[Archived] Other PL happenings 2010-2011

[dave birch]

Nothing like a good stoush between owners and the board

[philipl]

I have been in a remarkably similar situation myself removing a zero from the numbers. In the final analysis, the bankers lost their nerve and the business got killed as they started compromising with the toxic owner. Bankers by definition don't have the balls that entrepreneurs have.

[Roost]

I have been in a remarkably similar situation myself removing a zero from the numbers. In the final analysis, the bankers lost their nerve and the business got killed as they started compromising with the toxic owner. Bankers by definition don't have the balls that entrepreneurs have.

[dave birch]

I have been in a remarkably similar situation myself removing a zero from the numbers. In the final analysis, the bankers lost their nerve and the business got killed as they started compromising with the toxic owner. Bankers by definition don't have the balls that entrepreneurs have.

I've found that Banks will (generally) back down or "come to an arrangement" for fear of losing in court or facing a large QC's bill. Hence why they only go for the small fry.

If Gillett and Hicks have it in their mind, this could get ugly, but I'll bet it doesn't get close.

[philipl]

Precisely- whilst it is Broughton v Hicks, this will be red in tooth and claw. The moment RBS get involved directly, there will be compromise and Hicks will get things he doesn't deserve.

Thank goodness this is so public and RBS are publicly owned so they cannot quietly write down the value of their loans in a committee somewhere then carry on as though they have made a profit when the outcome is slightly better than the write down. That is what happened to us when we won the High Court case on all four substantive points but the banks didn't fancy backing the directors and themselves on Appeal.

[roversmum]

Didn't want to resurrect the 'Hooligans' thread but interesting article from the FSF

[philipl]

Paul posted this on the Rovers takeover thread but it is such a superb article on football debt it deserves an airing here as well.

Key quotations:

Tom Hicks, in opposing the sale the chairman, Martin Broughton, has agreed, is making essentially the same argument as Gill (at Man U). In one of only two statements Liverpool's co-owner has made to explain himself during this tumultuous week for the club's future Hicks pointed to the income Liverpool have generated from fans and commercially, rather than the debt he and George Gillett loaded on to the club following their £185m takeover in 2007.

Ferociously opposed to him in this most public battle are Ian Ayre, Liverpool's commercial director, Christian Purslow, the managing director who is a financier by trade, and Broughton, chairman of British Airways, one of Britain's top businessmen. These are not fan campaigners, or founders of supporters' trusts, devoting their unpaid spare time in half-empty meeting rooms to the belief in a better way for football to be run. Yet these habitués of the City have been saying in the most forthright way that the fans, pointing at the owners as emperors with no clothes, have been right all along. Of course debt on this ludicrous scale, imposed by owners motivated by personal profit for themselves, is damaging to football clubs.

Purslow said: "Far too much of that benefit currently services loans, interest costs and bank charges. Can we afford to meet them? Just about. Do I wish that every penny spent on interest was available to spend on players? Passionately. And every minute of my working day I look for the day we are able to reduce our debt, freeing up our profits to be able to invest in players."

Broughton, in interviews he gave this week when launching his onslaught against Hicks and Gillett, whom he described as having "no credibility", said of their leveraged (debt-based) takeover of Liverpool: "If you are leveraged, that's bad for a football club." So there it was: the plain truth at last.

And there they were again, the same justifications rolled out by David Gill, United's chief executive, as if he, a United fan and football lover, really believes them: that the mountain of debt, now up to £769m, has no effect on United whatever, that the club is not burdened in any damaging way by money going out on that scale. With the interest payments, plus interest at 14.25% on the £202m "payment in kind" hedge fund debt, and the £13m paid to banks for United to issue that bond, the cost of the Glazers' financial chicanery last year alone was £123m. The total cost of the Florida-based family's takeover of United, done with mostly borrowed money in 2005, which was then loaded on to the club to repay, has since been £583m, in interest, bank fees and other charges.

Are the people who mocked me about Liverpool and Man U willing to come on here again?

[LeChuck]

Looks like we missed a trick with this boy given his performances against England and Wales.

Yep.

He's EXCATLY what we miss right now as well, someone who can play in that attacking midfield role and be a goal threat.

[den]

Bryan Douglas lays into Murphy.

Good on yer Duggie. Dead right as well.

[Amo]

Man. City seal deal for Gai Assulin, 'the new Messi'

[HemelRover]

Man. City seal deal for Gai Assulin, 'the new Messi'

He is years away from being good enough to get into thier side. So the only reason he is going there is the large wage packet and the hope that like Weiss/Bellamy/Petrov they will be loaned out between now and the end of their conrtacts.

[John]

Martin Broughton on finding new onwners for Liverpool

Liverpool chairman wanted Abramovich-style owner

Broughton explained: "We searched the world looking for another owner like the ones at Chelsea and Manchester City. With all of Liverpool's traditions, heritage, history and powerful global brand, I must admit I thought it would be possible to find one.

"We hoped for someone who wanted a 'trophy asset', but having scoured the world without finding one, the conclusion is that there are no more Romans out there.

"Yes, of course, it is disappointing that even a name like Liverpool failed to attract one, so I cannot imagine other club having much luck."

[RIML]

He is years away from being good enough to get into thier side. So the only reason he is going there is the large wage packet and the hope that like Weiss/Bellamy/Petrov they will be loaned out between now and the end of their conrtacts.

Do you mean the same Petrov that signed for Bolton?

[HemelRover]

Do you mean the same Petrov that signed for Bolton?

I do, i thought that he had gone on loan. My bad.

[philipl]

Not Premier League but I thought I'd stick it here anyway.

Can there be a greater indictment of the decline is Scottish football than this in the BBC this morning?

Artur Boruc has revealed playing in the SPL with Celtic made him Lazy. The Polish goalkeeper, who has lost three stones since ending his five-year spell at Celtic by joining Fiorentina last summer, said: "In Glasgow I became lazy because they loved me no matter how I played." (Daily Record)

[Mattyblue]

Not Premier League but I thought I'd stick it here anyway.

Can there be a greater indictment of the decline is Scottish football than this in the BBC this morning?

Artur Boruc has revealed playing in the SPL with Celtic made him Lazy. The Polish goalkeeper, who has lost three stones since ending his five-year spell at Celtic by joining Fiorentina last summer, said: "In Glasgow I became lazy because they loved me no matter how I played." (Daily Record)

The 4-6-0 formation the national team played in Prague said it all.

All the club teams that actually had to go through qualifying in Europe were knocked out before September.

The SPL is heading towards League of Ireland status.

[brian_gallagher85]

Hey....there's no way we're that bad

[philipl]

As you can see, it was the idea a professional footballer playing in the Champions League (every so often) could be carrying three stones additional weight that astonished me. OK, I will own up to carrying three stones I could/should get rid of but then I am not a Scottish Premier League goalkeeper... come to think of it perhaps I could...

[Hughesy]

Gained 3 stones??? Sounds like a certain Benni McCarthy!

[Mr. E]

every day it seems a Manchester City player comes out and says how much he utterly does not care about the club and how he misses his old club or wouldn't mind going elsewhere...and yet their fans don't really mind, cause hey - at least for the first time it will bring them some glory.

This is the lowest a football club can fall in my eyes, I'd rather be playing League 2 football than be like Man. City. Hopefully we never follow that example.

[philipl]

Gained 3 stones??? Sounds like a certain Benni McCarthy!

That is double Big Mac!

The Royal Bank of Scotland has just successfully injuncted Hicks and Gillett from firing Pursloe and Ayres. A sign that Broughton and RBS will prevail in the High Court tomorrow.

Very significant fact emerged today- Hicks and Gillett are already technically in default on the loan. RBS could act now if they wanted to.

RBS have a lot hanging on getting this sale through. If they have to go to Administration there is no guarrantee they would get their £280m or whatever it is. The bidders could start at zero and work their way up and of course if Liverpool have -4 points they are not exactly a canny purchase for £300m so bidding would probably stop well short of the money RBS want.

[tony gale's mic]

every day it seems a Manchester City player comes out and says how much he utterly does not care about the club and how he misses his old club or wouldn't mind going elsewhere...and yet their fans don't really mind, cause hey - at least for the first time it will bring them some glory.

This is the lowest a football club can fall in my eyes, I'd rather be playing League 2 football than be like Man. City. Hopefully we never follow that example.

Rubbish.

If it happened to us you'd convince yourself it was because our players loved the club. You wouldn't be tearing your hair out at a bunch of mercenaries getting us to challenge for the title.

[Mattyblue]

Rubbish.

If it happened to us you'd convince yourself it was because our players loved the club. You wouldn't be tearing your hair out at a bunch of mercenaries getting us to challenge for the title.

Fans of every club are taking the moral high ground, 'mercenaries', 'hollow victories' etc etc.

Citeh fans seem to have a different view though! As would the fans of any other club if the boot was on the other foot.

[Exiled_Rover]

They're all mercenaries. Do you really think Samba, Kalinic, Diouf et al had dreams as a youngster of playing for Blackburn Rovers? Don't be daft.

[philipl]

Now Liverpool get themselves a billionaire. He runs a string on Man U themed sports bars in the Far East.