Kenny Huang linked to Liverpool takeover

[Red Nick]

Haha.

 

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Thaksin goes on trial in Thailand

 

Nothing to do with football

 

We would be owned by Abu Dabi by now and having kaka and co in our team and Mourinho as manager

[Dougie Do'ins]

Just... absolute ignorance on an astounding scale. You should be ashamed of yourself, but I know you won't be.

It's to late. The fortune cookies have spoken.

[Byrnie]

What have you heard Walton?

[WaltonRed]

I told you all earlier in the thread it was done, i got told yesterday its been done for a week or on the cards that long & it was the Chinese.

 

Playing out like I hoped.

[Wor Horse]

Come off, your comment had nothing to do with any proposed takeovers, and you made a snide comment that pretty much brought him up, even though you didn't mention his name, you certainly were implying it.

 

Yes it did.

 

Why bring up the 7th place etc.? I certainly didn't go into that, now who's guilty?

 

Because you brought up Benitez.

 

This is a takeover thread, if you want to talk about Roy Hodgson create a new thread, don't bring him into a conversation when it has nothing to do with what people are currently discussing, and your comment may court controversy and provoke a response such as this.

 

Cute.

 

This is finished, it's annoying people, if you're that bothered take it to PMs. I won't reply but it'll save going over the same old shit in a thread that's meant to be about the future of the club.

[StevieH]

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/premierleague/article2674350.ece

 

Club becomes pawn in a high-stakes game as power shifts to East

 

Matthew Syed

Updated 20 minutes ago

It is a development of epic symbolism. The government of the world’s most populous nation is set to purchase one of Britain’s most treasured cultural assets from two American capitalists. It speaks of globalisation, political power and the sweep of modern commercialism. More than anything, it tells of the growing economic might of the last great bastion of totalitarianism.

 

The takeover of Liverpool Football Club by an investment fund of the Chinese state would represent a stunning propaganda coup. For a nation that suffered a century of humiliation — which commenced with defeat in the Opium Wars, continued with the crushing of the Boxer Rebellion and culminated with invasion by Japan on the eve of the Second World War — it is a statement of withering intent.

 

The Chinese Politburo must be licking its lips at the political imagery. China already holds a stake in Britain’s tallest building; now it is set to purchase an institution with huge emotional resonance — and not just in the North West. Short of snaffling a wing of Buckingham Palace for its property portfolio, it is a move that could scarcely be more symbolic, or more sensitive.

 

But the takeover also represents an unprecedented — and intriguing — chance for the Chinese Government to make a yuan or two. This is the first time that a major dictatorship has tried to purchase one of the world’s premier sporting institutions. It is a dictatorship that controls most of the big tentacles of the Chinese media; that could, if it wished, insist on back-page photos of Liverpool players throughout the football season; that could skew state television to reflect its interests.

 

It is worth remembering that when Chairman Mao ran the show, he issued what might be described as a firm request that the masses read his Little Red Book. Within years, it had become the most widely read publication in history after the Bible. The relationship between citizens and state is a little different now, of course, but, should the Government try to wield its power in anything like a similar way, the commercial ramifications for Liverpool FC could be almost beyond measure.

 

These are the possibilities that Liverpool fans will be digesting with news of the possible takeover; that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres will be weighing as they ponder their future; that the world’s elite players will be getting their heads around as they wonder where this leaves the global industrial complex that football has become. Whatever else, we have the prospect of a bidding war for talent not just between billionaires but also by nations that can, if they so wish, print money.

 

Freed by the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese economy is booming. It has grown by an average of 10 per cent per annum over the past decade and is at present growing at 9 per cent. This has created a burgeoning middle class flush with the kind of disposable income that makes them ideal customers for replica shirts and TV content.

 

What is certain is that football, already the biggest sport in China, is set to grow, something that will delight not merely Liverpool but the entire Barclays Premier League.

But whether the takeover proves to be benign, both for Liverpool and for English football, is too early to say. The questions, ambiguities and potential ramifications are endless. Perhaps the only certainty is that the Chinese Government’s potential purchase heralds a new era in a world that is changing at breakneck speed.

 

Cultural revolution

While Chinese players have made minimal impact on English football, Anfield could benefit culturally as well as financially from a Chinese takeover.

 

Confucius was a highly quotable cultural icon who became recognised as a god-like figure after his death. Much like Bill Shankly, then. Shankly and Confucius preached the importance of straightforward tactics. “Football is a simple game ,” Shankly once said; for Confucius: “Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated.” Shankly famously quipped: “Me having no education, I had to use my brains.” Or, as the veteran Chinese theorist put it: “He who learns but does not think is lost.”

 

Liverpool have long searched for an effective leftwinger. Step forward Mao Zedong, whose belief in the importance of fitness and physical strength will chime well with Roy Hodgson, who made Fulham into one of the most energetic and tough sides in the top-flight. “In general, any form of exercise, of pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good,” Mao wrote in his 1917 article on physical education.

[RobbieOR]

You're basically saying you don't give a shit who owns us if we win the league, so if we beat Stoke & Arsenal at home, you wouldn't question H&G?

 

Apologies if I misunderstood what you were saying but that's what it came across as to me.

 

If we won the league I'd be happy but it wouldnt wipe away all the off field problems that we have/had/will have.

 

Anyway, if this Huang bid comes off I bet Masch will fucking stay.

[liverpoolred]

This is turning into the best summer ever :)

[Red Nick]

Just... absolute ignorance on an astounding scale. You should be ashamed of yourself, but I know you won't be.

 

Simple question

 

Straight choice between China or keeping our existing owners who do you go for and no fudging please.

[Mustangt125]

Masch can fuck off to Inter. We'll get Cambiasso and whoever else we want in.

[Wor Horse]

Nothing to do with football

 

We would be owned by Abu Dabi by now and having kaka and co in our team and Mourinho as manager

 

So you genuinely believe Abu Dhabi would have bought a club off of Thaksin Shinawatra regardless of which club it was?

 

So they wouldn't have just gone to Man City's previous owners when they bought the club off of Thaskin, they would have come to us because Thaskin was in charge, that's what you're saying? They simply had to buy a club off of him. Whether it be City, Us or Marine FC?

 

The mind boggles on how any person would come up a conclusion like that.

[Torvald Utne]

This is finished, it's annoying people

 

If you're stopping because you're annoying people could you just stop posting altogether as I find all your posts annoying?

[RedKnight]

It's to late. The fortune cookies have spoken.

 

Cookie says: Your club live long, win trophies. Chinese people, not so much.

[The Dude Abides]

Huang set to give Hodgson £150m vote of confidence

 

Tony Barrett, Tony Evans

Updated 21 minutes ago

 

Roy Hodgson will keep his job as Liverpool manager and be handed £150 million to spend on new players if the Chinese Government’s bid to buy the club proves successful.

 

 

Really hope that's not true. Winning anything that way is completely meaningless. We need three or four players who don't all have to cost £20m+.

[StevieH]

A red dawn could spell the end of Liverpool’s problems

 

 

Tony Evans

 

Tonight, in The Nook, they will call last orders in Cantonese. Just another night in Liverpool’s Chinatown.

 

Some five miles away at Anfield, it is impossible to imagine the language being used as the pressure builds on Martin Broughton and the battle to buy Liverpool continues on its tortuous route. If the spotlight was not generating enough heat to make Broughton sweat, the latest development has made the world sit up and take notice of the tug-of-war being played out on Merseyside.

 

Yesterday it emerged that China Investment Capital (CIC), an investment arm of the Chinese Government, is the backer behind Kenny Huang’s bid to take control of the club. That will raise eyebrows in many places but less so in Liverpool, which contains the second-oldest Chinatown in the Western world. The Chinese are interwoven in the fabric of the city and switch from Mandarin and Cantonese to Scouse mid-sentence.

 

There are likely to be cautious celebrations in The Nook and many other pubs across the city. The club’s fanbase is desperate to be rid of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the American co-owners who arrived three years ago like folksy uncles. Their true colours were quickly exposed as they raided the piggy bank and broke promise after promise.

They did not have — or were unwilling to provide — the money to solve the problems at Anfield. No new stadium materialised and investment in the team was pared back as interest payments grew. So any new arrival in the boardroom would get a modicum of goodwill by dint of merely replacing Gillett and Hicks.

 

Supporters also know that the billions available to the potential new owners of Anfield would make even Sheikh Mansour blanch. There are many positives if CIC reaches agreement with Broughton, the Liverpool chairman.

 

Yet bitter experience has taught the fans to reserve judgment. The Kop were too welcoming to the Americans in February 2007. In the rush to lionise the new owners, most fans acted like love-struck teenagers and hearts were quickly broken. This time the welcome will be more circumspect.

 

While Gillett and Hicks have done much to erode the ethical standards of Liverpool supporters — there is not the fury the bid by Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, generated — there will be concern about China’s human rights.

 

If great wealth arrives, they will also be eager not to suffer from the “Abramovich effect”. Huge riches invariably bring vulgarity to football. Chelsea fans developed an unendearing arrogance when their Russian billionaire arrived; Manchester City fans saw their reputation for dry wit and gallows humour subverted by the “loadsamoney” element in their support once Arab lucre was injected into the City of Manchester Stadium.

 

Bill Shankly is still the overwhelming influence at Anfield. The phrase “The Liverpool Way” still means something. It does not mean an ugly, avaricious and bullying approach to football.

 

There will also be plenty of scepticism. None of the prospective buyers has yet provided Broughton with proof of funds, meaning he cannot move the bids along. Presumably, the Chinese Government would have the means to finance the acquisition and sustain the club for a season — as dictated by new Premier League ownership rules — but until money is set aside in an escrow account, Liverpool directors and supporters cannot be certain of anything.

 

Indications from the Broughton camp suggested that an offer may not materialise until next week. And the supporters know that a seven days is a long time for Gillett and Hicks.

 

The Americans have appeared on the brink of defeat at Anfield any number of times and emerged to extract more interest payments. They have already seen off one sovereign wealth fund in Dubai Investment Capital and they remain eager to keep control of the club unless they get the profit they are looking for.

 

Yahya Kirdi, the former Syria footballer, re-emerged as a potential bidder yesterday, although few people close to the official sale process were giving his proposal much credence. In a statement issued overnight on Tuesday, the Canadian-based businessman claimed he was in “advanced” negotiations with Hicks and Gillett. Most in the financial world believe the Kirdi approach is little more than an attempt to inflate the price by creating an auction.

 

The Rhône Group and the al-Kharafi family of Kuwait also remain keen. Both bidders have expressed interest in investing in the club before and there is little evidence to suggest that their return to the table will bear more fruit this time.

 

All this activity proves that some of the biggest investment companies on the planet see the Premier League as a massive cash cow — elsewhere, an Indian tycoon is targeting Blackburn Rovers, a transaction overshadowed by the saga at Anfield.

 

Ultimately, most followers of Liverpool will take a deep breath and hope for Chinese success. Money from the Far East would guarantee the club’s future and restore stability and a sense of purpose after the chaos of the past three years.

 

And in return the Chinese would get not only a football club but a set of fans who are a “brand” in themselves. Shankly articulated it best.

 

After defeat in the 1971 FA Cup Final, thousands came out to welcome the losing finalists back to Liverpool. The Scot held his arms wide open to underline the hugeness of the crowd in front of him and said, with awe and satisfaction in his voice: “Chairman Mao has never seen a greater show of red strength.” This is the potential CIC or any new buyer has before it.

 

So now it comes down to another chairman. If Broughton fails to sell — or picks the wrong buyer — it will be last orders on his reputation and perhaps the future of the club.

 

Investors have cash to burn

• China Investment Corporation (CIC) is effectively the overseas investment arm of the Chinese Government.

• China exports goods worth billions of dollars more than those it imports. Last year it accumulated a trade surplus of $297.1 billion (about £183 billion).

• CIC has $332.4 billion to spend on overseas assets.

• CIC owns 17.9 per cent of Songbird, the owner of Canary Wharf.

• It also owns stakes in international financial services businesses such as Blackstone and Apax, the British private equity house that owns New Look, the high street fashion chain.

• CIC says it is free from political interference.

[RobbieOR]

Nick, Abu Dhabi only bought City because they got it on the cheap and the stadium was already built. It was a bargain.

[Red Nick]

Thats a brilliant read

 

BTW guess what colour the national flag of China is?

 

What more do you want.

[WaltonRed]

The imagery, our socialist values, the red army, Mao, Shank's Mao qoute!

[RedKnight]

Simple question

 

Straight choice between China or keeping our existing owners who do you go for and no fudging please.

 

There is more than one bid, Nick. So it isn't a straight choice, what do you want me to pick the Americans so you can chastise me for 'backing them'? Because I don't and never have, but just because they're terrible owners it doesn't mean whoever replaces them will be better.

[Gary Mac Legend]

Yes it did.

 

 

 

Because you brought up Benitez.

 

 

 

Cute.

 

This is finished, it's annoying people, if you're that bothered take it to PMs. I won't reply but it'll save going over the same old shit in a thread that's meant to be about the future of the club.

 

 

Jesus Wept! The only way you can say that is behind a screen and keyboard, you're such a hypocrite and you're so ignorant it's beyond belief.

[stringvest]

Roy to Woy to Loy. Where will it end?

[Byrnie]

Its done.

 

I told you so!

 

Get in!

 

Have you had it confirmed?

[Wor Horse]

Jesus Wept! The only way you can say that is behind a screen and keyboard, you're such a hypocrite and you're so ignorant it's beyond belief.

 

I'm not going to offer it to PMs in real life am I? I doubt David Cameron would be interested.

[TE-23]

I really hope this gets done.

 

£150m seems overkill though. I don't want to end up with a team full of mercenaries or rent boys. Players like Pepe and Torres have something about them and get the club, the history and the city, just like Xabi did.

 

Anfield's bad enough with day trippers as it is, if this gets done I really hope we don't lose what makes this club so special.

[Red Nick]

There is more than one bid, Nick. So it isn't a straight choice, what do you want me to pick the Americans so you can chastise me for 'backing them'? Because I don't and never have, but just because they're terrible owners it doesn't mean whoever replaces them will be better.

 

A politicians answer.

 

I dont think you should be having a go at anyone who wants the owners gone.

 

Politics and football do not mix