DIC latest - the largely wild speculation thread

[carlton]

Well, I hate to keep repeating this point which I seem to have mentioned probably every week in the last year on here, but perhaps if they did their due diligence properly instead of that three day nonsense which our board was seemingly so impressed with then perhaps they would have had a much better idea of what they were purchasing.

I do remember that GG said that the due diligence was so quick because he got to have a good look at the books or accounts or such like when he was first interested in purchasing the club. This was the time before DIC and the club entered the period of exclusive negotiation or whatever it was called. If you can be bothered to go back thru a transcript of their first interview at Anfield after the takeover he addresses this issue.

What is clear is that they had virtually no idea of the resources required to compete at the highest level and that the team needed a massive injection of funds just to be competitive with the other big clubs. Man U had been buying 20 million pound plus players for years,Chelsea had moneybags and Arsenal could afford to do things like take a 10 million quid punt on walcott

Credit crunch notwithstanding these guys do not have the commitment to back LFC in the way we need to be.

[Dhav]

I agree with you about G&H's poor due diligence but to be fair to Moores once DIC had pulled out they were the only game in town. I think he made a mistake (albeit and understandable one) in that he wasn't willing to go down the loan route himself and maybe look at getting a minority investor in and for example those involved in the redevelopment work to take a stake (as for example your friend in North London did).

Completely accept what you are saying.

But in a way, G&H being the only game in town was the whole problem. I was always suspicious of how quickly the board jumped into bed with Messrs Gillett and Hicks once DIC left the scene, particularly after Parry was continually bleating on about how DIC was the right partner for the club to take us to the next level etc. And to me it suggested they were desperate to offload the club at that particular moment in time, to anyone with a bit of cash. If it was the Wolfman or Nick Leeson stumping up the cash instead of Gillett and Hicks they'd have probably even sold to them.

I think they felt the pressure of going so far down the takeover route that they were afraid to be stuck with no one. Why they were afraid is anyone's guess: fans' backlash for missing an investment opportunity, embarrassment of ****ing it up, pressure to have funding in place for impending stadium works, pressure from Rafa for backing in the transfer market or he'll walk etc. Either way, they buckled under the pressure, accepting the only offer on the table without putting any due care and consideration into whether these two were the right custodians for the club. 3 day due diligence when you are purchasing such an involved going concern is amatuerish. Vendors impressed with parties completing due diligence in 3 days on the purchase of such an involved going concern are amateurish.

I could have told you a year ago these two weren't the right people for the club and that they didn't have the cash the club needed. In fact I did. Neither had sufficient financing to be able to buy the club on their own hence why they went in it together. Gillett had been bankrupt, was in favour of groundshare with Everton and acheived nothing of note with his only other sports franchise - the Canadiens. Hicks was a friend and supporter of George Bush, and ****ed up his baseball franchise; spending ridiculous money on one star player who achieved nothing, then got rid of him cheap years later and dessimated the team to pay for the expenses incurred in that ill-advised spending splurge years before. This information was readily available on the net, we all knew it before the takeover was finalised; and yet our board thought these were the right people to run the club going forward? No they didn't, they simply buckled under the pressure of the mess they found themselves in, a mess for which they were wholly responsible. If they had any doubts about the yanks, or concerns they couldn't find a suitable outright purchaser, then that is when they should have considered the bonds/stakeholder option you describe above, not jump into bed with the last men standing.

At the end of the day, they were looking for an investor who could bring new finance in to the club that would make us competitve even while we were incurring massive costs on the new stadium. The idea was to avoid an Arsenal scenario where transfer funds would be severely restricted during the stadium build and also the financially stability of the club depended very much on CL qualification year on year.

Yet what did we end up with? DId we end up with anything much different to what we were trying to avoid?

The whole thing has been one right royal **** up.

[Dhav]

I do remember that GG said that the due diligence was so quick because he got to have a good look at the books or accounts or such like when he was first interested in purchasing the club. This was the time before DIC and the club entered the period of exclusive negotiation or whatever it was called. If you can be bothered to go back thru a transcript of their first interview at Anfield after the takeover he addresses this issue.

What is clear is that they had virtually no idea of the resources required to compete at the highest level and that the team needed a massive injection of funds just to be competitive with the other big clubs. Man U had been buying 20 million pound plus players for years,Chelsea had moneybags and Arsenal could afford to do things like take a 10 million quid punt on walcott

Credit crunch notwithstanding these guys do not have the commitment to back LFC in the way we need to be.

Yes, I do remember GG saying that, that he had previously conducted due diligence. Firstly, I'm sceptical of that claim. There are lots of reports that Moores was extremely dismissive of Gillett when he initially became interested in the club. That being true, then why would he permit Gillett to carry out due dilgence and incur all those legal expenses on behalf of the club? Secondly If it is true that Gillett examined the books when he first came on the scene, then that was at least several months before they went through a second round of due diligence (if that is indeed what happened). They needed to have had a long hard look at the books, accounts etc to see what would have changed since their first time they did due diligence. A lot of things could have changed in that time. The contracts and obligations the club was subject to are likely to have been at least somewhat if not substantially different to when they first did their due diligence. It would be foolhardy to rely on the results of investigations carried out months before.

Irrespective of that, if like you say they had no idea of the resources needed for the club, that points clearly to them not doing their homework properly, and that 3 days due diligence was insufficient.

[Barnyard]

CAd I missed what you posted but was it the story from Football 365? It was taken from the 'paper that shall not be named'. Basically said DIC don't want Rafa if they do take over.

[carlton]

Yes, I do remember GG saying that, that he had previously conducted due diligence. Firstly, I'm sceptical of that claim. There are lots of reports that Moores was extremely dismissive of Gillett when he initially became interested in the club. That being true, then why would he permit Gillett to carry out due dilgence and incur all those legal expenses on behalf of the club? Secondly If it is true that Gillett examined the books when he first came on the scene, then that was at least several months before they went through a second round of due diligence (if that is indeed what happened). They needed to have had a long hard look at the books, accounts etc to see what would have changed since their first time they did due diligence. A lot of things could have changed in that time. The contracts and obligations the club was subject to are likely to have been at least somewhat if not substantially different to when they first did their due diligence. It would be foolhardy to rely on the results of investigations carried out months before.
Irrespective of that, if like you say they had no idea of the resources needed for the club, that points clearly to them not doing their homework properly, and that 3 days due diligence was insufficient.

Im not disagreeing with you or your sentiments . Its obvious both parties did not check each other out sufficiently. It looks like george stopped looking at anything beyond the new tv contract which he described as 'outstanding'. Its a shame DIC dicked around with their DD, they might own the club now and we'd all be happy.

[Skillz]

CAd I missed what you posted but was it the story from Football 365? It was taken from the 'paper that shall not be named'. Basically said DIC don't want Rafa if they do take over.

I'm from Australia and have never laid eyes on the "rag" or a "NOTW" but even I can see they have an agenda ATM to help/facilitate/say anything to get Rafa the sack.

IGNORE IT

[Venton]

Im not disagreeing with you or your sentiments . Its obvious both parties did not check each other out sufficiently. It looks like george stopped looking at anything beyond the new tv contract which he described as 'outstanding'. Its a shame DIC dicked around with their DD, they might own the club now and we'd all be happy.

Or they could have binned Rafa and we could be in pretty much the same position. We just don't know, do we?

[MindGuerrillas]

CAd I missed what you posted but was it the story from Football 365? It was taken from the 'paper that shall not be named'. Basically said DIC don't want Rafa if they do take over.

I think that we might start to see another new anti-Rafa campaign from the News Corp group of papers (S*n & NOTW particularly) after Rafa called them out on being a bunch of lying *******s at the weekend on national TV

They'll start dropping trouble stirring hints like that along with awful pieces like Redknapp's that they're running today.

[carlton]

Or they could have binned Rafa and we could be in pretty much the same position. We just don't know, do we?

No we'll never know for example the new manager might have won us our very first PL title and another CL. one thing is for certain is that DIC have more $$ than these jokers.

[Resu]

Everybody on here says these rags are full of **** and so on, but still they are the biggest papers in Britan. Very few here admits to reading them (and even fewer buying them), so who are the people buying them? It`s the same over here, everybody talks **** about the two big tabloids, but they are the biggest papers.
This doesn`t include the S*n as no LFC fan should even consider touching that one.

[Dhav]

Im not disagreeing with you or your sentiments . Its obvious both parties did not check each other out sufficiently. It looks like george stopped looking at anything beyond the new tv contract which he described as 'outstanding'. Its a shame DIC dicked around with their DD, they might own the club now and we'd all be happy.

Absolutely. They walked in to the takeover press conference talking about tv contracts, and it's all they've been talking about ever since. Like you say, it seems to be the only thing they examined with any kind of proficiency. Contrast to DIC, whose business efficacy probably ended up costing them the club. I don't blame DIC for undertaking a thorough due diligence, but sadly the protracted nature of it left the door ajar for Gillett and that's why we're in this mess now.

Having said that, I dont think that the amount of time to do due diligence is by any means rare. On a £200m deal I worked on due diligence lasted about 2 months, but there was an incredibly long list of contracts that needed examining.

[barnes10]

i think what redknapp is saying is basically spot on.

we won't win the league whist benitez makes so many mistakes with his rotation. note i think rotation is very effective if properly used but we just cannot do it properly. either its players coming in not motivated enough or players being left out at the wrong time, he keeps screwing it up and we keep dropping points.

[Lecter]

Dont quote that ****rag

Heres Tony Barretts latest snippet in the Echo

Meanwhile, reports in a national newspaper today that DIC is planning to sack Rafa Benitez should it buy into the club are wide of the mark.

Although DIC remain keen to buy into Liverpool FC, no discussions have been held about the manager’s future and none are planned.

[wishiwasascouser]

Absolutely shocking that people are quoting from that paper.

[Dhav]

I love Rafa, but sadly to my mind he would be acceptable collateral damage when getting rid of these two cancerous leeches from our club.