Feeling towards G&H

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

No they walked away because Moores didn't inform them about what was going on, not that had the meeting and examined another bid. He gave them a gentlemans agreement and he broke it, so they walked.

If's and but's, as someone else said, it's a moot point.

Gentlemans agreement. Sounds like a load of ****e to me. Maybe someone in the know with a better memory can put me straight on that.

If Moores owned 90% of the shares, and in that case he'd own the club, then he could give them a gentleman’s agreement.

But being the majority shareholder, with less than 75% of the shares he had - by law - to consider all bids. DIC knew this, they knew the rules for UK takeovers.

So they walked away. So LFC wasn't worth sticking around and fighting for as an investment.

And yet plenty grasping glory hunter cunts were clamouring for them to buy us. Interesting.

[AFII]

AFII will be making a financial argument for that now you've stated it. It will be about building up the reputation of Liverpool as a city and haven't we all heard about councils doing that before.

No I won't.

All I said is that you can make a profit on an expensive player if you market him in the right way.

The point he made is a fair one. It all comes down to how good you are using a player off the pitch in marketing and so on.

Real signed player after player for fantasy prices. I doubt that Rafa would do that. Signing one or two excellent players a season wouldn't bankrupt us.

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Anyway, I haven't written G&H off yet. End of the season will see a big transfer period and IMO a crossroads for LFC and G&H. Do they spend the money they promised to create a league winning squad or will they hamstring our manager? Only time will tell. I hope they back Rafa fully, I really do.

Totally agree.

Keys are the stadium and how much flexibility Rafa has to manuover re transfers. And I'm not talking spending £70m either, something in line with last summers outlay should suffice (assuming Rafa gets it right again).

[Venton]

Gentlemans agreement. Sounds like a load of ****e to me. Maybe someone in the know with a better memory can put me straight on that.

If Moores owned 90% of the shares, and in that case he'd own the club, then he could give them a gentleman’s agreement.

But being the majority shareholder, with less than 75% of the shares he had - by law - to consider all bids. DIC knew this, they knew the rules for UK takeovers.

So they walked away. So LFC wasn't worth sticking around and fighting for as an investment.

And yet plenty grasping glory hunter cunts were clamouring for them to buy us. Interesting.

And now the talk is all about why we can't spend vast amounts all the time. At least it landed in Chelsea's lap all at once so they can say they weren't expecting it. Here we are moaning that we aren't getting shedloads for nothing.

I've seen a few comments lately on how we could have won the league with a bucketfull of extra money. I've spent years listening to half my family on the blue side whining in exactly the same way.

[AFII]

And now the talk is all about why we can't spend vast amounts all the time. At least it landed in Chelsea's lap all at once so they can say they weren't expecting it. Here we are moaning that we aren't getting shedloads for nothing.

I've seen a few comments lately on how we could have won the league with a bucketfull of extra money. I've spent years listening to half my family on the blue side whining in exactly the same way.

Eh, even Rafa shouts about that we need to spend big if we want to be able to compete for the league title.

It's very, very much about how much money you can spend. Look at the league table the last seasons for evidence.

You can't win the league anymore without spending big, that time has gone. I wish that it wasn't true but you can't put your head in the sand and say that you can win the league if you don't spend big.

Man U spent £67m net in the last window and they will continue to spend big if Fergie want more expensive quality players.

It's Torres quality that counts if you want to win the league and that quality costs a lot of money.

[Venton]

Eh, even Rafa shouts about that we need to spend big if we want to be able to compete for the league title.

It's very, very much about how much money you can spend. Look at the league table the last seasons for evidence.

You can't win the league anymore without spending big, that time has gone. I wish that it wasn't true but you can't put your head in the sand and say that you can win the league if you don't spend big.

Man U spent £67m net in the last window and they will continue to spend big if Fergie want more expensive quality players.

It's Torres quality that counts if you want to win the league and that quality costs a lot of money.

You're probably right with that I think. But at what cost for us? It's not really helping Chelsea and they had the most expensive squad in the league. I fear for our soul with all this. Maybe I'm being melodramatic (to quote a poster I respect on this forum) but this chasing the lucre will damn us all in long run. It's connected to our disrespect for footballers generally and the England team as a whole and will distance us from the club in the end.

[kurtangle01]

The atricle's to long for me at this time of night.

[sonsofthedesert]

No I won't.

All I said is that you can make a profit on an expensive player if you market him in the right way.

The point he made is a fair one. It all comes down to how good you are using a player off the pitch in marketing and so on.

Real signed player after player for fantasy prices. I doubt that Rafa would do that. Signing one or two excellent players a season wouldn't bankrupt us.

I know mate but wanted to abuse you. oo-er.

[bazza76]

The atricle's to long for me at this time of night.

my thoughts exactly, I thought I would the comments first.

[magicalbarnes]

Excellent article

[slimbimjim]

I don't agree with his thoughts on Arbeloa. He is a very good player and can only get better. He reminds me of Masher where he is quietly effective.

[Johnny]

He doesn`t point out that ManU without Ronaldo and Rooney or Chelsea without Lampard and Drogba are as effective as Liverpool without Gerrard and Torres.

This is just a long winded attempt to tell us we need another striker.
Err,we knew that.


ManU need to plug gaps and replace players like Fletcher,O`Shea,Brown and Dong.
Nobody can tell me Chelsea won`t be spending another 100 million now that Jose is gone.
We are all in the same boat but we have better strength in depth than most of our rivals.

[Graybach]

You can call that good if you want, but there's absolutely nothing new there that hasn't been said a thousand times.

I think the majority of us agree, and have said so many times, with all that was said there. We know Carra has missed Agger. Centre midfield is strong but we're lacking in width. Riise shouldn't be playing for us anymore. Torres is outstanding, rest of the forwards lacking....


****, I'm repeating it all myself now

[dom9]

Hicks & Gillett - My View

Please feel free to merge with existing threads if you feel it necessary. Please also feel free to shoot me down in flames...

Why have G&T bought Liverpool Football Club?

I have given this some serious thought over the last few days, and have tried to approach it from an objective standpoint.

In Spring last year, the fans view was unanimous, the American takeover was what the Club needed to take us that final step and to complete for, then ultimately win the Premier League. Optimism reached a crescendo with a further Champions League Final, followed by plans for a space aged world class stadium, then the signing of Fernando Torres (amongst others). Times were good, we were all ecstatic, we had turned a corner. The best start to a Premier League season followed.

So what has gone wrong?

A spat between Rafa and the owners, the stadium plans being toned down, and the difficulty in refinancing the loans that were used to buy the club. Three issues, which are vitally important to the short, medium and long term future of the Club.

So are Hicks and Gillett incompetent? Do they know what they are doing? My feeling is that they had a concrete plan, but that plan has been undermined by terrible timing on several fronts.

Firstly is the valuation of the club when they bought it. I am sure they saw the Glazers buying Man Utd for £700M, then looking at LFC for half that price, and thinking, 'Bargain'. Wouldn't you?

However, I think the club (all English Clubs for that matter) may have been at the peak of their valuations last year. The biggest TV mega deal yet had just been announced, and the investors from abroad were allerted. No matter that only one club in this country has ever been commercially succesful. Traditionally football just does not earn money in this country. Having said that, if the deal had gone through in the nineties, Gillett and Hicks would have made a killing anyway, as the value of all clubs soared.

As Sarah Beeney has proved countless times during the housing boom, it is easy to make money in a rising market, even if you're a novice in a particular field. You don't even have to add value to make a killing. Unfortunately, this may be football's dot.com moment. I think it's value has peaked, and a recession may be looming.

Secondly, is the method of financing the deal. Tom Hicks is the master of leveraged buy outs. He has done it succesfully many times, and has made a fortune out of it. The methodology was sound, until this autumn. For the same reason Northern Rock couldn't finance it's own mortgage lending business, Hicks and Gillett are struggling to refinance the short term loans they used to buy LFC. It is simply far more difficult to borrow money now, than at any time in the period from 12 years ago to 12 months ago. The cost of borrowing is going up, which leaves less money for players and a stadium.

Thirdly, anyone here could have told the new owners that the longer you don't build a stadium, the higher the costs. We know this from the experience of Wembley, and also new Anfield. Why have the costs spiralled so much in the last 6 months? Well, the credit crunch mentioned above, is a big reason. But the inexorable rise in the price of steel is another. This means the new stadium plansd are simply anaffordable. Any business in the same situation would have to look at itself, and revise costs accordingly.

All of these three factors have combined to put the finances in a sticky situtation. The owners have probably over-valued the club, the cost of borrowing has soared, along with the cost of the stadium. Combine this with a looming recession, and it does not look good.

So there you have it. My view on why things have 'gone wrong'. I think that Gillett & Hicks, genuinely meant all that they said when they took over, why would they lie? It's just that their timing has been spectacularly bad, and it has left them foundering somewhat.

I think they will turn it around, but we must not be allowed to become another Leeds. If we end up being reposessed by the banks, that is exactly would happen.

[Roboklopp]

Aye, agree wi that, but nowt new there really is there?