Dubai International to make bid for Liverpool FC

[disco]

Stevie - fair comment about wages

I'd like to know how our merchandising is doing, and whilst it may only be relatively small, any increase in ticket sales.

[Darth Marty]

Disagree completely with your comment on Moores shortsightedness though, to be fair he didnt want to lumber us with that debt thats probably the only reason he sold his beloved Liverpool. Just a shame that hes been screwed over.

[StevieG08]

Stevie - fair comment about wages

I'd like to know how our merchandising is doing, and whilst it may only be relatively small, any increase in ticket sales.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not opposed to borrowing money in order to grow (speculate to accumulate etc.) However Hicks has a great deal of baggage about him. He has a quite shocking record of sports franchise ownership(hate that term, but the Americans use it) and worse still, unlike the other businesses that he's invested in and sold on for a profit, he seems to hold on to the sports one's indefinitely (except Corinthians who were completely broke!)

If Gillett had paired up with perhaps Kraft or if DIC were to come in and still borrow all the money i wouldn't care one jot. Hicks and his previous business practices scare the **** out of me though!

[disco]

I was trying to get an idea of the revenues of his US sports teams - just to get a handle on how it compares to Liverpool. Couldn't find anything though?

The US teams are also scuppered by the draft system and wage ceilings etc. (are they not?)

Cold comfort, but it's useful that we're already a 'very good team' - in need of tweaking rather than massive changes. We should be able to compete on £20-25m net per transfer window i.e. 2-3 big players in, 2-3 **** players out....

Time will tell though, this summer is key (hasn't every summer for 15 years?!)

[StevieG08]

Disagree completely with your comment on Moores shortsightedness though, to be fair he didnt want to lumber us with that debt thats probably the only reason he sold his beloved Liverpool. Just a shame that hes been screwed over.

Disagree with you totally. How else are we going to get the new stadium? Do you honestly think somebody will come along and 'gift' us 300mil? Arsenal have done it and look very healthy for it. I'm actually blaming Moores and Parry for the mess we're in, they need to be held accountable for the way they allowed us to stagnate to the point we were up for grabs by anyone with the will to buy us.

When the original plan to build the stadium was thought out (late 90's i believe) the cost to build a 70k stadium was rumoured to be less than 150mil. A bit of foresight and the use of a bit of balls and we would of been sat in a 70k stadium now and competing with the mancs in the transfer market.

[Rich]

Would be interesting to see how we paid for the new contracts:

Gerrard
Carragher
Alonso
Sissoko
Reina(?)

All would have received a nice signing bonus and wage increase + the £15m for the architect fees - it's not difficult to see where the Champions League money went...

[Darth Marty]

Its fair to say that hindsight is a wonderful thing, I think we all agree that the stadium should have been sorted years and years ago but for whatever reason it wasnt. Now we are ****ed and not because of Moores (unless you want to blame him for selling to the yanks) but because we are lumbered with not just the cost of the new stadium but of the yanks ****ing borrowing to buy us in the first place!
I didnt expect a free stadium but I didnt expect us to have to pay someone to buy us.

[StevieG08]

I'm not totally sure of the figures but the increase in wages for Gerrard, Carra, Alonso and Reina alone would account for about a 4mil a year increase in the wage bill.(based on newspaper reports of their wage details, which i'm aware is no proof of the truth)

[disco]

Its fair to say that hindsight is a wonderful thing, I think we all agree that the stadium should have been sorted years and years ago but for whatever reason it wasnt. Now we are ****ed and not because of Moores (unless you want to blame him for selling to the yanks) but because we are lumbered with not just the cost of the new stadium but of the yanks ****ing borrowing to buy us in the first place!
I didnt expect a free stadium but I didnt expect us to have to pay someone to buy us.

The annoying thing is, a stadium would only have cost £100m-ish 7-8 years ago.

All the ****wittery has cost us £200m+

[StevieG08]

Its fair to say that hindsight is a wonderful thing, I think we all agree that the stadium should have been sorted years and years ago but for whatever reason it wasnt. Now we are ****ed and not because of Moores (unless you want to blame him for selling to the yanks) but because we are lumbered with not just the cost of the new stadium but of the yanks ****ing borrowing to buy us in the first place!
I didnt expect a free stadium but I didnt expect us to have to pay someone to buy us.

Fair enough that's your view. Mine is however that Moores was the major shareholder, he was the one who had Parry act for him and the board. If he's not responsible then who else is? All the yanks have done is refinanced the loan they took out to buy the club in the first place. It's fairly obvious that once the club was in G&H ownership they could pretty much do what they wanted with it. After all those years of searching the world for investors they ended up selling to a man who's got a track record for destroying the teams he owns, who do you blame for that? Not having a pop but people need to remember who guided the club to our current position.

[Rafa Shankly]

this thread has taking a turn for the worse,ive completely lost interest in it,thanks disco.

wheres rashid to get it back on track.

[CAD]

Fair enough that's your view. Mine is however that Moores was the major shareholder, he was the one who had Parry act for him and the board. If he's not responsible then who else is? All the yanks have done is refinanced the loan they took out to buy the club in the first place. It's fairly obvious that once the club was in G&H ownership they could pretty much do what they wanted with it. After all those years of searching the world for investors they ended up selling to a man who's got a track record for destroying the teams he owns, who do you blame for that? Not having a pop but people need to remember who guided the club to our current position.

And then some!

People simply have to accept that the fact that Moores failed to build the stadium years ago will have a serious impact on this club for years to come. David is John Moores way of saying "Yes, I'm an Everton fan, this should even the battlefield a little. I'll give my retarded nephew the LFC shares".

[Pacman]

Liverpool FC WILL have to finance £30m interest a year on owners' loan
Jan 29 2008


Liverpool FC owners George Gillett (left) and Tom Hicks _320

LIVERPOOL Football Club will have to come up with around £30m a year to pay the interest on loans taken out by its American owners.

In an astonishing announcement that confirms the worst fears of many Reds fans, a spokesman for Tom Hicks admitted for the first time that the club will be responsible for servicing the £350m loan package.

The loan taken out with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia was divided in two. with £105m being loaded onto the club’s book, and the remaining £245m going on to

the books of Kop Holdings, the parent company set up by Hicks and George Gillett when they bought Liverpool last February.

But today’s bombshell news that it is the club, and not Hicks and Gillett, which will have to meet interest payments on both sections of the loan will put huge financial pressure on Liverpool to qualify for the lucrative Champions League every season.

A spokesman from Financial Dynamics, the City PR company representing Hicks, said: “The holding company debt is supported by the assets it acquired and should there ever be any shortfall in cash flow at the club or anywhere else in Kop in any given year, Kop’s ownership, under the terms of the financing package, is prepared to fund whatever is required.

“The debt is being handled exactly as it is handled at the vast majority of professional sports teams.”

John Mackin, of fans group Reclaim The Kop, admitted he now feared for the future of the club if Hicks and Gillett remain as owners.

He said: “We are looking at a level of debt, or the interest payments at the very least, which could sink the club if we have a couple of bad seasons.

“I’m just hoping that this admission by Hicks is part of an exit strategy which would allow him to sell the club because of the outrage this announcement will cause.

“A meeting has been called for Liverpool fans at the Sandon pub on Thursday night, and I’ve got no doubt that these interest payments will be one of the main talking points.”

Anfield sources today indicated that Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry and life president David Moores would continue their opposition to the club having to make any interest payments on the acquisition debt.

But such opposition could ultimately lead to the pair being removed from the club’s board.

[AFII]

Parry should have been sacked years ago, that was Moores biggest mistake.

[disco]

And that's without the further 250m minimum to finish the stadium or any money to pay back the capitol.

Naming rights, sponsorship etc.