The Rovers Return

Recent speculation has strongly linked Indian businessman Saurin Shah as the frontman for a £25-million takeover bid of Blackburn Rovers.

The story was picked up and run by the nationals and it was the first piece of takeover news that seemed genuine for a while.

However, I have it on decent authority that he will not be the man to take over at Rovers.

It turns out the Saurin “doesn’t have two ha’pennys to rub together,” and that the consortium involved with the takeover consists of around 60 different people, many of whom are Shah’s family members.

Contrary to reports in the media, the deal has not reached the due diligence stage – when the club and Shah would exclusively open their books to each other to investigate whether or not the takeover is financially viable – and there are other more likely parties interested in a takeover of Blackburn Rovers plc.

It’s likely that the media broke this story more as a result of Shah, or a member of his consortium, trying to give it national focus, and it did seem a well thought out bid when the Indian link was mentioned.

After the excitement wore off, when you look at this bid, why has no one even heard of Saurin Shah in business circles? Probably because he has no real business connections, achievements or money.

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Who will take on Jack's legacy?

There’s been talk of a takeover at Rovers for the past three years, ever since the Walker Trustees announced they no longer wish to bankroll the club.

However, apart from one seemingly serious bid – the Daniel Williams consortium – which fell through a while back, there’s been nothing serious.

Last Sunday, the People (I think) reported that a Thai consortium and an Indian made up two separate takeover offers. This was not met with a great deal of expectation. We’ve heard it all before and nothing ever comes of it.

Now though, it would seem, a takeover might be a realistic possibility.

I say might, as while I write this I am currently led in bed, having been to a friend’s house with my finger off the Rovers pulse, only to discover a Times article which seems very serious:

An Indian entrepreneur is close to completing a £25 million takeover of Blackburn Rovers after targeting the Lancashire club on account of the town’s large Asian population.

Blackburn’s board has given Saurin Shah, little known outside his home city of Mumbai, permission to begin the due diligence process after several weeks of secret talks. He hopes to complete the takeover by mid-July and to establish strong links not only with the town’s Indian population but also, more globally, with cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL), of which his uncle, Niranjan, is deputy chairman. Read more »

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I’ve stopped posting stuff from the newspapers really because, let’s face it, you’re more likely to read them than this. So you probably already know.

However, a couple of articles this week have got my juices flowing.

Article one appeared in the Daily Mail, listing the owners of all the Premier League clubs and how much money they have. I’ve stolen their graphic to post below, but technically I’m an employee anyway so I hope they don’t mind…

It shows our gracious benefactors, with Uncle Jack’s money, very high up in football’s rich list, with £590-million to their names. That’s £160-million more than Walkersteel sold for back in 1992.

Now, I know they’re trying to sell up, but until the sale they’re stuck with us. When Jack died he left that money in a trust, with some instructions in place, I’m no financial expert but I believe we get the interest or a percentage thereof, from the money as it sits in the trust. Read more »

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I’ve always liked John Williams, and everyone else on the Rovers board.

Give us the board of most other football clubs in the Premier League and I’m pretty sure we’d be a struggling lower league side with huge debts to pay off.

Luckily, we’ve got Mr Williams, who makes us one of the best run clubs Premier League.

This slightly worrying, but fantastically frank, interview with the Lancashire Telegraph’s Andy Cryer demonstrates this to the full.

How many other top flight chairmen would come out and tell the fans what’s going on quite as clearly as this?

ANDY CRYER: John, I’d like to talk to you about how you feel Rovers have fared on and off the pitch during the summer.

Let’s start with off the pitch. The club has for some time been at the forefront of affordable football. You reduced season ticket prices again this year. Has it worked?

JOHN WILLIAMS: In a word, yes. Our strategy is clearly based on price/volume.

Season tickets are up from 14,000 to 18,500 (19,000 like for like if you factor in likely half-season ticket sales).

So, we’re talking upwards of 30 per cent. A great result during difficult economic times.

Income will be like for like very similar but in terms of taking back Ewood and the improved atmosphere we’ve got a result.

Now it’s about finding the right balance between home/away match day support using price promotion where appropriate to top up. I think average gates of 25,000 are on the cards. Read more »

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