Tues - articles, reports and general discussion thread

[paulcooper4]

I can cap this video and put it on rapidshare or mediafire if someone wants to listen to that ****?

No ta, I have a good fart brewing which will make more footballing sense than that fat ****

[Gazzla]

Whenever Hicks opens his mouth it's a car crash waiting to happen

[cobain]

and btw, the **** can't even get a date of our match v. the filth right. 15 december my ass.

There's an owner for you. The biggest Liverpool game in a season and doesn't know the date. Brilliant.

[dom9]

How is it bad news Tom, I am not up to date on these two bank deals.

I'm guessing it's bad news because Hicks is not selling up.

[Dan]

I can cap this video and put it on rapidshare or mediafire if someone wants to listen to that ****?

Yeah if you would mate, I missed it

Cheers

[Darth Marty]

DAMN!!! Hicks isnt selling up! ARRRGGGH! How can today get any worse!

[mick the click]

No ta, I have a good fart brewing which will make more footballing sense than that fat ****

As doom mongering goes, that was funny!

[dom9]

I found that interview fascinating.

Apart from backing up everything I have been saying here for the last few months (Leveraged Buy Out (LBO) business model scuppered by the credit crunch, amongst others), he said that he is actively still looking for Billion dollar investments. However, he said that they have cash available ('a war-chest') to finance half the amount required for those deals.

I'm guessing that this is because of the credit crunch, but it would have been nice if he commited some of that to refinance LFC and the stadium, rather than letting this whole sorry saga drag on.

[carlton]

Yes, so did I. He seemed anything but anxious about the refinancing. The test of his commitment though is how much equity of his own he will put into the club.

[AFII]

Mersey in meltdown

MERSEY IN MELTDOWN
CHAOS AT THE KOP Liverpool in a mess.. cash fears, in-fighting & a bleak future American dream turns into a huge nightmare as.. Hicks admits Klinsmann offer Benitez job is now undermined Loan will put Kop in big debt US pair put under dire strain

David Maddock 15/01/2008

It Was supposed to be the American dream - a takeover of Liverpool that promised massive investment from two generous billionaires which would finally enable the great club to compete at the top again.

Fast forward 12 months, and that dream is turning into something of a nightmare, with no end in sight to the lurid crisis that has gripped Anfield in recent months, culminating in confirmation yesterday that Rafael Benitez's job was casually offered to Jurgen Klinsmann.

Such a revelation from owner Tom Hicks, which fatally undermines Benitez's position at the club, should be just about as bad as it gets at an institution better known for its dignity in the face of adversity down the years.

But the Americans' relationship with their manager - and the implications of employing a lame duck boss over the next four months - are just about the least of the worries facing Hicks and his co-owner George Gillett.

Liverpool are in a mess. In fact, prefix that with an expletive, and you begin to understand the sort of mess they are in. They are a club beset by financial concerns and political infighting, and one whose prospects look bleak for at least the next four to five years.

When they bought Liverpool, Hicks and Gillett explained that they were very different from the Glazers at Manchester United, promising they would use their own money to finance the deal, and not borrow against the club. Depressingly, that promise has been broken, with the pair spending the last six months attempting to arrange finance that will ultimately put Liverpool in debt to the breathtaking tune of around £600million.

Because of the global 'credit crunch' however, banks are nervous of lending money without security, and they have demanded that both Hicks and Gillett provide personal guarantees and letters of credit to cover the loans.

Gillett has been either unwilling or unable to provide such guarantees, which has caused a major delay in finding the money, and led to speculation that the Americans would be forced to sell their stake. Hicks insisted yesterday that neither he nor his partner have any intention of selling - but he did reveal recently that the plan now is to borrow the money in two stages over the next 12 months.

If they can appease the banks then they will borrow £300m to pay for the purchase of the club and other related costs, and get the 'new Anfield' stadium build underway. In a year's time, they will borrow another £300m to pay for the stadium.

Such massive levels of borrowing means that the interest on the loan will be around £35-40m every year.

Last year, Liverpool's operating profits were in the region of £30m, meaning the loan would be almost 20 times operating profits. In comparison, Manchester United's are eight times, and Arsenal's just four.

Such financial talk is above the heads of many fans, but the bottom line for Liverpool is that at current levels, any profit will be wiped out completely by the interest on loans - which means there will be little or no money for transfers.

The Americans plan to increase profits, but until the new stadium is built - which won't be until at least 2012 - their only real way of doing so will be to increase ticket prices dramatically, another Glazer route they promised not to follow.

To this heady mix of financial worries must be added real problems in the relationship between the two Americans. There are clear indications that the pair simply no longer trust each other, and certainly, both appear to be briefing frantically against each other.

Hicks was supposed to be the silent partner providing the financial muscle in the deal, with Gillett the dealmaker who handled the public relations. Now Hicks seems to have taken over, and Gillett to have disappeared.

There is also disharmony within the Anfield boardroom, with former chairman David Moores and chief executive Rick Parry uneasy about the level of borrowing against the club, and the lack of financial progress that has been made. Which all leaves the situation with Benitez as a puzzling sideshow. In their current financial situation, Liverpool desperately require stability and guaranteed income.

Benitez has not only qualified his team for the Champions League every season, but reached the final twice in three years, providing desperately required revenue. But there is a real danger now that by undermining him so badly, the effect on the team's morale will cost them a Champions League place this season, which would be an unmitigated disaster.

By replacing him, the Americans are merely opening up the possibility of spending even more money they haven't got, because his successor would demand funds to get rid of Benitez's players and bring in his own.

Logically, the Americans would be best served by backing a manager with a good track record, in the hope that he can get the best out of a squad that will not be added to in any significant way over the short to medium term.

But logic has long flown out of the Anfield window. Benitez knows that his only chance of survival now is if the Americans sell before they can sack him.

While that seems a remote prospect, it is not impossible. DIC, the investment arm of the Dubai government, lurks in the background, still interested in buying the club they believe they were cheated out of a year ago.

Hicks revealed yesterday that in October, Liverpool were in talks to sell DIC a stake - but they stalled over the Americans' valuation of £1billion for a business they paid only £180m for just eight months previously.

If borrowing costs get any higher, then the Americans could yet be forced to lower their valuation, and sell not just a stake, but the whole club to the Arabs. A mess it certainly is.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...9520-20286461/

[loco_law]

More summarizing of what we already now, just with David Maddock's name on it this time.


He does after all have a job to keep. :whatever:

[AFII]

That is why I opened a new thread. I would need to post it in all the other threads and that would look a little bit silly.

[loco_law]

Yes, but it's your style to post it in all the other threads!!


You getting lazy in your old age?

[AFII]

Yes, but it's your style to post it in all the other threads!!


You getting lazy in your old age?

Probably the right answer

[loco_law]

My work here is done.