Takeover Talks Intensify

[BRFCS Content]

Published: Thursday, 21 October 2010

Takeover Talks Intensify

by Kamy

The battle to complete the takeover of Blackburn Rovers has reached fever pitch as the various interested parties step up their efforts.

Ahsan Ali Syed, who has been negotiating with the club for nearly two months, has made two substantial charitable donations. On Monday it was revealed that he had set up the Ahsan Ali Syed scholarship programme at Blackburn Cathedral, pledging a sum of £125,000 to fund four new one-year scholarships for female choristers for each of the next five years. Meanwhile, this morning it has been revealed that Mr Ali has made a further donation of £40,000 to the Nightsafe charity, who work with homeless young people.

The Rovers have said that they were not made aware of these donations and that it would not affect the takeover process. BRFCS believe that despite these donations, which will undoubtedly help the community of Blackburn and are wonderful gifts for the recipient organisations, Mr Ali's bid to purchase the club is "unlikely" to succeed. There appear to be a number of issues that Mr Ali has not been able to resolve in a satisfactory manner.

As reported on Saturday, BRFCS understand that VH Group of India are also involved in negotiations to purchase the club. The company has thus far declined to comment, but sources have indicated that they have moved ahead of other interested parties. It is also believed that representatives of VH Group have been in the UK for at least the last week.

Other parties also remain interested in purchasing the club. The Rovers board have conducted in-depth checks on all bidders in order to ascertain whether they are viable potential owners of the club. The last few months have been confusing for fans of the club, but it is important to point out that the club have very good process in place to vet any potential owners. The club have also given opportunities to all interested parties, this being the reason why so many different parties have been linked. Whilst this has caused confusion for fans, it has allowed the club the opportunity to try and find the best possible people to take the club forward.

The burning question, of course, is: will there be a takeover? The honest answer is that no one outside the club knows, and to claim otherwise would be to lie. However, this week a senior source at the club when asked this question answered that at present it is 70/30 in favour of a successful takeover happening!

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