Liverpool Banter Archive August 22 2010
Use our rumours form to send us liverpool transfer rumours.
22 Aug 2010 23:46:16
Team to face city
#1
reina
jonhson carra skrtel aurelio
kuyt masca gerrard jovanovic
torres babel
or possibly
#2
reina
jonhson carra skrtel aurelio
masca poulsen
kuyt gerrard jovanovic
torres
thanks
22 Aug 2010 23:33:23
Theturdz
"matters into my own hands and blow the pair of * * to kingdom come i swear i will."
I do not recommend using such language . I really don't, you have already committed a crime and may effect the ed and the owners of this site
Roy
22 Aug 2010 23:29:50
ED i think toivonen and salcido will be enough for this season and sell kuyt for 15 m what do you think? {editor's note - I am not sure about Toivonen, I haven't seen enough of him, but Salcido has always impressed me when I have seen him. Not sure about selling Kuyt, ability wise he is not the best, but he is a great squad player.}
22 Aug 2010 23:28:03
Pete:
"Anyhoo. . . . If the ED or that Blaire Mayne chappie could tell me something positive to enable me to at least sleep for more than 1 hour 13 mins (my record over last 2 mths). . . . I'd be grateful."
Calm down :- if its really that bad then do what I do, get yourself the 2005 cl final dvd and watch it. . the good thing about that game, is the feeling it could n't got any worse for us at half time, but our team's determination and fight pulled us to victory . similar circumstance now, where are at a low point and about to start our come back.
Roy
22 Aug 2010 23:16:06
"When Ambramovich was buying Chelsea, the first time the press reported on it was when the deal was done. When Sheikh Mansour was buying Man City, the first time the press reported on it was when the deal was done. If Huang was as serious as he likes to make out he would have kept it out of the papers and done things properly. Broughton said he would "seperate the wheat from the chaff", and it seems like Huang is the 'chaff' who decided to jump before he was pushed"
what happened in chelsea and city is different to what is happeing at LFC, city and chelsea were not put up for sale in an auction the way Liverpool have been, for chelsea and City, people with money (Roman and Mansour) wanted to own a football club and asked their agent to broker one, Roman's agent got him Chelsea Mansour's City, in our case we need a buyer, and we advertised for one and few have come knocking, some buyers will use the media others won't .
I 'll repeat what I posted yesterday, when Haung submitted his offer he clearly stated , he'll give the board 2 weeks and he meant it, 2 weeks over; he pulled out.
I 'll also repeat, he would have been a good owner, however he was not willing to pay the price G&H put on the club .
Roy
22 Aug 2010 22:57:22
I disagree with people that say lucas should go.
season by season he is growing into a box to box midfielder, and getting better by the game.
In Brazil he was very much thought of as the future, we have him and he will be a very big player for us in the coming season(s).
we should get behind him this season, maybe the positive feed back he gets will benefit lfc.
22 Aug 2010 22:41:15
Roberto Mancini: Mario Balotelli can be better than Fernando Torres
Roberto Mancini has brushed aside the disappointment of failing to coax Fernando Torres away from Liverpool this summer by speaking of his confidence that Mario Balotelli will become a superior player to the Spaniard.
Torres was among Mancini's principal targets at the end of last season – "probably", the City manager replied when asked if he had ever felt close to getting his man – but the striker decided to stay at Anfield after several months in which he gave serious consideration to leaving Merseyside.
Mancini acknowledged it was a setback to City's ambitious plans to build the strongest team in English football but, preparing for Liverpool's visit to Eastlands tomorrow, he emphasised that Balotelli's £22.5m signing from Internazionale has softened the blow.
"In my view, Balotelli can be as good as Torres and even better, " the City manager said. "That's because Torres can play only as a striker whereas Balotelli can play as a striker, a secondary striker, or a winger. He has a different attitude from Torres like that.
"Torres is a fantastic striker and it was difficult for Liverpool to sell him because he's such an important player for them, but we got Balotelli instead and this is good for us because he has everything you need to score a goal.
"He's quick, strong in the air, good technique, young; he has everything you need to be the best, and I think he is going to be more suited to the Premier League than the Italian championship. The defenders here do not know much about him, but they will see he can change everything about a game. He's very similar to [Carlos] Tevez like that."
In Mancini's view, Balotelli can be as good as Torres and even better, because Balotelli can play as a striker, a secondary striker, or a winger. To me it sounds more like Babel with a lot more confidence in his ability.
abbs
22 Aug 2010 22:30:33
Ed what do u think of charles n'zogbia?
I think he could do a job for us!
. . . . . . . . If you watched the wigan game, at one point nsomnia was in a perfect position on the edge of the box and all 3 players across the field woulnt pass to him. .he must be an a* ehole and he definately is not our standards prob same with figueroa after watching him twice this season, he was lazy and poor.Another point how bad is johnny evans when the striker(zamora) follows him round cos he knew how shat he was.zamora was very good again 2day.Thought the ref was unbelievably biased.Did fathead have a viirus??Chicpeas had his run his 2 match honeymoons over another kevin campbell. Bet Ireland was made up after today just hope milner has a game like that tomorrow. glad for newcastle too, hopefully they stay up its a better place with em and i enjoy the 4-3s, well done carroll good old fasioned striker an at least tosser barton won't look like paul rutherford anymore cos he can get the cat to lick that shat off his lip now. SMF
{Editor's note - Lol I guess you don't know that there is a Man.Utd fan who also edits the site. Zamora is bigger and stronger than Evans so he did the right thing in following him around. Rooney has a virus and there was not much Hernandez could have done today, Berbatov had a poor game and why did you thinl the Ref was Bias?}
22 Aug 2010 22:27:11
Liverpool vs man city lineup
Reina
Johnson Carragher Skrtel Aurelio
Maxi Gerrard Mascherano Jovanovic
Kuyt Torres
22 Aug 2010 22:19:33
Then Broughton bottled out. Instead of knocking them out and winning the battle for the club he let them get back up. He gave them a glimmer of hope, a chance to fight back.
He could have been a hero; he could have been the champ.
He ended up the chump.
And there's no telling where Liverpool will end up.
Personally, I believe if Huang doesn't come back we (LFC) are* * * !
Stevie G, Walton.
Read a lot of stupid posts in here but this one takes the cake. As has been pointed out by other sane people, there is no reason to think Huang was anything but a charlatan and there is no reason to doubt Broughton. We will be sold to a decent buyer before the deadline (no, not ITK, just common sense.)
22 Aug 2010 22:08:41
Can I be honest. I think if we could get tov then I think we would have a decent quartet upfron in NGOG, BABEL, Torres and Tov. However Babel can fill in on the wings and also pacheco can play just behing in the colesc role.
I don't think were far from having a squad which can compete for fourth at last maybe more. Although Chelsea look rediculously strong at present. However, they have one played rubbish teams.
I wouldn't play babel on the wings. I think he is a striker which could be prolific given the chance.
Ed what you think?
{Editor's note - I think Babel just needs confidence and he will be a very good player, and I would not play him on the wing}
22 Aug 2010 22:01:07
Stop with all the crappy rumours already!
Roy won't be signing any players that aren't good enough to play for the club i.e. SWP, scharner, Santa Cruz etc
He was intrested in koncheskey but Al-Fayed blocked this move.
So LFC will sign Davide Santon from Inter Milan for 10m and Darren Bent from Sunderland for 16m. Liverpool actually have 20.6m transfer funds left as we started with 16.5 million to spend and have made a 4.1 million profit so far. This brings us to making an extra 5.4 million from player sales which will be made by selling deadwood i.e. Insua, Itandje, Cavalieri, Plessis, Spearing, El Zhar
Team:
GK: Reina (Jones, Bouzanis)
RB: Johnson (Kelly, Darby)
CB: Carragher (Kyrgiakos, Wilson)
CB: Agger (Skrtel, Ayala)
LB: Santon (Aurelio)
RM: Kuyt (Maxi)
CM: Gerrard (Lucas, Shelvey)
CM: Mascherano (Poulsen)
LM: Jovanovic (Babel)
AM: J.Cole (Pacheco)
FW: Torres (Bent, N'Gog)
22 Aug 2010 21:51:42
He will take the No 7 shirt, that's why Cole never took it.
How can I believe the rest of your rumour when the reason Cole took number 10 is that it is his preferred number - so much so that Jovanovic gave it up for Cole.
{Editor's Note: And Aguero wears #10 as well.}
22 Aug 2010 21:49:18
Liverpool needs another left winger. Someone to compete with Jovanovic
Press believable if you WANT Arda Turan.
Press unbelievable if a) you DON'T want Arda Turan, or b) you WANT him, but can't see us getting him
Sorry but this makes no sense.
22 Aug 2010 21:45:20
Players who should leave liverpool:
lucas (he's rubbish)
He must be rubbish if you say so. Obviously you know more about football than Rafa, Roy and the new manager of the Brazilian national team.
22 Aug 2010 21:30:42
This is theturdz speaking
steve morgan slams the american ownership of the club and david moores for selling to them at last someone who had been in the running to buy the club speaks the truth he almost had a deal in place with moores to take over the club but moores the greedy blind b*****d sold out to the yanks that lousy b*****d sold us down the river god i hate that **** he done f*** all for lfc while united arsenal even sunderland were building massive stadiums or increasing their capacity we just stood still and look were its taken us were now a laughing stock with fans from every other team taking the piss well im sick to death of it all were liverpool football club the greatest club in the world and we deserve better than this s* t were going through lets hope those at the top realise this and get them pair of parasites out of our club because im going to take matters into my own hands and blow the pair of **** to kingdom come i swear i will.
theturdz is back long live theturdz
22 Aug 2010 21:29:31
Why is everyone slating lucas, he's a 100%er and wants to play for the club, he just needs to be told how to play. He's got the ability just a young brain. Same as babel. Roy will turn them into legends!
22 Aug 2010 21:29:27
V City away tomorrow: (subject to last minute change) Starting: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio; Mascherano, Poulsen; Kuyt, Gerrard, Jovanovic; Torres.
Subs: Jones, Kelly, Agger, Lucas, Babel, Rodriguez, Ngog.
22 Aug 2010 21:19:28
Any truth to this Toivonen rumour?
22 Aug 2010 20:35:43
Rumoured that Hodgson, Dalglish and Trappatoni are trying to convince Wigan's James McCarthy to forego guaranteed first team football and to sign for Liverpool this season or next.
22 Aug 2010 20:33:46
I know a couple of ex reserve/ youth team players. . albeit I have no confidence in anything they say (Aguero. ?. .really. .? no chance !). .as information vacuums allows both reasoned and off the wall speculation. RH has said we are seeking to add "one or two additions". .if we take that literally one would expect a 2nd striker/ relief for Torres and, in all probability a left back. The Mexican lad from PSV would be a reasonabe guess. I think it likely Emiliano Insue will move by Tuesday week as he would not likely be in a EPL squad from 1 Sept. . the reality of that situation (particularly if an additional LB comes in) will make his "salary demands" become more reaonable. .albeit the closer we get to 31st. .a loan move away would be more likely.
Realistically LFC will not sell Dirk this close a tfer window (any bid made 3-4 weeks ealier may have been accepted as LFC would have had a chance to sign a higher profile, more costly replacement). I would guess that Trezeguet is a reasonable guess as a 2nd striker. Bids for Ruiz et al would indicate that more money was available than first thought. .I thinks that that's unlikely. Unless Masch is sold, I wouldn't expect RH to spend more than 5-6million on another striker. .if at all, as he seems keen on Ngog. .and maybe more willing to give Ryan B a chance in a central position. We also have Kuyt, whom is supposedly a striker (he's a better central srtiker than a RM player. .Maxi and young Amoo (used on a limited basis) can fill that position).
As for Masch. .I know he wants out but bidders are playing a game of who blinks first with LFC. .the closer it gets to 31st we cannot utilise the fee (£18-25m) to sign a high profile player. .the scouting has been focusing on more mid range value players (eg Poulson). .the reality may be that he stays another season at least. . when he enters the last year of his contract LFC will probably be happy to accept £7m ish in lieu of losing him on a free.
The hope is that a smaller, leaner squad allowing some of the reserve/ youth team players to be intergrated slowly should put us in a stonger position over the next few seasons.
Its unfair to judge Aquilani but I tend to agree that he isn't gonna get the amount of football he needs, in a league he has had limited opportunity to play in and hasn't set the World on fire, to "prove" himself. A chance back in more comfortable surroundings may help.
No idea on the takeover but I genuinely believe something will occur by the end of Sept/ early Oct. The way H & G have behaved makes a mockery of the EPL "fit and proper test" !
adios amigos
Mr Greedy
22 Aug 2010 20:27:16
Bring back the bootroom. Fill lfc with former players, who bled for this club, backroom staff, coaches, mentors. This will install the liverpool way into the new players coming in and the youngsters that are coming through the ranks.
we are Liverpool fc, we are Englands most successful club. we need to start building from the inside, (i hope) after rh retires, j/ c will be groomed to takeover, we need some1 who has the passion for the club, and the football knowledge, to take us further.
22 Aug 2010 20:17:24
Will ye pls stop with the van der vaart, ronaldinho they are luxury players that we don't need as we have match winners Roy will sign 1 more player which looks like toivonen and a replacement if someone else leaves. Wat you think ed and who do you think it is? Anyway where would ronaldinho or van der vaart play I don't think they would get in the starting 11 too lazy they are
22 Aug 2010 20:13:36
The Lfc team need nothing more than support from us fans. we are the 12th man, we are the reason every team in the land feared coming to anfield, we can push the team that extra inch. we have a squad that i think is capable of winning the league, doing well in the domestic cups with our youngsters and winning the europa league with the mix of both young and experiance.
takeover or no takeover if we can keep our spine fit for most of the season we will be there or there abouts.
22 Aug 2010 20:13:29
We are linked with so many players, jesus are we a rugby team now, And who do you think is gonna be in Roy's Starting Fifteen. Get realistic guys, even if its one last player that come, cheap but who can make a difference we should be happy about that.
22 Aug 2010 20:08:44
Calcido is better than kochesky
22 Aug 2010 20:07:40
Ohh, and can people stop copying stories from caught offside and newspapers cos there obviously BS. Thanks.
- El Vozzo -
22 Aug 2010 19:43:58
Getting nervous about tomorrow night. I think I would settle for a draw now.
I said at the start of the season that if we picked up 5 points in the first 3 games then I would be happy.
Fabian Treezle
22 Aug 2010 19:36:11
Anyone any takeover news??. . . . . .let me re-phrase that. . . .
Has anybody over the age of twelve got any reliable snippets of optimism?. . . . . . .(I may be wrong but some of the posts on here are a touch infantile) Yes, I realise that there are some media shenanigans and mis-directions going on as regards the proposed takeover and that your view of the situation largely depends on which paper you take, what you have read on this site and what you perceive to be the "ideal path" we need to take.
We all seem to be selective in what we believe according to the information we choose to invest in.
(I'm not trying to be intellectual. . . . . . . I'm certainly not THAT! . . . . .what i'm trying to say is that I'm confused ! )
I read The Mail (for the crossie), The Mirror (for Brian Read), The Echo (for the obituaries) and The Daily Sport for the unbiased and well-informed insight into the current state of . . . . well, er. . . knockers!
I also go onto "LFC Post" at least 3 times a day (any more would be really sad! ) and trawl as many of the sites I know about.
I don't "know" anyone and I don't have any access whatsoever to "insider" information.
I treat whatever I read in the papers with a pinch of salt and whatever I see on SSN with more than a little distrust (you try filling 24 hrs with "Sky exclusives"! ). . . . especially given that some people seem to be naturally anti-LFC!
I've posted on here a couple of times of late and I'm grateful to have seen myself "published" both times(yippee! ). . . . .but, unlike many posters (it seems) I'm merely seeking answers. Of course we all are, well most of us are. Some are at best just trying to stir-up sh*T and some are just fantasists.
I'd like to know if anybody can point me towards a credible source of takeover info or, as I suspect, are we all at the mercy of The Board?
For what it's worth, and solely from reading the information publically available, my take is that the cuddly and very loveable Peter Kenyon (may his conscience rest in peace) has advised Huang to announce his withdrawal from the process. I can't imagine that two egos of this magnitude would just walk away. . . . .so watch this space for a resurrection! Kirdi is just a pantomime puppet operated by Stadtler and Waldorf from the dress-circle. The Rhone Group ??. . . seem to be a few Wall Street rich-kids who are COMPLETELY unsuitable because of their lack of kudos, associations with H&G and lack of ambition apart from a quick-buck!
D.I.C. on paper could be a bit dodgy given the current financial risks (although an independent bid from The Prince could be more likely) and I know very little about the Kuwaiti bid apart from a pre-conceived notion that our Board has a duty to the Club to ensure that immediate profit to the new owners should be secondary to the welfare of the Club (clumsily put but I know what I mean so get stuffed!)
Anyhoo. . . . If the ED or that Blaire Mayne chappie could tell me something positive to enable me to at least sleep for more than 1 hour 13 mins (my record over last 2 mths). . . . I'd be grateful.
Anfieldpete
{Editor's Note: I am not sure if I can give you anything too positive, but we are rid of Huang and it will be only a few days before the Huang supporters here give up. I am guessing many stepped up to support the Huang bid as a result of being whipped in to a frezy by those who post og RAWK and other such web sites. There has been enough publicity over the weekend to warrant a statement from the club and I guess that this will be being drafted. No doubt it will provide us all with a warm feeling.}
22 Aug 2010 19:31:22
Im getting rather fed up of take over talk, listen lads what will be will be , Think are squad just needs a tweek here or there , are main priority this year is to make sure we get torres over his injury jink, if he and gerrard start the majority of games we won't be far off the title, gerrard will go into alonsos position mash will be staying, and joe cole will creat a bag full of chances for torres .only thing we won't get 20 goals a season from steve g now hes are new quaterback , also joe cole never been very prolific, can see him getting 15 goals max , but make no mistake with these 3 in our team we should start to look foward again, also jovanovic plays very much like kuyt on the opposite side so if we were to take 15 m for kuyt, with i would, we could reinvest this money on a striker just to ease the burden on torres , there are many strikers in the 15m pound bracket he would do well for us , what do you reckon
22 Aug 2010 18:55:00
This is probably a little out of line but id l0ve to see navas at anfield. He is a fantastic player and one of the sexiest football players on earth in my opinion. Have u seen those eyes? We don't have many good looking players. Im bisexual by the way, so sue me;-)
Red bl00ded!
22 Aug 2010 18:21:18
Who do you think liverpool should try to get , either ola toivonen or bryan ruiz. looking on youtube i would definatly go for ruiz, he looks class .
22 Aug 2010 17:43:39
Inter have offered 15mil for kuyt
TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN!
bryan ruiz 15mil
ola toivonen 6-10mil
carew 5-10mil
a.young 15-18mil
elia 10-15mil
klass jan hutelaar 10-15mil
these are probably the players roys looking at not to pricey
i don't think we realy need a right winger with amoo who looks ready to go and better then some of the names ive heard on here with cole jovanavic babel who can play either side.
youngsters will get game time this season and they will shine pacheco, kelly, amoo this season. raheem sterling, jesus suso fernandez the season after.
22 Aug 2010 17:40:50
The issue here is if the deal is not concluded by the October date the amount of debt rises with all the interest on the loan. It will make it harder to attract a buyer who would have to put more money just to clear the debt what do you think ED? {editor's note - it makes no difference because the debt is to the holding company the current owners set up. That will go along with the 2 clowns.}
22 Aug 2010 17:32:30
If we manage to sell kuyt to inter for 15m, Roy should go in for Esteban granero of Real Madrid. With Mourihno buying several midfielders this summer Granero will probably not even be a second choice midfielder even though he was one of their better players last year. We could probably get him on loan or buy him outright for around 10m. Would be a great addition to the team. Like Milner he is a right mid naturally but can play anywhere in the midfield. A top young player that I would love to see in red.
22 Aug 2010 17:06:03
Read an important piece of paper today, like i have stated on here many times before (im not claiming to be the first) the bid that the board have all agreed on is from Kuwait. I said 2 weeks ago when all of us were getting excited about various board meetings and people like Kiridi and Kenny H coming out and blabbing s* t, the only bid that was ever going to be succesful was the 1 Harris (the manc) is fronting for. It has always been about confidentiality and the good thing about the winner is he clearly doesn't need speculation of free advertisment to increase his profile. Any how there will be asit down meeting tommorow in London were all the final dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's and it will be announced BEFORE the City game. Its uopo you but look at the facts i have been bang on the nail every time.
Source Paper Taker
22 Aug 2010 16:48:34
Has a feeling that we have already been sold, With Huang pulling out i kind of get the feeling that the preferable bidder has already been chosen and the due diligence is currently being carried out.
No info just an hunch
22 Aug 2010 16:44:00
People can read into this what they will, but I am fully certain of the accuracy of my source and don't believe he would feed me info for the sake of it. I am a regular on a number of the main forums such as Rawk, TLW etc but I don't want to post this on there because of the stick that so called ITK's get and I am not one of those and don't want to be branded as such. Basically after Keith Harris mentioned on Talksport that he was representing another bidder my friend did a bit of digging around to try and get some info on who he was fronting, he has discovered links with Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, he stressed this is nothing whatsover to do with DIC and that it was purely his own deal funded from his own fortune but at the right price, seemingly though the sticking point and this is a major one for the board to deal with is that he fully advocates a ground share with Everton. The board realise that this would be very difficult to sell to Liverpool supporters and this rather than any of the Huang goings on have led to the delays seen since the deadline passed a week last friday.
22 Aug 2010 15:43:16
Lets be honest about all this takeover talk, the 1 thing we do know is that Hicks and Gillett will not go easily! This is a business transaction happening between business people. Potential buyers are not going to pay more than they think the club is worth, and H&G are going to want to get the most they can for the club! It would have been nice to have the club sold and money available before the transfer window, but this was never going to happen unless a bidder came in offering a big price to get the deal done quick! This deal might go down to the wire as there will come a point where H&G have to do a deal! All us fans just hope it doesn't happen too late! GG
22 Aug 2010 15:41:10
When Ambramovich was buying Chelsea, the first time the press reported on it was when the deal was done. When Sheikh Mansour was buying Man City, the first time the press reported on it was when the deal was done. If Huang was as serious as he likes to make out he would have kept it out of the papers and done things properly. Broughton said he would "seperate the wheat from the chaff", and it seems like Huang is the 'chaff' who decided to jump before he was pushed.
22 Aug 2010 15:38:46
Hi fellow Liverpool fans, Although I'd for just half these rumours/ wish lists to come true unfortunately I have some bad news for us all regarding the takeover plus some info that most people have forgot or don't realise regarding some players.
Takeover - Business is about making money full stop! and businessmen care nothing about the club or the fans! only about profits. . If Broughton or Purslow really cared about the club or the fans they would never off been appointed in the first place these guys do top jobs brokering multimillion pound deals as profitably as possible for whoever they act on behalf of
Think about the press release of "We will look for the best deal for the club" Come on get serious. . do you really believe this. . the only thing they want is profit profit profit only an idiot would believe differently. They will release this sort of stuff plus the free signing of J Cole to appease the fans. not because they care but because its called marketing. they fear a backlash of lower season tickets, shirts sales etc. even the possibility of the severe financial backlash should the worlds most amazing fans find out the truth of what's really been going on our our great club!
The new owners unofficial came in at the end of last season AND THEY WON'T be investing enough befitting a club of our statue.
They got rid of Rafa because he would be screaming for money and letting the fans know there wasn't none. Rafa also decided to leave at this point as there there was no way to move the club forward the 6mil payoff was a gag money to keep him quiet (pretty obvious when you consider the club was in severe dept, with owners just about to sell So why now waste 6mil for a payout, and money to fulham for hodgson)
Because he did so badly? What H&G care they have to sell the club are they so stupid to throw 6 mil + away?
The truth is the club was already in principle sold and by getting rid of rafa at the beginning, if the false media reports about him losing the players support, gerrard, torres going to leave because of him etc wasn't swallowed by the fans then at least his sacking could be blamed on the old owners as the time frame would of distanced themselves from it (on a similar point torres and gerrard nearly left BECAUSE rafa was sacked and was why (as well as masch) purslow was in madrid to sell the pair (also would of been blamed on the old owners H&G)
This hasn't been made an official sale to avoid having to approach the premiership and made pubic! due the to negative financial implications. once all the season tickets have been sold(hyped up with rumours of new rich owners) merchandising sold(rich owners again) and the transfer window closed(the first of many excuses to not invest in the squad) the club sale will be made official!
But fear not fans. Torres didn't go. . Gerrard didn;t go. . loyality. . or more infomation i'm not sure. but they stayed here.
Now onto players. .
Torres - i'm not sure if it was a case of no decent foreign bid (the club could never allow this sort of player being sold to chelsea or manu etc) or if the player himself really did stay loyal. my head says the former my heart the latter.
Gerrard - the same again with torres. apart from the loyaily bit for him it would just of been a case of winning something before it too late for him and feeling that liverpool couldn't achieve that. . he aint getting no younger unlike torres who has time on his side. yet he is still here. What a captain. . what a red! (and what about these rumours of him and his missis neice etc etc. . yet he's still here. . no story. funny that. . The truth was is was a distraction away from the truth of what really went on in the england camp. . the former captain and the sex scandle involving an under-age boy (but this is another post)
Aquilani - Not sure what is going on here. he's not a 20mil player. . he's a 25-30 mil player he was bought for 20 while still suffering a long term injury which put his price down. . he came to liverpool with a long term injury had to settle into a new country, culture and more importantly into the most phyiscally demanding league in the world after a long lay off. . no wonder it took him so lang to get back to full fitness. . and once he did rafa couldn't afford to risk giving him time. . yet when he did nr the backend of last season in the few games he played he hit the woodwork more times than anyother liverpool player. now he has had his summer rest, his injury is behind him. . has got experience and hunger for the league
and this is a min of a 15-20 goal a season midfielder if played week in week out. . so why loaned out strange one this. . maybe moneys so tight that this was to alievate the wage bill after J Cole. . plus people who are brainwashed by the Sun and other Manure Chavski media sorces. . He was never Alonso's replacement. Gerrard was. Aquilani was bought to play in the hole behind torres and gerrard slot back to midfield. .
Mashcherano - Look this up its everywhere in interviews from the player himself. His wife and kids still don't speak english (not sure if won't learn or can't learn) the only language they can speak is spanish! so stop all this lazy arse journo talk to inter. its a spanish team he's looking to move to (part of the reason purslow was in madrid to get the madrid clubs interest in the player as the only other club there he would go to is barca who will pay next to nothing as always)Aquilani
22 Aug 2010 15:38:06
22 Aug 2010 10:34:37
To The Fella that sad this earlier:
So glad we have signed SWP he is great player. And Vander vaart. Loic Remy is settling in well. just taking it easy
whqt iwc49
I doubt this as Remy has jus signed for Marseille and SWP is not my type. if you want to correct me where's your source?
OldfieldLFC
In Roy We Trust.
- - - - - - - - - -
I think he was taking the mickey mate.
Dan
22 Aug 2010 15:07:37
The simple FACTS!
Only a few know what is really going on & as with all business, will not discuss things publicly until the deal is done. This goes for the club & players. Also Until the sale goes through we can not afford to buy without selling. The only good thing is that , if the 3 board members are together then the Yanks can't do Jack as although the owners the are a minority on the board
22 Aug 2010 14:57:35
NAVAS DOES SUFFER FROM CHRONIC HOME SICKNESS, he retired at a very young age from international football for that reason but was talked into playing at the world cup and actually recieved alot of counselling to deal with it, so your wrong IRISH el nino cos he most certainly does still suffer from it, besides the fact his crosses are absolute rubbish, i wouldn't pay much for him {editor's note - sorry mate but you are wrong not Irish. Navas has been having treatment for his chronic homesickness, not for international football at all, but so he can play away games with Sevilla and so that he can change clubs in the future.}
CHEERS ED FOR BACKIN ME UP I ONLY POST WEN I NO IM RIGHT NOT LIKE HALF OF THE PEOPLE ON HERE
EL IRISH NINO
22 Aug 2010 14:39:22
@ Stevie G, Walton
If you've followed this sale process as close as anyone, and clearly think Broughton is in the wrong and Huang is ideal, could you explain the following for me.
1) What Huang's involvement with the Cleveland Cavaliers is/ was?
2) Why he refused to follow the correct channels
3) Why he wanted everything in the open, but remained coy over who his backers were?
4) Why the website of his company was taken down, and prior to that resembled the kind of coding that most learn in a weekend course
5) Why at least one prior business associate (successfully) sued him
6) What previous experience you feel he has that makes him a suitable owner, given his lack of finances
7) Why you feel anyone ITK would be posting on a forum rather than an insider blog that could raise money
8) Why Ganis was removed
9) Why his association with Guang Yang forced Franklin Templeton to deny they had any connection professionally
10) Most improtantly, why, if he was in such a rush and knew that the first round of bids were expected around "mid July-ish", given such time to prepare, was he so slow in actually formalisng a bid rather than merely submitting a proposal.
I'm sorry, but just about everything to do with his bid has intimated he couldn't organise a p1ss-up in a brewery and i think we've dodged a bullet. Before Chelsea and City's new owners were known to the press they already had the keys to the grounds and that's the correct way to handle a sale.
22 Aug 2010 14:38:57
In my opinion if we get over £15m for Kuyt that's quite a good deal if you ask me he can re-join benitez all i care he'll jus make him a h**e player.
But i doubt this as it wasn't long ago he committed his future to LFC and said that he has too much Loyalty and respect for the club, but an again it wouldn't surprise me if rafa did splash the cash for him.
If we do get at least £15m for him we should get Brtan Ruiz of FC Twente he will be good backup for Nando. Cmon you Reds.Do you have any news on this Ed?
{Editor's Note: Only the press reports.}
OldfieldLFC
In Roy We Trust.
22 Aug 2010 14:31:22
Editor's note - there are bids on the table, Huang was a chancer, he was never in the running and he was just trying to save face by pulling out of a race he was never in.
Hey Ed, I heard an interview with Keith Harris (Seymour Pierce) a day or two after Huang made himself our saviour, he wouldn't say too much, I'm assuming because he could be involved in one capacity or another, but he said if people thought you'd get the club for 325 Broughton would be beating suitors off with a big stick.
His exact words were, and I quote, " the purchase price would, I imagine, be considerably more."
For all the saddo's, or non believers, the interview was on talksport, and I think it was the Hawksby and Jacobs show, there'll be a podcast somewhere.
IMO the price will be around 425/ 475. This will buy the club, with a clean slate, however I sincerely hope MB ensures the new owner, and I hope it is an owner, rather than a consortium(had enough of those) has sufficient funds, or a sufficient line of credit to be able to proceed with the stadium.
Time will tell, although if you want the exact details, there's always RAWK. . . . . .
Ridgebackred. .
22 Aug 2010 14:01:38
{ Rafa's dealings every summer set the club back miles, every single year we would start slowly because he signed too many players.}
WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT ED?One really bad year! Rafa's dealings brought the club forward and I will say it again - it was a massive mistake letting him go, Torres, Mash, Agger, Reina, Alonso, Kuyt - amazing signings who we have/ will/ can make massive profits on. WHAT DO YOU WANT! Do you remember what we had before Rafa?
Biscan, Cisse, Smicer, Bruno Cheyrou, El Hadji Diouf and Salif Diao - Henchoz - all really s* te. Benitez made bad signings but for me the good ones more than paid for them.
You have been had by the press and possibly Utd fans posing as Liverpool fans.
Even Lucas, I think he will be a good player for us in time, we had our highest prem finish under Rafa - as I said in June, why would the European champions want him? he is quality and was forced out by people who don't know football.
Fee Value now
Torres 20 m 60 m?
Reina 6 m 23 m (aresnal offer)
mash 18 m 25 - 30 m?
Alonso 10 m 35 m
54 m 143 m
And having said all this, I don't think we would lose money on Kuyt, Agger, Skrtel, ngog, Lucas ?
I'm amazed by your lack of knowledge sometimes ed.
Aqua was a bad signing far enough but I think he would have come good in time, as he started to show form at the end of last season.
The jury is still out on Hodgeson my friend. I like that all the big names have stayed so far but remember - the big names were mostly Benitez's signings mate.
Poulson?
22 Aug 2010 13:50:12
Read this article - taken from anfieldroad.com :
A statement from Kenny Huang and QSL on last night announced that he had formally withdrawn from the process to sell Liverpool Football Club to new owners. Huang said: "I am now considering my future options and will be making no further comment at this time."
No reason was given in the statement for the decision, but it is believed he had grown frustrated by the apparent slow pace of a process in which he firmly believed he was the only viable bidder.
Now there are doubts about how genuine Martin Broughton was when he said that the club would be sold to the best bidder. It suggested that, contrary to his claims, the current owners were not only able to block the sale of the club but were actively doing so.
It also suggested that Martin Broughton was not taking the bid seriously and in turn created doubts that he was even taking the sales process seriously.
Broughton once said: "I have always taken the view that if you're not at the table you're likely to be on the menu." He now finds himself sitting alone at the table; there's nothing palatable on the menu. And he has nobody else to blame.
Suggestions that Huang and QSL hadn't provided proof of funding are wide of the mark. Sources at both British banks involved in the club's current predicament have disputed those claims.
Anfield Road has learned that proof of funding for the bid was supplied by a merchant bank and was checked and approved by both RBS and Barclays. In the eyes of the banks the bid is viable.
Huang had good reason to believe that no other credible bids had been put in front of the board; he wasn't basing that belief purely on guesswork. He knew there were no other credible bids.
Even so, the likelihood of there being any other viable bids on the table, let alone four, is extremely doubtful based purely on what is in the public domain.
One supposed bidder was last linked to the club in March, before Broughton's arrival at the club. At that time Christian Purslow was tasked with finding in the region of £100m of new investment before Easter.
The only offer he could find would come from the Rhône Group. They offered £110m for a 40% share of the club, a figure that would value the club at £275m. The fact Hicks and Gillett are now resisting an offer of £400m speaks volumes not only about the inadequacy of that Rhône offer but also about why they aren't at the table now the whole club is on the block.
Comments from Keith Harris were taken as meaning he was looking to bring somebody to the table – but a closer look suggested that maybe this wasn't his intention at all. "All I am prepared to say is that we have looked at it very carefully on behalf of would-be buyers, who we know are very serious, we know are cash rich, we know have the right incentive and are prepared to take a long-term view. I can't say any more at the minute. We have represented a buyer in the past and that is an ongoing situation." In fact the buyer he represented in the past was the Al Kharafi family of Kuwait, a family he would later serve with a writ for failing to pay their bill for his work on that bid. That family are now believed to be too busy with other concerns to be able to get involved in a renewed bid for Liverpool FC.
Claims that Sharjah's Al Qasemi royal family were another interested party have also been dismissed as highly unlikely.
One potential owner from India made it clear he would not be involved in a bid for the club despite having given the idea serious consideration in the past. A spokesman for Subrata Roy's Sahara Group said earlier in the month: "The deal for the acquisition of Liverpool Football Club was in our consideration in the recent past. However, after considering all related factors, we have decided not to go ahead with it, at least for the time being."
And that more or less rounds up all the possible candidates for ownership. The owners have spent the last two-and-a-half years and no doubt huge advisor fees looking for buyers or investors and have failed to find a single one. The idea that anyone could find four new potential buyers in the space of a few weeks is considered highly unlikely. About as unlikely as Yahya Kirdi opening his solarium at his new Anfield to provide solar power for the benefit of Liverpudlians.
Claims were also made during the week that Peter Kenyon was representing Huang and QSL in negotiations with the club and had been for some months.
However Kenyon was not representing QSL or Huang and was not negotiating on their behalf with Liverpool FC.
Kenyon, as part of his role with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), is understood to have been involved in a proposed bid from India for the Reds. The proposal got to an advanced stage before it collapsed. After officially leaving Chelsea earlier this month Kenyon is understood to have approached QSL with a view to offering CAA's help in their bid.
CAA had got as far as setting up the legal entity (known as an SPV, or Special Purpose Vehicle) that would be used as part of their acquisition and were offering QSL the option of taking this over. CAA and Kenyon also made QSL aware of their close relationships with key contacts built up during their previous work on the bid for the club.
Had QSL taken up the offer of help from CAA they would have paid a fee to CAA for this work. Kenyon would not have been involved in any way with Liverpool Football Club after the deal for the club was complete.
Kenyon's past as the head of both Manchester United and Chelsea makes him something of a hate figure amongst Liverpool supporters, at least when his name is mentioned. When the idea was floated that Kenyon had been a secret part of Huang's bid for the past few months it raised concerns amongst many Liverpool supporters.
Whoever leaked the exaggerated and indeed false claims knew there would be a negative reaction. They probably hoped it would lead to an angry backlash against Huang. The story was reported in good faith, breaking as Liverpool were actually on the field in their Europa League tie. Very few individuals would have been aware of any involvement from Kenyon.
Anfield Road understands that other efforts to discredit the QSL bid or to stall the process as a whole have been made by George Gillett.
Gillett is understood to have informed the banks of an imminent and credible bid from the Syrian Yahya Kirdi as soon as Kenny Huang made his initial approach for the club. The suggestion was that he was trying to block any move by Kenny Huang by revealing he had received a credible offer of his own.
However all of Kirdi's potential credibility disappeared as claims made by him or for him would be shown to be more than a little doubtful. He wasn't a billionaire or part of a consortium of billionaires – he was a former pizza shop and off-licence owner. As soon as he admitted this he claimed to now be in the stadium construction business – a claim he is yet to back up with a single example of a stadium project he has been involved in.
His other claims have been discussed and dismissed previously on Anfield Road. Kirdi is now by and large a figure of fun and considered a fantasist.
Gillett's attempts to stall the process don't stop at trying to hoodwink the fans, the banks and board with comedians acting as investors. He is also said to be determined to discredit Huang's bid.
Anfield Road learned that journalists in the US and Hong Kong had been approached and offered a reward to find out anything that could be used to smear Huang and his bid. That's not to say that any negative stories relating to Huang were uncovered by journalists in Gillett's employ, in fact the nearest any reports have been to revealing anything negative but remotely relevant about Huang didn't come from US or Hong-Kong reporters. Not every reporter approached took the offer up.
Gillett will have been alarmed at to learn Huang was being taken seriously not only by BarCap and RBS but also by some senior officials at the club. When he realised that Huang had shown proof of funds his worst fears were starting to be realised.
Anfield Road understands that Gillett, discussing the takeover story off the record with some US-based financial reporters, claimed that certain members of the UK press were taking financial inducements to report Huang's bid in a more favourable light than it deserved.
Gillett apparently even indicated which reporters he was referring to, perhaps not expecting those claims to make their way across the pond and back to the reporters he'd referred to.
The claims were laughed off extremely loudly and taken as a sign of the desperation that George Gillett had found himself in.
Everything about Gillett's actions suggested he was on the ropes. Hicks wasn't even in the ring any more having been left seeing stars when the sale of his Texas Rangers baseball franchise didn't go his way. Finally there was a chance to deliver the knockout blow to these owners. They were all but beaten and outnumbered too.
Then Broughton bottled out. Instead of knocking them out and winning the battle for the club he let them get back up. He gave them a glimmer of hope, a chance to fight back.
He could have been a hero; he could have been the champ.
He ended up the chump.
And there's no telling where Liverpool will end up.
Personally, I believe if Huang doesn't come back we (LFC) are******!
Stevie G, Walton.
22 Aug 2010 13:43:27
To our esteemed Ed, who wrote the following;
I don't expect much more business to be done this window to be honest, and I think we should be glad of it. Rafa's dealings every summer set the club back miles, every single year we would start slowly because he signed too many players.}
You've just alienated 75% of your visitors pal, you mean to tell me there's no place for Aguero, SWP, A.Young, Bridge, Turan, Banega, or Xabi's imminent return?? We're about to be taken over by the 'man in the moon' and have billions bestowed upon our 'blue chip' manager, and you don't want all these new exciting players? We would then be able to challenge the dubai Oil corporation for 5th place. .
;-)
Ridgebackred. .
{Editor's Note: You have picked up a different Ed this time, but I do wonder why Liverpool fans seem to constantly want to replace all of the members of teh Liverpool team? Will they ever be happy?}
22 Aug 2010 13:40:08
Jason lfc
All this to-ing and fro-ing is nonsense.
All I was trying to say was that there are some fans on here who believe that we should not criticise any of the players, irrespective of their performance. They think that the Liverpool Way is to blindly support each player without ever criticising poor performances. Now whilst I would follow Liverpool into Hell and back, I should still be afforded the ability to criticise those who I feel are not up to the standard.
I agree it is a bit harsh to make comment on someone after one game, but that is just human nature (first impressions and all that). I also do not advocate the use of crude words such as **dd** and gl*** to describe any player and that includes Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal players. I am a lover of Liverpool and a lover of football.
YNWA
Fabian
22 Aug 2010 13:36:37
Dirk to inter for 12m i'd be happy to see this but don't think it will happen . I'd like to see B Ruiz 12m if it did come in think he would be class in left or right Attacking MId roll ?
. . . . . . Steven Gerrard . . Javier Mascherano. . .
Cole/ Maxi. . .Toivonen/ Pacheco. . Jovanović/ Ruiz.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . F torres. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
just my ideas ?
oh and Carlos Salcido at LB
The weedon Red
22 Aug 2010 13:36:37
Can some1 answer me as I don't have the total facts but I'm thinking is the Kuwait family the people who are the main bidders and the one that is it the one that manure Keith is working for as didn't one of the royal family die last week and they can't do any business for seven days so is that why we was going to get an announcement then well all we got was the purselow announcement .
22 Aug 2010 13:31:53
Just read today's Telegraph. It explains that Huang did everything asked of him and provided proof of funding to both RBS and Barcap. He wanted everything out in the open so that he could prove his WAS the best (and as it turns out - the ONLY offer) on the table. Broughton, Purslow, Ayres and the two maggots should hang their heads in shame.
I can't wait for the dust to settle and for the truth to come out (which it eventually will) and it will show that those 5 *r*ces passed a glorious opportunity to put Liverpool on the footballing map again and DID NOT have LFCs best interests at heart, only the interests of H&G.
22 Aug 2010 13:23:38
Liverpool vs man city lineup
Reina
jon carra skrtel aurelio
Kuyt gerrard masch babel
jovanovic torres
subs: jones maxi lucus poulsen kyriakos ngog pacheco
22 Aug 2010 12:58:24
Why the hell are fans wishing the club to go into administration? are you out of your minds? we will get a 9 point deduction and what hope will that give us of success this season, then i wouldn't blame any top player if they walked out
22 Aug 2010 12:43:28
To the guy who said this to me:
"YOUR NOT A LIVERPOOL SUPPORTER.YOUR A GOB WITH NO BRAIN"
Well, interestingly enough, that actually had me laughing.Anyway, I'd like you to answer the following:
1.What conditions are needed for a team to win the Prem?To what extent did Rafa have them during his six-year tenure at LFC?
2.During Rafa's reign, what major differences were there between LFC and its title rivals (Manure, Arse and Chavs)?How influential were they in determining whether or not we competed successfully?
4.How would you (relatively) summarize LFC under Rafa?
5.To what extent was Rafa responsible for the team's dismal showings the past season?
6.What made his (Rafa) removal fair and justified?
7.Is there a manager in the history of LFC who went six years without winning the league?Did you call for his head?Did he get the boot?If he wasn't sacked, did that prove wise a decision?
8.In what way do you think Rafa leaving will benefit LFC, both as a team and club?
9.Who did you prefer to be new coach?
10.Would you say that Hodgson is a step up from Rafa?
11.How convinced are you that Hodgson will do better than his predecessor?
12.Christian Poulsen.Would you say we needed this type of a player?If so, was Poulsen our only (and best) option?Explain your answer.
13.Taking into account that the lack of a quality, fit and consistent left back and an able deputy to Torres are our most pressing areas, do you find it wise a move by the manager to then go and buy a defensive midfielder?
14.In what way is Poulsen an improvement on what we already have?
15.Would it be fair to say that Roy inherits a better team than Rafa did?That, unlike Rafa-who had a massive overhauling and revamping to do with rather scanty funds-Roy's transfers should be near perfect, seeing that the team only needs a little titivating and fine tuning (3 or 4 players)?Roy doesn't have to overhaul.This team's strong already, but needs those 3, 4 or 5 world class additions that Nando spoke of (say, Coentrao, Sanchez, Turan and Hulk).So it wouldn't be anticipated that Roy will make too many a mistake (but God he already has).
Your response will be much appreciate, fella.
Gracias-
Lombardi Cazorla
22 Aug 2010 10:54:07
As transfer deadline day, draws closer; the likeliness of a takeover before looks unlikely. However the deal will be complete by january as it has to be. Surely the new owners will be offering finacial backup for players as in this day and age of football; if u want to compete u need the funds. Im not going to lie and say i KNOW which players that will be coming in. But il put some players forward that maybe we could expect to join or at least would like them to join.
AGUERO- personally would love to see him join up with torres. i have heard this player being continiuosly linked with lpool.
ROBINIHO- exciting player, if in the mood is unplayable. i don't know whether he will be elsewhere come jan but as he has fallen out of favour at city, u never know?
ROBBEN- always loved this player and he would fit back straight into the prem if he could keep fit.
MICAH RICHARDS- this deal could be completed in this transfer widow as i don't see his being to expensive, it would jus depend whether city would sell to a rival. Thanks
22 Aug 2010 10:46:25
Please DON'T buy Shaun Wright-Phillips !. What a waste of money. Yeh, he's quick, but no skill at all.
Would rather play Babel on the wing. Deserves a run in the side to see what he can do.
Will be no replacement for Masch as Poulsen is already in and have enough CM's already, (Pacheco, Lucas, SG, Cole).
Need LB - Konchesky's ok.
Winger - I'm hoping for Ashley Young - Class ! and English.
Striker - Anyone half decent. Gonna be on bench behind Torres in pecking order.
SO spend big on wide midfielder and buy Young.
dazzle
22 Aug 2010 10:35:17
People that are hoping for RBS to take control of LFC are clueless and should be careful what you wish for. RBS was a ruthless corporate banking giant that has lost everything and nearly dragged the entire banking system under. All because they tried to break America and made high risk investments with our money. If we didn't bail them out the banking system would have collapsed and we would have been buying a loaf of bread with a wheel barrow of money. Take it from someone that worked there, hope and pray that the club is sold well before they get involved they truly are master criminals. . .
22 Aug 2010 10:06:32
Well said abbs! Great piece and it explains precisely what I have been saying - that Huang's was the ONLY viable bid! Broughton is telling lies and DOES NOT have LFC's interest at heart. I think Liverpool fans should protest to have Broughton removed and demand RBS call in their loan to H&G immediately to force them to sell.
PS to those people who slagged off my initial posts about Huang and his offer being genuine, viable with with proof of funding should listen to people who really have their finger on the pulse! I have followed this sale process as closely as anyone, reading all I can about it and following a few well connected people who really are in the know with regard to this sale. Now that Huang is gone (for the time being at least) I can only see a grim future at Anfield some other multi Billionaire comes in for us - don't hold your breath though!
Stevie G, Walton
22 Aug 2010 07:53:22
The only hope I now have for the club is that the people on here are not a true represtation of the fans, i.e. we're just the sad t* ts/ idiots, and the majority of true LFC fans are doing something worthwhile with their lives. You know, time with there families, jobs, etc.
The older I get/ more I come on here, the more I realise that I'm not against Man u, Everton, City, Chelsea, Arsenal etc anymore, I'm just against bad, ignorant supporters and we have more than our fair share.
Go on, have a look on the other club sites - the same battle between good knowledgable fans & ignorant, don't know their history t* ts.
Have a look at the Liverpool/ Everton fans sitting next to each other at wembley in the 1985 FA Cup final (you know, before Sky & the Premiership started brain washing idiots) That would never happen now. Very sad.
(You talk to some of the old Scousers and Mancs - i dare you - they'd watch whoever was playing at home and love both teams because they represented the city and were proud. Pride is not something I feel when I come on here.)
22 Aug 2010 01:12:07
Fabian. .
when you post a sweeping statement like "Oh by the way Jasonlfc look up delusion in the dictionary. In fact let me save you the bother - A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence, especially as a symptom of mental illness." without context.
1.are you refering to one of my earlier posts
2.are you correcting my grammar
3.are you just calling me names
so a person has but 1 option TO fill in the blanks!
next comment what am i on about, , "Iain't no SO CALLED ANYTHING."
answer your quote. .
"I am getting sick and tired of all the so called 'loyal supporters'" +"
I will put it to each and everyone of you so called 'loyal Liverpool supporters' "
And your telling ME to keep up??
J4 96 ynwa
jasonlfc
22 Aug 2010 00:43:22
May i remind u that turan costs about 15 mill and requires a work permit very unlikely also he plays in turkish lge he may look good there but prem is much harder
22 Aug 2010 00:34:15
THIS IS WHAT I THINK K. if the takeover was completed i would aguero he is talented and perhaps riise back he was good by the way swp is hopeless couldn't cross the road never mind a ball wot u think ed YNWA {editor's note - SWP is useless, being nice, but Riise isn't much better, he is a very average player and no real improvement over what is already at the club.}
22 Aug 2010 00:15:21
Reds still held to ransom by outrageous asking price!
When Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks reportedly put a figure as high as £800m on the club shortly after he and George Gillett had put it up for sale it shattered any illusion that the owners had finally admitted it was time to move on Later figures suggested demands as 'low' as £500m – but were still some way short of what was on offer from the only known bidder for the club.
Although Huang had initially suggested his offer would be no higher than £325m his eventual offer is believed to have been £400m. Despite being more than double the price paid by the current owners in 2007 it would still leave them without any profit to speak of. Annual profits have all been eaten up to cover the high costs of the club's RBS debt. The last official figure on that debt is £237m; by the time the next attempt to refinance is due, in October, it will be nearer £300m.
On top of the debt to the bank is the debt to the owners. Rather than putting any money in as equity they put their money in as intercompany loans that they slap an annual interest rate of 10% onto. This figure stood at around £130m the last time it was officially revealed.
Hicks is said to expect potential revenues from a stadium yet to be built added onto the asking price. He can't take the risk on the project himself yet expects a premium to allow others to do so. Most observers are astounded at these demands.£400m is seen as paying well above the club's true worth.
Getting Hicks to accept a realistic offer for the club has been seen as the biggest stumbling block for any takeover since DIC first returned to attempt a takeover late in 2007. Martin Broughton's appointment as an independent chairman was expected to address that issue, his control over the sales process was claimed to include making a decision on what constitutes an acceptable price.
But doubts about how independent Broughton actually is are beginning to rise.The lack of any official response to Kenny Huang's statement is telling. And Broughton had no problem speaking to the media after Huang had first made his interest known publicly.
The Hicks camp were said to have shown much delight at the imminent appointment of Broughton back in April amidst reports that former Citigroup executive Michael Klein had been involved in persuading the BA chairman to take the task on. Klein's links to Barclays Capital (he was involved in their acquisition of New York's Lehman Brothers) were also said to have been a key factor in BarCap's agreement to run the sales process for Broughton.
Hicks is said to be close to Klein, a long-time associate, and Klein was expected to act as an adviser to Gillett and Hicks as the auction of the club progressed.
The statement the club put out to announce Broughton's arrival made it clear what his main role was going to be: "The new Chairman will oversee a formal sale process launched by current owners."Following numerous expressions of interest from third parties, the Club has engaged Barclays Capital to advise on the sale process. The Club has the full support of its existing bankers for this process and has financing in place which will fully support the Club's operations."
The statement also made another promise: "The Club will continue to progress the well-advanced plans for a new, larger, and state-of-the-art stadium which will form an exciting part of the club's future development." The club has not made any noticeable progress on those plans. The shovels remain unused. In fact the shovels are still in the shop.
Another promise made was that Hicks and Gillett were looking to sell to "owners committed to take the Club through its next level of growth and development" and that Broughton would "oversee the sales process in the best interests of the Club and its supporters."
Broughton himself made promises too: "I will run this sale process in the right way, for the benefit of the Club and its fans."
After the statement came a number of interviews and more of the right kind of words from Broughton: "Whoever comes in has to be the right owner and the board will ensure that we make the right decision, " he insisted.
But he also made it clear that he wasn't acting just for the supporters or the club: "We will make it very clear what the buyer needs to do from the point of view of the supporters, and Tom Hicks and George Gillett will make clear to us what they are looking for in terms of price."
And perhaps that is key to why the process has stalled. Did Broughton concede more control to the owners over the sale price than he has claimed in subsequent interviews?
At that time he wasn't insisting on new owners coming in and taking away the debt: "We will look at every offer that comes in for the club. We are ruling nothing out, but when you look at what we have said we want from a buyer it is very different [to 100% debt]. That sort of bid is not going to be particularly attractive and we would need to be persuaded that it was in the best interests of the club.
"Some debt is inevitable, given the plans for a new stadium, and it would be foolish to run a club like Liverpool with no debt. You would be mismanaging the balance sheet, but there is a major difference between some debt and a hundred percent debt."
Two-and-a-half months later and Broughton admitted there was yet to be a bid for the club. "There have not been any offers at this stage, " he said. "There haven't been any offers to turn down and I wouldn't have expected there to have been at this stage. There are a number of interested parties, but there's no specific deadline on it. We are looking to the middle of July-ish for the first round of bids but that's not a final stage – that's a first entry through."
So based on getting that first round of bids in by mid-July Broughton had a target for getting the whole deal done: "We're hopeful – and I wouldn't put it any stronger than that – that a deal can be done by the end of the transfer season. That was always from the outset a hope rather than necessarily an expectation, because these things can take time. We are on course, pretty well, with where we would have expected to be."
As it was he still hadn't had a single bid by mid-July. By the middle of August he'd had at least one bid, with proof of funds included. Yet he was still sending out the message that it would take until October to finalise the process. Its little wonder Huang was unimpressed.
By now Broughton was denying that the owners could name their price: "The owners can't block the sale of the club. I read all too frequently numbers being floated about in the media, normally associated with Tom Hicks' name. I would like to make it clear there is no number. There is no base line." Not quite what he'd said in April.
He went on to explain what kind of bid would win: "This is a willing buyer, willing seller auction. We will do a deal with what we consider to be the best bidder. The best bidder may not be the highest bidder."
And then came the claims that in light of last night's developments seem some way off the truth: "It's about more than just money. It's about stadium development, the team and the whole piece. Once we've been through the process, the best bidder gets it."
So it's not just about the money, it's also about stadium development and the team. Which brings to mind a statement issued last night by Kenny Huang: "We concluded that a plan that properly capitalizes the business and provides funds for a new stadium and player related costs would allow Liverpool FC to provide its great fans with the success they deserve." So that's the money, the stadium and the team all covered. What else does Broughton want?
As of last night there was no evidence of one single other bidder who had both put in a serious bid and proved the funding was in place. By default Huang's bid was the best bid.
To add more weight to the theories that Broughton had received no other viable bid, suggestions were made earlier this week that potential investors were still being approached about making a bid for the club, well after Broughton's supposed bid deadline was over.
Less than three weeks ago Broughton still said he was aiming for a deal to be done by the end of this month. Huang had just been named as a potential bidder, it was the 2nd of August, and Broughton said: "It still remains the objective to conclude a deal before the end of the transfer window. That remains the objective but there are no deadlines, and we will continue working to complete the process."
And Broughton suggested there was no guarantee of a sale price that gave Hicks and Gillett a profit: "There could be a possible realisation of an equity consideration, but both George Gillett and Tom Hicks remain on the board and they have given commitments that the board of Kop Holdings is the party that is responsible for the sale."
When Huang made his first move for the club, many months after starting work on the project, he went to RBS first, looking at the possibility of buying out the debt as a way of gaining control of the club.
RBS asked him to speak to Broughton instead. He agreed to this and would eventually make his bid for the club through the process Broughton was running. He followed Broughton's instructions, gave Broughton everything he'd asked for in their talks ahead of the formal bid. Broughton didn't even bother using his staff discount (assuming he still gets one) to take a flight to Hong Kong or Beijing to meet Huang.
In the end Huang wouldn't wait any longer for Broughton, now fans are left wondering if that's what Broughton wanted anyway.
abbs
21 Aug 2010 23:57:27
21 Aug 2010 23:34:48
Liverpool are apparently lookin at bringing Jesús Navas to Anfield with the money from the Mascherano deal, this lads decent enough and is fast as well. Also i expect to see SWP at Liverpool or Ashley young and possibly Bobby Zamora
Has anyone heard anything about these?
Navas suffers from chronic homesickness so its highly unlikely he'll sign for us