Yanks strikeback after securing major refinancing deal

Yanks strikeback after securing major refinancing deal

Our American co-owners, messrs Hicks and Gillett, has struckback at all the negativity surrounding their financing of our takeover by announcing they have captured the required £350million to complete the deal, and to build our new stadia over the way on Stanley Park.

After almost a month of speculation and uncertainty, the under-fire duo are convinced they are in a key position to make an official announcement very soon.

Details of the deal are still at a sketchy stage, however it is believed to include a £200million package for “Kop Investment”, which is Hicks & Gillett’s holding company - relieving Liverpool Football Club’s finances of such a huge debt.

The Americans will be hoping, that when they officially announce the news, it will put an end to the constant barrage of speculation surrounding the takeover itself, aswell as Rafa Benitez’s managerial position - which as they have publicly declared - is “safe”.

So to all those people who are quickly jumping on the “Yanks Out” bandwagon (pictured), you should perhaps think before blinking next time. At the end of the day, business is business, and we are now no different - we would end up being another Leeds United if they threw another £40-50million at Rafa to bring in some superior class, and we would be another Leeds United if we pressed-ahead with a stadia development that we simply couldn’t afford at the going rate.

People make mistakes (ala Jurgen Klingon), but maybe, just maybe, we have a decent pair of businessmen with Liverpool Football Club’s best interests at heart?

By Redneck
(January 23, 2008)

Comments (11) · Related · Tools

David on January 23rd, 2008 10:57 pm

“People are worried that I might take money away from the [Texas] Rangers [Hicks’ baseball franchise] to go to Liverpool,” Hicks said. ” But it is just the reverse. Liverpool is going to throw off lots of extra money which, if I choose to, I can use for the Rangers or the [Dallas] Stars [ice hockey team].”

Doesn’t sound like he has Liverpool’s best interests at heart to me.
Redneck on January 23rd, 2008 11:15 pm

source ?
Juan on January 23rd, 2008 11:41 pm

From the bbc - good enough for me:

And Liverpool fans will be even more critical after an interview, first broadcast on the Major League Baseball website six months ago, was publicised by the British press on Wednesday.

“People are worried that I might take money away from the Texas Rangers [Hicks' baseball franchise] to go to Liverpool,” Hicks said.

“But it is just the reverse. Liverpool is going to throw off lots of extra money which, if I choose to, I can use for the Rangers or the Dallas Stars ice hockey team.”
Juan on January 24th, 2008 12:04 am

Redkneck Im not having a go at you in particular but I still cannot understand how any Liverpool fan is willing to give these guys a second thought.

Everyone does make mistakes but these guys have undermined the manager, the fans and the club in general to the point of no return. We have been humiliated as a club in the last 3 months and for me it is the lowest point in the clubs modern history.

I would rather boycott every game necessary rather than see Liverpool being used as a cash cow for the Texas Rangers/Dallas Stars.

What does a 67 year Texan with no prior interest in soccer want with a PL team such as Liverpool. A damn good return thats what. Sickens me to see the great name of Liverpool being handled and milked in this way.

At this stage Id take the devil himself over Tom and George and they have left me with such a bitter taste in my mouth I would go as far as saying as long as they run this club I refuse to line thier pockets so I will not step foot inside Anfield. I have supported Liverpool through thick and thin but Tom and George are quickly destroying the club I love
Redneck on January 24th, 2008 12:20 am

Fair enough Juan … the BBC is always a good reliable source.

But there is still two sides to every story, and the amount of expanded speculation that has been circulating recently is unbelievable (yet expected), but we’re not exactly in a position to finance ourselves let alone a MLB team!

If in five/ten years time we’re a dominant force across Europe, aswell as our homeland (ie #19 being brought home, and #20, #21 etc…) who the hell would care if a few million of Hicks personal profit (this is a business venture after-all) went towards his US businesses?

And if we didn’t win anything for the next 10/20 years (heaven forbid - did I really say that?), we wouldn’t have made enough money to cover Hicks plane fuel bill anyway.
Vernon on January 24th, 2008 8:57 am

I am glad this is all over .

No-one says DIC are any better …?

In order for Hicks to pour millions into his other franchises , he has to get Liverpool to be successful and winning , otherwise where does the money come from …?

Maybe we can now focus on whether Rafa is really doing a decent job ? He couldn’t challenge for the EPL before the Yanks were here , so no point in him blaming them !!!

Cometh the hour , cometh the man ? If Rafa can’t handle it , then lets get Martin O’Neill !!!
Jimbo on January 24th, 2008 10:22 am

Well guys, ive been a reading and a reading the last few weeks and have finally made a decision that would probably go down like the titanic… I think we may have got a bit to excited and not waited to see the whole story….

I read an report in the USA that siad that Hicks in particular has always sone the same thing with each franchise and that they have always come out as winners. They also siad that the british media was running out of control with the stories and that Hicks, learning from his mistakes was saying nothing until the finance was in place. But the main thing for is that when i was in the states and i read about the other franchises these guys own, all i read was praise.

That said they are businessmen and will do what the glaziers have done to Man U, make liverpool commercially viable. i think the transfermation will be painfull. But i think its got to happen.

I think we need to wise up a bit, how much money has wenger had in the trnasfer market when they have built their stadium…. none

And he is challanging… so i think we do need to calm done and wait…. We are in it for the long term and i think it still might have a positive outcome.

James

oh sorry for the spelling, im a crap writer.
Redneck on January 24th, 2008 10:34 am

Well at least someone else is taking everything they read with regards to our takeover with a pinch of salt.

I personally do feel that the vast majority of our fans are overreacting, too much, too soon.

At the end of the day, they are businessmen and we are now a business, wether we like it or not, these Americans are gonna drag us into the 21st century and make us a viable option for investors who are looking to earn money out of LFC’s good fortunes, on and off the pitch (stadia naming rights, sell-out pre-season tours, US marketing etc…).

Excellent Wenger point btw James
magnumopus on January 24th, 2008 10:45 am

True but Wenger had his team somewhat set before he needed to stop the buying and we do not. Look at the mancs, they keep buying and buying, yet everybody expects Rafa to compete when he starts behind them and then they out spend him. It indeed will be hard for Liverpool to spend mega bucks on players and build a new stadium too. Both are needed but you need a good team winning to fill the stands with fans. Get the team going first!

If the team is not our first money priority then don’t hassle the manager when he doesn’t compete at the top of the league! To do both at the same time would require lots of money which is what most fans thought we were getting in the yanks. Now we know different!

So, we all wait to see how this fiasco will sort out. The owners might be concerned about making money, that’s to be expected to some degree, but fans want wins! Win matches first and the money will come. As of now, our team has shown that we are not good enough to compete with the top clubs, but we are not far off. But, the other teams continue to keep buying and getting better. How will we compete at the top if we do not do the same?
Jimbo on January 24th, 2008 1:30 pm

I agree about the winning matches, but being realalistic, there is only one owner in the country with the sort of dough to buy a new stadium and spend the 100 million needed to get a great team, and thank god he chose chelsea, Speaking to thier fans, they are not to sure what there are singing for anymore.

One piont i would like to make is that rafa has spent over 100 million in the last few years.

If wenger had that money, he would not be needing to stenghtening now…

I like Rafa and i think hes been good for us, but he does make himself a bit of a target.

One thing that has really changed is the amount of quality youngsters we are bringing in. Like Lucas, he has been picked for the brazilian sqaud..

we must have bought 20 youngsters in the last year, most we never here about.

If liverpool was my business, i would secure leanding for the new stadium, then ask rafa to loose some dead wood, then when we secured champions league, look at team foe next two years.

I think the sale of momo will bring in around 12 mill for the signing of our freindly hard working argie…

That done and it will be the same team until the summer, a new stadium, and possibly and refretfully a new manager

james
anfielder on January 26th, 2008 6:16 pm

I’ve heard a lot of Liverpool fans saying the Americans must go but apart from a lot of ineffective grumbling there appears to be no action plan to actually make this happen. If we fans act as a group we can force Hicks out but this will not happen if we merely complain but at the same time continue to support the very assumptions (all financial) on which Hicks’s continued ownership is based. Hicks doesn’t give a shit what we say or think as long as we continue to financially support his plans.

We must have an action plan. This involves immediate cessation of all financial support of any kind to the club (while Hicks remains in control of it) for as long as it takes to force him out. Those who can still cancel tickets etc should do so asap and no further monies should be paid of any kind. This must be allied to loud, public and ongoing protests outside the ground which even Hicks cannot simply cannot ignore. Again this must continue for as long as it takes.

Hicks promised us (and David Moores) that the huge loans he used to buy the club would not be transferred onto the club but this is effectively exactly what he has done because neither Hicks nor Gillett has added a penny of his own money. They both expect the club to fund the crippling interest payments of over £30 million per annum on the full £350 million debt. The sums simply do not add up. Fans should read the article by Nick Harris in the Independant for 26 January 2008.

Fans should also remember that the new £350 million debt only covers initial construction costs for the stadium so Hicks’ plans necessitate lots of further borrowing. The vast majority of the existing £350 million debt is merely to refinance Hicks and Gillett’s intial borrowings to buy the club. It is adding no value whatsoever to the club which means the club is much, much worse off than if it had simply borrowed the money itself to fund the new construction like Arsenal did. All Hicks and Gillett have added to the new stadium project is huge and unmanageable amounts of debt and delay. The maintenance of those debts will surely cripple any attempt by us to remain competitive on the field. There is not a single businessman anywhere who can understand what possible benefit Hicks has brought to the club. Even RBS thinks think his scheme will likely fail in the long term.

The signing of Mascherano should not fool anyone. This is just more evidence that Hicks thinks we are all mindless morons who can be controlled by cheap propaganda. He is counting on enough of us simply putting up with his rule and going with the flow. He is counting on us not having enough balls to really unite against him. Unfortunately we don’t have time to wait for things to develop as they inevitabley will. The choice is simple. Do we unite now to force out Hicks or just let the club go the same way as Leeds ??