Financial situation, doom & gloom reports etc

[Armchairkopite]

You're right DS, no confirmations yet that they have done anything wrong, although I think we can rightly assume they are about to put a **** load of debt on the club which includes the cost of buying the club when they promised they wouldn't, and we're not sure whether they're backing Rafa to the extent they said they would (although again, we can make assumptions based on what's been said, and I mean by the main protaganists and not by the press).

Irrespective of putting us in debt, going for the ****ter stadium etc, if they sack Rafa I will not be lining the Americans' pockets any more. I would not give them a penny when I have no faith in what they're doing with our club. I can't go there and support a manager who I feel has no right to be there when we had a better man for the job and got rid of him because he fought for the good of the club. I'll still support the red men, the players that go out on the pitch, but it will have to be from a distance. Why the **** should I give up my hard earned cash to a bunch of clowns.

If truth be told, what we've seen and heard from the Americans and Parry this last month, and more crucially what we haven't heard from them, I'm very sceptical about them and their motives. If I'm honest, I wish we never sold out to the yanks.

Good post mate

[Konstro]

Benitez on the brink: American owners gamble by warning Liverpool boss he can't have any money for new players
Last updated at 22:06pm on 15th December 2007

Liverpool's American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, will today take a huge gamble by telling manager Rafael Benitez he has no money for the January transfer window.

The multi-millionaires will break the news to Benitez at long-awaited showdown talks after Liverpool's crunch Premier League clash with Manchester United at Anfield.

It will be a huge blow to the Spaniard, who has asked for money to bring in a top-quality central defender as cover for Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger, and to tie up Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano on a permanent deal.

Benitez has a history of falling out with club owners. He left Valencia despite winning the Spanish championship and the UEFA Cup and will now have to decide whether to stay at Anfield on the Americans' terms.

Hicks and Gillett have decided that their current priority is to press ahead with plans for a new 70,000-capacity stadium at Stanley Park and have been advised that buying players in the summer transfer market represents better value for money than the January window.

But the long, ongoing struggle to sort out the financial future of the club is also a factor in their reluctance to release funds.

Banking sources believe that while American finance house Wachovia have pulled back from negotiations, the Royal Bank of Scotland, who lent Gillett and Hicks most of the money to buy the club, are considering a deal which would see Liverpool lumbered with around £300million of debt. Servicing that would cost up to £30m per year, leaving precious little for transfers.

The uncertainty will anger fans, many of whom demonstrated their support for the manager in his row with the owners. They will also be appalled at the prospect of Gillett and Hicks transferring the debts they incurred in buying the club on to the club itself. The money they borrowed was guaranteed against their personal assets but now they want their debts, plus capital to start building the stadium, to be.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...79&ito=newsnow

How stupid is that? So, it doesn`t matter that we are one player short at the back or that getting one or two players would possibly mean the difference between wining or not winning silverware, it just not good time to get value for money.

Honestly I don`t think that there are better jobs than being a journo. One can know **** all, do **** all, spout **** all around and still being paid handsomely for being lazy and uninformed.

[Dhav]

Good post mate

Thanks mate

I know people like Niall will accuse me of over-reacting, reacting to baseless speculation, making a fool of myself etc, but I am forming my own interpretations from what we've seen and heard from the main protagonists and I am genuinely concerned about where the club is heading under these two.

I was suspicious of them from the start and said as much, although I was willing to give them a chance and was initially impressed by their PR blitz. But everything we've seen and heard from them since doesn't seem to add up and they seem to be reverting to type, American owners who know nothing about the sport and more interested in financial rewards than sporting glory. What's more, it seems they're doing nothing to reassure us about our concerns.

[Red_Polo]

what the **** is going on here?
first rafa publicly critisizes the owners handling of transfers leading us to beleive there may be a lack of money, the stadium MAY have to be re-re-revised due to a lack of funds and now it looks like hicks couldnt run his own nose and his baseball team fans are crying for his head.

and all this before the scum game! i think h and g, now there over here should call a press conference to settle a few nerves here. and where the **** is parry?

Allow me to impart some words of wisdom. Que sera sera. Hakuna matata. **** it dude, let's go bowling.

[tomasjj]

Well, if they **** with us, they will be up against something they did not expect.




I still have hope of them getting the message and falling into line though.

[Armchairkopite]

Thats the problem in a nutshell though really, the Americans haven't done anything to quash the stories which have been circulating for weeks now, i too am fearing the worst in the long term but all we can do at the moment is support our team and wait for the Americans to show their hand.

[peekay]

Thats the problem in a nutshell though really, the Americans haven't done anything to quash the stories which have been circulating for weeks now, i too am fearing the worst in the long term but all we can do at the moment is support our team and wait for the Americans to show their hand.

Which is worrying me the most. Both of them love being in the media spotlight and giving soundbites. However, the fact that they are keeping quite in a reasonably turbulent period is a bit unnerving.

[Dhav]

what the **** is going on here?
first rafa publicly critisizes the owners handling of transfers leading us to beleive there may be a lack of money, the stadium MAY have to be re-re-revised due to a lack of funds and now it looks like hicks couldnt run his own nose and his baseball team fans are crying for his head.

and all this before the scum game! i think h and g, now there over here should call a press conference to settle a few nerves here. and where the **** is parry?

Worried doesn't begin to describe how concerned I am about where these two are taking the club.

Rafa may have conducted an unprofessional press conference where he answered every question with "as always I am focussing on training and coaching my team", but he never hinted or expressly stated what the problem was with the board/owners. It's the yanks who subsequently released a statement basically saying with key games coming up the focus needs to be on winning matches and that there will be no discussions on player movements until December. So it seems to me they wanted to issue a public rebuke to Rafa and this is where all the speculation started. Everything subsequently we've heard from Gillett and Hicks and Parry has served only to stoke the fires instead of killing the speculation stone dead.

Am I worried? Yes, and I have every right to be. Anyone who thinks everything behind the scenes is hunky-dory is naive in the extreme IMO.

[Armchairkopite]

This situation is way out of control right now and we deserve some answers.

[Dhav]

This situation is way out of control right now and we deserve some answers.

To me, it seems the situation has been engineered to maximise the pressure on Rafa. Check out some of Rafa's quotes in this article from the Express:-

Rafa Benitez has revealed for the first time that the highly publicised fall-out with Liverpool’s American owners took him to the brink of quitting.

Benitez also admitted that he is not happy with what he considers to be a lesser role in future transfer negotiations.


Anfield chief executive Rick Parry is now Benitez’s bidder in discussions about player targets with club owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.


The Spaniard has accused the Liverpool moneymen of not understanding the transfer market, while Gillett and Hicks have told Benitez in no uncertain terms to concentrate on coaching the team.
ì
It’s clear to me that my position at the club is different now. We need to analyse why
î

Rafa Benitez


Clear-the-air talks are imminent with both Gillett and Hicks on Merseyside to watch today’s critical Anfield confrontation with bitter rivals Manchester United.


On the eve of a game which could shape Liverpool’s domestic season, Benitez (right) was in expansive mood, admitting hurt at the way his desire to improve his squad has been interpreted across the Atlantic.


Asked whether at any point he has considered his future, he replied: “I have analysed the situation, yes. I was surprised (about the situation).


“But after thinking a lot, I said ‘OK, the best way to find a final solution is to keep trying to win every game’. After that, to talk to them (Gillett and Hicks) about the misunderstanding.


“For me it’s very simple. If you want to win and you are trying to do the best things for your club and if they want the same, then it will be easy.”


Would he give the Americans a ‘back me or sack me’ ultimatum at the crunch meeting? “I am thinking about the game against Manchester United. I am not analysing what to say in the meeting,” said Benitez.


“I am trying to do the best for the club and nothing else. Maybe the key for me is to try and understand the misunderstanding.”


But he added: “It’s clear to me that my position at the club is different now. We need to analyse why.”


It was also a strange week for Benitez on the pitch. He was pilloried for last weekend’s first Premier League defeat of the season at Reading and then praised for the crushing victory in Marseille, which took Liverpool into the last 16 of the Champions League.


Such is the desperation of The Kop to witness a first title triumph since 1990 that Benitez, who has won the Champions League and taken the club to another final, is seen by some as always putting the European competition ahead of the Premier League.


He also feels he is paying the price for years of failure following two decades – the Seventies and Eighties – of domestic domination.


Benitez said: “Does the criticism hurt? No, because if we beat Manchester United people will then say, fantastic, we are focusing on both competitions. That is football.


“We lost against Reading and everyone was talking about it. But then Arsenal also lost, so we are almost in the same position. We have one game in hand and if we beat Manchester United we will be really, really close to the top of the table.


“People must look at the big picture, be quiet and calm and try to do the right things again.


“I know this club hasn’t won the title since 1990 but it’s not my fault! Everything is in position after the last three or four years. We know we are going in the right direction, but you are not guaranteed the title.


“Can we win it this season? We have a lot of confidence that we can do it, but I am sure United, Chelsea and Arsenal have the same confidence.


“To win the title we must do everything almost perfectly and work together as a club. We are improving and going forward.”


The brakes to this season’s title ambitions, however, will be applied firmly if Liverpool lose against United this afternoon.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...oodle-showdown

[Armchairkopite]

I agree with what your saying but why do they want him out though? It just doesn't make sense Rafa is the type of manager that can work on limited funds, his knowledge of players across the globe is extraordinary. He is one of the top five managers in europe, i just can't inderstand it.

Btw the media bias against us is just plain weird at the moment regaurding performances on the pitch which have been excellent lately bar the Reading game, stranger again when we lost to Reading i thought the media would have a field day but it was quite low key.

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Merked

[thesilverfoxlfc]

Id like the yanks to sell up and another owner and NOT owners come in with plenty of money!!!

Partners are only for dancing

Im very sick of the situation and what we've become off the pitch

[tommyg]

If the Liverpool - Benitez relationship is to end, it will be Rafa stepping down with dignity rather than getting ****ed around by these yanks time after time

[Nicey]

Calm down