Tom Hicks Talks

[Kenneth]

But that is not exactly true though is it.

We bought Johnson and Aquailani yes but with money owed for the Crouch deal and Aquailani over a number of years of installments with only a very small down payment (4 mil Euros if you believe the Roma website).

We also sold Alonso, Arbeloa, Leto, Hobbs, Anderson and Hamill. So yes we signed a couple of players but we more than covered their purchases by player sales. If you believe Fergie the reason they never spent their Ronaldo cash is basically because the market is crazy. The money is still there it's just they chose not to blow it and wait until the market calms down. Fergie said himself they were in for Benzema but Madrid payed over what they thought he was worth. So the money they got from Ronaldo hasn't been used to pay off their debt.

Just curious, do you have any experience of accounting at all?

[BobTheCharmer]

Just curious, do you have any experience of accounting at all?

Operation, I want to know do you have a RED nose? do you flash when an organ is removed?

[Guest]

In other words.

42 million Euros is to much but has it been 35 million Euros then deal on.

But I bet you'll have an answer for this hey???

Would you believe what Fergie says in the press? Do you believe him when he slates Rafa?

[dww]

Operation, I want to know do you have a RED nose? do you flash when an organ is removed?

[Craig_H]

Where does this fear of administration come from? We are in a better situation financially than we were a year ago, and we weren't worried about it then.

Plus, although we owe more now than we did under Moores, we are also in a better position to pay it back.

People talk about "doing a Leeds" but we are not spending outside our means, and i don't believe our survival is CL tied, unlike some.

We're potentially one missed repayment away from it. It's in the hands of the banks.

[Pacman]

Just curious, do you have any experience of accounting at all?

Yes

[Scratch]

We're potentially one missed repayment away from it. It's in the hands of the banks.

And the likelihood of us missing a payment and the banks calling us on it is?

Considering we've put Purlsow in charge of money matters (an RBS inspired appointment??) and we've reduced our debt from a reported £350 million to £230 million in the space of 12 months, plus signed some lucrative new deals with the prospect of more on the horizon, i think we are now much better off, money wise, than we were previously, and if we managed to avoid "doing a Leeds" then, i reckon we'll manage it now.

On another note, are we supposed to boycott Standard Chartered now that they've teamed up with the American's?

[cream]

Could the same not apply to us then?

Not when Rafa spends all summer complaining about being skint.

We started the summer looking at attacking players such as Tevez and Silva and ended up buying no-one. The transfer budget was taken away from Rafa, that much is obvious.

[The Birdman]

Would you believe what Fergie says in the press? Do you believe him when he slates Rafa?

Exactly, Fergie is hardly going to say we sold Ronaldo for £80 mill cash but can't spend any of it because we have £500 mill of debt to pay off and the yanks have kept it all for that is he??

Does anyone think he chose Owen ahead of other targets and decided not to spend the money?? no he didn't, he brought Owen in because they lost Tevez and Ronaldo so were going to be short of goal scorers and Owen was free so within his budget - it was in a couple of articles that Fergie discounted Owen then when he couldn't bring in anyone else he did the deal overnight, Owen himself said he received a phone call, met him, had the medical and signed.
All last minute stuff, Man U had from last Jan to sign Owen if he was their 1st target but he wasn't, Fergie signed him because he didn't have the money to get anyone else in

[The Birdman]

Not when Rafa spends all summer complaining about being skint.

We started the summer looking at attacking players such as Tevez and Silva and ended up buying no-one. The transfer budget was taken away from Rafa, that much is obvious.

I'm inclined to agree on that even though I never believed Tevez and Silva were realistic targets because of their price although no-one really knows how much Rafa had to spend in the first place so it's hard to say how much got taken away.

[Scratch]

Not when Rafa spends all summer complaining about being skint.

We started the summer looking at attacking players such as Tevez and Silva and ended up buying no-one. The transfer budget was taken away from Rafa, that much is obvious.

Rafa has always complained about money, it's a tactic that ensures you don't get fleeced in the transfer market by teams inflating player values, like they do when City or Madrid come knocking.

We allegedly looked at these players, it was all paper speculation...the minute City wanted Tevez, we were never gonna match their valuation of him, and I'm pretty certain that, like Ferguson, Rafa decided that other players were over-priced.

[Craig_H]

And the likelihood of us missing a payment and the banks calling us on it is?

Considering we've put Purlsow in charge of money matters (an RBS inspired appointment??) and we've reduced our debt from a reported £350 million to £230 million in the space of 12 months, plus signed some lucrative new deals with the prospect of more on the horizon, i think we are now much better off, money wise, than we were previously, and if we managed to avoid "doing a Leeds" then, i reckon we'll manage it now.

On another note, are we supposed to boycott Standard Chartered now that they've teamed up with the American's?

Even if we're not in serious danger of missing a payment, we're at the mercy of the banks who can, when G&H need to refinance again, demand a lump sum of £60m to be paid off, as a condition of refinance. So as has happened this summer, that means we either fail to refinance or lose our transfer budget.

That's a bit **** really.

[Guest]

Even if we're not in serious danger of missing a payment, we're at the mercy of the banks who can, when G&H need to refinance again, demand a lump sum of £60m to be paid off, as a condition of refinance. So as has happened this summer, that means we either fail to refinance or lose our transfer budget.

That's a bit **** really.

No that's what taking risks means. You don't get anything by playing safe. Have you ever 'borrowed' money and ended up, albeit temporarily, in debt?

[Pacman]

Exactly, Fergie is hardly going to say we sold Ronaldo for £80 mill cash but can't spend any of it because we have £500 mill of debt to pay off and the yanks have kept it all for that is he??

Does anyone think he chose Owen ahead of other targets and decided not to spend the money?? no he didn't, he brought Owen in because they lost Tevez and Ronaldo so were going to be short of goal scorers and Owen was free so within his budget - it was in a couple of articles that Fergie discounted Owen then when he couldn't bring in anyone else he did the deal overnight, Owen himself said he received a phone call, met him, had the medical and signed.
All last minute stuff, Man U had from last Jan to sign Owen if he was their 1st target but he wasn't, Fergie signed him because he didn't have the money to get anyone else in

Rubbish.

United wanted Benezma but they didn't value him at 42mil, the market is crazy so they signed Owen.

Owen himself stated that Fergie told him he would only be signed if United didn't sign Benezma.

If the price was right United would have bid for Benezma the money was there they just didn't think he was worth what was being quoted.

[Scratch]

Even if we're not in serious danger of missing a payment, we're at the mercy of the banks who can, when G&H need to refinance again, demand a lump sum of £60m to be paid off, as a condition of refinance. So as has happened this summer, that means we either fail to refinance or lose our transfer budget.

That's a bit **** really.

And they either pay off a lump sum, or they sell...it's a win-win situation for us as a club surely? And if reports were to be believed, the banks insisted it was their own money used, not the clubs??