Council urges duo to share stadium.

[Draxdor]

NeverNeverNeverNeverNever
NeverNeverNeverNeverNever
NeverNeverNeverNeverNever
NeverNeverNeverNeverNever
NeverNeverNeverNeverNever
NeverNeverNeverNeverNever
NeverNeverNeverNeverNever
NeverNeverNeverNeverNever
NeverNeverNeverNeverNever

</I'm against the idea>

jD

[Red_Polo]

Shared ground? Ha. Good one. Now **** off and die.

I would like to make a revision:

Shared ground? Ha. Good one. Now **** off to Tesco's and die.

[Slim]

I would like to make a revision:

Shared ground? Ha. Good one. Now **** off to Tesco's and die.

[lfc4ever]

Yeh, **** 'em!!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premiership/liverpool/article1582560.ece

Owners cold on Liverpool groundshare

Oliver Kay

Liverpool’s new owners, George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, intend to ignore renewed calls from the city’s council to share their new stadium with Everton. The Americans are undertaking a review of the previous board’s plans for a 60,000-seat stadium on Stanley Park, with a view to increasing the capacity, but, even though a groundshare featured in Gillett’s initial strategy for the club, it is understood that they are now firmly opposed to such a proposition.

Warren Bradley, the leader of Liverpool City Council, suggested that “if they [Gillett and Hicks] can consider an increase in size, why can’t they consider a shared stadium?” but the American pair recognise that such a move would be unpopular with the club’s supporters. Everton are also looking for a new stadium, but, even though some at the club recognise the merits of a groundshare, they are exploring other options, most notably a site in Kirkby.

Gillett and Hicks are expected to arrive in Liverpool tomorrow in advance of the Barclays Premiership match at home to Arsenal the next day, but there are also a series of important meetings on the agenda. As well as discussing their plans for the stadium with Rick Parry, the chief executive, they have a lengthy meeting arranged on Sunday with Rafael Ben&#205;tez, the manager, who is seeking reassurance about the Americans’ plans for the club amid growing interest in his services from Real Madrid.

The match against Arsenal will be their first as official owners of the club, having this week secured the approval that they required to take Liverpool into private ownership. They are to become co-chairmen, with David Moores, the previous chairman, being named honorary life president and Parry staying on as chief executive.

The other two board members will be Gillett’s son, Foster, who is expected to stay on Merseyside working under Parry, and Hicks’s son, Tom Jr.

[Jayesh87]

Cllr Bradley’s ground-share suggestion was met negatively by both clubs.

Blues chief executive Keith Wyness said: “We are currently engaged in an exclusivity agreement with Knowsley council and we cannot consider any other options until that has been fully explored.”

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry said: “It is definitely not on our agenda. I do not think George Gillett and Tom Hicks could have made their position any clearer when they announced their takeover.

“We are progressing with our own plans.”

[Tee]

Dear Council,

**** off

Yours LFC

PS - **** OFF - JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT FIRST TIME

[Spionkop69]

Dear BLUENOSE Councillor,

**** off

Yours LFC

A slight amendment but on the same track.

Its quite funny because its obvious that never mind the pot, Evertonians don't even have the piss to go in it.

[dom9]

Would anyone else like to swear in big letters?

[Radar]

Would anyone else like to swear in big letters?

George W. Bush

[dom9]

[wavydavy]

I suspect this is a tactic, albeit a very feeble one, by Bradley to imply that the planning permission process for our new, BIGGER! stadium would be approved more readily if we offered to share. Truth is, I was always in favour of sharing. You know, Milan teams do it, costs halved subsidy from council etc. But as it actually began to seem a possibility I've slowly altered my stand-point and would now rather play naked twister with Dale ****ing Winton!!

[dom9]

It seems to me he was just voicing his personal opinion.

This was not an official comment from the council, so it doesn't have much sway imo.

[Dero]

They can **** right off. It's not like the council are building/paying for a stadium and have any say over who plays in it.

[Jayesh87]

Kop is Anfield’s heart and soul
Mar 31 2007
by Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo

IT took Liverpool’s new owners less than a Kop verse of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to recognise the quality of the goods they’ve bought.

As Tom Hicks and George Gillett take their place for the first time as co-chairmen in the Directors’ Box today, they’re ready to hit the ground running in the process of making Liverpool an even more astute purchase.

Hicks and his family prepared for this afternoon’s clash with Arsenal in the luxurious 62 Castle Street Hotel, a prime location from which to assess the renaissance of our city which they intend to replicate in Anfield.

Since their first trip to Merseyside, Hicks and Gillett have shown their determination to absorb as much information about the club, the fans and the city as possible.

Last week’s fans survey, in which a cross section of 40,000 Liverpool supporters {I was one of them!} were quizzed on their hopes for the new stadium, was the tip of the iceberg.

Plans are afoot to hold a supporters’ forum to hear the grassroots views on the way forward.

And last night, Hicks’ sons, Tommy and Alex, armed with their impressive new cowboy boots with the club badge stitched on, took in the sights and sounds of Mathew Street’s pubs on a mission to hear what supporters really felt about their family's involvement.

The early stages of their takeover appear to be a combination of discovery, reassessment and, ultimately, the speedy application of a strategy which unashamedly aims to, for want of a better phrase, knock Manchester United ‘off their perch’.

Another hectic 48 hours on Merseyside beckons, with the much publicised meeting with Rafa Benitez preceding key meetings with planners which will ultimately decide the fate of the Stanley Park Stadium.

“We’re meeting after today’s game with planners. We hope we can reach agreement so that we can start work in the park by June,” explained Hicks. *fingers crossed*

“We are working very hard with a great team of architects to come up with a new design which is consistent with the approved plan. We hope there won’t be a significant delay.

“We recognise the Kop is the heart of the stadium, and the new design will reflect this.

“The Kop will be larger than it would have been in the old plans. We hope to build the stadium in such a way that it will be possible to expand at a later time, so far as the plans will allow. It’s going to be more expensive than the previous design, but our priority is to make this stadium the best in the world.

“We’ve one opportunity to ensure Liverpool continues it’s tradition for being the best football club in the world, not just for now, but for the next 50 years.”

If finalising the stadium plans is top of the agenda, reassuring Rafa Benitez is by no means a secondary concern.

Recent speculation regarding Real Madrid was valid but, thankfully, fended off thanks to a series of e-mails and phone calls.

But the face-to-face meeting will be welcomed by everyone.

“We had a good meeting with Rafa the first time we came over,” said Hicks.

“I got the sense he wants to change many things here. He has fresh ideas on a variety of subjects. We’ll talk about the money he has for transfers and I know he wants to talk about how we develop young players and also about extending the contracts of players such as Steven Gerrard.

“I was a little surprised to hear some of the stories back in England recently because we really wanted to meet Rafa at the Barcelona game, but we thought it would be inappropriate because we didn’t own the club at that stage. We decided it would be better to wait until we had unconditional control.

“I think Rafa wondered why we didn’t see him then, but it was just a bit of confusion.

“Much of what we discuss will remain private. I’m always asked by reporters ‘what’s the budget for the team this year’ and I always say it’s player specific. If we sign a player of a certain value it’s one thing, but it doesn’t mean if you’re not successful with that deal you’re prepared to spend the same amount for a bunch of crummy players.”

The new owners are also planning to significantly expand Liverpool’s commercial activities (the Liverpool FC cowboy boots could be a big seller), and intend using the expertise of their American sports clubs to assist.

“We know there’s a lot of work we can do to develop the global brand, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible at this stage,” says Hicks.

“We’ve brought the president of the Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadians over to meet Rick Parry and there’ll be a lot of brainstorming sessions to see what can be done.

“When you look at Manchester United and Real Madrid, you can see they’ve done a better job in this area and there’s no particular reason why that should be the case.”

Prior to the takeover, Liverpool agreed a new £21m deal with Carlsberg.

While that remains intact, somewhat cryptically, Hicks admitted there would be further discussions regarding the true value of that shirt sponsorship.

He said, rather carefully: “The Carlsberg deal is still in place, but we’ve had a meeting with them and told them we want to work together to see how we can make the partnership even more valuable for both of us, globally.”

As Liverpool enter an exciting new era, clearly many questions regarding the stadium and development of the team will remain unanswered until visions for the future can be translated into reality.

But there’s no doubt the immediate plans of the new owners, if realised, will put the club in a strong position to reclaim its position at the top of English football.

“Our families are very excited about this and for Alex it will be his first game at Anfield today. The new board is now in place, and today we’ll be at the chairman’s dining table as owners of the club, with our good friend, David Moores, with us. The Arsenal match will be a very special game for all of us.”

link to article

I am liking this Hicks guy

[Fagan]

Bigger KOP