BCFC Ownership – Government Response

4 Aug 2022 | 16 comments

Blues Trust

Shabana Mahmood MP with Tracey Crouch MP discussing her fan led review and the ongoing situation at Birmingham City Football Club

Blues Trust has now received a copy of a response from the Government regarding concerns raised in July about the ownership of Birmingham City FC. The response has been sent via Shabana Mahmood, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood.

Of course, things have moved on since the time the matter was raised but concerns remain about the ongoing involvement of BSHLtd. Blues Trust is continuing to monitor the situation closely and will make further representations on behalf of members and supporters as appropriate.

The message from Shabana Mahmood is published in full below.  It contains a link to the Response from the Government,

Blues Trust

2 August 2022

Dear Cliff Horrocks ,

Please find below the formal Response that we have now received from the Government, after Shabana raised concerns about the takeover of Birmingham City Football Club.

I hope that this information is helpful to you.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact our office again either by telephone or email.

Yours sincerely,

Sara King |Senior Caseworker |Shabana Mahmood MP| Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood

 

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16 Comments

  1. Chris

    One of the ten recommendations was that a new owners’ and directors’ tests for clubs should be established by an Independent Regulator for English Football. This should have been done years ago (13years ago in our case). Look at all the clubs that have dropped down the leagues over the last decade or so and struggled financially because of bad management. The EFL should be held to account for their poor decisions. After 5 years of being badgered by Daniel Ivery they’re finally looking into the goings on at Blues and their findings could spell trouble for us thanks to their ignorance and incompetence. Kro.

    • Steven

      Absolutely well said Chris. The EFL are complicit in all of this “Supporters of our club have reported the owners many times” The EFL must take Responsibility and not just take action by punishing the club & Ultimately us as supporters. KRO

    • Bill

      Chris is absolutely correct.

      The logic of the EFL punishing any new owners of the club and it’s supporters who are attempting to rid the club of the very owners approved by the EFL is ridiculous. It is the EFL who have helped create the current situation. The supporters have once again been badly let down by those who were supposed to stop this very thing happening.

      The EFL should be investigated into into how and why they approved the Blues current owners and Carson Young the previous owner as well. I only hope that the new consortium can progress with the acquisition of the club.

      KRO

      • Ijaz

        Surely it was the EPL and NOT the EFL who were in charge when Carson Young took ownership however the blood is definitely on the hands of the EFL over BSHL. They want to punish the club when they themselves are to blame. As fans we should sue the EFL.

  2. I Roth

    The EFL are the ones to blame. No one else. They are the regulators and yet they cannot regulate their own motions. To hold the club responsible is a way of passing the buck. The should all resign; as they cannot do a simple job.

  3. Mitchell Bray

    Totally agree with Chris comment. Current investigations into our owners plus this murky Cambodian project etc. might well come back and bite us. My hope is that Richardson/Lopez interest/takeover deal actually does materialise.Many supporters have bought into all this and it really needs to go ahead.

  4. Stan Drews

    I struggle to see how the EFL could punish the club going forward. As already stated, Daniel Ivery has made them aware of the situation some time ago, yet they never acted on it. Potentially we have new owners who are not involved with this mess, so why punish them and the club as a whole.
    By all means find a way to punish the old regime, who, by the way, the EFL welcomed with open arms, and finally please EFL, accept some responsibility for this s**t show that you helped to create.

  5. lee doley

    So Almajir exposing the owners may potentially backfire on us, with the EFL now able to sanction us with penalties and maybe even scupper any new investors.
    I postulate that until the EFL has completed any such investigation they may not approve the new shareholders.

    Quite Unfair on the club, players and supporters. However the analogy jumps to mind that as starving turkeys we may have just voted for Xmas.

    • keith

      totally agree

  6. Peter Bates

    No other way to put it the efl are responsible for the ownership issues at our club and if any punishment needs to be served it is the efl who should serve it, their rules were in place and their ownership test as well they have failed in all ways and they should be made responsible,hope any punishment against the club and potential new owners will be properly fought why should new owners and the supporters suffer because of efl incompetence I

  7. tony jones

    How can the EFL blame the club, they have ignored fears of this for years, Daniel has been informing these idiots for some time and they have ignored him. We should sue them for neglecting to act when they should have, they are not fit for purpose and they will try to blame the club and supporters it is about time they were scrapped they cannot perform easy tasks when led.

  8. Brush Strokes In Blue

    Upon reading the interesting and constructive comments above I feel The Birmingham Trust as representation of all true,and loyal supporters, should immediately take the lead and work closely with the local MP and legal hireacy in putting the EFL to task in regards to the ‘fit a d proper ‘ test that one would assume has not been done. No more pussy footing around, let’s have some action please guys.

  9. Lawrence Yapp

    What I have been banging on about for years, how do the Efl get away with such incompetence.

    • ALAN BARTON

      if the efl decide to deduct points it is then time for the fans to come together and take the efl to court over this they should be made responsible for all of this they was supposed to have checked the owners out and we have been complaining to them for years about the owners and they did nothing. this is not the clubs fault or the fans fault but the blame lies with the EFL for there incompetence

    • Mark R

      Have the EFL ever been transparent regarding EXACTLY what a ‘fit and proper’ prospective football club ownership assessment entails?
      I genuinely don’t know the answer to this, hence the question, but it strikes me that it would be really helpful if these assessments are written up and published somewhere.
      That may be asking too much due to confidentiality agreements etc, but at least a published comprehensive checklist from the EFL would be a good start.
      Pushing them for this may well inadvertently help them tighten up their assessments!
      To the uninitiated it does appear that they couldn’t give a s*** about Birmingham City FC.

  10. Ed Truman

    I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m completely and utterly fed up with the soap opera that is my football club. To say I’m disillusioned is an understatement.

    No one involved in the mess deserves any credit in my view. Whether that’s the secretive and detached current ownership, the (supposedly) regulatory authorities overseeing the sport or various individual’s agitating for change. Even respected national journalists are now reduced to making partisan and spiteful comments on Twitter and there is clearly someone leaking important business information from within the club itself.

    The club…my club…is being used as a vehicle for greed and self interest. It deserves better. And we supporters deserve better. Until it stops progress on the field is a pipe dream.

    Oh yes, almost forgot. Isn’t there a match tonight? I hope the players can close their minds to the off-field nonsense and put in a performance to be proud of. Good luck to them.

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