The Past Year - Tony Barrett

[Rashid]

To sum it up, Fuck off Yanks.

Gillett & Hicks, one year on: from hope to despair
Feb 6 2008 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo

TODAY marks the first anniversary of the takeover of Liverpool FC by George Gillett and Tom Hicks.. TONY BARRETT examines the impact the American duo have had on the club over the past 12 months.

LIVERPOOL have played 36 league games since the takeover, winning 16, drawing 13 and losing seven.

A total of 61 points from those games is put into sharp perspective by the fact that current Premiership leaders Arsenal have garnered 60 points from just 25 games so far this season.

Qualification for this season's Champions League was secured when the Reds finished third in last season's Premiership.

They have a battle on their hands to repeat that this year with Everton, Man City and Aston Villa all involved in a four-way battle for fourth place.

This season has been a disappointment in the Premiership, with the long- awaited title challenge having failed to materialise.

Liverpool made it to last season's Champions League final, knocking out Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven and Chelsea following the arrival of Hicks and Gillett, only to lose to AC Milan in the final.

They are still involved in this season's competition with a last 16 tie against Inter Milan on the horizon.

TRANSFERS

Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel, Martin Skrtel, Lucas Leiva, Yossi Benayoun, Sebastian Leto, Andriy Voronin and Charles Itandje have all been brought in at an estimated cost of £50m.

Momo Sissoko, Djibril Cisse, Craig Bellamy, Luis Garcia, Mark Gonzalez, Jerzy Dudek and Robbie Fowler have all been sold or released with an estimated £31m being brought into the club.

There is also a deal near completion for Javier Mascherano, who would cost £18.6m.

THE STADIUM

One of the first pledges Hicks and Gillett made upon taking over the club was to have a spade go into Stanley Park within 60 days.

A total of 365 days have now passed and Stanley Park remains almost untouched.

Hicks and Gillett have revised the stadium plans they inherited twice during the past 12 months.

Their first effort had to be scaled down because costs threatened to spiral out of control.

The latest design, by Dallas-based HKS, has a 71,000 capacity, is due to be built for the start of the 2011/12 season and will cost around £300m to complete.

FINANCES

When Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool FC they used loans rather than cash from their own personal fortunes to do so.

They paid £5,000 a share, a total outlay of £174.1m. They also borrowed another £11m to pay banks and advisers for doing the deal and a further £44.8m to absorb the club's debt at that stage. On top of this, another £70m was added to the loan for the stadium project and running costs.

At that stage, even though they had not spent a single cent from their own pockets, Hicks and Gillett told fans they would not "do a Glazer" by loading the club with debt.

Twelve months on and a huge refinancing deal later, such pledges ring incredibly hollow.

Financial restructuring was concluded last month when a £350m loan was taken out with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia. £105m of that was immediately loaded onto the club's books with the remaining £245m being taken on by Kop Holdings, the holding company set up by Hicks and Gillett when they bought the club last February.

In a recent statement, Hicks' spokesman admitted that the club will have to service the interest payments on both sections of the debt to the tune of around £30m a year.

THE CLUB'S REPUTATION

Alongside finances, the biggest area of concern since takeover.

Three major demonstrations by fans at a club which had previously had none tells its own sorry story.

From being a club which was renowned for keeping problems in-house, Liverpool have become a club where dirty linen is washed in public on an almost daily basis.

From Rafa Benitez's now infamous "I'm concentrating on coaching and training my players" press conference to Hicks' admission to the ECHO that Jurgen Klinsmann had been lined up as a successor to the Spaniard, the Americans’ PR has been a disaster zone.

Add in on-going speculation about the club's ownership and the last 12 months have been among the most difficult in Liverpool's history.

Damage has been done and unless there is a return to the principles of the much fabled "Liverpool Way" it will continue to be done.

RELATIONSHIPS

In simple terms, the relationship between Tom Hicks and George Gillett has all but broken down.

Marry at haste, repent at leisure seems to be the story of their partnership.

A marriage of convenience to see off DIC at the 11th hour has certainly not resulted in a tale of happy ever after.

Rumours of serious divisions between the pair have been circulating for some time and appeared to be confirmed when a statement was released to confirm the conclusion of refinancing, but it carried only Hicks' name. Gillett's was conspicuous by its absence.

Hicks has tried to build bridges with Benitez following his admission that he spoke to Klinsmann about replacing him and recently backed the Spaniard to continue as manager for the length of his current contract, a little over two more years.

Significantly, Gillett kept his counsel.

THE FUTURE

Dubai International Capital retain a very strong interest in buying Liverpool, an interest which did not wane whatsoever despite Hicks and Gillett concluding their refinancing deal.

The investment arm of the Dubai government may have missed out on getting their hands on the club last year, but they haven't gone away and the ECHO understands senior DIC executives have been in dialogue with Hicks and Gillett for several weeks with a view to doing a deal.

They are ready to test the American duo's determination to hold onto the club but only at a price that suits them – in their eyes, paying over the odds is not an option.

Significantly, Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, whom the ECHO can reveal was a boyhood Liverpool fan, has now taken a personal interest in making the deal happen.

Gillett & Hicks: A year in their own words

"We have purchased the club with no debt on the club," George Gillett, Feb 6, 2007.

"We are going to build the finest team for the finest stadium in the Premier League and that is Liverpool," Tom Hicks, Feb 6, 2007.

"The shovel needs to be in the ground in the next 60 days," George Gillett, Feb 6, 2007.

"It's all about the fans and the winning tradition," George Gillett, Feb 7, 2007.

"I won't be a visible owner. You'll see me in the stand yes, but probably not so much in the directors' box as out in front meeting people and thanking them for their support," George Gillett, Feb 7, 2007.

"I'm not a person who goes and hides," George Gillett, Feb 7, 2007.

"Our job is to be custodians of this franchise, not the owners of this franchise," George Gillett, Feb 7, 2007.

"There's no way either of my two teams' fans have the level of intense passion that Liverpool has," Tom Hicks, May 26.

"We want to be regularly competing for the Premiership and the Champions League.

"The fans are smart. The fans can sense that George and I want exactly what they want," Tom Hicks, May 26.

"It is really time for Rafa to quit talking about new players and to coach the players we have," Tom Hicks, Nov 23, 2007.

"It's been a big misunderstanding blown very much out of proportion. George and I are happy to see that it has settled back down," Tom Hicks gives Rafa Benitez his backing, Dec 1, 2007.

"George and I have never been closer. We both were very disappointed and confused as to where that inaccurate information came from," Hicks dismisses rumours of a split, Dec 1, 2007.

"We attempted to negotiate an option as an insurance policy to have him (Klinsmann) become manager if Rafael left for Real Madrid or other clubs that were rumoured in the press," Tom Hicks, January 13, 2008.

"I will still be an owner of Liverpool Football Club in five years," Tom Hicks, Jan 27, 2008.

"Rafa's going to be our manager. He's got a contract here for two more years and hopefully he'll stay for longer.

"As far as I'm concerned Rafa Benitez will be here for at least the length of his contract," Tom Hicks, Jan 27, 2008.

* Tomorrow: Part Two of our look at Liverpool’s custodians

[WeAreTheBest]

Originally Posted by Rashid

To sum it up, Fuck off Yanks.

And take that Spanish prick with you.

[coop]

Significantly, Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, whom the ECHO can reveal was a boyhood Liverpool fan, has now taken a personal interest in making the deal happen

Now that i do like to hear.

If DIC were to buy us and the Sheikh took an interest in us like he does his horses and i can assure you were wont be bargain hunting no more.

[sh#t waffle]

It seems like almost open warfare now. For a newspaper that is often viewed as an unofficial mouthpiece for the club, Barrett's articles are becoming increasingly open in their criticism. I may be being entirely overly optimistic, but unless there was near certainty in Hicks being forced out, I just don't think the Echo would be printing these stories. Love Gillett's quote about never hiding as well..

[Rashid]

This is magnificent stuff from Barrett. Plus the news about the Sheikh is awesome.

[jackofdk]

Apart from the obvious fine piece of summing up the past year, there's some interesting snippets in this piece by Barrett (who is turning out to be a brilliant journo for all things LFC):

- Talks ARE ongoing between DIC execs and the americans.
- The Sheikh was a LFC-fan as a boy and has taken a personal interest in getting the deal done. (Although this can obviously just be clever PR on DIC's part .

Here's hoping a similar story written in a year from now will be a lot more upbeat.

[WeAreTheBest]

Originally Posted by sh#t waffle

It seems like almost open warfare now. For a newspaper that is often viewed as an unofficial mouthpiece for the club, Barrett's articles are becoming increasingly open in their criticism. I may be being entirely overly optimistic, but unless there was near certainty in Hicks being forced out, I just don't think the Echo would be printing these stories. Love Gillett's quote about never hiding as well..

Yeah thats what I'm hoping for.

[Cardie]

So the Sheikh is suddenly a Liverpool fan now?

[coop]

I think Barrett has been superb during this whole saga. The way he got Hicks to trip himself up about admitting about Klinnsmann was highly commendable.

[Josef Svejk]

The Echo is clearly backing DIC, hence the Sheikh "exclusive"...

[Malarkey]

Originally Posted by Cardie

So the Sheikh is suddenly a Liverpool fan now?

He always has been, hence the purchase of Aintree racecourse.

[Scouse Missionary]

The most fantastic thing about that article, is that without actively criticising them he's simply used a succession of their own quotes to destroy their credibility. No narration needed.

[stringvest]

Another in a series of increasingly 'off-message' reports from the echo. Great stuff. I suspect this has the tacit approval of Parry (and Moores, whose family still has clout at the Echo) as well. Barrett's doing himself no harm with this, even if it's a rehash of old news.

[zigackly]

A tale of mismanagement, incompetence and deception ...

[rebel23]

Originally Posted by Cardie

So the Sheikh is suddenly a Liverpool fan now?

when did that happen?!

it's possible, he started coming over to England (Newmarket) in the 70's but logic tells us it's not football that he became passionate about