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BigUts

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Posts posted by BigUts

  1. 19 hours ago, Waggy76 said:

    Wasn't Scott Dann very instrumental in Rovers losing at Bolton , towards the end of our last Prem season ? 

    Then had a war of words with several Rovers fans ,getting back on the team coach ..

    That's also the game , we pulled back to 2-1 (Wheater scored 2 for Bolton marked by Dann) and Kean in my opinion never went for the equaliser ..

     

    Horrific.

    I called it after their first corner that Dann was nowhere near Wheater and couldn't get off the ground.

    The 2 corners after Wheater scored his respective headers. I genuinely don't think Dann was doing it purposely he was just shite.

  2. My first home game in a wee while and I was treated to some corporate hospitality which to be fair I thought was decent. 

    My two cents;

    Pears - not much to do other than almost gift Wrexham a second goal. The follow up save was excellent but the basic error leading to it was genuinely terrible. Take it in or push it wide - not straight back out! Seen him do this a LOT. Still a liability just less of one compared to Wahlstedt.

    JRC - boy how we've missed him. Strong and aggressive. He is basically the antithesis of Britain.

    Hyam and Wharton - bundled them together. Both solid and decent. Didn't give much away in terms of chances

    Sigurdsson - unfamiliar position for him and didn't seem to suit him

    Trondstad - my MOTM. Thought he played really well and was nice to see him rifle one in the roof of the net. The guy must be the first name on the team sheet

    Garrett - at fault for their goal and had a VERY poor first half. Gave the ball away a lot and didn't have his usual bite. 

    Moran - drifted in and out as usual and his final pass kept letting him down. 

    Dolan - tried hard but really flattered to deceive. He was getting in a right strop first half as he kept being unable to beat McClean but he should be admired for his persistence. Very unlike Dolan he fired some lovely long ranges passes about tonight

    Szmodics - love the energy and the work rate. Took both his goals well and is probably underrated in the finishing stakes. Constantly passes the ball accurately in to the corners and almost looks like a 'proper' number 9 in this regard. Almost Rhodes-like IMHO

     

    Gallagher - effort not lacking and got a goal and assist but was pretty quiet all in all. Seems to still be feeling himself back a later after injury.

     

    Interestingly in the post match stuff during S Wharton's MOTM presentation he dropped a little hint at a signing or two before the window closes in a couple of days...

    • Like 1
  3. 20 minutes ago, phili said:

    In the past 12 months there have been 4 enquiries for the club, 2 from American Consortiums, 1 from a Middle Eastern consortium and 1 from a UK based consortium. On each occasion Venky's haven't bothered even responding. There is interest in buying us, unfortunately we have Venky's as owners and they aren't interested in selling.

    The only way this purgatory is going to end is if Venky's are forced to put the club into administration other than that there is no chance of them selling their baby sadly.

     

    I'm not doubting your knowledge at all, but if this could be corroborated and released to the masses it's a big deal and also one in the eye for the tossers that currently own us.

  4. 1 minute ago, MCMC1875 said:

    What do you mean, "Brockhall would also come with the deal"? Half of Brockhall was sold to another company 3 years ago and rented back to get the club through FFP when the Armstrong sale didn't go through in time.

    Don't think they ever actually paid for it though? Think they've been paying BRFC a 'penalty' fee ever since.

    • Like 1
  5. 33 minutes ago, Mercer said:

    Who on earth would want to buy Rovers!?

    Even if Venky's gave us away and wrote off their £200millionish losses, any new owners would need £30/40 million for working capital purposes plus, most likely, getting on for £20million to buy back Brockhall (though not sure what the caveats are around Brockhall following its sale). 

    If someone out there wants to make a real go of it by appointing some quality management from top to bottom and have a 'war chest' for player acquisitions then I would suggest they need getting on for £100million to throw at it.

     

    See previous examples of basically every other club that has been bought in the depths of despair.

    Rovers situation isn't overly unique (sadly) but the positive is that we have lots of examples of clubs who have been bought in a much worse state then we would be if were in admin / "given away".

    • Like 1
  6. 21 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

    Just copied what we recorded below,  might be worth additional questions posing by FF or RT

     

    As promised Mark and I met with the CEO and this is a brief run down of discussions.

     

    1. Bridging loan - Taken out by Venkys against the training ground, using a long standing relationship with UK based businessman. The plan is this to be short term and they intend clearing it as soon as there is a relaxing of funds from India. They had to put up Parent company guarantees, but the liability of the loan remains with Venkys and won't appear as in the club accounts. The funds were made available to aid cash flow and ensure priority bills were paid.

    2. Cash flow - although challenging the club has paid all priority bills, or renegotiated terms during the period up until and including the cash injection earlier this month, this includes all bonuses. No wages or bonuses have been deferred by anyone at the club.

    3. Cash injection - the club are relieved with the 11 million or so which had been sanctioned by the Indian courts. Its a less than ideal situation as substantiation must be provided with each application and only bills, operating costs will be sanctioned. The money cannot be diverted to transfer funds and will be auditable on future applications. This money was to see the club until December 2023.

    4. What's the plan for funds for the rest of the season? The club has once again put together a list of bills which will need to be paid, this will again go to the courts for authority to pay, the club are confident this will also be sanctioned.

    5. Does that mean no transfer funds? If there is not a relaxation in India, then funds will need to be generated via player trading

    6. Venkys sponsorship - Club taken 3 years payment of the 5 year deal in advance to cover cash flow.

    7. DOF/CEO model, who decided this? This was Venkys Idea after seeing other clubs use this approach.

    8. Have you taken paycut to fund a second person doing something you previously did on your own?  No

    9. We have had a good record previous to a DOF of buying players with a good sell on value, is it fair to say that most of our playing assets are now from the academy, who have a genuine decent value? CEO acknowledged that our assets are from within rather than those purchased. It was noted that Hyam, Smodzics etc were scouted prior to the new Management set up and have been a success in terms of purchase price, but also the previous recruitment team.

    10. Are you on a rolling contract/fixed contract? Notice period from either side required to terminate.

    11. Season tickets - Club recommended a much lower price to India, in particular on the early bird,  however this was not acceptable and they set a higher opening early bird offer. It was acknowledged that the early bird offer didn't help low income families with the short duration and the club needs to learn from this. It was also acknowledged that the price was a stumbling block and something they will be looking at. However a large drop in price would have much wider implications if the club needed to later increase these year upon year, with the rises being much steeper for the club to remain viable in terms of minimum revenue required to operate within FFP.

    12. Shirt launch - How do we launch a shirt and sell out within 2 hours?  The club ordered 15000 shirts, and he feels the launch was great success, obviously we need to sell all stock as 15000 was big commitment, however the limited opening batch was out of the clubs control with all shirts ordered in good time. The lack of shirts was not related to the clubs funding issues.

    13. Closing the Blackburn End - the club received a number of complaints and hindsight is a wonderful thing. With cash flow a major issue at this time, the club attempted to try and limit match day costs. As CEO, he needed to look through a wider lense if funds were not forthcoming.  Being responsible for the lights being able to be turned on was the priority during a challenging period and the decision was not taken lightly.

    14. Shaw will be remembered for a fax machine, and you for a coach you didn't buy but said you did? After a debate it was agreed the coach was a lease and we asked him to admit saying otherwise has become a standing joke with JDT. He stated they wanted to put some positive PR out as the coach is state of the art. We told him, that the demographic he is preaching to, some can't afford a holiday or the basics and it was a poor effort to appease the fans.

    15. We asked what he feels is his achievements to date as CEO? He said stabilising the Club during the bad press. We challenged had he stabled the club or have those more vocal given him time and patience to rebuild? We pointed out crowd's have continued to dwindle,  and season ticket holder retention should be one of his main priorities l. It's no good selling 800 new season ticket holders, if you are losing a 1000 existing ones. We pointed out that they have not left their offices, gone out to the masses in and around the area, surrounding areas , put pop-ups up or to date given supporters a reason to return.

    16. Is there any redundancies planned as part of the cut-backs? Not at this time, some have left employment for other reasons and these won't be replaced.

    17. Supporter consultation meetings, why have they ceased , we do not believe meeting the FF in isolation instead of an open forum ticks the leagues mandate following consultation with the league ? He disputed this, but was happy to be corrected if that's the case. They stopped because of covid, but would be open to them restarting instead of multiple meetings, if there is genuine interest from supporters to attend a more open forum.

    18. New Indian Based Commercial Director - He is cc'd on emails as a director however to date, has not got involved with Ewood and is not on the pay role.  The other Indian based directors are also not paid by Rovers, though Gupta does attend meetings and in particular surrounding finance. He plays a more active role, than is forseen with this new appointment which is more of a tick box exercise.

    19. JDT contract - it is a 3 year deal with no talks of a new contract planned at this stage, he is ambitious. We asked why JDT thinks he was sold a pup?  He reiterated that its the same job as its always been with no pressure on league position. Its always been about developing and trading regardless of financial restrictions this summer.

    20. Did we adopt quantity over quality this summer ? It was acknowledged that not all signings have worked out yet, either this season or last. We've had to take more chances , but some players take longer than others to settle.

    21. Have the EFL or football league asked questions or taken closer look at Rovers since the investigations India?  He stated he talks weekly with both parties and at no point had their been any discussions or contact either formally or informally. The club are completely compliant.

    22. Given the fans found out the bad news from the press, as it appears he does, is he aware of any more bombshells from India, that have yet to hit print? He said he was not aware of anything and Mr Desai has repeatedly reiterated the owners commitment to providing funds.

    23. When does he think we wil be clear, so funds can be provided normally? He does not know beyond the short term facility in place.  He is confident that although substantiation is required to get funds signed off, that there should be no blockers to prevent these funds being transferred. He again reiterated the owners long term commitment.

    24. Have they considered partnering with a credit union or endorsing one to offer supporters a facility to save for season tickets, given not all appear yo even pass the strict finance criteria by the clubs credit provider? He was interested on how this could work and would be open to looking at various options to aid affordability over a period of time, providing the club were not responsible/liable for the savings.

    25. Large agent fees - We asked why the agent fees were so big? He stated some are historical and on long payment terms, so this is not just recent spend, it's cumulative of a number of seasons.

    26. Loan from league during covid - Its been a bit of a noose but the final repayment will be made in January.

    Above is just brief and I will happily have a chat off line with anyone who wants me to elaborate 

    Thanks Glen 

    • Like 1
  7. 9 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

    The loons borrowed money where the liability is theirs using personal guarantees. The repayments are their responsibility and SW stated this loan won't appear in club accounts. He was also confident that this money loan would be paid off within months and the number was not that vast .

    It was a way of them putting money in from other sources other than India. 

    He added that the source of the loan was from a long standing business associate of the v's who they utilise for other endeavours.

    It was in minutes I posted in meeting with Swag in December 

    But isn't it secured on the training ground? (Which I know technically isn't 'ours')

    It still stinks and to me it's still a worry.

    • Like 2
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