Tom Hicks Talks

[Redspin]

Benzema was sold for around £40m and United were 'allegedly' willing to offer only around £32m. Don't you think they couldn't have gone that little bit further, especially taking into account he came to OT and visited the place? In any case, maybe they were rejected by Benzema anyway but Ferguson went out publicly to state that he pulled the plug on it because he wasn't worth that amount of money.

Then Villa was available, still they couldn't prise him away, considering Villa is probably the best centre forward out there at the moment, including Torres.

United is £700m in debt, yet they still make massive profits and Ferguson gets his way when he wants to sign players for massive fees. It's more or less the same business model than ours. I don't see any problem in that, unless you don't qualify to the CL every season and lose revenues, which still wouldn't be a disaster for them and us, considering our huge fan base.

United is also just a 'few payments away' of going into Administration *cue Craig_H*, but hey, that's just doom mongering.

United's "massive" profits last year were completely eaten up by interest payments, so they don't have masses of money for transfers, hence signing the pretty useless Valencia for a modest sum and the well past it Owen on a free

[MrMichael]

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

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.

That wasn't just paper talk, remember those quotes from Rafa about walking away from a Silva deal because Valencia leaked it? And he was also quite open about interest in Tevez. Now maybe neither was a deal ever close to fruition, but it does seem at least very likely that Rafa started the transfer window thinking he had funds (at least the £15m recouped from Keane) which never actually materialised by the end of it.

[Pacman]

Benzema was sold for around £40m and United were 'allegedly' willing to offer only around £32m. Don't you think they couldn't have gone that little bit further, especially taking into account he came to OT and visited the place? In any case, maybe they were rejected by Benzema anyway but Ferguson went out publicly to state that he pulled the plug on it because he wasn't worth that amount of money.

Then Villa was available, still they couldn't prise him away, considering Villa is probably the best centre forward out there at the moment, including Torres.

United is £700m in debt, yet they still make massive profits and Ferguson gets his way when he wants to sign players for massive fees. It's more or less the same business model than ours. I don't see any problem in that, unless you don't qualify to the CL every season and lose revenues, which still wouldn't be a disaster for them and us, considering our huge fan base.

United is also just a 'few payments away' of going into Administration *cue Craig_H*, but hey, that's just doom mongering.

Or maybe they didn't want to pay 42 mil Euros for a player pretty unproven. Is it so hard to believe that United didn't want to pay over the odds for a player? I mean if they don't value him at the price being quoted then they negotiate in this instance Madrid paid massive money United walked away.

As for Villa he has stated time and time again he doesn't want to leave Spain. I would say that's pretty conclusive.

[MrMichael]

United's "massive" profits last year were completely eaten up by interest payments, so they don't have masses of money for transfers, hence signing the pretty useless Valencia for a modest sum and the well past it Owen on a free

So, best case scenario: they're not in a much better boat than us.

[Pacman]

"Reportedly" is the key word. Don't believe everything you read in the papers. It's not a fact, just some journo has a few column inches to fill.

It's well and good people saying stuff like this so basically everything printed in papers are lies is that what you are saying? I understand you don't believe everything you read in the papers but there is other evidence to suggest United are interested in Silva.

[dom9]

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?

Does anybody even have a bank account / loan with them? I always assumed they were a merchant bank.

[dom9]

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.

He hasn't complained publicly this summer at all to my knowledge.

[Guest]

He hasn't complained publicly this summer at all to my knowledge.

And I don't think he's ever complained about money. He complained of being too slow in concluding deals.

[Craig_H]

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?

Not to the extent where it could've sent me bankrupt, no.

And are you seriously comparing a football club with an individual?

Utterly clueless and taking it to new lengths on a daily basis.

[Pacman]

Do you think he should say everything and reveal away our tactics/plans?

So basically according to you and others nothing, absolutely nothing anyone ever says is true.

[Craig_H]

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??

If a sale of the club is forced on them due to failure to meet payments, we'd go into administration before the sale is complete.

[Guest]

Not to the extent where it could've sent me bankrupt, no.

And are you seriously comparing a football club with an individual?

Utterly clueless and taking it to new lengths on a daily basis.

So is the club going into administration then? You're the clueless one, clearly. Some bank is investing some £80m into an ailing club, that makes business sense for them.

[Pacman]

If a sale of the club is forced on them due to failure to meet payments, we'd go into administration before the sale is complete.

Is correct.

Investors would then be buying us off the adminstrator therefore they could get a bargin.

[Guest]

So basically according to you and others nothing, absolutely nothing anyone ever says is true.

There's the truth then there's the truth.

If a sale of the club is forced on them due to failure to meet payments, we'd go into administration before the sale is complete.

YA'RLY? Haven't they renegotiated their terms lately?

[Pacman]

There's the truth then there's the truth.

Rubbish