Financial situation, doom & gloom reports etc

[Johnny]

Gillette just bought majority ownership in a NASCAR team...He has plenty of money

Hopefully Hick`s brash style will cause a fallout and Kraft will buy out Hicks.

[sonsofthedesert]

THEIR money? They have not spent any of their own money. They bought the club using a loan and they will be paying for the stadium using a loan. The loans will be repayed by the club's earnings.

We all agreed that we needed investment. So far we have had NO investment. Investment means new money, new capital. What we have now is new owners not investment. All that's changed is the name above the door.

From the Times:

Liverpool

Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr Date of takeover February 2006

Initial cost of takeover £434 million (includes initial commitment of £215 million towards construction of a new stadium and taking on £44.8 million of existing debt). Bought club with their own money. Borrowed money for the stadium. Now in talks over a refinancing deal that will take club into debt.

Nature of takeover Welcomed with open arms by board.

Early soundbite (Hicks): “There is no debt involved. As custodians of this wonderful, storied club, we have a duty of care to the tradition and legacies of Liverpool.”

Board Hicks, Gillett Jr (co-chairmen), Rick Parry (chief executive), Foster Gillett, Tom Hicks Jr.

Main player Hicks. Not a man to be messed with.

Approach “Absentee landlords”, by Hicks’s admission, but very visible on their visits to Anfield. Committed to a new stadium. Claim to have given Rafael BenÍtez huge backing in the transfer market. BenÍtez disagrees.

Successes Delivered Fernando Torres for £20 million. The new stadium design is superb.

Failures Will that futuristic stadium become a reality? And will it ever be full if they drive out the club’s best manager of recent times?

Recent soundbite (Hicks): “Rafa [should] quit talking about new players and coach [those] we have.”

Relationship with manager Hicks sees him as an ungrateful troublemaker. He thinks they do not understand “soccer”. Trouble ahead.

So the papers are saying they only borrowed to pay for the stadium and pay off club debts, the same debts that meant that Moores had to lend the club money to buy Kuyt and would have seriously limited our spending last summer as no one would lend us money.The club would not have soent the tv money at that time as we don't receive the larger tv money until the end of this season, CL money is not received until september time so the money had to be borrowed (the money for stadium will have been used), all the other clubs are borrowing more in hope of getting alarger slice of the big tv deal.
The big deal in that bit above is that H&G bought the club with money from thier own pocket.

[Jaymo]

what you have got to remember though it that we still maybe attractive to DIC.. but will they just sell us on a few years down the line?

[bigfooty]

I wouldn't have an issue with the DIC selling us on, assuming a great stadium had been built and the team had been successful.

[Crazy-Horse]

I really believe that moores was advised into selling to G+T by Parry and his lack of vision is seriously beginning to affect the future prospects of this club. I make no secrets about the fact that DIC would have been better for us - 7 year exit strategy or not.

On what basis do you say that - Gut feeling or something tangible?

I personally am ambivalent on who owns us. I personally think the days of being owned by a fan with unlimited pockets are well over for top sporting businesses. Are the G&T crowd better than the DIC? Let's wait and see, after all, in real terms we have only had less than 12 months under the new owners.

However one thing that everyone on both sides of the argument seems to forget...Whether talking signings under net or gross spend, the wage structure at the club changed significantly in the last 12 months. We had several high profile players signing new contracts, presumably with sizable wage movements. We also had the last of the dross from Ged's failures dropping off the payroll. Since many transfer fees are paid over time, the wage structure is often more important than the transfer fee, however the transfer fee remains the headline catching figure. For example, look at the wage bill that Leeds got stuck with Robbie

[pezzzer]

is anyone else worried?

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?

[captainfog]

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?

Calm down

[Joe King]

Let the game be over and done with and we shall see the situation

[Radar]

In all fairness I am more worried about the Redskins tomorrow night

[Joe King]

You support the Dolphins? They haven't won all season or something

[Radar]

You support the Dolphins? They haven't won all season or something

The Dolphins

Redskins my friend...live here in West Virginia and used to live about 5 minutes from Redskin Park.

[mick the click]

Is west virginia near sweet virginia?

[Radar]

Is west virginia near sweet virginia?

[AFII]

Benitez on the brink(Daily Mail)

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

[ronan]

Cunts
Typical
We Wouldnt Have A Big Game Today By Any Chance Would We