Views on Hicks and Gillett? - Tell the Press

[Assassin]

Looks like we are stuck with them.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...5875-21434259/


CASH LIFELINE FOR RAFA 12/06/2009

Liverpool's owners have secured a £350million loan to refinance the club, after pledging more funds for Anfield.

That will allow manager Rafa Benitez to resist a Spanish armada trying to tempt three of his top stars away from Anfield.

Barcelona are desperate to land midfielder Javier Mascherano, and have also been linked with unsettled Yossi Benayoun while Real Madrid will try to seduce Xabi Alonso back to Spain after their dramatic world-record swoop yesterday for Ronaldo.

But Liverpool co-owner George Gillett has found a £200million buyer for his Montreal Canadiens ice hockey franchise.

And with Tom Hicks also close to selling half his stake in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise, the pair have been told that the refinancing with the Royal Bank of Scotland and American bank Wachoiva is a formality.

I am in the same boat as many others with regards to Hicks and Gillet. However, if they are selling up their other sporting interests to fund there interest in us, surely this has to be a positive thing

[Vermilion]

Well if Gillette has found 200mill and Hicks will soon do similar if he sells other interests, that's the stadium sorted.

On the selling other teams, i don't really think they had a choice.

[dom9]

No, You misunderstand, i'm not asking or expecting a fairy godfather, but i do want owners with credibility, that want to be here long term, and who don't hawk the club around within 18months of being here, showing their true intentions.

Any owner can do what they've done, and better probably and with no in fighting, with a proper as you say business plan and more chance of funding the stadium than these two jokers, i honestly fear for the future of this club under our present stewardship, that is how i feel.

All i can say is thank **** we got Rafa when we did, and lucky for them too, or we could be in more debt had we not been in europe on a regular basis.

Moores couldn't.

Could you? I honestly don't think so.

[Vermilion]

Moores couldn't.

Could you? I honestly don't think so.

Well that just makes you wrong.

[dom9]

Well that just makes you wrong.

That's two of us then.

[Vermilion]

That's two of us then.

Ok.

[dom9]

.

Grinning smiley thing not working.

[Venton]

I'm writing a piece on Hicks and Gillett's takeover of Liverpool for Bloomberg, an American new agency, and i'm looking for people interested in talking about what the deal has meant for the club and the fans.

Also, if anyone has stories of encounters they've had either with the owners or their numerous sons and assistants at meetings / the match / in queue at Burger King, that'd be great.

Leave me a post on here with your details, or email me at:

[email protected]

Thanks,

Ben

Interesting, I haven't seen this kind of article before on Bloomberg. Where will it be posted?

[little dave hedgehog]

as an american, i was extremely excited when they bought the club. i respected them and i envied them. finally, i thought, america is going to get involved with something truly important and worthwhile in the prem, in the tradition of claudio reyna, brian mcbride and brad friedel. well, it turns out they're really just sorta like eddie lewis. promising for a brief moment, and then clearly inept the next.

tom hicks was the man who bought the texas rangers from one george w bush with the intention of cleaning up the franchise. in an even more risky move, he bought a collapsed team from hockey hungry minnesota and brought them to hot as balls dallas, and has consistently put out teams that excite and compete.

anyone who knows anything about hockey knows that montreal is the gold standard. there is no richer history of character, dedication and excellence in the nhl. gillette understood that history and could frequently be spotted walking through the arena asking the fans about their views on the club. if anybody from over here could understand what liverpool fc means to the supporters, and how to build an exciting, attractive and competitive club, i thought these were the guys who could do it.

now i won't deny that they have majorly ****ed up on a lot of fronts and made a real mess of the club's money, but IF we are to be stuck with them, then i believe there is some hope that these men can learn from their mistakes and push the club on. it's a big ask from two men who've delivered so little, but i think they're astute businessmen enough to know that in the long run, if they want to drive this club on, whether for profit or for glory, then they have to start showing that they can understand what running a club like liverpool fc means.

for me it says something that hicks is selling up two domestic teams rather than selling lfc at a knock-down price, as this will harm his reputation here in the states more than selling off a failing asset in another country would.

yes, they have been pretty terrible, and yes i hate what they've done to the club, but still i wouldn't count them out of the business for as long as they remain pig-headed enough to try and make this work. they might just figure out how to do it.

otherwise, yes, we're well and truly fecked for a while : /

[kingfunk]

I am in the same boat as many others with regards to Hicks and Gillet. However, if they are selling up their other sporting interests to fund there interest in us, surely this has to be a positive thing

I want to see rabbits coming out of hats.

[Tatterdemalion]

I'm writing a piece on Hicks and Gillett's takeover of Liverpool for Bloomberg, an American new agency, and i'm looking for people interested in talking about what the deal has meant for the club and the fans.

Also, if anyone has stories of encounters they've had either with the owners or their numerous sons and assistants at meetings / the match / in queue at Burger King, that'd be great.

Leave me a post on here with your details, or email me at:

[email protected]

Thanks,

Ben

In case no-one else mentions it, there is a famous incident involving the younger members of the Hicks family coming over to Liverpool and treating the, for want of a better way of putting it, canteen staff, like ****. Getting drunk, bragging about their wealth (which goes down like a leper sandwich in Liverpool), ordering the staff around and generally treating them like ****. Wasn't there so can't confirm.

[Tatterdemalion]

In reality they probably will get the finances right eventually - they're not mugs. But LFC has a way of doing business with dignity, which they have completely ignored. We find they manner in which they conduct themselves to be somewhat base.

I hope you write an accurate article, Ben, you have to remember that you are asking people a question about which opinions become very heated. Balance is probably the order of the day rather than sensationalism.

A lot of us on here pay a lot of money to Bloomberg for use of your terminals...

[little dave hedgehog]

wouldn't in the least be surprised if that were true. the only thing in the world worse than rich kids is

REDNECK rich kids.

[little dave hedgehog]

In reality they probably will get the finances right eventually - they're not mugs. But LFC has a way of doing business with dignity, which they have completely ignored. We find they manner in which they conduct themselves to be somewhat base.

I hope you write an accurate article, Ben, you have to remember that you are asking people a question about which opinions become very heated. Balance is probably the order of the day rather than sensationalism.

A lot of us on here pay a lot of money to Bloomberg for use of your terminals...

i totally agree. it's people like them that give the rest of us a bad name. however, it's very easy to an asshole if you're ignorant about your situation.

and in some ways, not standing on ceremony can be beneficial. still got the yanks, but rick parry's gone... ok, perry wasn't reviled like the yanks, but frankly i believe he was piss-poor at his job, and i'm chuffed that rafa has team affairs in his own hands so a cohesive vision can be built up.

i got on quite well in the pool, but then i went there only because that's where anfield is and i knew what i was getting into.

and loved every minute of it

[Fierce]

Facile, ill-informed pigeon-holing of other people's opinions. Check.

This makes no sense at all