MP: Impossible to know who to blame for crisis at Blues
Club’s ownership structure ‘murky and secretive’, Mahmood tells Parliament
AN MP has condemned what she termed the “murky and confused” ownership structure at Birmingham City – saying it was “impossible” to find out who was actually in charge of the troubled club.
Shabana Mahmood said there was a “complete lack of transparency” about who ultimately called the shots at St Andrew’s, which sits in her Ladywood constituency.
She listed problems including a “crumbling stadium” a “far-removed invisible ownership, points deductions and crippling debts” and said the club, which is £120 million in the red, “continues to swing from crisis to crisis”.
But she said it was impossible to discover where the blame lay because the ownership was mired in such secrecy.
She told a Parliamentary debate that the “complicated” structure of the club’s majority shareholder, Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd, had led to circumstances in which a man detained by the Chinese Communist party’s anti-corruption watchdog on allegations of bribery and money laundering had been identified as the head of a firm which owned 12 per cent of Blues.
The individual, identified in Parliament by Ms Mahmood as Wang Yaohui, was never charged with any offences but had not declared his interest in the club to the English Football League, she said.
Ms Mahmood said: “Within Birmingham City’s ownership structure, Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd has a 75 per cent stake in the club, but BSHL itself is owned by a total of five other companies, all with shares ranging from two per cent to 28 per cent.
“This structure of shell companies creates murkiness, confusion and a complete lack of transparency, and makes it impossible to track down the ultimate owner and to establish who bears responsibility for resolving problems at the club.”
The Labour MP secured last week’s debate on the sustainability of English football clubs to demand progress on an independent regulator for
the game, which has seen a string of clubs plunged into financial crises and, in some cases, forced to fold.
Newcastle-under-Lyme MP Aaron Bell told the debate Blues agreed a deal with cryptocurrency firm Ultimo GG, which was “promoted to its fans
in February”. He claimed: “Only two weeks later it collapsed, taking advantage of the fans’ love for the club.”
The club’s financial problems saw them docked nine points in March 2019, while former owner Carson Yeung was jailed for six years for money laundering in Hong Kong in 2014.
Ms Mahmood told the debate St Andrew’s was sold to a British Virgin Islands-based company in June 2021 in a deal generating £10.8 million but most of the cash went on repaying BHSL debts.
She said Blues were reliant on parent companies to “bail it out of financial trouble” and it now owed one firm more than £22 million “raising serious questions about its financial position”.
And she cited the ongoing problems at the ground with the team playing in front of a reduced capacity because of serious structural issues with some of the stands.
Ms Mahmood said: “Like many in this House, I take the view that the only way to deal with financial and governance issues like those that have plagued Birmingham City over the past decade or so is for the Government to bring forward legislation for a new independent regulator of English football.”
She added: “I despair that unless and until we have an independent regulator of English football, we will not be able to solve the problems that we see at Birmingham City Football Club.”
Despite all the problems behind the scenes, Blues are currently defying expectations on the pitch. They sit tenth in the Championship.
Birmingham City was approached for comment.
This structure of shell companies creates murkiness, confusion and a complete lack of transparency MP Shabana Mahmood