Chinese takeover? No thanks!

By: David | April 29th, 2008

Rumours (and I stress rumours) have been linking us with a takeover by a Chinese consortium preparing a £40mil bid. I don’t know how valid these are, but I find it very hard to find a net positive from this, particularly in light of the experiences of another North-West team already under Far-Eastern control - Manchester City.

Today Sven Goran Erikssen’s assistant virtually confirmed that the silent Swede will be gone at the end of the season after a poor run of results, despite City virtually assured of a top 9 place. I’m quite angry about this (and I’m sure my uncle, a City fan, is too). I thought at the beginning of the season that owner Thaksin Sinawatra (sp?) was one of the good guys amongst the hoardes of foreign investors entering the Premier League. After beating United at the beginning of the season and looking good for a run at the Champions League, Thaksin was stressing that the club shouldn’t get carried away and not necessarily think Europe was guaranteed. However, with the UEFA cup looking difficult too he seems to have acted impatiently and rashly.

Sure, the result against Fulham on the weekend was embarassing. Yes, Sven has made some mistakes recently - he hasn’t got Elano firing, he didn’t do enough to help Bianchi set it and Benjani??? But injuries to key players haven’t helped, and City are going to record their best ever points total in the EPL. You can admire Sinawatra’s concern and desire for success but his actions may well impede success, particularly if the wrong man is chosen as a replacement.

Apologies if this is turning into the Man City Offside. However I worry that a takeover by rich yet impatient investors could be too much of a lottery. Yes, chances of success may increase, but chances of disaster I think are also increased. I’m not against foreign ownership per se (indeed it has made the EPL as good as it is football wise), but it’s very hard to tell who the good guys and the bad guys are. Competitiveness and success may increase but controversy and draconian management may also come with it.

And with a club like Rovers that has seen so many highs and lows since the beginnings of the EPL, stability for a few years is exactly what is needed. I don’t care so much about soul, or achieving success without money for the sake of it (indeed we were the first club in England to benefit from sudden, vast investment). I just want us to remain stable, and stay out of the papers, unlike Man City (ok so some media coverage would be nice though!).

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Staying with takeovers, could any readers tell me what happened to Daniel Williams (if that is his name), the American based tycoon fan who was planning a takeover?