DIC latest - the largely wild speculation thread

[Vermilion]

Tommy Smith on 5live now. Interview.

[Radar]

WIRRAL Council's plans for a new multi-million pound golf course moved a step closer to reality last week after it was unexpectedly given an international boost at a major property event in France.

Capitalising on the success of the 2006 Open Golf Championship at Hoylake, the council has spent the last few years working on ambitious plans for a brand new golf resort.

Plans for the development were always set to be launched at MIPIM - Marche International des Professionnels d'immobilier - in Cannes, but the council never expected it would receive such a high profile showcase.

Liverpool FC co-owner Tom Hicks was due to headline a conference on the Liverpool stand at MIPIM but cancelled last minute and Jim Wilkie, deputy chief executive of Wirral Council, was drafted in as replacement.

Cowboy Tom O' is in hiding

[Radar]

Representative Tom Lantos, Democrat of California, died this past month at the age of 80. We remember Lantos for many things – not all of them admirable - but we remember him today as the man who gazed at the very first of these idiotic steroid hearings in 2005, and called it "a theater of the absurd." Roger Clemens's face-off with Congress officially moved the discussion beyond the absurd and placed it squarely in Bush Country.

Before we discuss one word of the tax-funded idiocy at Rep. Henry Waxman's House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, let's concede that there are only about 1,500 ways that the committee's time could be better spent. They could be asking why the Bush Administration is so keen on bugging our phones, granting no-bid contracts to Dick Cheney's oily pals or why they're underfunding the Veterans Administration. Hell, they could subpoena Bush on how he got that weird black eye a few years back. Anything but this.

Virginia Republican Rep.Tom Davis--the guy with the pumpkin-colored hair--defended the idea of steroid hearings last month, saying, "This is one of the few things in a partisan, polarized town that the Republicans and Democrats are on the same page. It isn't on the budget or Iraq. But you've got to start somewhere."

Yet the anabolic circus was an absolute parade of partisanship. The positions of lawmakers on the dais seemed as hardened as those testifying. Clemens, under oath, declared that he had never taken steroids or human growth hormones. His ex-trainer Brian McNamee, a former cop, swears he did. So one person was lying, one was telling the truth, yet both presented to the camera fidgety faces of squirmy deceit. And we ask again, who cares? If steroid use is against the law, then let’s see them in court. Why are members of Congress so intently focused on whether abscesses on an All-Star ass could lead to a better earned-run average?

But the partisan lineup of majority Democrats going after Clemens and Republicans after McNamee made for bizarre political theater. While Democrats were calling Clemens a liar, Republicans like Chris Shays were shouting that McNamee was, of all things, trading in controlled substances. "You deal drugs!" the Congressman said. Yes, Chris. That's usually who testifies in drug cases.

The low point was when Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Stephen Lynch questioned Clemens repeatedly about his anabolic tush abscesses, and Virginia’s Davis said angrily, “That gives new meaning to the term lynching.” If only Davis worked for the Golf Channel instead of Congress: he’d be looking for a job.

The question is why the partisan buffoonery. Clemens is a Republican with long-standing ties to the Bush family. During his testimony, Rocket Roger invoked some strange words of encouragement--"Stay high and keep my head up"--that the syntactically challenged George Herbert Walker Bush once gave him. Not the best choice of words at a hearing about drugs.

And the Bush patronage is likely to continue, even if Clemens eventually is charged with perjury as a result of his testimony. McNamee's lawyer Richard Emery today predicted a pardon from Bush the Younger: "It would be the easiest thing in the world for George W. Bush, given the corrupt proclivities of his administration to say Roger Clemens is an American hero, Roger Clemens helped children," Emery told the Associated Press. "It's my belief they have some reason to believe they can get a pardon."

Clemens is also bosom buddies his former boss, Houston Astros owner Drayton McClane, who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Republican candidates. He is also tight Rangers owner Tom Hicks, the former chair of the Giuliani for President campaign. (There’s one for the resume).

Another priceless moment was when Clemens was taken to task on his blithe assertion that he hadn't used steroids, only B-12. Rep. Bruce Braley asked him if he had an approved medical reason for taking B-12, if he had been diagnosed with anemia, senile dementia or Alzheimer's, or whether he was a vegetarian or a vegan. The word "vegan" threw Clemens for a big loop. "I don't know what that is," Clemens replied. "I'm sorry." Roger’s idea of eating greens seems to end with moldy bread and lime jello.

He then, clearly getting a jump on Valentine’s Day, blamed his wife for keeping B-12 around the house to buff up for her appearance in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. But that wasn’t enough. Clemens also tossed dear old mom under the bus as well, saying. "My mother in 1988 suggested I take B-12," Clemens said. "I always assumed it was a good thing, not a bad thing."

Sounds like what a lot of people thought when the Democrats took over Congress.

[Ron_Mexico]

so roger clemens and hicks are tight eh? i should have known, pair of prick cowboys

and hicks is a giuliani man, that awkward *******

[pezzzer]

silence is still golden chaps, we know that dic want us and that thicks and co are talking, the longer there is silence the more likelyhood of a deal being done imo.

[AFII]

Bookies lay odds on when Tom Hicks will quit Liverpool

Mar 22 2008

GIVEN the amount of speculation doing the rounds, it was always going to be only a matter of time before the bookies offered odds on who Liverpool's owners will be in the future.

Paddy Power is the first to spot the gap in the market with a series of special bets now available for anyone who fancies a punt on whether Tom Hicks and George Gillett will still be in charge or DIC will see them off.

The odds on Hicks leaving Liverpool are: 2/1 Before the end of the season

9/4 During the summer

9/2 During the start of next season and the end of 2008

5/1 Between the start of 2009 and the end of the 2008/09 season

Liverpool are also 13/2 to win the Premiership in 2009 under DIC and it is 6/1 for them to break the world transfer record under DIC in 2008/09.

Paddy Power spokesman Darren Haines said: "We have had a lot of interest from our customers in the onwership situation at Liverpool so in response to this demand we have decided to open a book.

"Our hunch is that Hicks will eventually quit Liverpool and the only question is when, so the book reflects that."

No doubt, Paddy Power will be refusing any large wagers from backers in Texas and Dubai.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/...4375-20659127/

[lfcruleus]

6/1 to break the world transfer record i like the sound of that.

[Jayesh87]

Any chance of giving this thread a massive clean up Dww??

Try and get things back on track....

[dww]

Any chance of giving this thread a massive clean up Dww??

Try and get things back on track....

I've removed some of the more off topic posts in the last few pages. There is little point doing any more as there is no public news at the minute so a new thread would in all likelihood go a similar direction (like the last thread on the topic).

If there is any new developments of note with decent evidence then a new thread will be started and kept more rigidly on topic.

[JohnOK]

6/1 to break the world transfer record i like the sound of that.

So according to the bookies we are more likely to do that than Torres (8/1) to be first goalscorer tomorrow.

[Jayesh87]

No news in the sunday papers!!
Its sreiously gone quiet for them not to speculate.
Bye bye DIC.

[pezzzer]

No news in the sunday papers!!
Its sreiously gone quiet for them not to speculate.
Bye bye DIC.

DIC would of made a statement to make it clear they were pulling out of the deal if they had.

media blackout suits hicks and DIC are playing ball imo

[Jayesh87]

DIC would of made a statement to make it clear they were pulling out of the deal if they had.

media blackout suits hicks and DIC are playing ball imo

Doubt it, would you want to publicise the fact you failed in a bid for Liverpool FC for a second time in a year, the Sheikh will be embarassed and pissed off.

DIC will be banking on the credit crunch getting worse and Hicksy going to them wanting to get out...

[Lecter]

DIC would of made a statement to make it clear they were pulling out of the deal if they had.

media blackout suits hicks and DIC are playing ball imo

I tend to agree if negotiations had totally collapsed it would be in DIC's interest to go public

As it would provoke more reaction from the fans and increase awareness of the rift between the fans and the ownership

[wishiwasascouser]

I tend to agree if negotiations had totally collapsed it would be in DIC's interest to go public

As it would provoke more reaction from the fans and increase awareness of the rift between the fans and the ownership

I agree completely, was going to write something along the same lines.If DIC walked away silenty the only person to benefit would be Hicks and I'm sure they wouldn't want to do him any favours!