Hicks and Gillett Officially Put LFC Up For Sale

[James Dean]

Great news.

[dennis tooth]

We could end up getting passed around like the whore Portsmouth from all kinds of punters who will beats us up and leave us blackeyed ("I FELL.") and penniless.

[Delmar]

Its the mind it goes into ?

 

Most likely. As with everything else...

[Kevin D]

I'm not having a party or anything but fuckin hell boys, cheer up.

 

Its not the end game but its the beginning of the end.

 

Or the end of the beginning.

[Trumo]

Some people I know are getting excited by the possibility of Middle Eastern investors getting their hands on us. They keep thinking of somebody like Sheikh Mansour stepping in with a huge wad of cash. I had to remind them that the more interested Middle Eastern buyer will more closely resemble Suleiman Al Fahim or Ali Al Faraj in terms of suitability. When they asked who, I only had to say "Pompey" for the lightbulb in their head to switch on. It's sad, but there are quite a few potentially interested parties in that part of the world who are only really interested in their association with us, rather than a genuine ability to develop the club positively. After a while, you get bored of showing off your latest sportscar, house or yacht and want something different to brag to your friends about.

 

I wait with baited breath for a positive and progressive outcome.

[redrosetints]

Some people I know are getting excited by the possibility of Middle Eastern investors getting their hands on us. They keep thinking of somebody like Sheikh Mansour stepping in with a huge wad of cash. I had to remind them that the more interested Middle Eastern buyer will more closely resemble Suleiman Al Fahim or Ali Al Faraj in terms of suitability. When they asked who, I only had to say "Pompey" for the lightbulb in their head to switch on. It's sad, but there are quite a few potentially interested parties in that part of the world who are only really interested in their association with us, rather than a genuine ability to develop the club positively. After a while, you get bored of showing off your latest sportscar, house or yacht and want something different to brag to your friends about.

 

I wait with baited breath for a positive and progressive outcome.

 

Aye, this is true, but on the other hand, Broughton into Horses, Stavely into horses, Shieik Maktoum, into horses.

 

It does all fit together nicely, all being pulled together by BarCap. Today I shall believe.

[Monster Masch]

Re Vincent Vega's neg from my post about sos on page 1:

 

I'm sorry, of course I am a glory hunter, 'aye'. Yeah they have done much more than me, i'd say it was the billboards that forced them to put the club up for sale in the end..

 

..aye.

[Coro]

Re Vincent Vega's neg from my post about sos on page 1:

 

I'm sorry, of course I am a glory hunter, 'aye'. Yeah they have done much more than me, i'd say it was the billboards that forced them to put the club up for sale in the end..

 

..aye.

 

What's the point in having a go at the union?

 

Feeling a bit insecure over there in Donegal?

[Monster Masch]

What's the point in having a go at the union?

 

Feeling a bit insecure over there in Donegal?

 

Insecure? Aye good lad yourself.

 

I got a shit load of rep for that post earlier from well respected people on here, so maybe I am not alone with that view.

[RED.DUB]

Insecure? Aye good lad yourself.

 

I got a shit load of rep for that post earlier from well respected people on here, so maybe I am not alone with that view.

seriously though mate,whats the point in having a go at the sos lads?

no disrespect but i find it amazing that your first thought,or at least your first reaction was to have a pop.

bit odd.

[GJM]

It is certainly a positive development that they are selling and the fact that they have somebody in place (Broughton) to oversee the process would seem to indicate that they expect things to happen on this front sooner rather than later.

 

Less positively, the person who is overseeing the sale of our club is somebody with zero connection with LFC, and will be very unlikely to have any long-standing role at the club once sold. He is here to oversee a process and the 'success' of that process (for him) is merely that it happens and that it happens quickly.

 

What interest does he really have in the integrity of the longer-term owners of LFC? I can't see that he has any.

[Monster Masch]

seriously though mate,whats the point in having a go at the sos lads?

no disrespect but i find it amazing that your first thought,or at least your first reaction was to have a pop.

bit odd.

 

It wasn't.

[KopOut]

it's just a formal declaration really of what we already know.

 

getting them to put pen to paper on a sale contract will be fuckin difficult, especially if RBS has given them yet another six months to stump up that 100 mil.

 

F**** Mercenaries.

[Randy Marsh]

I think this will happen a lot quicker than people think.

[Top of the Kop]

I think this will happen a lot quicker than people think.

 

Me too. Something about this deal tells me that it will be done in the next 3 months or so....call it pigeons instinct.

[Byrnie]

I think this will happen a lot quicker than people think.

 

Hope to fuck your right.

[Byrnie]

Having a pop at SoS in this thread is bang out of order in my opinion.

[Coro]

Insecure? Aye good lad yourself.

 

I got a shit load of rep for that post earlier from well respected people on here, so maybe I am not alone with that view.

 

Yeah cos rep really matters doesn't it.

 

Fucks sake...

 

On the one hand you've got everyday people with everyday lives, families and livelihoods dedicating most of their time to a cause and to their football club, with little reward and then there's the likes of you......

 

Some pale faced internet hero, more concerned about rep on an internet forum way over there in far off insignificants-ville, making snide remarks about decent reds.

 

Bravo you, round of applause for the whopper.

[Chinandeler Bong]

Hicks Venture to Sell Liverpool Soccer Club - WSJ.com

 

Hicks Venture to Sell Liverpool Soccer Club

 

By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN And JONATHAN CLEGG

 

Tom Hicks, the Texas private-equity and sports investor, said a dysfunctional management structure and favorable market led to Friday's announcement that he and partner George Gillett will sell the English soccer club Liverpool.

 

The sale, which will be handled by Barclays Capital, would bring to an end a three-year tenure for Messrs. Hicks and Gillett at the helm of one of the world's most storied sports franchises, which has been dogged by financial pressures, a strained business partnership and a fractious relationship with the club's fans.

 

For Mr. Hicks, selling Liverpool, which he hopes will fetch as much as £800 million ($1.24 billion), will draw to a close his run that brought him to the top of the sports industry. The sale of his 50% stake in Liverpool, combined with sales of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers and the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars, marks the final chapter of his rocky venture into the sports business.

 

Mr. Hicks' sports investments have met with mixed results. His Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup in 1999, and the Texas Rangers, which he bought from his friend, former President George W. Bush, in 1998 for $250 million, were division champions in 1998 and 1999, but never won a World Series.

 

While the Stars performed well on and off the ice and the Rangers have recently improved after faltering, both teams ended up costing Mr. Hicks dearly. Mr. Hicks gave shortstop Alex Rodriguez a $252 million contract before the 2001 season, but never had a winning year with the slugger before he traded him to the New York Yankees.

 

The teams no longer are profitable enough to cover debt obligations, and in March 2009 Mr. Hicks stopped making quarterly payments of $10 million on the loans. Mr. Hicks' Hicks Sports Group defaulted on $540 million in debt on his U.S. sports teams a year ago, leading him to put those franchises up for sale to pay creditors. A person familiar with the team's finances has said Mr. Hicks personally invested $275 million in the teams.

 

Mr. Hicks's interest in Liverpool is separate from his U.S. sports investments, but a £237 million debt with Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC is due this fall, putting pressure on the partners to sell. Last year, Mr. Gillett was forced to sell one of his most beloved assets, the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, amid his own struggles to stay ahead of creditors.

 

Mr. Hicks said he expects the team to fetch £600 million to £800 million, though financial observers said that estimate may be inflated. Messrs. Hicks and Gillett paid £238 million for Liverpool three years ago, and each owns 50% of the franchise.

 

"Liverpool will be the most profitable investment I've ever made," Mr. Hicks, who made a fortune in his deals for soft-drink brands Dr Pepper and 7-Up, said in an interview Friday. "It's been the most rewarding in so many ways and the most painful in so many ways. When you feel fans turn against you it's very frustrating."

 

Mr. Gillett declined to comment.

 

Messrs. Hicks and Gillett on Friday appointed Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways PLC, as chairman of Liverpool, granting him power to direct the sale in the best interests of the club. Mr. Broughton will serve as a neutral party for the two partners, who battled over the choice of the team's chief executive and the design of a planned stadium for the club.

 

Other teams such as Manchester United and Aston Villa also are owned by U.S. citizens. But fans have rebelled, especially when the transactions resulted in the teams carrying substantial debt. Liverpool fans have campaigned against the U.S. owners and called for them to sell the club amid anger over its decline to sixth in the standings and use of club revenue to service loans incurred in the takeover and for expenses.

 

The campaign against the American owners has intensified in recent months. A group known as the Spirit of Shankly demonstrated outside the team's home stadium, Anfield, when Mr. Hicks attended a match against Bolton in February.

 

Mr. Hicks said Friday that much of the criticism has been unfair as both revenue and spending on players have increased under U.S. leadership. The team's net spending to acquire new players has risen to £34 million from £16 million, and the annual player payroll is now more than £100 million, compared with about £75 million before he took over.

 

"The fan blogs blame the owners but we had terrible injuries with our star players out for more than a month, and we just weren't a very good team without them," Mr. Hicks said.

 

The team has covered its costs in part by increasing sponsorships to nearly £100 million from £40 million, including a four-year £80 million deal with Standard Chartered PLC, which placed the name of the Asia-focused U.K. bank on the team's jerseys. Plans also have been approved for a new 72,000-seat stadium that would enable the team to compete financially with Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

 

Messrs. Hicks and Gillett have been independently seeking outside investors to help raise capital, an arrangement Mr. Hicks on Friday called "dysfunctional" and ineffective. That failure helped prompt the decision to bring in Mr. Broughton.

 

It isn't clear whether Mr. Hicks will be able to sell the team for the price he expects. Manchester United recently has been valued at £1.5 billion. But that team has a recently renovated and expanded stadium and a world-wide following. A new owner of Liverpool will have to spend about £375 million to construct the proposed stadium that Messrs. Hicks and Gillett designed for the team but weren't able to finance during the financial crisis.

 

Still, he is optimistic. "There's a strong business rationale," Mr. Hicks said. "I should make four times my money."

 

BOLD = Cunt

[Randy Marsh]

Leaching fat parasitic yank cowboy boot shagging cunt

[razor]

"It's been the most rewarding in so many ways and the most painful in so many ways. When you feel fans turn against you it's very frustrating."

 

Mr. Gillett declined to comment.

 

Messrs. Hicks and Gillett on Friday appointed Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways PLC, as chairman of Liverpool, granting him power to direct the sale in the best interests of the club. Mr. Broughton will serve as a neutral party for the two partners, who battled over the choice of the team's chief executive and the design of a planned stadium for the club.

 

Other teams such as Manchester United and Aston Villa also are owned by U.S. citizens. But fans have rebelled, especially when the transactions resulted in the teams carrying substantial debt. Liverpool fans have campaigned against the U.S. owners and called for them to sell the club amid anger over its decline to sixth in the standings and use of club revenue to service loans incurred in the takeover and for expenses.

 

The campaign against the American owners has intensified in recent months. A group known as the Spirit of Shankly demonstrated outside the team's home stadium, Anfield, when Mr. Hicks attended a match against Bolton in February.

 

I think SOS should take alot of credit for this..

 

 

 

 

not.

 

I got a shit load of rep for that post earlier from well respected people on here, so maybe I am not alone with that view.

 

 

Clearly, they must be as misguided as you, then. That is not to say that it wasn't RBS's negotiated terms that was the greatest factor, but as acknowledged by the man himself, the feeling of the fans, voiced through the actions of SoS, registered clearly.

 

SoS are not above criticism (I have disagreed with them in the past), but to be so cynical is uncalled for, and bearing in mind the above, misplaced.

[jackofdk]

Me too. Something about this deal tells me that it will be done in the next 3 months or so....call it pigeons instinct.

 

You could also call it what Broughton told Bloomberg News. He said within a few months, probably before next season.

 

I posted the full quotes earlier on this thread.

[Mathewbet1]

Ten things you need to know about new Liverpool FC chairman (and Chelsea fan) Martin Broughton

 

1) Broughton, who celebrated his 63rd birthday two days before becoming chairman at Anfield, has been a Chelsea supporter for 56 years.

 

2) The businessman was born in Fulham but claims Stamford Bridge "was marginally shorter walking distance" than Craven Cottage from the family home, where his disabled dad repaired bus and car seats for a living. The family missed TV coverage of Chelsea's 1965 League Cup win because they didn't own a TV set until young Martin was nearly 20.

 

3) Broughton's no-frills upbringing probably explains why he he and his twin brother prefer to have their season tickets in the Matthew Harding Stand than in Chelsea's plush executive boxes.

 

4) The BA chairman sought an early end to talk of a strike last Christmas because he wanted to be free to watch Chelsea against Portsmouth on December 16. In the end, however, the industrial action was only called off after he won a court injunction on December 17.

 

5) He laughs off the idea that a Chelsea supporter can't run Liverpool. He said: "Yes, I am a Chelsea fan, but first and foremost I am a very keen football fan. Football is a passion. Liverpool is an institution, it's been a great club, it needs to be a greeat club and that's what I'm committed to."

 

6) Broughton began work at a small accountancy firm in 1965 and might have stayed there but says he became determined to succeed in business after hearing a park football team-mate talk about his new job as a jet-setting executive with Coca Cola. He joined top accountancy firm Peat Marwick in 1970, went to British American Tobacco as an auditor a year later and became chief executive of the fags firm in 1993. He joined British Airways as chairman in 2004 and was president of businessman's lobby group the CBI in 2007.

 

7)/b> His business career has been marked by controversy. While at BAT Broughton caused a stir when he claimed that he would never like to see his two children smoking, and became embroiled in a row at BA when the company banned an airport worker from wearing a crucifix.

 

8) After the launch of BA's new Terminal 5 at Heathrow was beset by technical problems in 2008, Broughton refused to give embattled chief executive Willie Walsh a vote of confidence, saying: "Willie and I are both keen soccer fans. We are both aware that the chairman's vote of confidence is often the last act before the manager goes."

 

9) Despite his love for football, Broughton has a passion for National Hunt horseracing. He's a regular at tracks around the country, owns eight horses and was chairman of the British Horseracing Board between 2004 and 2007. He says his biggest gaffe is failing to buy Best Mate early in the Cheltenham Gold Cup hat-trick hero's racing career.

 

10) Broughton says a chairman should be like a good referee: "It's when you don't notice him, but everything around him works well, then you say 'great game'."

[stevensr123]

dear me those comments from hicks are disgusting.

 

Hicks: "Liverpool will be the most profitable investment I've ever made" "I should make four times my money."

 

Says it all really about the cunt. Toying around with are fucking club. die you fat, ugly bastard.

[JMARKH]

We could end up getting passed around like the whore Portsmouth from all kinds of punters who will beats us up and leave us blackeyed ("I FELL.") and penniless.

 

I don't think this will happen, I think who buys us will have to have billions just because of the project involved, but at the same time I am wary of us jumping from the frying pan into the fire.