14 Oct 2010Expert warns Blackburn Rovers about takeover

Football Clubs News | Football Finance News

A financial expert has urged Blackburn Rovers to proceed with caution when considering any future takeover offers and insisted that foreign investment is not necessarily a solution to football clubs' problems.

Professor Tom Cannon of Liverpool University acknowledged in an interview with the Lancashire Telegraph that Blackburn Rovers may have little choice but to look abroad if they are to compete, but warned of the potential pitfalls.

"It is an incredibly high-risk lottery looking at foreign buyers," he told the newspaper. "If you look beyond the few, the risks are enormous for anyone considering buying [an English Premier League] club or even a Football League club."

Prof Cannon cited Liverpool as a cautionary tale of the negative side of foreign ownership and suggested some tycoons do not realise how difficult it is to turn a football team into a profitable entity.

Blackburn Rovers have been strongly linked with two Asian businessmen, Saurin Shah and Ahsan Ali Syed, but the latter was claimed to have left a string of unpaid debts in the UK several years ago.

Written by Terry Mitchell

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