rjw63 Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 small heath are truly horrific! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherl Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 why isnt there a craig gardner topic on here? surely his actions deserve one! "as soon as i heard sunderland were interested it was a no brainer" what a mecenary little oik he really is. better players have stayed with teams they took down and didnt purport to be a lifelong fan. im sure he's 65% midget too, when he scores and goes ruinning off waving his arms they never look long enough to me. im not a heightest by the way, i love ronnie corbett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markeefc Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Acting chairman Peter Pannu insists Birmingham are in a sound financial position after flying to Hong Kong for talks with owner Carson Yeung who has been charged with five counts of money-laundering involving £59million. Yeung has been released on bail of £558,000 until the next hearing on August 11, ordered to surrender his travel documents and report regularly to police. The shares of Birmingham's holding company, Grandtop International Holdings, have been suspended, but Pannu is adamant the charges are not related to the midlands club. He said: "I've had it explained to me that the charges relate to the 2001-2007 period. That is two years before Carson invested in this club so there is no connection there. The finances are okay. I'm flying out to Hong Kong and will be able to tell you more when I come back." Pannu has tried to allay the fears of supporters after another setback following relegation from the Barclays Premier League and the loss of manager Alex McLeish to local rivals Aston Villa. He said: "The fans have nothing to worry about. Understandably the fans are worried about this. But this has got nothing to do with the club and there is no impact on the operations over here. I've spoken on a couple of occasions to Carson and his lawyers and they have assured me there is no link whatsoever." Yeung bought a 29.9% stake in City four years ago during the summer of 2007. He took full control of the Carling Cup winners midway through the 2009-10 season in an £81million takeover from David Sullivan and David Gold. Birmingham's relegation means they will now come under the jurisdiction of the Football League, but they are reluctant to make any public comment on the matter while the case is ongoing. A Football League spokesman said: "We are monitoring the situation. We cannot comment further than that." Pannu is still anticipating members of Birmingham's backroom staff following McLeish to Villa Park. Joint first-team coach Peter Grant is amongst those staff expected to follow McLeish across the city. Pannu said: "I've got a lot of legal issues with Villa to sort out. There are two (assistant) managers who still want to go across to Villa." Daily post I don't know how Pingu can say it doesn't affect the club as the holding company are basically in limbo and who knows where CY got the money to purchase the club from porno dwarf and the Pig in the Mud. If it turns out it was illegal money then I can imagine the Chines/Hong Kong authorities would try and sieze the shit as a saleable asset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 wheres the sponser? have they left them too? a good sponser would be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildwood Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 ... What happens when they are against another team in Blue?!!??! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfcgoodie Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 ... What happens when they are against another team in Blue?!!??! No worries they won't have a team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I'm not normally a fan of BBC blogs, but This one made me chuckle Carson Yeung finally made good on his promise to make Birmingham City news in China on Thursday. Sporting a club blazer, the Hong Kong-based entrepreneur strode into a room full of important people and delivered a performance guaranteed to ensure front-page exposure across the former British colony's news stands. Sadly, this is the type of coverage only Aston Villa fans would wish upon the Blues, because Yeung was up before the beak on money-laundering charges: five of them, to be precise. It should go without saying, of course, that the 51-year-old is innocent until proven otherwise but the no-smoke-without-fire risk to his reputation could not have come at a worse time for the Midlands club. With the season little more than five weeks' away, Birmingham City should be concentrating on rebuilding their squad, bedding in a new management team and reassuring supporters that May's relegation was just a temporary setback. But Yeung's spot of local bother practically ensures the club will spend the rest of the summer convincing everybody they are not in freefall. What a difference four months make. Back then, the Blues were luxuriating in the warm glow of a Wembley win - a surprise Carling Cup victory over Arsenal. That triumph, sealed on Yeung's birthday, earned City their first major trophy for half a century and a place in this season's Europa League. Having finished ninth in the Premier League a year before, this looked like a club on the verge of a significant shift in status. Sport can be very cruel sometimes. Birmingham president Carson Yeung on his way to court in Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters One week later, Yeung was forced to admit to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that Birmingham International Holdings Ltd (BIHL), City's parent company, was £28m in the red. This warning came only months after the club's accounts had revealed a £10m+ deficit in their annual spending. And this was before they were relegated. Concerned fans and troublesome journalists were assured Yeung had a plan: the former hairdresser turned business tycoon would juggle some assets and inject a bit of working capital into the club, and a £25m share offering in Hong Kong would do the rest. But even in a growing market, a slumping team is a tough sale. BIHL's share price started to mirror City's league form and no takers were found for the most important chunk of those shares. The sale was postponed and then quietly forgotten about. Not that anybody was asking anymore, there were far more exciting things for Blues watchers to get exercised about, namely the defection of manager Alex McLeish to fierce rivals Villa and the corporate mud-slinging that followed. Throughout this period, nothing was heard from Yeung himself. Requests for interviews were declined (politely, it must be said) and the club's increasingly shrill statements were channelled through acting chairman Peter Pannu and the Birmingham City website. The prompt appointment of Chris Hughton to replace McLeish was a rare moment of clarity but the number of first-team regulars leaving St Andrew's was starting to make his job look difficult even before news arrived that his boss was "assisting police in a criminal investigation". Details of that assistance, and the subsequent charges, remain sketchy, so it would be rash of me to rush to any kind of judgement, no matter how hypothetical. But come on, admit it, you want me to be rash, so I will. There are two obvious questions that leap out when you start to play the "what if" game: first, what would a conviction mean for Yeung under English football's infamous "fit and proper person test" (FPPT), and second, is there any danger of City being prevented from taking up their Europa League place? The first question is relatively easy to answer: a conviction for an offence such as money-laundering would force Yeung to give up his position as club president and leave the board. British company law is pretty clear on this and football's "Owners and Directors Test", a beefed-up version of the much-maligned FPPT, insists upon it. But matters get more complicated when we consider what might happen to his controlling interest in BIHL. Football's rules talk about owners with holdings of 30% and above: Yeung has never personally owned more than 29.9% of Birmingham City and his current stake is considerably less than that. So there is no suggestion that he would be compelled by the Football League to sell his shares. But what if the Hong Kong authorities are right about Yeung's tax affairs between 2001 and 2007 and they decide to seize assets? Could China plc end up owning a stake in Birmingham City? Crazy, right...but then who picked up the pieces at Manchester City after Thaksin Shinawatra was forced into his Dubai exile? The issue of City's Europa League place is no less fraught with uncertainties. The key question here is not Yeung's legal status but Birmingham City's ability to convince the football authorities they remain a going concern. The authorities in this regard are the Football Association and the Premier League - it is their responsibility to grant licences to the clubs who qualify for European competition on behalf of Uefa, European football's governing body. Despite some speculation to the contrary, the Blues gained their Uefa licence in May and that, as far as things stand, is enough to get them to the starting line. That could, however, change quite quickly if Yeung's difficulties lead to a reassessment of City's financial prospects. Suffice it to say, all parties are watching this space very closely. And that really is all that can be safely said by anybody until Yeung returns to court on 11 August. In the meantime, it must be stressed that he is guilty of nothing, as his lawyer and the club's official statement have pointed out. But nobody can pretend this is good news for the club, staff or supporters. The Blues are news in China now but it is doing them no favours at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm loving every minute of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I'm patiently waiting for the first reports of players not being paid.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongotastic Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 @Carson_Yeung on twitter. Simply brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islingtonclaret Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 This is just priceless, it just gets better and better. Their kits are MINGING. They don't even look the right colour! Where's the **** sponsor?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 carson yeung probably stole that too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted July 1, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted July 1, 2011 I want them to play in Europe! This will pretty much guarantee they play around 200 games this season with a squad of 14 part time players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 With all thats going on at bloose now surely McLeish's x staff can leave on the basis there job is untenable. You would'nt feel very secure knowing your owner could go to jail and the company may be seem as an asset??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted July 1, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted July 1, 2011 They may end up being owned by the Chinese govt, who could then inject massive funds to eclipse those of Man Citeh. I need to lighten up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunRickyRun Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 They may end up being owned by the Chinese govt, who could then inject massive funds to eclipse those of Man Citeh. I need to lighten up. They'll be long gone before it came to that. The most immediate issue for them is the fact that Carson has put up his own property as collateral for loans taken out earlier this year. This was down to the fact that the mooted share issue failed to attract any intention and the auditors described their outlook as a going concern. Should his property be seized by the authorities then it might prompt the bank to call in their debts and the asset stripping process will begin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted July 1, 2011 Moderator Share Posted July 1, 2011 Should his property be seized by the authorities then it might prompt the bank to call in their debts and the asset stripping process will begin. That shouldn't take long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Firstly they get relegated then they lose their Manager to their nearest rivals, their best players are **** off to other clubs at a knock down price and now their owner is arrested for money laundering. It's priceless!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted July 1, 2011 Moderator Share Posted July 1, 2011 Carson still helping with enquires so it would seem Birmingham City could be facing a fire-sale both on and off the pitch if owner Carson Yeung is convicted of money-laundering. The future of the Championship club looks in serious doubt after the businessman heard five charges against him totalling £59million in a Hong Kong magistrates' court. According to laws concerning the seizure of assets, Birmingham's owner could serve a 14-year jail term and, as a consequence, may be stripped of his shareholding. That would leave the St Andrew's club in a perilous position, with the ensuing financial uncertainty likely to force them into hawking off players in a bid to raise cash. The exit of Craig Gardner - for a knock-down £6m to Sunderland - was last night confirmed and sales of stars such as Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Cameron Jerome and Ben Foster now cannot be ruled out. Yeung appeared in court yesterday before being released on bail on the condition that he surrendered his passport. The case was adjourned until August 11. The accusations concern £59m that was paid into bank accounts during a six-year period from 2001. A conviction could have far-reaching and damaging effects, for him and the club. Rules governing the proceeds of crime mean his stake in the holding company, Birmingham International Holdings, would almost certainly be taken from him. His 23 per cent stake in the club could be sold for less than the £81m Yeung paid to take over from David Sullivan and David Gold in October 2009. That will put acting chairman Peter Pannu under pressure from investors keen to protect their stake - and could trigger a glut of big-name sales. The authorities in Hong Kong are committed to smashing money laundering and have signed up to cross-border agreements. Bernd Ratzke, partner in top legal firm Boodle Hatfield, said: 'If Yeung and Birmingham International Holdings were subject to UK laws, the authorities could act under the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act. Yeung appeared in court to face charges of 'dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence' 'If Yeung has acquired his stake in Birmingham City from criminal proceeds and this matter came before the UK courts, the Asset Recovery Agency could apply for an expropriation order which would strip Yeung of his shareholding. His stake would then be sold and the money kept by the Government. It appears that parallel legislation is in operation in Hong Kong.' The saving grace for the club at present is that Yeung's trial looks some way off, thanks to the complex financial details. Birmingham have told UEFA they will play in the Europa League next month, which will change only if they are forced into administration. Their latest accounts to June 2010 show a £24m black hole, which will have worsened since they were relegated. A spokesman said: 'There is no reason to suggest the participation of Birmingham in the Europa League should be in doubt because one of their shareholders has allegedly committed personal improprieties, especially when they apparently relate to a time when he was not involved with the club.' Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted July 1, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted July 1, 2011 I'm curious as to who owns the other 77%. Somehow I can't see us ever finding out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts