It’s been just over a week now since the HKSE announcement from Birmingham Sports Holdings confirming that Vong Pech had agreed to sell the 21.64% stake in Birmingham City plc that he owns. Since then there’s been a fair few newspaper articles, a radio interview complete with wild promises and potentially libellous accusations – but nothing of any actual official value. What’s going on?
The first official communication that a partial takeover of Birmingham City is underway was made yesterday as Birmingham Sports Holdings made a voluntary announcement to the stock exchange. The announcement confirmed that BSH had been informed by Vong Pech that he was selling his 21.64% stake in Birmingham City plc.
Once again, takeover fever is in abundance in Birmingham City fans. According to the Mirror, even the grammatical tense surrounding the takeover has changed with reports that Laurence Bassini has bought the club. With lots of rumour flying around and precious little actual information I wanted to put together some reasoned thoughts on what the hell is going on.
There’s an old cliché that a week is a long time in football. The last three weeks must have felt like an eternity for some Blues fans as days continue to tick by without any official confirmation on the status of the stadium repairs, Lee Bowyer or the rumoured takeover. With June almost upon us the club remains in stasis waiting for movement from anywhere.
Despite reports that one bidder for Birmingham City has been granted exclusivity, rumours of other interested parties have been rife in the British press. However, in Hong Kong the situation is very different with no confirmation from Birmingham Sports Holdings of any bids for the club. How long can this silence go on for?
The football season may have come to a close, but takeover season appears to have well and truly started. News broke on Saturday morning of an offer for the club brokered by Keith Harris, with journalist Neil Moxley claiming that the deal was close and could be done by the end of the month.
Despite there being no official news, takeover rumours regarding Birmingham City have taken hold in the last couple of weeks. I’ve already written a piece about the mechanics of how a takeover would work but I think the bigger question from many people is about who exactly wants to buy Blues – and will they be successful?
Despite the best efforts of Millwall fans to storm the Kop on Saturday, I think the biggest Birmingham City news over the last few days has been rumours of the club being sold. While rumours of buyers making bids are always out there, this bit of gossip seemed to gain life of its own online.
Despite senior management at Birmingham City firmly denying that the club is for sale, the appetite from would-be buyers does not seem to have abated at all. This website can reveal the names of one group of businessmen who are looking to buy the club and the stadium.
Birmingham City slumped to a 4-0 defeat on Saturday at Blackburn Rovers, leaving them 17th in the table. While the heavy defeat has brought out some critics of Lee Bowyer’s tenure as Head Coach, there has also been an increasing amount of talk online about how the ownership of the club might change.
