Marc Iles view of things right now.

Iles held a seemingly impromptu Question and Answer session last night (and a further hour follow up this morning).

He didn't seem to tell us anything earth shatteringly new and in answer to one question he says that he believes this time next year we will be a mid Championship table club!?!

Anyway for anyone interested to read his take on what's been happening here is the link - PS remember to scroll down to the bottom of the timeline and work up the page. -

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Gordon Taylor (who unlike us has been privy to discussions behind closed doors about what's going on) has confirmed that we owe "a serious bill to HMRC with regard to tax and VAT".

Not good.

Have a listen:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Click on the 10:30 - 11:00 time slot on the right and GT starts talking after about 3 mins 30 seconds.

Please can I have what Marc is smoking and/or drinking? It must be awesome stuff! 

I thought it was interesting that he suggested that the bidders were confident they have the money whilst TB suggested they didn't. Why has that situation arisen? Surely they can't be dismissed without testing if they have the money or not? It's not difficult - just show me the money.
Sounding increasingly likely TB was trying to introduce a sense of urgency - a move which may backfire on us.

wanderlust wrote:I thought it was interesting that he suggested that the bidders were confident they have the money whilst TB suggested they didn't. Why has that situation arisen? Surely they can't be dismissed without testing if they have the money or not? It's not difficult - just show me the money.
Sounding increasingly likely TB was trying to introduce a sense of urgency - a move which may backfire on us.

I disagree lusty. I think Birch is far more likely to know just who has what than Iles. After all Birch is the man who's doing the deal and is privy to all the numbers which Iles won't be no matter how good he thinks his sources are. Add in Birch's possible extra caution after the fiascos with Ken Bates at Leeds and Peter Ridsdale at Cardiff and I believe Birch would be the LAST man to play mind games when a credible deal is on the table, especially now the players haven't been paid. If Birch says the situation is increasingly perilous then I think we should take that at face value no matter what positive spin Marc and the Press Office might be trying to put out there.

luckyPeterpiper wrote:

wanderlust wrote:I thought it was interesting that he suggested that the bidders were confident they have the money whilst TB suggested they didn't. Why has that situation arisen? Surely they can't be dismissed without testing if they have the money or not? It's not difficult - just show me the money.
Sounding increasingly likely TB was trying to introduce a sense of urgency - a move which may backfire on us.

I disagree lusty. I think Birch is far more likely to know just who has what than Iles. After all Birch is the man who's doing the deal and is privy to all the numbers which Iles won't be no matter how good he thinks his sources are. Add in Birch's possible extra caution after the fiascos with Ken Bates at Leeds and Peter Ridsdale at Cardiff and I believe Birch would be the LAST man to play mind games when a credible deal is on the table, especially now the players haven't been paid. If Birch says the situation is increasingly perilous then I think we should take that at face value no matter what positive spin Marc and the Press Office might be trying to put out there.

I would agree with that if it were not for the other article in which TB uses vague terminology regarding the bidders money (not really there) - which implies the statement was made prior to due diligence checks being undertaken.

You are probably right, but it does appear that TB was premature with his statement and that implies manipulation to me.

I wish I could hold out the same hope lusty but Birch is far too canny an operator to say something like that as a "slip of the tongue" or as a mind game. What he probably means when he says the money isn't really there is just that. It's down on paper that Mr X will invest say 10 mil, Mr Y will add in another ten and Bodgeitandscarper Financial Solutions Lts will invest the rest but he's seen no proof that they've actually put that money into some kind of account earmarked for the purpose or perhaps they can't prove they actually HAVE the money anyway. Honestly, I think you're clutching at straws now my friend and I'd love to join you but I think Birch is simply saying what he sees and not trying to put an armlock on anyone. He's not that stupid.

Iles is currently twittering away -

Administration is being contemplated at #bwfc but understand it wouldn't happen until early next week. BUT...

...I've every reason to believe something is going to happen before then. Lots happening in the background. It has to, of course.

Any eagle-eyed fans around the stadium today, or in the hotel, would have spotted someone they might recognise...

As a few fans have already noted - Dean Holdsworth was in for meetings today at the Stadium. Have to keep fingers crossed.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Nixon taking the piss -

When u see the mess at Bolton maybe it's time for Hug A Venky day at Blackburn Rovers...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]



(Quite funny really!)

Iles really doesn't have a clue what is going on. 

Probably be better going into admin that getting a "money makes money" idiot like Holdsworth taking charge.

We didn't get value for money when Holdsworth played for us and I doubt it will be any different if he ends up with the prize

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I wish I could hold out the same hope lusty but Birch is far too canny an operator to say something like that as a "slip of the tongue" or as a mind game. What he probably means when he says the money isn't really there is just that. It's down on paper that Mr X will invest say 10 mil, Mr Y will add in another ten and Bodgeitandscarper Financial Solutions Lts will invest the rest but he's seen no proof that they've actually put that money into some kind of account earmarked for the purpose or perhaps they can't prove they actually HAVE the money anyway. Honestly, I think you're clutching at straws now my friend and I'd love to join you but I think Birch is simply saying what he sees and not trying to put an armlock on anyone. He's not that stupid.

But that's very flawed logic even if it turns out to be true LPP mainly because I don't think they have been asked to prove they have the money.

If Bodgeitandscarper say they have the money only a fool would claim they haven't just because they "look dodgy". There are tramps with millions stashed away and you can't just anyone on appearances - not conclusively anyway.

A true professional would never judge anyone on appearances. They'd say "fine - show me the money!" and if Bodgeitandscarper can prove they have the money then STFU. 

TB may not have seen the money but he'd be stupid to claim it wasn't there if he hadn't actually done the due diligence and checked it out.

And his statement implied that he hadn't checked it out properly - otherwise he would have said  categorically that they haven't got the money.

So the only logical reason I can see why he might have said it would be to induce a sense of urgency. Isn't that what a "canny operator" would do? After all it is in his interest to do so as we need a cash injection like yesterday.

Hence I think it's a possibility. Not likely, but a possibility.

And if TB hasn't scared them off, I'd imagine Bodgeitandscarper are putting together the proof that they have the dosh right now.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree here lusty. I don't think Birch implied he hadn't done his job. I think the money wasn't there or couldn't be proven to be there. Besides, a serious bidder would never be put off by "put up or shut up".

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I think we'll have to agree to disagree here lusty. I don't think Birch implied he hadn't done his job. I think the money wasn't there or couldn't be proven to be there. Besides, a serious bidder would never be put off by "put up or shut up".

Fair enough LPP but with 4 bidders still apparently in the chase, I think TB's bluster was a tactical move to get them to act quickly.

We'll find out soon enough but it increasingly looks less likely that none of the bidders meet the criteria so for now I'll stick to the bluster/urgency theory.

wanderlust wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I think we'll have to agree to disagree here lusty. I don't think Birch implied he hadn't done his job. I think the money wasn't there or couldn't be proven to be there. Besides, a serious bidder would never be put off by "put up or shut up".

Fair enough LPP but with 4 bidders still apparently in the chase, I think TB's bluster was a tactical move to get them to act quickly.

We'll find out soon enough but it increasingly looks less likely that none of the bidders meet the criteria so for now I'll stick to the bluster/urgency theory.

Hope you're right but Lennon's comment about the money not being there yet isn't exactly inspiring me.

luckyPeterpiper wrote:

wanderlust wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I think we'll have to agree to disagree here lusty. I don't think Birch implied he hadn't done his job. I think the money wasn't there or couldn't be proven to be there. Besides, a serious bidder would never be put off by "put up or shut up".

Fair enough LPP but with 4 bidders still apparently in the chase, I think TB's bluster was a tactical move to get them to act quickly.

We'll find out soon enough but it increasingly looks less likely that none of the bidders meet the criteria so for now I'll stick to the bluster/urgency theory.

Hope you're right but Lennon's comment about the money not being there yet isn't exactly inspiring me.

Surely that's to do with liquidity?
Bidder may have billions and billions - all tied up in buildings, land, ships, aeroplanes, banana republics or whatever. Cash in the bank is a very inefficient use of capital, especially with interest rates being so low ATM so I'd be surprised if anyone had £10 million hanging around that they could hand over at the drop of a hat.

wanderlust wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:

wanderlust wrote:

luckyPeterpiper wrote:I think we'll have to agree to disagree here lusty. I don't think Birch implied he hadn't done his job. I think the money wasn't there or couldn't be proven to be there. Besides, a serious bidder would never be put off by "put up or shut up".

Fair enough LPP but with 4 bidders still apparently in the chase, I think TB's bluster was a tactical move to get them to act quickly.

We'll find out soon enough but it increasingly looks less likely that none of the bidders meet the criteria so for now I'll stick to the bluster/urgency theory.

Hope you're right but Lennon's comment about the money not being there yet isn't exactly inspiring me.

Surely that's to do with liquidity?
Bidder may have billions and billions - all tied up in buildings, land, ships, aeroplanes, banana republics or whatever. Cash in the bank is a very inefficient use of capital, especially with interest rates being so low ATM so I'd be surprised if anyone had £10 million hanging around that they could hand over at the drop of a hat.

The talks have been ongoing for at least two weeks with all four parties, even longer with some of them and that's more than enough time for any business to prove it has the assets for something like this. It doesn't necessarily have to have 10mil in cash right this second but it could easily satisfy Mr Birch et al with proof that it can do so in a timely fashion. 

Anyway, I know I sound like Negative Nelly right now but I think we all need to face reality and accept that BWFC and Trevor Birch are in no position to play that kind of head game. Frankly I don't think he's going to risk a complete implosion by effectively lying about what the bidders do and don't have. Until Birch himself says "I've seen the money" or "I'm satisfied that they can quickly get the money to us" I'm going to assume there's no deal being done as yet. Boggers is quoting Nixon as saying the Far East consortium has come up with the first 10 mil but given Nixon's lack of accuracy over the last few years I'm not taking that as true either.

I haven't quoted anyone

Boggersbelief wrote:I haven't quoted anyone

My bad then boggers. 

I was reading the other thread too quick I guess but someone did say Nixon has tweeted on this and says it's the Far East Consortium.

I think Nixon has said they're one of the interested parties. I'm saying that they are the front runners