Dubai International to make bid for Liverpool FC

[Jayesh87]

Maybe they didn't want to be seen to lose twice for LFC if it didn't come off (exactly what has happened).
At least now they can deny all involvement

They haven't made a bid yet.

[andyhanrahan]

i'm begining to think there wasn't a bid that it was all part of a diabolical scheme by Hicks to buy out Gillette's share---we havnt seen or heard from the man in ages

[Red_Al_77]

i'm begining to think there wasn't a bid that it was all part of a diabolical scheme by Hicks to buy out Gillette's share---we havnt seen or heard from the man in ages

Perhaps because he doesn't want to be associated with Hicks but still wants the money.

[AFII]

In reality they wanted it on the cheap and were hoping that HICKS was a panic merchant. I have to say I don't think DIC will ever pay over the odds for us and because of that they will never prise Liverpool from HICKS. Money talks and it looks like for all this blah that they were Liverpool fans it came down to the balance sheet.

Well, I don't believe that they would even start to sell of some of their assets if they wasn't very sure to buy the club.

[Jayesh87]

Liverpool deal not the end of the story

* Mihir Bose - BBC sports editor
* 25 Jan 08, 01:32 PM

Liverpool’s £350m refinancing deal still leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

The debt burden this will put on the club, the future of manager Rafa Benitez, and whether this means the club will now not be sold to Dubai International Capital (DIC), who have been sniffing around.

The fine print of this package should be subjected to close scrutiny.

Last year when George Gillett and Tom Hicks took over Liverpool they borrowed against their own assets, and this was seen as marking them out to be very different from the Glazers.

The money the Glazers borrowed in order to buy Manchester United was charged against the club. A club hitherto debt free was burdened with huge debts causing much anger amongst some fans.

Gillett and Hicks were required to refinance their acquisition loans by the end of next month and had been talking to bankers for some time

They were not helped by the fact the ongoing credit crunch has made raising money in the City much more difficult.

But also one of their initial plans did not find favour with the Liverpool board.

Last autumn, Gillett and Hicks wanted to load their loans on to the club but this was resisted by former owner David Moores and chief executive Rick Parry.

Of course, as owners they could have dismissed the board but to their credit they did not do so.

I understand the new package means that some £185m of the acquisition debt is still personally guaranteed by Gillett and Hicks who have put in more of their own money.

The rest of the debt, which includes working capital and transfer activity money, will be loaded on to the club. This will be justified on the grounds that it is normal Liverpool business and Liverpool should bear the burden.

The part of the package that the owners want to talk up is the £60mn or so that is earmarked for beginning work on the new stadium, a Liverpool plan for years and one the owners have always considered high priority.

Much is being made of the fact that the new stadium, which the club want to be open by August 2011, has a groundbreaking iconic design and a 71,000 capacity, anchored by an expanded 18,500-seat Kop.

Yet the money the have borrowed is only the first step in the stadium project - the overall cost of the stadium could well reach £400m

Here Liverpool are hoping to follow the Arsenal model. They borrowed heavily to build the Emirates Stadium, had problems securing the money but in the end it has has worked out well.

Liverpool will hope to do the same, but they are not there yet.

Whether this deal will see the owners restore their relationship with Rafa Benitez is much more doubtful.

The breakdown between the American owners and the Spanish manager has been described to me as a clash of culture.

The owners feel that at the beginning of the season they approved the manager's shopping list, so why does he not get on with it and coach the side - that's what they pay him for

Their American sporting experience has not schooled them to the ways of the tabloid back pages and the way a manager can use them to get his own message across.

Hicks is particularity guilty of this, and his attempts to get his own media message across, as in the admission he spoke to Jurgen Klinsman about replacing Benitez, have backfired badly.

The announcement of the refinancing will see a truce but it may be no more than that.

Similarly Dubai International Capital's interest in Liverpool may be by no means be over.

They are still sore about losing out to Gillett and Hicks when the initial takeover took place, especially as they thought they had done a deal that would secure Liverpool for them.

Dubai had hoped that the Americans’ attempts to refinance would fail and that they would buy Liverpool for around £350m, although contrary to reports no formal offer was ever made.

However, while the refinancing makes the price higher, the word from Dubai is that they remain keen to get Liverpool and, depending on how the future plans for raising stadium finance work, they may well get their chance.

The refinancing story should be seen as just one episode in a long running Liverpool soap opera. The final act is far from being written.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereport...he_end_of.html

[AFII]

Bose said on five live that the £45m transfer budget is for the next 18 months and that Mascherano is included into that.

So it's already down to £28m for Rafa to spend in the next three transfer windows.

[Tom]

Hick's has previous, part 20000.

This Kop company he's got that he's saddling with debt. He did exactly the same thing with the Dallas Stars, creaing a company called Southwest sports - who went bust. All Southwest's debts then fell onto Dallas Stars.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/31/biz_07nhl_Dallas-Stars_315393.html

It is a good thing Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks is a billionaire. Otherwise, he might not survive the mess he has made of the Dallas franchise. The team, which owns 50% of American Airlines Center, is saddled with $200 million in debt (the team's holding company, Southwest Sports, defaulted on $135 million of debt four years ago), a high payroll, and an under-performing team that can't make it past the first round of the playoffs. The natives have clearly gotten restless, illustrated by sagging ticket sales and waning interest in the Dallas market for the Stars. In the face of this Hicks has actually increased the team's marketing staff to boost ticket sales. What he really needs is a better product.

[Tom]

Just caught the end of a discussion on 5live about rafa's transfers under G+H. Fella pointed out that when you balance the "outs" and "ins" rafa has actually had minus 19 million from the yanks.

[desertscouser]

Bose said on five live that the £45m transfer budget is for the next 18 months and that Mascherano is included into that.

So it's already down to £28m for Rafa to spend in the next three transfer windows.

Well mate, it's up to Rafa how he wants to spend his budget. If he wants to spend 17 million on one player then that's his choice. Personally I want Mascher to stay but ultimately if Rafa has a budget he will have to weigh up his best options as to where he wants to allocate his funds. If the 45 million quid figure is a net transfer budget then it's not too bad. Think of what Rafa could additionaly raise from selling the likes of Crouch, Carson and Riise then you have a huge transfer kitty.

[disco]

Bose said on five live that the £45m transfer budget is for the next 18 months and that Mascherano is included into that.

So it's already down to £28m for Rafa to spend in the next three transfer windows.

Hmm, with sales that's not bad for a guaranteed amount.

Depends what extra we get for CL football etc.

[kopdan]

it will drag and drag this

At least its Hicks and Gillettes to sell now yes?

[Steve101]

From the snippets of his posts posted on here, it doesn't appear as if cowtownred has actually said anything. Looks very similar to the psychic trick of cold-reading to me. No firm details, allows people to read into his posts whatever they want, and so will be able to say "I told you so" regardless of what happens.

LIke a few people on here. Christ, I know people often cant reveal thier contacts, but **** me, what a crock of **** this guy writes.(not you calvoboy!) Correct or incorrect, I havent got a clue what the gibbering idiot is on about, probably like himself!!!!!

[Fowler_God]

Bose said on five live that the £45m transfer budget is for the next 18 months and that Mascherano is included into that.

So it's already down to £28m for Rafa to spend in the next three transfer windows.

The next 18 months, meaning this summer transfer window, next Jan and the summer after that? So £15mill a window??? ............. its started already

[wavydavy]

Well mate, it's up to Rafa how he wants to spend his budget. If he wants to spend 17 million on one player then that's his choice. Personally I want Mascher to stay but ultimately if Rafa has a budget he will have to weigh up his best options as to where he wants to allocate his funds. If the 45 million quid figure is a net transfer budget then it's not too bad. Think of what Rafa could additionaly raise from selling the likes of Crouch, Carson and Riise then you have a huge transfer kitty.

Spot on. Until the new stadium starts to pay we'll see just how good a manager RB is. Wenger's had to do it. If he trimmed what is an unnecessarily large squad he have millions to spend. Bring in a few kids and spend fairly big on the odd top player. Surely people can put up with that for a couple ofyears.

[Fowler_God]

Depends what extra we get for CL football etc.

I doubt it. What ever extra is made will be lining fat pockets in Texas