Ring of Fire

Are you saying Dave U is one olive short of a pizza Rash? ;)

Two reasons for positivity; 1. Oliver Kay is known to be a close friend of David Moores 2. This is the first time in the past 2 months that DIC and due diligence have been mentioned in the same article.

Neil, I have just seen that myself and now wish I hadn't put it on here. FFS, the two reliable sources on RAWK and now they are in dispute! Still have a gut feel CTR is not bullshitting.

Mourinho & Carragher? (bear in mind I am on Stella can number 6 on a school night!)

More from Cowtown Red "I am assured that the sale to DIC/and other smaller investors is virtually concluded tonight. But there are big rifts within our Club. Present/new owners; owners/manager. Owners/manager/certain players. Owners/new manager/players; Supporters. We still face a very uncertain period. We need to expect a bit more turbulence before stability (hopefully) returns. So lets be prepared for another hectic few months. I hope all will settle down, and next season all we got to do is concentrate on the on pitch activities. This season is a write off, but if all gets sorted in the next week or two, as it appears it will.. then expect comings and goings for a bit. People in our Club have tied their flags to masts, and there will be winners and losers. I'm not trying to be cryptic, but when the ownership saga is resolved, other issues remain. Players will leave or be sold for example. Don't ask, but all of you know that the current situation will be resolved with casualties."

His IP address is from a very reputable media outlet.

This guy has been made the unofficial "mole" by everyone on RAWK feeding everyone with little snippets of information and has been right all the time. The mods over their trust him enough to post his information and not once have pulled his info.

Sorry mate just started a new thread on this, I should have checked. What a fucking night, eh!! This guy along with ShanksLegend have been my crumbs of comfort for the past month.

According to Cowtown Red on RAWK, someone who has been on the ball on this for the past few months. Don't shoot the messenger. "Its done and sorted I'm told. My source is celebrating big time... and that means a lot. First time he's told me the details are sorted out at last. Expect the press release in the next few days. I'm very, seriously. happy."

Jackson's character's young daughter is raped and left for dead by KKK members. Jackson gets his revenge and then the story is mainly about the court case and KKK and the battle the McCounaghey has in defending Jackson.

I find it very odd that CB has taken a sudden disdain for anything Rafa says or does in the past few weeks. I always felt CB was Rafa's unofficial spokesman. Have his "mates" got to him and asked him to undermine Rafa in his match reports. Or is there another agenda where someone else is trying to make Rafa's position untenable? I am writing this after my 6th pint mind:whistle: Seems quite clear now that Tony Barrett is the only local journalist in tune with fellow Reds' thinking.

It was on 606 tonight. A "Red" spoke to Lovejoy and said that there was a march being organised before Saturday's game to get Rafa out. He then went off on one saying we have a lot of fans who became Reds after 25/05/05, and the majority of match-goers want Rafa out.

Shambles on the pitch, shambles off the pitch. It's not the Liverpool Football Club I fell in love with 30 years ago.

I don't like the twat either but I found myself nodding in agreement when he was discussing Kuyt's merits.

If you read the comments from Carra's interview last week I'd say that is faith in Benitez is on the wane.

Have the owners boxed themselves into such a position that they would be very reluctant to ditch Rafa, even though the evidence that we are going backwards is very clear to see?

Could be? :whistle: Had a sense of humour bypass last night lads. On with today and what will it bring.

Apologies, that was from the Independent.

Americans' refinancing of Liverpool in jeopardy By Ian Herbert and Nick Harris Published: 23 January 2008 Attempts by Liverpool's American owners to secure their position at the club appeared to be back in the balance last night, with suggestions that their refinancing plans have hit a snag and that their representative at Anfield is ready to return permanently to the US. The refinancing of loans taken out by Tom Hicks and George Gillett to buy the club had appeared to be well on course 48 hours ago but anxiety created by Monday's London Stock Exchange crash, with knock-on effects in the US, has contributed to new levels of uncertainty and two independent sources have now also suggested that Foster Gillett, George Gillett's son and a crucial link between the Anfield hierarchy and the owners, might be ready to leave Liverpool. Gillett's wife, Lauren, is thought to be unsettled on Merseyside and, though the couple have bought a house in Liverpool and are in the process of furnishing it, both sources suggest Gillett is prepared to leave. Sources in Liverpool were unable to confirm that suggestion last night and Mr Gillett is currently away in the US, but his permanent absence would deprive the owners of the one individual whom the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, has found he can work with in recent months. His departure might not have any effect on the refinancing but it might alter the willingness of his father, the American partner who is less committed to the refinancing, to persevere. The £350m refinancing of the club's debts would strengthen the position of Hicks and Gillett, who find themselves with just two weeks left before an initial loan must be repaid. In the vacuum created by the uncertainty, the Arab Investment Group Dubai International Capital has been circling in the hope of buying out the Americans. The picture surrounding the refinancing deal is by no means clear. Some London sources suggested that the deal would be completed by the end of the week, with possibly a day or two's slippage, and said there was no hitch. The word from Dallas, where Hicks is based, was also that the refinancing was going ahead. But others indicated that while Mr Hicks is able to put up the money – reportedly £20m – that Royal Bank of Scotland has asked for, Mr Gillett may not. If so, the prevailing economic climate, with RBS shares taking a major hit on Monday, will not help the American position. There were suggestions last week that the refinancing was reaching the "fine print", leading many to expect it to have concluded by now. As the issue dragged on, there was more evidence that the lack of ready cash might affect the playing side. Benitez's frustrations at Anfield have stemmed from the Americans' insistence that he proceed with the players he already has rather than ask for money for more. The club's unwillingness to secure Javier Mascherano on a permanent basis led the player's agent, Walter Tamer, to say on a radio programme in Argentina yesterday that "Liverpool have not made any offer at all to buy Mascherano and it's likely he will go to Italy next season". Benitez's position was stabilised after the return to Merseyside of Foster Gillett, whose office at Melwood adjoins the Spaniard's. Benitez has said repeatedly that he values his presence and Hicks, in his controversial "Jürgen Klinsmann" statement last week, after it emerged that the owners had sounded out the former Germany manager about taking charge at Anfield, cited weekly Monday meetings between Benitez, Gillett and the Liverpool chief executive, Rick Parry, as an example of the club's new-found stability. The animosity towards the Americans felt by Liverpool fans, who characterise them as piling debt on to the club like the Glazers have at Manchester United, will certainly make life uncomfortable for Gillett in Liverpool from now on. The future of LFC under these bastards summed up in 1 paragraph.

Fuck me. You've picked the wrong one pal. Getting back to the serious debate, wasn't it commented yesterday that even if G&H got this refinancing agreed, then somehow it puts DIC in a better position. Correct me if I got that wrong.

And yet ended up Chairman of the most successful English football club of all time. :whistle:

From the Times - Oliver Kay Liverpool now want their saviours to walk on alone Less than a year after being welcomed with open arms, the club’s American owners are finding themselves the target for hostility Oliver Kay “Let our relationship and our performance speak for itself. We’re either going to satisfy you or disappoint you” – George Gillett Jr, Liverpool co-chairman Say what you like about the people of Merseyside, but they are welcoming. If the time-worn image is of an inward-looking city, hostile to outsiders, it does not tally with the experience of the two American tycoons who bought Liverpool last February and, to their surprise and apparent humility, were instantly cast as saviours of what they called “this wonderful, storied franchise”. In the weeks that followed their arrival, the odd star-spangled banner was spotted on the Kop. On their regular visits to Merseyside, they were told to “keep up the good work”. They were even applauded as they took their seats at the Champions League final in Athens. Liverpool had had time to get used to the idea of foreign ownership and Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr seemed to have their hearts in the right place. But over the course of a turbulent 12 months, warmth has given way to outright hostility. During the 2-2 draw at home to Aston Villa on Monday night, there were angry demonstrations and chants of “Get out of our club”. Satisfied or disappointed? Emotions at Anfield run rather deeper than that at present. Now it is Dubai International Capital (DIC), gazumped by Hicks and Gillett a year ago, which is a would-be saviour. Most supporters are praying for a swift resolution — hopes that could sink or soar over the coming days, depending on whether Hicks succeeds or fails to stabilise his troubled regime with a £350 million refinancing plan — and for the Americans to ride off into the sunset, consigned to the briefest, if one of the most chaotic, chapters in the history of English football’s most successful club. “It is about reaching the right conclusion for the next 100 years. You only sell the family silver once” — Rick Parry, Liverpool chief executive There had been no shortage of potential buyers for Liverpool. Hicks and Gillett were unlikely winners from a field that, as well as DIC, included Robert Kraft, a far wealthier American, Steve Morgan, the Merseyside-born property tycoon, Thaksin Shinawatra, who is now in charge of Manchester City, a Belfast-based multimillionaire, a pair of Norwegian chancers and even a couple of Hollywood-based movie moguls eager to get back to their Liverpudlian roots. In December 2006, the race to own Liverpool seemed to be over as David Moores, the chairman, accepted DIC’s £80 million offer for his 51.6 per cent stake in the club, but, as the due diligence dragged on beyond Christmas into late January, doubts emerged about whether the deal would go ahead. As tensions grew, with DIC dithering and the club fretting as deadlines loomed over funding for their proposed new stadium, there was a breakdown in communication and DIC angrily pulled the plug on negotiations. Almost by default, Gillett and Hicks — the latter having arrived on the scene at the last minute, seemingly as a silent partner — had secured ownership of Liverpool. Moores made more from the deal, £89.8 million, than he would have done had he sold to DIC, but he, Parry and their fellow directors agreed that Liverpool had found the “custodians” — note, not owners — that they were looking for. “They don’t care about Rafa. They don’t care about fans. Liverpool Football Club is in the wrong hands” — the Kop The first cracks appeared in the summer. Shortly after Rafael Benítez challenged them to get to work in the transfer market, there were rumours, initially denied, that the co-chairmen were clashing behind the scenes. It also became clear that their transfer plans did not match those of Benítez, whose net spending in the summer was a little less than £25 million, with the club-record purchase of Fernando Torres largely offset by sales. “In asset terms, they might — might — be billionaires,” one source said, “but football clubs require cash. They don’t have anything like the resources to invest in it. And they know it.” Then there was the fiasco over the new stadium. In July, amid fanfare, they unveiled their spectacular new plans for the facility in Stanley Park. By mid-December, those plans had been dropped because the projected cost had spiralled beyond £400 million. “It was ridiculous,” the source continued. “Anyone could see just looking at the plans that it wasn’t going to work. There was too much bent steel for one thing. Considering the lack of finance in place, it was simply unfundable.” Behind the scenes, relations between Benítez and the owners were becoming fraught, with Foster Gillett, son of George, struggling to ease communication, not least because of his frequent absences from his Merseyside office. In mid-November, after a terse exchange of e-mails, the manager was told by Hicks to “quit talking and focus on preparing the team”. That same week, Hicks and Gillett tried to line up Jürgen Klinsmann, the former Germany coach, as “an insurance option” against Benítez’s sudden departure to Real Madrid or, more likely, against his dismissal. In the eyes of Liverpool’s supporters, this was an act of betrayal. “We’re a very very modest club. We don’t talk. We don’t boast. But we’re very professional” — Sir John Smith, Liverpool chairman 1973-90 There is something that they call “The Liverpool Way”. It is an ethos, an unwritten constitution based on principles such as humility, modesty and continuity. From the boardroom to the boot room, there was a shared belief that Liverpool were a club that should be seen and not heard. Sir John Smith and Peter Robinson would keep the club ticking over, while Bob Paisley and, later, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish would get on quietly with the business of winning trophies. Hicks comes from a different culture. When Benítez antagonised him in November, he rushed out statements that served only to expose the extent of the rift. While he may have had a point in saying it was “time for Rafa to quit talking”, that point was lost amid the shock at seeing a Liverpool chairman undermining the manager in this way. That shock was surpassed only when Hicks confirmed that he and Gillett had held talks with Klinsmann. It may have been true, but why admit it rather than leave it in the realms of “speculation”? For the past three months, Hicks has regularly proclaimed that he and Gillett will be announcing their refinancing deal with Royal Bank of Scotland “by the end of the week”. The end of the week always comes and goes with no deal in place. With pressure from the bank mounting, we are assured that this week will be different. We shall see. The relationship between Liverpool and the club’s owners is at breaking point. Hicks firmly intends to proceed with the refinancing plan, despite growing uncertainty in the global financial markets, but that, according to one source, will merely postpone a sale to DIC. “It won’t solve the problems,” the source said. “It’s not about putting the right financial structure in place for Liverpool. It’s about giving them breathing space, so they can sell it on.” For now, Hicks and Gillett struggle on, but, in stark contrast to the message from the club’s anthem and to the warm welcome they received less than a year ago, they walk very much alone. Love to know who this source is? Kay's good friend from Anfield??

In a word no and do not link me with that moron over a comment about 2 people who have seriously fucked our football club over and put it's future in serious jeopardy.

I was surprised Moores and Parry made it in and out of Anfield last night alive.