DIC: takeover thread

[Gary Mac Legend]

Yer I know the fat cunt said it too. That's just the text I've had off a few people, must be doing the rounds.

 

If that were so, why are we in talks with Roy Hodgson? It's therefore bollocks sorry to all who got their hopes up. Tom and George will still be here come June 2011 no doubt. RBS are a spineless bunch of cunts. Tom Hicks will get his way again.

[Dougie Do'ins]

If that were so, why are we in talks with Roy Hodgson? It's therefore bollocks sorry to all who got their hopes up. Tom and George will still be here come June 2011 no doubt. RBS are a spineless bunch of cunts. Tom Hicks will get his way again.

Are we officially in talks with Hodgson ? I thought it was just press speculation.

[kopite1989]

1 bullet dodged, 2 taken.

 

Only 2 taken? We must have been watching a differents club being destroyed!

[kopite1989]

Are we officially in talks with Hodgson ? I thought it was just press speculation.

 

We are not "officially" doing anything... Which is either exciting or worrying... As it's us, I'm going for worrying!

[RoboRiise]

If that were so, why are we in talks with Roy Hodgson? It's therefore bollocks sorry to all who got their hopes up. Tom and George will still be here come June 2011 no doubt. RBS are a spineless bunch of cunts. Tom Hicks will get his way again.

 

 

Nah, if Hicks had his way he'd be out of here next week having trousered a profit of about £150m. I know what you mean though mate - he's still calling the shots at the moment.

 

If the reports of two "perfect fit" bids being turned down are true, it certainly suggests that the reported situation when Broughton came in (i.e. that Hicks and Gillett had effectively handed the club over for sale and would accept any reasonable bid) was yet another crock of shit fed to us by those odious cunts in order to keep us quiet.

 

I have a very, very small (microscopic, in fact) scrap of sympathy for Gillett here. Now before you start with the negging and all that, let me be clear - he is every bit as responsible as Hicks is for what's happened since they took over and on top of that, he was the one personally responsible for the bullshit promise about the stadium (the one that he and even some puportedly LFC supporting websites claim that he didn't make) but he gets a tiny mark in the credit column for accepting that their tenure at LFC has run it's course and being far more realistic about how (and how quickly) they should get out of it.

 

My impression is that Hicks is the driver behind the ludicrous valuations being placed on the club whereas Gillett would be happy to leave with a modest, albeit undeserved, profit or at worst without making a loss. That's partly based on their relative media profiles (which I'll admit could be down to Gillett getting better PR advice than Hicks, who has always been the more vocal of the two) and partly due to their relative financial situations - Hicks is the one who seems to be scrabbling around for money to prop up his empire at the moment.

 

It seems clear to me that Hicks originally saw his involvment with LFC as a cash cow which could be used to provide funds for his other interests once the revenue from the new ground stated to come in. Now that plan has well and truly gone out of the window because even if they could find a lender to give them the money for the ground, they'd never get the loan at attractive terms and would have to find the money for hugely increased interest payments for a couple of years before any new revenue was generated. He seems to have switched instead to plan 2, which seems to be screwing about five years worth of the profits he thought he'd be making out of anyone interested in buying the club.

 

I'd love to see him forced to accept plan 3 - get out immediately because the fan backlash is such that matchday revenues are down, merchandising revenues are down and with every passing day, the valuation of the club is falling on the back of those things, but we don't seem to be any closer to that point today than we were twelve months ago.

 

Season ticket prices increase by 7% but although I'm sure many fans have asked themselves why and whether they're comfortable with where the money is going, I expect the more pressing question for many has been "where can I find the money from because I can't lose my season ticket".

 

Try organising a boycott of games and it requires those same season ticket holders deciding not to attend a match that they struggled to pay for in the first place because between the travel companies and fans that can't usually get tickets, the club will always sell the fan card allocation and returned tickets for big games - the only way a boycott would work is by denying the club the opportunity to sell tickets to people that would use them to attend a game.

 

Organise a boycott for a lesser match and most of the news media would attribute it to supporter apathy - it would be seen as disillusioned Liverpool fans not fancying watching Blackpool on a wet November evening rather than organised action against the owners.

 

A new shirt comes out and although fans know their money will go to prop up Hicks' and Gillett's reign, try explaining that to a nine year old kid who wants the new home shirt with his hero's name on the back.

 

It's a difficult truth to accept but as Liverpool fans, our loyalty to the club is the very thing that empowers Hicks and Gillett and I'm sure it was a key factor in their decision to buy us in the first place. Let's face it - if you like Weetabix, even if you really love the stuff, you don't give two fucks about what's going on in the boardroom because it has no relevance to your enjoyment of the product. If the quality of the product diminishes though, you switch to something else - brand loyalty only goes so far. Football doesn't work like that and it's the cornerstone of their strategy.

 

For anyone asking themselves how long Hicks and Gillett are going to get away with treating us like this, the answer is simple - they will keep doing it for as long as we keep letting them.

Edited June 13, 2010 by RoboRiise

[Gary Mac Legend]

Nah, if Hicks had his way he'd be out of here next week having trousered a profit of about £150m. I know what you mean though mate - he's still calling the shots at the moment.

 

If the reports of two "perfect fit" bids being turned down are true, it certainly suggests that the reported situation when Broughton came in (i.e. that Hicks and Gillett had effectively handed the club over for sale and would accept any reasonable bid) was yet another crock of shit fed to us by those odious cunts in order to keep us quiet.

 

I have a very, very small (microscopic, in fact) scrap of sympathy for Gillett here. Now before you start with the negging and all that, let me be clear - he is every bit as responsible as Hicks is for what's happened since they took over and on top of that, he was the one personally responsible for the bullshit promise about the stadium (the one that he and even some puportedly LFC supporting websites claim that he didn't make) but he gets a tiny mark in the credit column for accepting that their tenure at LFC has run it's course and being far more realistic about how (and how quickly) they should get out of it.

 

My impression is that Hicks is the driver behind the ludicrous valuations being placed on the club whereas Gillett would be happy to leave with a modest, albeit undeserved, profit or at worst without making a loss. That's partly based on their relative media profiles (which I'll admit could be down to Gillett getting better PR advice than Hicks, who has always been the more vocal of the two) and partly due to their relative financial situations - Hicks is the one who seems to be scrabbling around for money to prop up his empire at the moment.

 

It seems clear to me that Hicks originally saw his involvment with LFC as a cash cow which could be used to provide funds for his other interests once the revenue from the new ground stated to come in. Now that plan has well and truly gone out of the window because even if they could find a lender to give them the money for the ground, they'd never get the loan at attractive terms and would have to find the money for hugely increased interest payments for a couple of years before any new revenue was generated. He seems to have switched instead to plan 2, which seems to be screwing about five years worth of the profits he thought he'd be making out of anyone interested in buying the club.

 

I'd love to see him forced to accept plan 3 - get out immediately because the fan backlash is such that matchday revenues are down, merchandising revenues are down and with every passing day, the valuation of the club is falling on the back of those things, but we don't seem to be any closer to that point today than we were twelve months ago.

 

Season ticket prices increase by 7% but although I'm sure many fans have asked themselves why and whether they're comfortable with where the money is going, I expect the more pressing question for many has been "where can I find the money from because I can't lose my season ticket".

 

Try organising a boycott of games and it requires those same season ticket holders deciding not to attend a match that they struggled to pay for in the first place because between the travel companies and fans that can't usually get tickets, the club will always sell the fan card allocation and returned tickets for big games - the only way a boycott would work is by denying the club the opportunity to sell tickets to people that would use them to attend a game.

 

Organise a boycott for a lesser match and most of the news media would attribute it to supporter apathy - it would be seen as disillusioned Liverpool fans not fancying watching Blackpool on a wet November evening rather than organised action against the owners.

 

A new shirt comes out and although fans know their money will go to prop up Hicks' and Gillett's reign, try explaining that to a nine year old kid who wants the new home shirt with his hero's name on the back.

 

It's a difficult truth to accept but as Liverpool fans, our loyalty to the club is the very thing that empowers Hicks and Gillett and I'm sure it was a key factor in their decision to buy us in the first place. Let's face it - if you like Weetabix, even if you really love the stuff, you don't give two fucks about what's going on in the boardroom because it has no relevance to your enjoyment of the product. If the quality of the product diminishes though, you switch to something else - brand loyalty only goes so far. Football doesn't work like that and it's the cornerstone of their strategy.

 

For anyone asking themselves how long Hicks and Gillett are going to get away with treating us like this, the answer is simple - they will keep doing it for as long as we keep letting them.

 

Regarding Hicks and Gillet, your spot on. Remember when Gillet wanted to sell his shares to DIC a couple of years ago, and Hicks vetoed and refused to sell up. Gillet wanted to sell out to Hicks as well, but fans bullied him and threatened him enough to make him reconsider. Now he's completely withdrawn, whereas Hicks. Where to start with Hicks, every time the club comes under fire in the media, he comes out with his typical Texan arrogance talking himself up as always when we all know this man is full of shite. He is as arrogant as he is greedy.

 

The man simply can't accept that his plan with Liverpool failed, he failed to tap into the potential of that new stadium, and as a result, he's become so desperate and deluded, that he's tried to include the profits of that stadium for the next 5 years in his valuation of the club. Meaning, if there was a chump ridiculous enough out there to stump up the cash to buy the club and build the stadium, they won't see any profit from it for 5 years cause they'd have paid it to Hicks. So, I'm sure that his plan now, involves asset stripping to reduce the debt to RBS to around £100 million, then sell the club for £450 million meaning him and George trouser a good £85 million each?

 

It's beyond belief that he's still here, it's an indication of how desperate the old fool has become, his Sports empire has all but crumbled and Liverpool FC remain his Golden Ticket, but we too are crumbling and aren't far off full blown Administration. If he's had 2 good offers, he'll have been mad to turn them down, they must have offered some scale of profit which he doesn't deserve anyway (that's another story), why should he be demanding potential profit in his sale price, whoever buys the club and builds that stadium is fully entitled to their profits, Hicks has no say in that.

 

Hicks is satan, I'd fucking twat his fat head given half the chance and smash the shite out of him. Gillet, as well because if you read Moore's letter to the times, he states that Gillet introduced Hicks to Moores and Parry, and they didn't run due dilligence (cause they're fucking clowns) on Hicks cause they took him on Gillet's word. Now the fans must pay every day, cause we have an emotional attatchment to this club and can't walk away, similarly like you would treat a family member or a good mate if they were in trouble.

[Dougie Do'ins]

Regarding Hicks and Gillet, your spot on. Remember when Gillet wanted to sell his shares to DIC a couple of years ago, and Hicks vetoed and refused to sell up. Gillet wanted to sell out to Hicks as well, but fans bullied him and threatened him enough to make him reconsider. Now he's completely withdrawn, whereas Hicks.

I've said this before some time ago. I'm not disputing there was some disagreement/fall out between Cancer + Aids some time ago but I think it's now just a convenient excuse to prolong their stay here, while syphoning more money out the club. Do you honestly believe Gillett wanted to sell his half to Hicks but was put off because of some threats from fans ? If Gillett wanted to sell to Hicks the only thing stopping him would have been, Hicks inability to find the money to buy.

 

The term 'thick as thieves' was written for cunts like these two. They seem to be able to agree to spending £50m or what ever it is now, on a non existent stadium. They seem to be able to bury the hatchet when they thought it would be good business to extend Rafa's contract. They had no problem in agreeing to hike season ticket prices. I could go on but you get the picture.

 

Yet when it come to agreeing a realistic price and sell the club to people who will do the right thing for the club, they reel out the 'we're not talking to each other' bullshit. It's all to convenient for me. They probably have a weekly chat on the phone bragging to each other at how much money they'd claimed on the clubs expenses.

 

The only reason Gillett has withdrawn from the public eye is, as he said himself, 'he's not used to having all his business affairs in the public domain.

 

I cling to the hope that the only reason Kenny Dalglish is still prepared to work for Cancer + Aids, is he knows a sale is on the horizon. Ambassador or not, I cant believe Kenny would want to be associated with C+A, if he thought they were going to be here for much longer.

 

Thanks DM

[coop]

Mick Hicks and Gillett do not get on that i don't think is a publicity stunt.

 

They are not sworn enemies but they are not friends either.

 

Gillett did agree to sell his share to DIC and he also offered it to Hicks but Hicks could not get the finances sorted in the time Gillett had set so hence we are in the situation we find ourselves today.

 

Hicks is the stumbling block for a sale and that article by Maddock i believe to be more or less spot on.

[Gary Mac Legend]

The thought of Hicks having 98% control of this club, is the only thing that sickens me more than both of them together. My question is, Maddock must have gotten that information from someone inside the club e.g. Purslow, so why would someone within the club leak that kind of information. Are they turning on Hicks now? Maybe everyone in the club is working hard on a sale, but his general being a cunt and refusing to drop his asking price may be the only stumbling block? Selling up this summer seems the logical move, that's if it's in the best interest of the club. But, I believe he will go ahead with asset stripping to reduce the debt and sell at a more realistic price. I can't imagine either of the offer he was made was even half of what he's asking for.

[Springer]

The thought of Hicks having 98% control of this club, is the only thing that sickens me more than both of them together. My question is, Maddock must have gotten that information from someone inside the club e.g. Purslow, so why would someone within the club leak that kind of information. Are they turning on Hicks now? Maybe everyone in the club is working hard on a sale, but his general being a cunt and refusing to drop his asking price may be the only stumbling block? Selling up this summer seems the logical move, that's if it's in the best interest of the club. But, I believe he will go ahead with asset stripping to reduce the debt and sell at a more realistic price. I can't imagine either of the offer he was made was even half of what he's asking for.

 

So basically this is a hostage situation with Hicks beeing the terrorist and he`s torturing the victims?

[Gary Mac Legend]

So basically this is a hostage situation with Hicks beeing the terrorist and he`s torturing the victims?

 

Good analogy.

[Dougie Do'ins]

Mick Hicks and Gillett do not get on that i don't think is a publicity stunt.

 

They are not sworn enemies but they are not friends either.

 

Gillett did agree to sell his share to DIC and he also offered it to Hicks but Hicks could not get the finances sorted in the time Gillett had set so hence we are in the situation we find ourselves today.

Hicks is the stumbling block for a sale and that article by Maddock i believe to be more or less spot on.

Coop. No offence here, but when it comes to Hicks and Gillett, neither you, I, nor anyone else for that matter knows how things are between C+A. The only two people who know how things are between them are C+A themselves.

 

They may well not be best of friends, but they're business partners. While there's money to be made from LFC, they'll paint what ever picture they feel necessary to make that money, especially in this economic climate.

 

The part in bold.

 

If Gillett was willing to sell to Hicks back then, is there not a possibility that he's still willing to ? Maybe Hicks offered such a good price that Gillett is willing to wait until Hicks does find the money. Lets face it, nobody else will pay Gillette what he values his half of the club at. Sounds far fetched I know, but with these two anything is possible.

 

Remember when Gillett was on TV proclaiming 'he'd never sell to Hicks' What changed his mind ? $$$$$$ Because while there's money to be made, these to cunts will soon put aside their differences.

[coop]

Not that he is known for telling the truth but Gillett himself said he offered Hicks his share but 'he couldn't cross the finishing line' i think is the words he used.

 

There were rumours at the time that part of the agreement the owners had was that if one wanted to sell his share he had to offer a percentage to the other owner.

 

Your correct Mick in that who know's what the relationship is like between Hicks and Gillett.

[Gary Mac Legend]

Hicks made his fortune through Leveraged Buy Outs didn't he? How on earth could Moores sell to him without so much as a google search on 'Tom Hicks', no excuse other than greed. Him and Parry are a match made in heaven, both are fucking useless, have been detrimental to the club's fortune on and off the pitch, and whereas we declined under Moores and Parry through them not taking advantage of the formation of the Premier League, now thanks to them selling to Tom and Gerry, we're plummetting. Parry's one decent contribution was securing the services of Benitez, and if given the right backing this man could have taken us all the way to the top. Shame, now he's gone and we're left with the 4 horsemen of the Apocolypse.

[navbasi]

Would they still be interested? I said in the another thread that I reckon we'll be on the market again within 3 years as I honestly can't see FSG taking us forward. DIC were willing to pay around £400m a few years ago to get the club off Cancer and Aids but those cunts wanted double that...

 

I'm sure FSG would sell for a £100m profit knowing they can't/won't build a new stadium.

[VladimirIlyich]

Would the still be interested. I said in the another thread that I reckon we'll be on the market again within 3 years as I honestly can't see FSG taking us forward. DIC were willing to pay around £400m a few years ago to get the club off Cancer and Aids but those cunts wanted double that...

 

I'm sure FSG would sell for a £100m profit knowing they can't/won't build a new stadium.

 

I see where you are coming from but lets not jump the gun just yet.

 

It seems the Arabs success with City might influence other potential Arab owners to take a chance on another English club.

[navbasi]

I see where you are coming from but lets not jump the gun just yet.

 

It seems the Arabs success with City might influence other potential Arab owners to take a chance on another English club.

 

I really do want to give FSG a chance but they just seem incapable of making any decisions and we still seem to be rudderless. Had we not had the £70m from the Torres, Meriles and Babel transfers would they really have funded a recruitment drive.

 

They won't have that luxury this summer and I think once again we've got owners trying to get a Top 4 position on the cheap while everyone around us goes from strength to strength....

 

I'm still hopeful that they will do the right thing but the goodwill is slowly evaporating.

[SCOUSE TAPAS]

Would they still be interested? I said in the another thread that I reckon we'll be on the market again within 3 years as I honestly can't see FSG taking us forward. DIC were willing to pay around £400m a few years ago to get the club off Cancer and Aids but those cunts wanted double that...

 

I'm sure FSG would sell for a £100m profit knowing they can't/won't build a new stadium.

In all honesty I cant see anybody since the Citeh takeover becoming involved in the premier league with the intention of winning it.

 

There owners are capable of splashing out big money on players without it even putting the slightest strain on there wealth.

 

I fear anymore teams being took over now will be by people wanting to make a quick buck and get out.

 

There might be the odd exception were more oil people might enter in to it,say United for example but in all reality there are far more teams in the league who are a better option for being took over than us.

 

Without the stadium we arnt that attractive a package.

 

The only thing we have is the history and fanbase but the fanbase isnt that big a deal as its easy to increase if the team does well, and to somebody looking to invest that dosent mean a awful lot.

 

Buying any team who already have a nice new stadium with a decent amount of seating are better to take over and just invest a couple of hundred million into players.

 

As soon as the team start looking good and get up there challenging the fanbase soon rises upwards bringing in more money through merchandise.

 

Without a stadium the cost of building it and the wait for it to be built etc dosent make us attractive looking now as it did when DIC first came in for us.

[WaltonRed]

I feel like weeping sometimes

[rondeco]

retro neg to the op

[king7]

We should have a bidding war between DIC, Kenny Huang and the Kraft family.

[stringvest]

We should have a bidding war between DIC, Kenny Huang and the Kraft family.

 

Or maybe a consortium. Kenny Krafty-Dic.

[Bogman]

I feel like weeping sometimes

 

Yep.

[piscinin]

Would they still be interested? I said in the another thread that I reckon we'll be on the market again within 3 years as I honestly can't see FSG taking us forward. DIC were willing to pay around £400m a few years ago to get the club off Cancer and Aids but those cunts wanted double that...

 

I'm sure FSG would sell for a £100m profit knowing they can't/won't build a new stadium.

 

DIC are currently wallowing in about 2.5b of debt and looking for people to bail them out! They fared about as well in the crunch as did H&G.

[ternando_forres]

There was rumours that al khalifa was interested in buying us from Hicks and Gillett, now he owns PSG ( I think )