Liverpool takeover: State-backed Chinese group want to buy club from Fenway for £700m

[Kevin D]

This thread is a disgrace.

[jimmycase]

Sources?

 

Empirical.

[jimmycase]

I agree with the basic point LFD is trying to make, without agreeing with many of the points he's making to support it.  Those who think a benevolent Liverpool-mad bloke is out there with a couple of billion to throw at the club must still believe in Father Christmas.  

 

Whoever buys this club will do so with the primary aim of making money.  Once that sinks in, then there's a sensible conversation to be had.  

 

And yet FSG get pilloried for trying to 'grow' the club financially.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Twas a joke. Failed visibly.

I was wondering if I was missing something.

[xerxes]

And yet FSG get pilloried for trying to 'grow' the club financially.

 

That growth has been almost entirely down to windfall PL income, incremental sponsorship, and keeping capacity low and prices high.

[El Dangerous]

I want Jackie Chan, Ken Hom, that massive basketball player, that little dude off The Golden Child, the old man from Gremlins, Confuscious and a dragon on the board of directors or I'm burning someone's season ticket.

[andyj]

oh yeah because FSG haven't already increased the ticket prices. Any other clueless arguments in favour of the gang?

did they or did they not back down ? without the fact that prices had gone up before  chinese investors would not listen to fans or back down due to it being seen as weakness in there culture....and you call me fucking clueless !! you would sell the club down the fucking river just to get rid of FSG 

[jimmycase]

That growth has been almost entirely down to windfall PL income, incremental sponsorship, and keeping capacity low and prices high.

 

You'd moan on a fucking sunny day.

 

Oh and windfall PL income and incremental sponsorship is how virtually every other club that doesnt have a mega rich owner increases its income.

 

They're also increasing capacity so blowing that tennant of your argument out the water. By your logic, they shouldnt increase capacity to keep prices high.

[KMD7]

I want Jackie Chan, Ken Hom, that massive basketball player, that little dude off The Golden Child, the old man from Gremlins, Confuscious and a dragon on the board of directors or I'm burning someone's season ticket.

Don't forget David Lopan as well.

[El Dangerous]

Indeed!

[Russ Atmosphere]

cunt owners

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Not sure I like the idea of the Chinese state buying into the club in any way. What kind of message does that send?

 

We should hold out for some proper human rights abusers, like a mad sheikh who drives a Rolls Royce with an air freshener made out of human ears.

[Tony Moanero]

M & S Dark Chocolate & Mango Jaffa Cakes > McVitie's Jaffa Cakes

[AngryOfTuebrook]

...and keeping capacity low and prices high.

This drum you keep banging implies total faith in the "laws" of supply and demand in classical economics; as if, had they built a 70,000 seater stadium, prices would miraculously fall to affordable levels.

 

How does that theory pan out at Old Trafford or the Emirates?

[Trumo]

Not sure I like the idea of the Chinese state buying into the club in any way. What kind of message does that send?

 

We should hold out for some proper human rights abusers, like a mad sheikh who drives a Rolls Royce with an air freshener made out of human ears.

 

Or the Khmer Rouge with their Pol Pot Pourri?

[Lycan]

Excellent post LFD, repped.

 

 

 Yep. A fantastic post.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

FSG transformed our club to mid table mediocrity?  Did you see our squad and league positions before they arrived.

 

We had just finished 7th the season before they came.  The squad had huge superstars like Degan, Aquilani, Ngog, J Cole, Jovanovic, Soto, Poulsen, Konchesky...

 

Yes we were absolutely thriving before FSG arrived.  Not forgetting H&G were not investing the money from sales like Robbie Keane back into the team.  They bought the club with loans and were using the club to pay off those loans.  Bring big debt on the club.  They did nothing with regards to the new stadium.  They appointed Roy Hodgson. 

 

FSG have made mistakes, they said they would as they are new to the game.  But we are the 4th biggest spenders in the league under their time.  Sure a lot of those have come from sales, although we are also the 4th highest net spenders in that time.  

 

It is not their fault we have bought crap.  They trusted Dalglish, Comolli, A Committee and Rodgers to buy well.  They shouldn't be judged on who we buy, whether good or bad, they merely provide the funds.  They don't get praise for Suarez nor should they get criticism for Carroll IMO.  They backed the footballing men to do that, they way it should be and that's what they are doing with Klopp - he has the first & last say, according to Jurgen himself.

 

Yes we've lost some key players since they have been here.  Unfortunately we have only finished in the top four once since they have been here, due to poor buys and management.  Both of which isn't their jobs.

 

They aren't going to do PSG or Man City type spending.  Guess what nor can most teams in the world.  Arsenal don't they always get top four.  Spurs don't, far from it, they just challenged for the title.  Not quite sure spending big is the right way, given most of our best buys the last 10 years or so haven't been big fees.  Except for Torres & Suarez, our best buys have been around £10m or below in Alonso, Reina, Arbeloa, Sturridge, Coutinho, Hyypia, Hamann, Henchoz, Finnan, Riise etc etc.

 

They have removed the majority of the debt and that little remaining is very manageable.  They have increased the stadium.  They have backed the managers financially with plenty of funds to expect far better.  They have bought in a World Class manager in Klopp.

 

They aren't perfect, they have made mistakes, but the grass isn't always greener and things could be far worse.  No doubt you'll say things could be far better... maybe.  But look at Man U, I'd much rather our owners to theirs.  Looks at Spurs, they have a negative net spending the last 5 years... significantly less than us and the rest of the league actually.

 

If new owners do want to buy us and are better than FSG - then great.  But I think we have to be really careful about demanding or craving new owners, when looking at the owners we had before FSG.  Or even looking at some of our rivals owners.

 

They have a plan, that's to buy younger players who can grow into stars.  Sure it might not be the plan you like, however that doesn't mean it can't be successful.  They have bought in a manager who has done just that at Dortmund.   Being financially stable off the pitch, with a World Class manager, a stadium which is being expanded - things could be far, far worse and I don't understand why you are so against them.

 

Sure you crave success, we all do.  But the best chance of us getting success is buy well and having a top class manager.  They have got that manager, hopefully he can buy well and then the owners plan will have worked and everyone is happy.

Yeah, I agree with that. Had we spent the money better, we'd be doing far better. I do think they do deserve some criticism for that, though. They've been very reluctant to bring in somebody to take over the footballing side of things from Ayre. I'm sure Ayre is doing a fine job making the club money, but he isn't doing a good enough job setting up a culture of winning within the staff beneath him.

 

Generally speaking, I think they've done their job of giving funds to the manager well, there are some things they have dealt with well and some not so well. The stadium is good. Generally, I'm okay with what they're doing. However, they have deviated from the plan I supported so vocally. Buying young stars who will develop into top players has only been part of their plan, and due to having an 'iffy' structure, we've been pretty hit and miss at that. When it has come to spending large amounts of money, we've sucked at it.

[Lycan]

Yeah, I agree with that. Had we spent the money better, we'd be doing far better. I do think they do deserve some criticism for that, though. They've been very reluctant to bring in somebody to take over the footballing side of things from Ayre. I'm sure Ayre is doing a fine job making the club money, but he isn't doing a good enough job setting up a culture of winning within the staff beneath him.

 

Generally speaking, I think they've done their job of giving funds to the manager well, there are some things they have dealt with well and some not so well. The stadium is good. Generally, I'm okay with what they're doing. However, they have deviated from the plan I supported so vocally. Buying young stars who will develop into top players has only been part of their plan, and due to having an 'iffy' structure, we've been pretty hit and miss at that. When it has come to spending large amounts of money, we've sucked at it.

 

 

If they had managed to employ a top sporting director/ DOF, like a Monchi or a Zorc then we probably wouldn't of wasted so much money and our signings may well of been far more hit than miss. That's the only real criticism I have of FSG at the moment. That they continue to let Ian Ayre deal with that side of things. Instead of bringing in a proper footballing man to help get the deals across the line for us.

 

Perhaps their experience of Comolli has scared them away from appointing another sporting director/ DOF type figure? Once bitten, twice shy and all that...

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

If they had managed to employ a top sporting director/ DOF, like a Monchi or a Zorc then we probably wouldn't of wasted so much money and our signings may well of been far more hit than miss. That's the only real criticism I have of FSG at the moment. That they continue to let Ian Ayre deal with that side of things. Instead of bringing in a proper footballing man to help get the deals across the line for us.

Yeah, exactly. I think a big thing will be that Ayre's going to be gone soon and they're going to need to find a replacement like Zorc. Hopefully he when Zorc's contract is up he will want to work with Kloppo again? Fingers crossed.

[Lycan]

That would be ideal mate.

[jimmycase]

Yeah, I agree with that. Had we spent the money better, we'd be doing far better. I do think they do deserve some criticism for that, though. They've been very reluctant to bring in somebody to take over the footballing side of things from Ayre. I'm sure Ayre is doing a fine job making the club money, but he isn't doing a good enough job setting up a culture of winning within the staff beneath him.

 

Generally speaking, I think they've done their job of giving funds to the manager well, there are some things they have dealt with well and some not so well. The stadium is good. Generally, I'm okay with what they're doing. However, they have deviated from the plan I supported so vocally. Buying young stars who will develop into top players has only been part of their plan, and due to having an 'iffy' structure, we've been pretty hit and miss at that. When it has come to spending large amounts of money, we've sucked at it.

 

I think people are missing the obvious here. Ayre is operating on the remit given to him by the owners.

 

I know its generally accepted that ayre fucks up our transfers by bidding low. But, if he is, he's surely been given that remit after the Carroll, downing and a few other transfer fee debacles.

 

Im also pretty sure it isnt ayre doing the scouting. He isnt saying (or at least I hope he isnt!) let's sign carroll for £35m, let's sign downing for £20m,let's sign benteke for £32.5m. OK, he may be part of the infamous transfer committee but Im reasonably sure his remit will be that of whether the fee and player wages fall within the club's budget.

 

A valid criticism is that the owners have seen money spent on mainly shit players or players who've turned out to be shit. But, unless we want them personally intervening in transfers, that's awlays going to happen.

 

Ive said it before, other top clubs in the PL make mistakes in the transfer market but we dont tend to take much notice of these. The two manchester clubs, chelsea and arsenal have signed some whoppers in their time but they dont register with us.

[Sputnik1]

They have a salesman as CEO that tells you all you need to know. I think they get far too much credit simply because they are not cancer and aids. They are investors that have a lot more savvy than the previous jokers but they've let the club down by concentrating on the commercial side.

 

They rarely appear, they don't seem interested. They have allowed other teams to walk in and buy our players when they want, bar one season we held on to Suarez because it was worth more to them to do so.

 

They employed a car salesman as a manager, someone that spent hundreds of millions on shite, oh and the weird transfer committee stuff that clouded the issue. Then when it was obvious to every man and his dog that the manager was a bluffer they gave him even more money to spend. Fair enough Suarez masked a lot of faults and made all around look great. 

 

Only recently have they started to look even remotely competent at this football malarkey. Getting Klopp was a great coup, reacting very quickly to the fans protest suggested to me they didn't want to scare off potential buyers/investors/commercial partners. It showed how out of touch they were with the fans, how many walked out? Had that continued it would have gone from 25% to about 90%. Doesn't seem like the match going fans care that much about the owners or how they've gone from fuck up to fuck up over the past six years. 

 

They're not bad people, we could have worse owners. We could also have better ones. 

 

In the words of Ayre, we should be careful what we wish for. 

[Sugar Ape]

Yeah, exactly. I think a big thing will be that Ayre's going to be gone soon and they're going to need to find a replacement like Zorc. Hopefully he when Zorc's contract is up he will want to work with Kloppo again? Fingers crossed.

All the talk was that Mike Gordon will be stepping in to do the job which would be disappointing and not much different to Ayre running it. Which is what they want I suspect.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

I think people are missing the obvious here. Ayre is operating on the remit given to him by the owners.

Yeah, he's fucking it up. Buy good players. D'oH. Fucked it up.

 

 

Im also pretty sure it isnt ayre doing the scouting.

 

 

He's in charge of the fucking scouting team and committee. If they're not doing their job, fucking change things.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

All the talk was that Mike Gordon will be stepping in to do the job which would be disappointing and not much different to Ayre running it. Which is what they want I suspect.

You see, I don't mind having a MD who is business minded. Fine. Good. Great. Just FFS get somebody else in who deals with the football stuff. Leave the business stuff to the businessmen and the football stuff to the football men.