Often Partisan

News from China?

As regular readers of Often Partisan will know, I try to keep an eye on the Chinese media to get an idea of what is being reported over there; particularly in Carson’s newspaper Sing Pao. I thought with the British media saturated with reports about what was happening in B9, it might be interesting to see how things are being perceived 6000 miles away in Hong Kong.

As bombastic as Peter Pannu is in the press over here, you’d expect Carson to be extremely bullish in the press in HK; after all, he’s got a newspaper of his own, it’s easy enough for him to get an editorial sympathetic to his side of the story. In fact, the opposite is actually true; weirdly, there is nothing right now in Sing Pao about Birmingham City.

I thought to myself that maybe China wasn’t interested in us now, as we’re a second tier club but a search of other newspapers quickly disabused me of that notion. In fairness, most links I found were basically the same Chinese translation of a piece written by Reuters – the basic facts that McLeish had tendered his resignation and it was thought that he would be looking at the Villa job.

Normally, confronted by a lack of news out in China I’d curse myself, thinking I had to change tack on what I was going to write that day. However, I think the fact there is a lack of news reported, especially in Carson’s newspaper (which normally delights in it’s owner’s every day activities) is newsworthy. If Pannu is gunning for McLeish in the press over here, you’d think that Yeung would be dumping on McLeish in China; making McLeish the goat for our relegation, financial worries and anything else he could get away with.

I think this is indicative of worries in Carson’s mind. Share prices over the last month have trended downwards sharply, with BIH shares losing around 27% of value since the Fulham game. Carson has a lot of money tied up in Blues; not just in shares held but funds pumped into the club, and he’s currently down a fair few bob.

Badmouthing McLeish in the press out in China won’t do us much good. Investors are already spooked about how cashflow will pan out in the next 12 months, so I think it’s probably wise for Carson to keep his mouth shut, and ride it out. It’s also a question of face – face is very important in Eastern business, and bearing in mind the bullish statement just after relegation about keeping McLeish, it’s probably not going to look to good if Carson badmouths him now.

Of course, there is also the factor that we’re 6000 miles away. Blues fans moan about how little the London press knows about the club; imagine how newspapers deal with it from halfway around the world? This is also indicative of the problems Carson faces – if the press are just going to repeat news wire articles about his club, how is he going to raise the profile out there? Indeed, with us now being a second tier team, he’s got double the problem as there is no longer the international exposure that the Premier League has to offer. The club confirmed to me last night that there have been no media enquiries from China whilst this saga has gone on.

No gala balls recently for Carson; supposed money worries with his club and now a ginger Scotsman who has decided he wants to take his ball and go home. Yet despite all this, I don’t think things are nearly as bleak as the talking heads at the BBC or TalkSport would have you believe. Whilst I doubt we’ll get £5.4mil from Aston Villa should they appoint McLeish, I suspect they’ll end up coughing up something as a compromise agreement.  Yes, we’re going to sell a few players but with the transfer fees that they will bring in, matched with the wages saved from moving on high earners, things won’t be so bad. There is an excitement about the place now, people are talking about Blues and a lot of the staleness will have been swept away. I suspect Birmingham City will make a triumphant return to the back pages of Sing Pao with the announcement of a new manager; hopefully, this isn’t too far away.

 

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4 Responses to “News from China?”

  • Matthew Dawes says:

    Great article as always but I think you are one of the fans that fails to realise that BIH is nothing to do with BCFC as a business! BIH is a penny stock which is a worthless company that is recognised as such to then be used a tool to gain further investment from! Any money therefore that BCFC makes or loses is in no way reflected on BIH balance sheet as it is not there money! Carson bought GIH (which he changed to BIH) in order to buy BCFC as he had to buy BCFC through a company in order to be line with HKS rules! The only reason to use BIH to buy BCFC was to make a profit as the share prices rose upon purchase making CY around £16M which shows a good bit of business which he took and re-invested into BCFC! There is actually no need for CY to use a company to own BCFC he could of just bought in his own right and gained investment straight into BCFC but what some people fail to realise is that BIH has had loads of investors and share purchases yet no money has been physically seen this is because the money is not being used investment to BIH it is used to BCFC or CY to then build the BCFC brand! Penny Stocks (BIH) have rapid growth potential and can grow in one day from 100% to 400% and make huge profits but normally run at a LOSS!! hence it is a cheap way of floating a concept on the stock market in China and as all business in HK are floated mostly it was a cheap way of purchasing a business to buy BCFC as this is what was needed to float BCFC (sounds complicated because it is!!) In other words BIH is not BCFC!!! BIH is a company that is a cheap tool to allow people to invest in BCFC without having to advertise it to the world!! I know this as I am a student of business and am experienced in hedge funds and penny stocks! CY made his fortune on penny stocks and most people in HK did this is how the market grew!! the media are just uneducated and see this as a story but actually it’s just Carson Yeung and Co being extremely clever and prudent Businessmen!! Believe me when I say BCFC is fine and in the black!! BIH however is SUPPOSED to trade at a loss!!!….

    • almajir says:

      The vast majority of BIH’s turnover is BCFC. IF BIH is losing money hand over fist, it stands to reason BCFC is. It’s all down to how much money Carson has and is prepared to pump in – and this is something none of us know bar Carson.

  • Sichuan says:

    In the China Daily european edition dated Jun 3 the CFO of Xtep quoted that although relegation is regrettable the sponsorship of BCFC has been a tremendous success and exceeded expectations. With other Chinese brand Lin Ning focusing on Spanish clubs namely Sevilla we should be happy with Xtep´s involvement i think that when we steam through the championship we will be a stronger club as now CY and Peter Pannu will be the wiser for recomendations on some of the crap players bought by McLeish and the need for more entertaining footie at Stans. KRO


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