Stadium canned?

[peekay]

oddly i find myself feeling sorry for Moores.

**** i hate these 2 yanks though....****ing ****ers the pair of them.

I am not accusing Moores of selling our soul for 8 million bucks but I find it hard to feel sorry for the level of ineptitude and lack of judgment he has displayed. I am now confident most people on est1892 would be a better judge of character than Moores. When your entrusted with such a responsibility either you make sure you have the judgment to make correct decisions or surround yourself with people who have that judgment.

Dave U and some posters on TLW made a very valid point. Last season when Rafa was getting humiliated publicly and our clubs name was being dragged through the mud, Moores kept his silence. When his mate Parry came under the cosh immediately he gave a public interview whining about the state of the club.

I have still not been able to overcome one of the statements he made in that interview. More or less he said I trusted Tom coz Gillette said he was a nice guy. I could not believe that statement he made and I am confident that most people on here, would not take another person whom they barely know on face value, especially with a decision as important as LFC.

At this level intentions do not matter, consequences do. I will not accuse him of being a greedy person or anything but I am not able to feel sorry for him.

[barnes10]

moores is a fool
parry is a self serving arsehole
the yanks are sports capitalist that want to exploit us.

end of story.

[anfieldanfield]

I am not accusing Moores of selling our soul for 8 million bucks but I find it hard to feel sorry for the level of ineptitude and lack of judgment he has displayed. I am not confident most people on est1892 would be a better judge of character than Moores. When your entrusted with such a responsibility either you make sure you have the judgment to make correct decisions or surround yourself with people who have that judgment.

Dave U and some posters on TLW made a very valid point. Last season when Rafa was getting humiliated publicly and our clubs name was being dragged through the mud, Moores kept his silence. When his mate Parry came under the cosh immediately he gave a public interview whining about the state of the club.

I have still not been able to overcome one of the statements he made in that interview. More or less he said I trusted Tom coz Gillette said he was a nice guy. I could not believe that statement he made and I am confident that most people on here, would not take another person whom they barely know on face value, especially with a decision as important as LFC.

At this level intentions do not matter, consequences do. I will not accuse him of being a greedy person or anything but I am not able to feel sorry for him.

[redwien]

moores is a fool
parry is a self serving arsehole
the yanks are sports capitalist that want to exploit us.

end of story.

Well said. Wíll we allow ourselves to be exploited? Dark times ahead I fear.

[-V-]

I know everyone is thinking the worst at the moment but hear me out-

As i said previously i was never excited about a 60,000 seater stadium. A 15k improvement is hardly massive when the mancs are looking towards 75,000 these days. I love anfield and trading it in for a slight improvement would do nothing for me. In my opinion this delay might be a saviour.

It means that the Yanks are not tied into any developement for the forseeable future which makes the option of a sale much more likely. If they were mid-development for the next few years then they would probably be stuck unable to sell the club. Hopefully now this delay will open the door alot wider for DIC to come in and hopefully we can aim for a 70,000 seater stadium that will help us compete better

[peekay]

I know everyone is thinking the worst at the moment but hear me out-

As i said previously i was never excited about a 60,000 seater stadium. A 15k improvement is hardly massive when the mancs are looking towards 75,000 these days. I love anfield and trading it in for a slight improvement would do nothing for me. In my opinion this delay might be a saviour.

It means that the Yanks are not tied into any developement for the forseeable future which makes the option of a sale much more likely. If they were mid-development for the next few years then they would probably be stuck unable to sell the club. Hopefully now this delay will open the door alot wider for DIC to come in and hopefully we can aim for a 70,000 seater stadium that will help us compete better

Agreed. This will be PR disaster for the club and will make us a laughing stock but it might work out advantageous in the end. It could be a case of taking two steps backward to move forward. If the construction had started and hicks had handed out contracts to all his construction buddies, we might look a lot less attractive for investors.

So currently if the loans used to buy the club are serviced by the club ( I maybe wrong here as I dont know and understand the finances). What we have effectively done is paid for these two clowns to own our club. If that is the case expect case studies in business schools all over the world on a classic example of how not to sell your assets with photos of Moores, Parry and LFC crest on the front page.

Fully expect a Bascombe NOTW exclusive on how this is all Rafa's fault

[Redlife]

I agree that things may have to get even worse before they get better. It's a sickening thought.


But hey, it's Friday and the club hasn't been humiliated yet this week, so I knew we were due. What's one more horrible embarrassment in the life of LFC at the moment?


The manager can't sign the players he wants and now the new stadium is delayed, and the owners don't care a jot. It's nothing to them.


For if they did care, they would do what's necessary and go.

[Fagan]

Stanley Park lease fear for Liverpool FC
Aug 30 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post


Stanley Park lease fear for Liverpool FC

LIVERPOOL FC face losing the right to build their new stadium on Stanley Park, unless the club “sorts itself out”, city council leader Warren Bradley warned last night.

The shock threat comes as the Daily Post can also reveal that the year delay to the £350m scheme announced yesterday by the club is actually likely to be considerably longer.

Angry fans’ groups hit out at co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks who took over the club 18 months ago promising work would start on a new stadium within 60 days. The club blamed the credit crunch for the decision and now claims that the new stadium will be open in time for the 2012/13 season.

Basic preparatory works for the new Stanley Park ground started some weeks ago, but the council and LFC are yet to sign an agreed 999-year lease on the park.

“I would not want the council to sign the lease until such a time as we know that Liverpool FC can deliver it 150%,” said Cllr Bradley last night.

“I have always had my reservations about their ability to raise the funds.

“I just wish they would sort themselves out, the Anfield and Breckfield areas have waited too long for this.”

The Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) is also to demand a meeting with Kop Holdings, the Gillett and Hicks company which owns LFC, within two weeks over £9m the agency had previously agreed to give to the club.

The Daily Post understands the American co-owners “spoke to any bank that would listen” to raise the loan for the stadium but were turned away because they refused to put up 25% of the cost themselves, around £100m.

The £350m the Americans borrowed when they re-financed the debt taken out when they bought LFC is also “looming large in their minds” as the deal expires in January and can only be extended for an additional six months, if banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia agree.

One of the main drivers behind a new stadium is to increase Liverpool FC’s revenues to help the club better compete on the pitch.

Last night Dr Rogan Taylor, who heads Liverpool University’s Football Research Unit, said that because of the greater capacities at their stadiums, Manchester United and Arsenal were currently bringing in £50m a year more than Liverpool by playing in a larger ground.

Meanwhile, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed still remains keen to buy the club, though is now operating in a more personal capacity rather than through his investment arm, Dubai International Capital.

Sources close to Dubai said the money to build the stadium is there, but the Sheikh is starting to lose patience as costs are rising on the ground while the ownership saga drags on.

Last night, Liverpool Football Club insisted the commitment to build a world-class stadium was undiminished.

“Like many other major development projects in the UK and overseas we are affected by global market conditions and, as such, work on the project will be delayed in the short term,” said a spokesman. “We will use this period productively and revisit the plans for the stadium to increase its capacity to 73,000 seats.”

But a source said the delay would be “at least a year” and possibly much longer.

Putting aside the financial issues, the club will have to re-submit a fourth planning application to increase capacity from the already approved 60,000 plan to 73,000. As part of that process, Liverpool FC will have to submit a transport plan and an environmental study.

The headache for the club will be explaining how 73,000 fans can get safely to the venue.

Talks have previously taken place about re-opening the Bootle line to passenger trains and it is likely a new station to handle the additional fans would form part of a new transport plan.

Dr Taylor, who also founded the fans’ group ShareLiverpoolFC, who want to take the club into community ownership, hit out saying: “This has not come as a surprise. The Americans did not have any money for the stadium.”

Liverpool Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle also condemned the latest delay. “I don’t have a great deal of confidence in the American owners, I never have done.

“The real losers are the people of Anfield who have been waiting patiently for this to happen for years.”

On Thursday night, the Daily Post contacted the club for confirmation or denial of rumours that the stadium was delayed but was told everything was proceeding to plan.

It is understood Gillett and Hicks had planned to make the announcement at the beginning of September but with the surfacing of speculation were forced to make it on the club’s website yesterday morning.

Last night Steven Broomhead, NWDA chief executive, said: “Today’s confirmation that the construction of Liverpool Football Club’s stadium will be subject to delay is very disappointing news, particularly because of the potential impact this will have on the regeneration of North Liverpool. As such, we are very keen to meet with the club to assess the implications of this decision and understand their future plans.

“The agency’s board will consider our proposed financial support in light of our discussions with the club.”

[Rashid]

The manager can't sign the players he wants.

I think that s rubbish, all managers have to work with a board who can veto players, by in large the squad he has are HIS players.

[MindGuerrillas]

I think that s rubbish, all managers have to work with a board who can veto players

Slur Alex doesn't. He said in a TV interview last season that he has never been turned down for a player by his board. He has always got his first choice player no matter what they cost.

[el matador]

surely from a business perspective the continued ownership of liverpool fc doesnt make any sense from hicks and gillett's point of view.

The stadium wont be built for at least another 4 seasons. Some commentators think the delay will be for even longer - i agree because i cant see the economic climate getting anywhere near back on its feet for at least 12 months and there's no way a banks is going to give them the money straight away without any owner input and heavy security which they dont have. This delay will have made it near six seasons of owner investment and further debt borrowed to keep the club competitive before the stadium opens and starts to generate substantial funds and profit.

But while that's happening what's the balance sheet going to look like in 4 years time ? Can you imagine the level of debt Liverpool will have ? Without any more investment into the team what will the team look like ?

Without the stadium opening the american owners will never make any money from liverpool and the intial stadium realisation projection of 3 years from purchase is now heading towards 6 and probably even more.

The entire proposition is just no longer viable and no amount of optimism or 'objective' feasibility studies will hide the fact that for the americans this has become a white elephant.

[Darkon]

That is grim news in the daily post report...

We are being set back years from this. And the sad thing is that Moores proberly could have raised the loan 5 years ago, way cheaper and the costing would have been cheaper. Then he could sell the whole thing for a larger profit, if that is what he is in for.

[Rashid]

The Americans are hoping that DIC "crack" and offer them the £100m each they want and not the £60m each currently on the table - for doing "nothing".

DIC won't crack though.

[el matador]

The Americans are hoping that DIC "crack" and offer them the £100m each they want and not the £60m each currently on the table - for doing "nothing".

DIC won't crack though.

something's got to give eventually. this cant go on forever.

[Cormack74]

Stanley Park lease fear for Liverpool FC
Aug 30 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post


Stanley Park lease fear for Liverpool FC

LIVERPOOL FC face losing the right to build their new stadium on Stanley Park, unless the club “sorts itself out”, city council leader Warren Bradley warned last night.


Sources close to Dubai said the money to build the stadium is there, but the Sheikh is starting to lose patience as costs are rising on the ground while the ownership saga drags on.

If we have a serious recession surely there's a chance that the building costs can be negotiated down ?