Blues Trust
Birmingham City Supporters Trust - An Independent Voice
Blues Trust
Birmingham City Supporters Trust - An Independent Voice
Any Answers Please
Blues blank weekend gives supporters an opportunity to ponder, and hopefully respond to, the most asked question I get from fellow Blues followers: “Why is it we as BCFC never get taken over by a rich consortium?”. There may be many reasons, and for all we know we might already be in the midst of such a happening. But I doubt it, although recent speculation linking Laurence Bassini with the club was an interesting development albeit without any apparent foundation.
The most popular reason trotted out as to why, so far, our owners do not seem inclined to contemplate disposal of the club is the need for them to retain ownership in order to keep their HKSE listing. This might very well be true and understandable, but what if there are a range of other factors involved?
Each season brings renewed hope that we can make a playoff spot come Easter, and a fair chance of being part of a four-club fight for the final third Premier League place. This really could only happen should we get significant investment in the January window, which doesn’t look likely this time around. Therefore, we rely on decent run-ins and injury free crucial periods.
Back to the question, however, of ‘why not us’ for a takeover by a seriously wealthy consortium? When we lifted the Carling Cup on that magical day in 2011 and with all the post-match trumpeting by the press and others that followed, with the exception of Arsenal and their supporters of course, our new way forward was, for me at least, well and truly cemented. We were on the move. What followed was unbelievably sad and totally unexpected. But ten years on we are still on the map despite the almost yearly dramas that unfold at B9. Point being made is that as a club, and supporters in particular, we are made of strong stuff.
Potential buyers will, hopefully, get this and see the potential in an opportunity to make the proud name of Birmingham City Football Club a real beacon within the soccer world. Can we become a force like Manchester City? A club which, in the past, was run on similar lines to ourselves, with a tired stadium and not great finances? Of course the answer is yes. We are one league lower to the ultimate target of what wealthy investors desperately want. But the crucial question is why, or what, is seemingly putting them off buying into the second city?
What do Blues supporters think……?
Over to you. It’s your shout.
Mitchell Bray
By making comments on the above article, you agree to Blues Trust retaining your email address should we need to make contact with you for admin purposes. Let us know at admin@bluestrust.org if you do not wish us to do this. We will not give out your email address to any 3rd party sources.
8 Comments
| Blues Trust Forum |
|---|
 If you'd like to contribute to debate on topics related to BCFC, why not join our Facebook Group "Blues Trust Forum" |
| Affiliations |
|---|
 |
| The Football Supporters’ Federation and Supporters Direct have joined forces to become the Football Supporters’ Association |
|
I have thought for a very long time that the listing on the the hkse would be a millstone around our necks but utimately it his down to the people who own the club wether we get new owners but we won’t progress until there is investment in the club from top to bottom kro
Forget Bassini he is just another glorified cr..k and what good would 27m do for us when we have debts of over 100m?? The simple way is liquidation,take the 12 point deduction and relegation and get a serious investor to buy the club and build from the bottom.The debts we have will never go away otherwise.
Bassini talk is nothing but nonsense. Other sites have raised this to rile supporters and make issues out of nothing. We are ok until such sensible offers come in. Blues Trust in my opinion try to keep us loyal followers going through good times and not so good. New wealthy owners would be welcome, but until such times we keep right on and if our current hierarchy are tied into the HKSE because of our club then so be it.
I am pretty sure fans of Man City and Newcastle said the very same several years ago. I am sure we will get our turn though it may seem a long time off at the moment. Yes we have potential and yes all it takes is that all it takes is for someone to invest but unfortunately our current owners have made it difficult due to the ground being sold so things are not so simple but if somebody come along with money to burn then yes anything is possible.
I do thing Blues would be a great investment if they are willing to invest the cash first to reap the awards later on. Is it a reward worth taking then only they can answer.
Very interesting comment by Anthony Hawkins regarding the ground. My feeling is that whoever ends up buying our club will primarily want a brand new spanking ground. As Anthony says selling without actually owning St.Andrews is massively a hindrance.
I’ve tried giving these answer before when I was part of the trust. But let me try again.
Blues have been taken over by a reasonably rich consortium in the past, and if you were a new interested party you would look at what happened then. Sullivan’s son was very badly abused by fans. The consortium themselves were very badly treated by fans. BCFC just do not have the image to attract a new consortium. BCFC have done almost nothing to rectify that problem. Any fan undermining the prospects of BCFC should be removed permenantly from admission to the ground and any membership of the Trust. It is a well known fact about Blues that there are far more armchair fans than attending fans because of the problem with what is mostly a minority if bad apples. Most of my senior family members stopped going to games because of the problem, and about eight years ago I followed suit. The fans can be fantastic, but the element that undermines that need to be dealt with. We have the same problem that exists at Millwall. Who in their right minds would take on that club? This club has a toxic image which they could change with the will to do so, but I’m not sure they even recognise the problem. I was a member of the Trusts steering committee and stayed with the program for a number of years before giving up because the real issues were just not being dealt with. Will this message fall on stony ground yet again, I dearly hope not.
What a load of rubbish We have not had a fan problem like millwall for 10/15 years Only 1 reason gates are down is because we have been crap for last 10 years If we made it back to prem we would fill the ground again If we made the play offs 50 000 would be demanding wembley tickets
Some interesting views. I think most clubs unfortunately have a hooligan element within the supporters, we did ourselves no favours at Leeds, and despite a potential takeover at Derby, rival fans were witnessed fighting. But, and it’s a massive but, if a prospective owner came to the fore they would be making decisions mainly on a business and potential for future growth. The fact we no longer own the ground does make it more complicated, but maybe any new owners would prefer a stadium built for multi purpose use, and one with a much improved transport structure. But until that happens we can only make the best of the current situation.