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Seven Cars, Two Lawyers and a Rollercoaster.
Who takes seven cars and two lawyers to a police station? The answer of course is Carson Yeung, reporting in as per the conditions of his bail. Whilst his case is being heavily reported in Hong Kong, with many newspapers detailing Carson’s entourage as he went into the cop shop, the actual amount of “new” news is now slowing down.
There has been talk here in the UK that Birmingham City face a “financial black hole“, with the threat of a 14 year jail term hanging over the club’s biggest shareholder. This has been further exacerbated by reports of a £70million loan to the club by HSBC; reports that on consideration seem erroneous bearing in mind the club isn’t worth £70million. I must admit that at first I feared the worst too, and that it’s been hard to try and stick to the facts in this blog without editorialising them. However, I’ve had some time to think about things now, and whilst it does seem black it may not be as bad as is being made out.
I’m not going to go all “comical Ali” here, and deny that there is a problem at all. Carson is facing some very serious charges, and from what the papers were saying yesterday it does seem like he’s in deep trouble. However, I don’t think it’s as clear cut as that. There is no denying that tax laws can be very complex the higher up the food chain you go; when you add in offshore companies, tax havens, loopholes and whatnot it requires proper forensic accountancy to work out exactly what is happening. Because of this, legal cases like Carson’s can often become very protracted, very drawn out and very technical – and when you’ve got twelve ordinary people as a jury, it can become very difficult for them to understand. Thus the prosecution may have a hard job nailing down beyond reasonable doubt that Carson is guilty of anything.
Furthermore, because these cases are protracted it means that for now, there is going to be no sanctions against Birmingham City from the footballing authorities as long as we keep paying our bills and the wages. There has been talk of a “fire sale” to sell players to fund our continued existence, but despite many stories in the newspapers regarding the transfer of our players we still have only sold one. If we were that close to going out of business you’d think that Blues would have done everything that they could to get money into the club – laying off people, making massive cut backs and selling players. We’ve not done that.
There’s been talk of Carson’s assets being frozen, but again, it’s been nothing more than talk. It also needs considering that some people have said Carson was “broke” – if this was the case what would it matter if he couldn’t move his money around? Part of Carson’s bail application was specifically regarding Birmingham City; he told the court that he would be needed to rubber-stamp business conducted by the club – something the court have agreed with as they have allowed him bail.
One thing that this has done is to make the newspapers convinced we’re not going straight back up. If the fans accept that this season is going to be one of consolidation and rebuilding as well, then this whole pressure of us bouncing back is off. Blues will have the opportunity to blood some of the youngsters coming through the academy; to bring in raw talent, young players with potential and give the fans a new dimension to look at. We’ve been disappointed in the past by seasoned pros not doing it, so surely we’ll be more excited by young pros giving it their all as they try to ascend the football ladder?
In short, we may have reached the trough at the bottom of the big descent in the rollercoaster that is Blues. We may have got drenched by the pool at the bottom, and we might have felt uncomfortable as the water unexpectedly got into our shoes and our underwear. However, the sun is still out there to dry us off, and that could be another ascent on the horizon. Let’s smile and hope that we’re going up even higher next time.
Tags: Carson Yeung, China, Weekend Ramblings
19 Responses to “Seven Cars, Two Lawyers and a Rollercoaster.”
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That is a very level-headed and well thought out post. I can’t disagree with any of the points that you have made or commented on.
It’s just part of being a bluenose – we’ve never had it easy and there’s always something that is likely to p*ss on our chips. If we fell into a barrel full of t*ts we’d come out sucking on our thumbs!!!
KRO? We have no choice, and we are stronger together because of it.
Love the thumbs up LOL VERY FUNNY
The first thing i would like to do is to thank you Almajir for keeping us informed with up to date news. I am very impressed with your blogs and site, i log on as soon as i see it on News Now. I know you are reporting the facts but with a bit of bluenose emotion and not a knee jerk reaction. It has been reassuring with all the wild comment and easy as well poor reporting. A very well done and keep it up please Kro Sotv (oh and dont forget the tenner you promised me LOL LOL)
Just what I was thinking – nicely put!
You are certainly the best bit of reading that any Blues’ fan could have. You present the facts, as far as you can glean them in a way that is not sensationalising them & yet you don’t try to conceal what could be happening. Without wanting to be patronising “Very well done”. By the way, who translates the Hong Kong papers for you, or is it just the South China English language one you read?
I read all the Hong Kong newspapers I can, plus stuff like Sina and Xinhua, who are the main Chinese news agencies. I’m not by any means fluent at all in Mandarin or Cantonese, but I’ve learnt enough to get by and to be able to find the news.
If he is found guilty he probably have to sell his shares to pay his tax / fine and he maybe disqualified from being a director, so someone else will own 26% of the club, big deal.
The ex man city owner Shinawatra, was in a similar position although for different reasons, was it a firesale of players there? No, did the club go into administration? No, did they get through it with the club intact? Yes, did they panic? No.
Yeung maybe banned from entering the uk if convicted as was Shinawatra, who was banned from entering the uk because his visas were withdrawn under rules banning entry to those convicted of offences, that can carry a jail sentence under British law.
It worked out for Man City, so for me there is no reason why we have all this doom and gloom from the gutter press and especially the birmingham crap scaremongering mail who should be supporting the club and it’s fans who are their damn customers.
They have printed such outrageous half truths today. We should boycott this drivel from our own city and Tatum should hang his head in shame, unless he contradicts this garbage story.
They stated “With an investor shortfall of nearly a quarter, meaning players could potentially need to be sold to raise funds to plug the funding gap”.
This is so untrue, there is no funding if you already own the shares , you can’t invest the money twice, the dimwits.
http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/birmingham-city-fc/birmingham-city-fc-news/2011/07/02/black-hole-fears-over-birmingham-city-finances-97319-28980729/#ixzz1Qy3VO82g
I have to admit, it was a very poor article from the BPM and I expect better.
James Nursey:
Read this and weep.
Rubbish. You have to make shit up if you’re going to get noticed in this game.
total amateur
Hi all Bluenose friends. Sitting here in Oslo and wondering were will this end? The Carson Yeung saga is just what we did not need after the relegation. To get rid of Alex McLeish I think was good, and in Chris Hughton we have a fighter and a propper manager. The price we sold Craig Gardner to the Black cats is not understandibel, I hope he is the last player we sell for a underprice. I pray we keep Ben Foster, Ridgewell, Johnson and Ferguson, but I dobt it. It will be very interesting to see who Chirs H can save from the finaleteam at Wembley. I will travel to Derby and Pride Park and support Blues, as I will do for my rest of my life. KRO
I think the realisation is that players who had contracts that retained their Premiership wages upon relegation would be the first to be off loaded.
If Wigan offered £1.50 for Craig Gardner, I think Blues would have accepted it. (Almost :-) )
Because he was the one person singled out by a local journalist that retained his Premiership wages upon relegation.
Hence, one of the first out.(The fact that he said in an interview that he was upset that Blues didn’t offer him a better contract after he contributed to our relegation truly beggars belief.)
Aljamir.
I can’t praise you enough mate.
Your research and your dedication to Blues is 100%.
I read elsewhere – this is not a slight – that Carson’s lawyer is casting this essay as one of accidently discovered action by the HK Tax people. (Narcotics division FGS).
Carson’s father – now returned to the mainland, pumped in and pumped out amounts of money through Carson’s various HK bank accounts.
The residue in Carson’s accounts did not tally with the tax he has paid – according to his lawyer.
Hence – suspiscion of money laundering etc.
As his lawyer said, he has got loads of money in his own account (not as much as Carson’s) that didn’t require tax payments.
I wish I could remember where I read it.
South China Daily?
One of those trawls where you move from link to link.
Which is why I value you so much mate.
Peter Pannu really needs to get you on board.
I wouldn’t work for Blues mate, too close to them.
“I wouldn’t work for Blues mate, too close to them.”
:-)
OK…I don’t know what you mean, and won’t ask you to expound.
I just think it’s a shame that someone as articulate and objective, resourceful and committed as yourself isn’t working within Blues.
Within Blues.
Terrific blog mate. I advertise it everywhere :-)
Take care
I’m a fan Letsby. I have no intention of spending matchday anywhere but on the terraces with my six year old.
I’d like to add my praise to Aljamir for his excellent site and well thought out pieces. It;s great to see BCFC discussed with brain and balance as well as with partisanship.
As always, a big hi! to Trond and all the Norwegian Bluenoses!
This is a Bluenose from Adelaide, South Australia. I must admit Alajmir website is the first I go to to read up on regarding issues and news on the Blues.In one word superb and with a very Bluenose slant which I love.I got up and watched every BCFC game they showed on Foxtel (same as Sky ) here in Oz.I will never forget the Carling Cup.Magic !
But now we move on… they will sell Dann, Johnson, and any other players who they can get a quid and with Chris H who knows bring on the kids and the hungry players and we could just do it, back in one season !!
KRO
Mart
I couldn’t agree more with the comments above. More often than not I come here to get the objective view. The Birmingham Mail is becoming increasingly worse and I wonder where they get their stories a lot of the time. I will be going on Facebook later to make sure that any Bluenose I know is aware of this site- as they ALL should be! ;-)
KRO
Thanks Tim. Often Partisan is on facebook, please “like” our page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Often-Partisan/122464027828083?ref=ts