy shares if and when they could as suggested above or even to a fighting fund to save our club, after all its money that makes most things happen and certainly is needed to push on the trust who in my opinion are doing a good job with very limited resources. I am sure Blues fans worldwide especially the 50,000 here in uk (albeit part time supporters) would buy into a genuine attempt to buy into a new blues owned or part owned (49%-51%) by the fans ?I know I would invest a couple of thou and know many more that would too.
Blues Trust costs a fiver and that’s the idea mate ;)
how can i join ?
click here: http://www.bluestrust.org
Graham
Thats what I thought when I went to the early meetings of the Trust. However down to most Blues fans been apathetic about the club, keyboard warriors and a few others in the mix, things havent panned out that way. Imagine if everyone that went to Wembley 2 years ago spent £10 instead of crap merchandise. We would be in strong position then
great site always check on it once or twice a week very rarely comment but felt the need to recently KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
Well done Dan, shows how many people are interested in the club around the world, shame we can’t harness that into ousting this board of directors.
Saw on Newsnow the Burnley chariman’s notes for their programme.
Does anyone know if Pannu still writes in our programme every game?
He hasn’t for a long time. Only rarely does he put a piece in.
I doubt Pannu has been in the UK for a long time
So that works out at exactly how much per article……! Bet you would work for just a tad less!!
Bloody hell dan people actually enjoy us giving good credit towards our great club bcfc…..
What we must remember is that there is nothing we can do as regards what is happening in China, if Carson wanted to, there is nothing he can do financially, other than sanction the sale of the club. What we can do is support the manager and the team. Im sure the players can feel the tension at St Andrews and that is not good. Most importantly the club has sold every player they could command a fee for and when a club does that it just goes backwards. The players that Lee Clark has put together are trying and maybe they just are not good enough for the Championship, time will tell. But Wolves were relegated to League one with virtually the same players that came down from the Premiership, so its a tough league and we have got to start being that 12th man at St Andrews.
I believe you can double that dan if the others stop moaning lol
my son use to get a programme but doesent bother now so cant help you there chris.
this site is great for expressing all our views on blues weather we agree or dissagree
but then its all about opinions and good banter so top draw on that count.
The only thing that sometimes gets me annoyed is when ” armchair supporters” come
on and think they no it all when they dont even know whats going on particully on the
pitch and you can tell, well i can, weather there genuine or not just by what they say
but i suppose its freedom off speech and there entitled but i just turn a deafen on that
score.KRO.
It the rotten eggs of few fans attitude within the stans walls that needs to change. People can write what ever they like or dislike but the voices that matter is the voices that spur our team on.kro
I moan like f*ck on here.But i don’t boo and abuse the players during the game. I don’t boo them at the end,i just don’t stop to applaud them if we’ve been crap.
About 120 of the comments were from Staffs blue! only joking ! Great your website is becoming the focal point for blues news better than the local press and the club who give us nada
Bit sad that is growing due to the sad situation our club is in
as i mentioned earlier about poor national media coverage does any body outside bham knows our predicament
More importantly Pierre….does anybody outside B’ham CARE?? (Not including Blues supporters all over the World of course).
carlos, as you say the site is growing due to our situation but thats why it is because some
blues fans just come on here to moan and slag the club off because its the thing to do, no
real reasons, no real thought and mark, bang on with saying the only voices that matter are
the ones that go down and support the team, they count not the “cant be bothered” lot.KRO.
Another good article, and I agree that the team needs the full support of the fans. The problem I can see though is that the fans are rapidly losing support for Clark and that can only reflect on the support for the team.
To cheer myself up I have compiled the most exciting Blues XI that I have witnessed in my time supporting the club. I have chosen the 4-4-2 formation.
Goalkeeper David Seaman
Back Four Stephen Carr, Colin Todd, Liam Daish, Mark Dennis
Midfield Louie Donowa, Howard Kendall, Archie Gemmill. Jose Dominguez
Strikers Christophe Dugarry, Trevor Francis.
Subs. Tony Coton, Julian Dicks, Noel Blake, Kevin Dillon, Willie Johnston, Frank Worthington, Bob Latchford.
You missed out Ricky Otto
Louie Donowa ???? whaaaaat all he could do was run fast !!
you obviously didnt see the cracking goal he scored against the baggies !!
And a really sharp brace against Orient at Stans just before Christmas 1995.
And head a ball . ;-)
Great team-surprised no David Langan? Would also liked to have seen Jim Montgomery perhaps.
Without your blog, I for one would feel much worse about what’s going on,(or rather what’s not going on), at our club. Despite what is happening, it is our club; PP & CY are merely johnny-come-latelies who are using it for their own use. They can’t go on forever and then their interest in our Blues will be merely a forgotten part of their lives. Please, please may they go sooner rather than later.
Could there be a reason for Yeung not to sell the club in case the takeover results in more incriminating evidence being found?
I love the passion on this blog, the differences of opinion, and the steps down memory lane. One thing is a constant, and that is the fans. Players, managers, boards will come and go, but we will always remain.
Keep it up
David Seaman, Stephen Carr, Mark Dennis, Joe Gallagher, Roger Hynd,
Ssbastian Larsson, Howard Kendall, Robbie Savage, Stan Lazzaridis,
Christophe Dugarry, Trevor Francis…………dont hold me to this team
because thats just off the top off my head and there will be a few ive
not mentioned but i dont think this team would be struggling at the
bottom off the championship do you?
well done richard cause that teams cheered me up also…….if only! KRO.
David Seaman,
Stephen Carr, Roger Hynd, Trevor Smith, Colin Green
Robbie Savage, Howard Kendall, Kenny Burns
Barry Bridges, Bob Latchford, Trevor Francis
Subs; Bertie Auld, Bob Hatton, Stan Lynn, Harry Hibbs, Ron Wylie
Quick one for me too:
Latchford
Murray Blake Hynd Green
Hockey Kendall Taylor
Francis
Worthington Bridges
looks like jesse lingard is about to join on loan, lets see what hecan do starting
saturday hopefully.KRO.
Sounds like a good player but another midfielder WE need a front man !
My favourite restaurant closed down over 12 months ago for refurbishment. I log onto their web site occasionally to see if they are re-opened as yet and they are not, so I just go somewhere else and keep logging on from time to time to see if they have re-opened. I think that this is how a lot of the Bluenose masses react to the current situation at the Blues. Most noses dont log onto OP or any other blog or forum site. They dont like what is going on at the club and what is on offer on the pitch currently does not interest them, so they simply go off to do other things whilst they wait for the club to regain its integrity. The answer isnt to sing louder or to protest. We can not influence the sale of the club, admiin and dwindling funds will address that. The only thing that can stimulate our return to normailty is the sale of the club.
OP does a great job; I’m not surprised that it keeps on growing. In the main, the contributors add a lot to the debate and there’s not the type of cliques that exist on many of the other sites.
A few points on the wider issues:
1) To all the players and backroom staff at BCFC, keep on doing what you are, i.e. giving 100% to the Blues, we can ask no more of you.
2) To PP – earn your bl**dy money – what other CEO could get away with such scant disregard for the customers!
3) To the Board – ask yourselves whether you are getting value for money from Mr Pannu just now? I have no idea what PP really does for his wonga, but presumably you must be happy or else you would taking steps to ensure this person is doing his utmost for the shareholders. If you are not happy, then it appears you are failing in your duties. As an outsider, I can only assume he does not have any preformance-related aspects of his pay. Finally, and importantly, are you happy with the involvement of Asia Rays, are you getting sufficient services in return for their fees?
4) To any prospective buyer – all the fans want is some hope. That in itself will see an increase in attendances and we are a passionate bunch who really do care. We just need a leader.
5) To our manager – I think we have probably not had anyone with more passion for the club in post, I do think you care and you are doing a decent job in trying circumstances. Please try and settle on a formation and give it a few matches to work; we are good enough to avoid the drop.
fair enough Bluenosesol but to go off and do ” other things” and not show any interest
shows me they dont really give a dam about the club and will only show willing when
things suit them like new owners, new investment wheres there integrity, agreed the
sale of the club will bring back normality but will it bring back normal fans or part time
glory hunters who think going shopping with the misses his more inportant than going
down the blues, i think ive made my point on this topic.KRO.
Dave, i am absolutely with you. I dont get to any where near as many away games as you do but I go to all home games and a few away. The problem is that to enjoy the experiences we are yearning for, we need the return of the armchair supporters and even the internet crazy stay aways. Even when we had 30,000 home gates in our fairly recent past, history has proven that 2/3 of them were fair weather followers. The point that I am really making is that we somehow believe that as supporters we can polish the turd until it shines. Good Bluenoses on hear persist in disagreeing on how to resolve the current situation by for example singing KRO for 90 minutes or staging a protest. The fact of the matter is that us diehards can only do our best together, support the manager and the team and take heart in each other’s company until we reach the end of the road and that will be the day the club is sold. That is the only way things are going to get better. KRO.
well done OP – bcfc a truly global club !!
…….I cant see any sense in bringing a club down if you are thinking of buying it ,…st Andrews needs its future securing first anyway by the council ……I now believe that carson has some sort of arrangement with someone hence the loans, hence others failure to buy the club ,hence the reason why nobody has came back in and bought it on the cheap…nothing makes sense.,..except that peter pannus absence from this country ,plus P.P.s high wages means that we aint going to like what carson has in mind ……hurry up council …but one thing is certain BCFC needs us all the way
your right Bluenosesol, youve made a good point about those early naughties when we first
got promoted to the premier league when we had nearly 30,000 every home game and most of
those fans being fair weather supporters, it just annoys me like it does yourself that our
support has halved since then, lost interest and will only return when things pickup again
wnenever that will be by selling the club, lets all hope its sooner rather than later, but good
post mate, respect! KRO.
Dan – you mention above that there’s nothing happening on the takeover front. I’d be interested to know though based on what you have heard from your contacts and gleaned from your visit to Hong Kong what you think BIHL’s strategy is. Messrs Yeung and Pannu appear to be devoid of any business or commercial acumen but one assumes that even they must have some sort of strategy for the club. My own view is that there are clearly a number of consortia interested in acquiring the club but Mr Yeung does not wish to sell unless he has to. There are two scenarios in which he has to sell – 1) he is found guilty of money laundering or 2) the club runs out of cash and administration is imminent. As you have said many times, the outcome to the trial might not be known until next year, so it’s difficult to say which of these will come first. In the meantime, they are busy stringing along the various consortia with delaying tactics so they can keep them interested until such time as they have to sell. In short, I can’t see any change in the situation until well into next year, depending on when the cash runs out (and whether they can secure any additional finance in the meantime). In the meantime, Pannu will stay incommunicado to avoid having to answer to the fans.
I don’t think you are far off the mark
Fans who don’t go or go want some HOPE !!
Maybe we could find out who’s interested in us,but because of the law & order in H.K stock exchange we have to take this 3 Monkey’s stance.
Well how about calling the BHI bluff.
Ok we are warned its against H.K laws from p.p.
But haven’t BHI done this on a few times,what’s the worse they could ?
Take us off the exchange ?
We have been there. .. Pannu !!
Why don’t people/BLUES FANS CALL THERE BLUFF who are in the know.
As the old icf used to say…..
We came in peace but left you in pieces.