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Why I hope Carson doesn’t come back
I held off writing this post until this morning on the simple basis that I thought by now we would know the decision of the HK judiciary regarding Carson’s return to the UK – but as of yet I’ve not seen a report of the outcome of the case from this morning. I’m going to write this on the basis he is allowed to return – if he isn’t, well, it’s a whole different ball game.
You only have to read the comments on this site to see that there are a lot of Blues fans unhappy with the idea of Carson coming to St Andrews to watch the Blues v Braga game. It’s not just fans who want to have a go at him who are unhappy with the situation; there is also a worry amongst some fans – myself included – that Carson’s appearance at Blues could be a provocation for angry scenes – angry scenes that could land the club in hot water it doesn’t need to be in.
You can’t blame people for being frustrated with the way things are. Going from Carling Cup winners to relegated from the Premier League; a mass turnover of players in the transfer window – did I see Colin Tattum say thirty seven players had either gone out of or come into the club? There are indications on the grapevine that even if Blues had stayed up, that the club would have been forced to sell some players. In short, it appears Carson and his merry gang calculated badly what they could afford and it’s Blues who have paid the price heavily.
The problem right now is that we’re stuck with our current owners. Publicly, there has been no declarations of intent from any parties considering buying into the club. From discussions I’ve had with various sources, one of the main things putting potential buyers off is the sort of money Carson wants for the club – despite knowing he vastly overpaid for it, he (and BIH) will be looking for a return on their cash. With a mortgage against the ground and a fairly large debt owed to Carson direct, you’d think that any potential buyer would vastly reduce their offer for the club itself in return for guaranteeing the debts the club has. The sad thing is it would make sense for a potential buyer to wait for the club to fall into administration so that they could pick the club for a distress price. I don’t personally want the club to sink to that level.
So there is the argument from some quarters that by protesting and making it hard for Carson to attend the matches, it will force him into wanting to get rid of the club and thus lower the price he’s willing to accept for it. Unfortunately, right now I think we’re seeing the reverse of it – the board seem to be digging in their heels even more. What I hope is that those unsatisfied fans don’t do something that endangers either the club’s participation in European competition or puts us at the risk of a huge fine from the FA because the club can afford neither.
In short – on all fronts it might be best if Carson doesn’t come back to St Andrews for now. In the long run – would a new owner be any better? That’s a big question, and not one I can answer.
Tags: Carson Yeung, Club Ownership
15 Responses to “Why I hope Carson doesn’t come back”
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I think its best if Carson stays in Hong Kong. After witnessing the reaction towards the last owners in 2009 (last home game v Blackburn) it could get ugly. May of us feel badly let down by these people and some will let their feelings show. But perhaps Carson has to see that for himself and then realise he may not want to own the club any longer. There are echoes of the Kumar era for me, people out of their depth with not enough money, experience or sensitivity.
Many questions raised by Almajir.
A couple of points:
-It would certainly be bordering on the suicidal for ugly scenes in St Andrew’s with (as I understand it) a ground closure injunction or other heavy penalty still hanging over the club’s head following previous disturbances so it would be better if C Yeung was not inside the ground. However, it ain’t just about one man – what are the other board members doing to get Blues out of the truly dreadful mess they got the club into? And where is the investment from Dr Bruno Wu Zheng (the 207th richest man in China whom Yeung appointed to the St Andrew’s board last year)?
-No potential buyers? Even if there are any potential buyers out there (who knows?), they might not want to be too public about it at this stage because waiting for the POSSIBILITY of Blues falling into administration would obviously mean a cheaper purchase than trying to buy this gang out now.
Now a few honest questions:
-What is the latest situation re Yang Yue Zhou?
-When can we reasonably expect the legal saga surrounding Yeung to be concluded one way or the other?
-Is the pressure still on the current owners to come clean about thair intentions for the club (beyond taking out a £6.2 m loan at 12% interest)?
-Why does the “Get Carson Young (not my choice of spelling) Out of BCFC” info seem to have disappeared from Facebook?
-What is the latest situation re the BCFC Supporters Trust Almajir and a number of others have previously discussed on this site?
What is the latest situation re Yang Yue Zhou?
No Idea. Seriously.
-When can we reasonably expect the legal saga surrounding Yeung to be concluded one way or the other?
Trial is supposed to be in Feb, so that’s some indication
-Is the pressure still on the current owners to come clean about thair intentions for the club (beyond taking out a £6.2 m loan at 12% interest)?
The media can only do so much. The board have the right to say no comment
-Why does the “Get Carson Young (not my choice of spelling) Out of BCFC” info seem to have disappeared from Facebook?
I believe the owner of the page deleted it. I may be wrong
-What is the latest situation re the BCFC Supporters Trust Almajir and a number of others have previously discussed on this site?
It’s in the embryonic stages. email info@bluestrust.org for more info.
Surely, if and when the shares start trading again, someone, if they are so inclined could start buying shares and slowly building a major shareholding in BIH.
It doesn’t matter what Yeung wants for the club if there are enough shares on the open market for someone to build a sizeable stake in the firm.
If they could get to the 30% mark which would only be around 15 million (based on last trading price), then i believe they could make an offer to take over the company and if 21% of the shareholders supported this Yeung couldn’t stop it.
I think once the shares start trading, the price will plummet as blues are not now worth 48 million as they have sold assets of about 20 million. The sentiment for the shares will plummet because confidence in the company must surely be low, which could force the price below it’s actual worth.
A 30% share will more than likely be around 8 million and it is another reason we should start a Supporters Trust and try and raise this amount via Trust shareholders so we could take a major shareholding in our club.
Isn’t the biggest problem for a potential new owner more about when will the shares start trading?
Though if they were rich enough then deals could be done behind closed doors with major shareholders besides Yeung.
Bluenoses need to separate the problems from the footballing side and what happening in the boardroom.
Supporting our team in Europe and CH we stay focussed on the football side of things.
What has happen is done we should move on and get behind our team. Who cares if he stays or not………We are Birmingham City ……….. we all want what best for blues KRO
I don’t think there would be trouble at Blues anyway. He would be in the ground early evening before any fans were at the ground.
The police would probably be involved and insisting he watch from a corporate box so very few if any of us would see him.
On a slighlty different point and back to how fans tackle problems in the board room what is your take on the Everton fans groups which are starting to protest and organise themselves.
Almajir an article on them and our situation from your thoughts and other Blues fans would be interesting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14834439.stm
I think the comments Chris has posted are fair enough. I too have noticed the strory re Everton fans organising a protest against their board (relatively speaking, their troubles pale when compared with those at St Andrew’s!!) and wonder what Almajir and Mark think about this piece of news.
Also, can anybody have a crack at shedding any new light on the points I raised in my previous posting?
your no Blues supporter, your blog focuses on the bad stuff
I shall immediately return my ST forthwith, I had no idea.
I understand Mark’s sentiments, and we must avoid any serious disturbances in or around the ground; however I’m not sure we should ignore these issues surrounding Mr Yeung.
Before going further, I don’t think CY is guilty of anything more than naivety; I suspect he had good intentions but he is out of his depth as are his cohorts. While i’m no aplogist for the last regime, I seem to recall David Gold wishing them all the best when they said they would reduce prices; we paid some big wages last year and put prices down – not apparently a great business model!
My hope is that within our major shareholders there is a cabal waiting to remove Mr Yeung unless these issues get sorted out quickly. As intimated above, the tactics employed to gain ownership could be further damaging; however, the present owners cannot afford to allow the club to slip further or else they will have nowt left to sell… unless they are so far in hock that there is an internal re-distribution of funds resulting in a further bleeding of cash from BCFC though BIHL?
Just suppose we did get promoted to the premier this season, would the board have to go through the fit and proper person’s assessment all over again?
I am going to the Braga game to party and soak in the great atmosphere of a full house and my beloved club playing in Europe.
Yeung and the board were part of what got us into Europe.
I really hope that the night isn’t spoilt.
Thanks to Almajir for replying to most of the points I posted.
I don’t agree with some of Almajir’s conclusions but to suggest he ain’t a Blues supporter (a quite remarkable claim made by faye) simply beggars belief. Perhaps faye thinks there are no problems at St Andrew’s and in much the same vein, maybe she also believes the moon is made of cheese…
I appaud Almajir’s endeavours in providing a comment forum for those who want the best for BCFC. However, I wish he would offer a word or two on the situation I raised earlier re Everton fans.
Sorry mate, I follow Blues, not Everton
Protests is not really helpful, myself I am bluenose and my family has five generations of bluenoses and the comments made by hawk is where we should be forcussing on……… I hope this answers jay sidney comments earlier. KRO Thanks almajir you are bluenose