Cutting through the spin at Liverpool

"Hicks and Gillett's misadventure in English football could soon be nearing the end." is probably the best news that can be anywhere near certain.

If CIC does become involve in the deal, the possibility of markrting to the 1.4 Billion population of China is an absolutely eye watering proposition. Perhaps shirt sales alone would finance the whole stadium budget as well as providing a kings ransom to fill the club's transfer war chest.

This is the address from the main page to this blog:
https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8893943.stm

Some pretty serious cutting in there ;-).

Back to topic: Would the CIC pass a "Fit & Proper Persons" check anyway? There would surely be some national security issues in there if "China" were able "to buy Liverpool FC". (Everton though, yeah, no worries).

Please will you learn how to correctly use the subjunctive form....grrrr

The joggling continues. No matter what happens the Yanks would be out before end of Aug and they should not receive any profit becuase their admistration has been a headache for Liverpool funs. Lairs who promised a new stadium before 2012. I would support any buyer who does have to borrow to buy Even if there is 50millionpounds for players and 100million to start a new stadium is Ok. After Liverpool currently needs a through and through striker to stand in for injury prone Torres, a left back. For a holding midfielder any sale for Masch could bring in an equally good player.

Thank God Rafa is not around becuase can replace a good player with a mediocre. He blamed everybody for Liverpool failure and never took a blame. One question should be asked: who signed and fielded 11 players week in week out. Roy take us places, with english managers we can conquer EPL again

I will never support Kirdi. it seems he is a bed fellow of the Yanks. This time a critic should be made before the Club is milked again. Why is DIC silent when the time is now ripe. Now buyer is willing to go past 400 millionpounds

"As for the money left over for the team... £150m... is hardly the sort of transfer kitty that would transform Roy Hodgson's team overnight."
True - but you're missing a crucial point. The club currently wastes millions of pounds paying interest on these loans - tens of millions of each year. If the loans are paid off, that instantly frees up money which Roy could invest in the playing squad.
And when you throw in the commercial revenue LFC would gain from exposure in China, you can see that this deal will hand Roy a sizeable transfer budget - even if NONE of the £150m figure you quote was given to Roy for transfers, and all of it was spent on the stadium.
In reality, could the bulk of stadium not be financed with a naming rights deal? I know the club has looked into this in the past, but bidders might be more forthcoming once LFC is on a sound financial footing.

@ 3. At 7:39pm on 06 Aug 2010, up_all_night wrote:

Please will you learn how to correctly use the subjunctive form....grrrr



Can you post a link to it please?

Huang has already said that CIC wont be involved directly or take any control. CIC may provide some capital later on to fund the stadium perhaps, so I dont think they need to pass any checks. Re the duo, I think they will pass with no probs.

I personally hope they do bid and get it, as they will provide the channel to the Chinese market, which is HUGE. Also, if things works out as planned, H&G wont get any profits for their three years of control ! I am not too bothered re the possibility of a small kitty to start off with. It seems Roy do have enough cash to get another player or two before the window. If Huang can provide cash for the January window, that would do for me.

I think this is great news. First Standard Chartered, and now a tap into the Asia market ! Thats clever business.

Where is football going if journalists are scribbling that £150 million is not enough?? If one third of that is going to the team then thats plenty! A few more quality players will round out the squad - and to be honest i would be disgusted if we started throwing 30 million on mediocre players, only to bench them and move them on later for 10 million, man city style.
We just need someone to help the club realise its potential - we are not a plastic club like chelsea, and without the dead weight of the yanks and their interest payments we dont need to spend ridiculous amounts on the squad. Why would we need to change the team overnight?? At our worst we came 7th - at best? We will challenge.

As a Liverpool fan I would love to see the back of Hicks and Gillett, but I won't really believe it will happen until any deal has gone through. They will hang on for as long as possible to try and make a profit and have survived speculation on previous bids before.

However, this does seem to have more substance this time. But let's not forget that when the club was sold last time we were promised no debt on the club, a new stadium and money for players. The board need to be very careful over the sale and any new owner will be buying the club for profit - there's no benevolent owner like Chelsea or Man City. But I am hoping that any Asian links will help open up that market to Liverpoool and make the profit the new owners will want, whilst also taking the club forward.

As long as
(a) they're capable of looking after a club
(b) capable of not spiralling the club in deeper debt
(c) actually care about the club, the football, and the fans (you hear me Tom Hicks, you coward?)
(d) they are not American

I'll greet this takeover with a little bit of optimism.

I want the Americans out. Its clear they know nothing about football or 'soccer' as they call it in their socially backward country. I hope this takeover clears the debts given to us by those clueless yanks, that Woy has enough money to spend on some more decent players, and we'll be good to go.

We need an excellent right back to challenge Johnson as I never rated him. Another good centre back to replace Carragher because he's winding down (or maybe stick with Kelly?). A central midfielder of the same calibre as Mascherano, a left winger because Riera has left and I'm unsure whether Babel wants to stay (Cole prefers to play centre), and a top class striker (I think Jovanovic will be a similar purchase to Morientes and Voronin, a pointless one).

I can't wait to see our dear American friends, Mr Hicks and Mr Gillette, on the plane with a one way ticket back to dear ol' Texas.
I hope CIC do get in as they are not stupid enough (that is a compliment) to pay them a profit for trying to wreck one of the greatest teams in the world.
At last Roy and the boy's can really get rid of the niggling worries from the backrooms and get on with bringing football glory back to Anfield. There are four trophies to go for so go get 'em lads.

lets not get too ahead of ourselves. As Liverpool fans we all thought H&G were the best thing since sliced bread when they came. We knew David Moores - as lovely and loyal as he is - did not have the clout to compete and we needed very rich saviours to come in. That's exactly what we got and we were glad of it. Now we need very very rich saviours to come in and save the situation.....
Call me an old cynic but I don't trust any of them

This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain.

Rich guys don't give a damn about Liverpool, or any club. It's an ego thing or a profit thing.

They are either gonna come in and milk Liverpool, or they are gonna use it as a "1-up" device at expensive restaurants with their business circle.

I'm a Chelsea fan, but if Roman witnessed Chelsea not even be in the Champs league he'll soon stop caring.

Maybe one day, the league will have 20 Super rich owners each battling each other for ego purposes. Then 20 teams can have a chance of winning the league.

No team outside the top 4 can seriously go into the season and say "let's have at go at the league this season lads" but this is one huge other can of worms.

I am a liverpool fan and have been for all my life, well since I have been able to remember. What I dont agree with is all the fans saying how much we will spend and how big we will be if this offer goes through. For the fact, this offer from Huang may never go through and this is because of the big fat americans who want a piece of the pie.

What I do like is the strategy which the chinese are taking, going straight to RBS and Wachovia thus putting pressure on the americans.

Lets not get carried away here, unless the deal is signed then lets start dreaming, if not then lets just be happy with what we have.

What we have is a manager who has signed and convinced Joe Cole to come to the club, Gerrard and Torres have pleadged their allegiance, he is giving a good go for the youngsters who are coming through and we are playing very positive football.

now we have a manager with the new PL rules who is going to bring back the old liverpool and restore the history and pride of our club.

Benitez will always have Istanbul and we will too, but Hodgson is the right manager to get the best out of Babel and all the players with his system and manmangement that especially the latter as been missing for the last 10 years.

YNWA long live the Pool

1) H and G are a Canadian and a Texan.... so no yanks (yanks are the bluebellied so called "saviors" aka the North in the Civil War,
2) I hope them 2 jokes bugger off quicksmart!
3) I hope DIC will win the bidding they seemed to have a heart for the club and some experience (i thought) of running a team in the UAE.
4) odds are LFC will become a brand in an investment portfolio and a way to please the ppl.
5) i hope that whoever wins the bidding has a heart and a good dose of common sense. Not like El Roman in his early years or the Arabs at Manure City.
6) Cut Jovanovic some slack he didnt cost LFC a dime it was a bosman and he might just break through. B4 El Torres played his first season no one knew whether he would bottle the EPL either... So cut the lad slack and do not expect him to be a 30plus scorer a year. He is a lethal opportunist.

A CIC takeover will not improve Liverpool's popularity in China, if anything I suspect it would do the opposite. CIC is not Yao Ming who is a national hero, they're merely bankers and politicians. I know the two group of people are unpopular in the UK, unfortunately for Liverpool, they are equally unpopular in China.

Liverpool will only be able to have a limited impact on the Chinese market as it is already saturated by Man U, Barca and Real. Hoping that 1.4bn people will create a massive revenue stream is like expecting Benitez to pick the same side 2 weeks on the trot.

@ 2 National security issues.... Really what info does Liverpool have that is covered by the Official Secrets Act????

Jan - I love your optimism just as I love the optimism around the club that everyone is talking about since the Cole signing and Gerrard/Torres 'commitments' but again lets not kid ourselves.
Hodgson has a very limited time for results to come good, anything worse than 5-10 points off the leaders by January and Torres' feet will be feeling far itchier than they are now and the 30 or so million we might get for him then could seem good value.
yes we looked very creative last night with a bit of flair I've not seen since McMannaman and co.( when we played great attacking football but unfortunatley had the likes of Ruddock at the heart of our defence) but the opposition had a lot to do with that.
If we are challenging then it will be an incredible well done by Hodgson and hopefully he will then be given a proper chance to develop the homegrown talent etc

If the new owners are as level-headed as the new manager has been so far, then the club will do well.

I sense we may see an end to boastful ownership, splashes of cash and reckless borrowing and that includes splurging on a new stadium when Anfield can be expanded as soon as the club is able and without debt, the club can invest in the team.

Thank you, Oh Lord, who has given us a ceo and a temporary chairman who can do good business. Now Oh Lord, please Smite Hicks and Gillet back across the atlantic. XD. In all seriousness, I think this sort of news is brilliant.

This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain.

I wouldnt get so over optimistic about this. Hicks and Gillet maybe hated amongst the liverpool fans but other than their feuding between each other they have hardly starved Liverpool of backing. If you look at the amount of money that liverpool have spent in the last say 5 years it has been right up there. Some moan about net spend but many clubs are making profits in the transfer window without spending big.

Liverpools wage bill is also one of the highest in the country (man city aside). So there is in my eyes an mis-perception about what has been given to Livepool in terms of tools. One of the big problems was the last manager who managed to whittle a team in a great position (wining champs league) into a nervous team lacking serious depth in major positions.
Instead of spending upwards of 30 mil on two players who will not bring a huge deal to the club strikers and creative players should of been bought but the money was wasted, and in many other key positions. The most important thing pool fans can hope for is some stability, shut the revolving door of hundreds of average players coming and going and build on the decent spine they have, like Roy seems to be doing by adding the odd quality player.

But what the fans seem to crave is massive signings, but thats not going to happen, this guy is not a sugar daddy more a shrewd business man who is probably doing this for profile and thinks he can cream a few hundred mil off the club by selling in a few years.

As for the commercial explotation in China, they might have a big population but there is no respect for IP, and as such the market will be dominated by rip offs and fakes, t.v rights wont be a patch on what they get elsewhere. Besides liverpool have been absolutely useless at trying to exploit the big name they have and thats been going on long before G&H came in.

I think they just should drop the bid for Liverpool, and invest in Everton instead as it would be a steal if you give David Moyes some funds to work with I'm sure he could do a much better job.

18. At 9:55pm on 06 Aug 2010, goalie_up_front wrote:
Liverpool will only be able to have a limited impact on the Chinese market as it is already saturated by Man U, Barca and Real. Hoping that 1.4bn people will create a massive revenue stream is like expecting Benitez to pick the same side 2 weeks on the trot.
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You know nothing mate, stop spouting guesses, MU havent even saurated Manchester never mind China, Everyone is a Barca fan except MU fans it seems after that Embarrasment to English football in the CL final:)
Real are no better off than MU, to think three clubs in massive debt own the Asian market is laughable, really, hahahaha.

Its 450m possible fans not 1.4b, like every citizen is a football supporter, oh dear

re BringBackFootie

Dead right mate, i tried to post a similiar comment myself but for some strange reason mine's been moodded

or modded even

@3 "Please will you learn how to correctly use the subjunctive form....grrrr"

Use of split infinitives is also frowned upon!

IF it happens (any Chinese involvement in LFC), then Liverpool will need to scour China for a the best player to play a bit-part role at Liverpool and become a national hero, thereby opening the merchandising floodgates. CIC/Yuang know that. It could work. And it would be worth FAR more than a mere £450m to them.

Whether or not that actually helps Liverpool to nos. 19/6 is another matter.

150 million, for squad strengthening and a stadium, na don't believe it, it's more BBC spin.
If the purpose (of the takover) is to take LFC to the "next level" in terms of stadium capacity etc, then 150 mil won't do it unless this investor is using the Chinese Govt principle, build up infrastructure in foreign coutries (Africa) and then draw in the profits (see USA oil/foreign policy).

If these people are serious they are going to put more than 150 million into this project, or else they might as well not bother.

@ 26. At 11:42pm on 06 Aug 2010, BringBackFootie

Try this for size: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/news-releases/20050929/

Utd have won 3 titles and the CL since that was written.

"You know nothing mate, stop spouting guesses"

Interesting that people who use this sort of rhetoric never produce a single backed-up fact themselves. If the cap fits........

31. At 00:12am on 07 Aug 2010, Spamburger wrote:
IF it happens (any Chinese involvement in LFC), then Liverpool will need to scour China for a the best player to play a bit-part role at Liverpool and become a national hero, thereby opening the merchandising floodgates. CIC/Yuang know that. It could work. And it would be worth FAR more than a mere £450m to them.

Whether or not that actually helps Liverpool to nos. 19/6 is another matter.
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Id love to know how you can open the merchandising floodgates of a country that has no respect for foreign brands.

If liverpool do manage to gain a foothold of popularity in China que rip offs being produced to satisfy the demand, no premium price merchadise licenced by Liverpool. In case you didnt know China have their own way of doing things and this doesnt involve lining the pockets of a british football club.

This will be used as a profile builder and investment, nothing more, there are very few sugar daddys around who will plough hundreds of millions into something that is unlikely to give them a return. The only people at it are the Arabs from man city but their money is not earnt like the Chinese money, they have just sat back an watched the billions flow from the western world in return to plunder their oil fields. The Chinese have done it the hard way and will never be so frivolous.

Q: How do you make a small fortune investing in football?
A: Start with a large fortune.

I'm shocked that anybody wants to invest in a football club these days, especially one that's NOT 'too big to fail'. Isn't it obvious that football finance is a bubble economy due to burst soon?

buymespresso

People have been saying this for decades.

Football bubble shows no sign of bursting while there are markets out there willing to pay the huge sums for broadcasting rights. The demand will only increase with the accessibility of the internet generating even more markets for clubs and leagues to make even more money. The irrational lust for football access to games will not dissappear overnight. The money is only being made largely from the developed world and there are many underdeveloped markets that if they sort their economies out will provide even more income. If for example (and this is a big if) Africa can actually turn itself into a stable economy then the revenue that could be generate from these prem mad fans would be astonomical.

As for an investment, if Liverpool can be guided to Barca/Man U levels then yes they could make several hundred million if the right buyer comes along. If a total investment of 400-500 million is made and the club sold three or four years later for 600-700 mil then thats not a bad return. And its possible, just look at Utd, if the Glazers were cash buyers and didnt rely on borrowed money selling the club today would net them a handsome profit

Out of the frying pan into the fire! this does not sound good, the Huang bid has so many different parties involved that the FA could not possibly do all the due diligence tests on all concerned in an appropriate timeframe! It may be a blessing in disguise???
So is there any bid which is from one single entity who has the financial clout on there own? because that is what we desperately need! no more partnerships or corporations who want a fast buck...

@ 30 "Please will you learn how to correctly use the subjunctive form....grrrr"

Use of split infinitives is also frowned upon!

Genius phatphish....pmsl

As far as the topic;

I think we would all love for a rich Brit to take over our club. Unfortunately this is not going to happen so I reckon as long as there is no more debt sucking millions in interest it's a step forward.

Post 3 - split infinitive alert.

Possibly an all night session?

APPALLING blog. You haven't said ANYTHING worthy of interest that wasn't already known. Please, just desist from writing blogs until you actually have something interesting/original/noteworthy/worth reading to write about. Why the hell the BBC continues to allow you to write these blogs baffles me, it really does. Especially since you don't even engage in conversation with any of your readers. It's absolutely ridiculous.

25. At 11:36pm on 06 Aug 2010, rapp1 wrote:

I think they just should drop the bid for Liverpool, and invest in Everton instead as it would be a steal if you give David Moyes some funds to work with I'm sure he could do a much better job.

___________________________________________________________________________
Yeah, but no-ones ever heard of Everton outside L4 whereas Liverpool are Asia's biggest football brand As Joe would say 'no-brainer'

The only things I can say after reviewing all the stuff is that -- what a ridiculous business english football is if you are looking to make money. The model is a failure as even success can't guarantee profitability. The better plan is to give that money to Christopher Nolan - atleast he will make a eye pleasing and intriguing movie to cheer the fans up and make some damn good money. Just imagine tripling your investments in a year.

Liverpool or for that matter United, Chelsea, Barcelona can't go anywhere. The profits are not there, players' salary is ridiculous and cost of running the business is too high to be profitable.

These consortium are bunch of egomaniac way of parking their money and show losses to save taxes in other part of their business and then happily laughing their way to Cayman Island.

The happiest people in football are the bank. They are making millions in interest payments as they know that government won't allow clubs to fail. Ever heard of TOO BIG TO FAIL. Fans will be sucked in long run like tax payers.

The best thing that can happen to football right now is letting couple of big clubs to go burst.

The fact that you are the BBC's sports editor is emblematic, both literally and figuratively, of the dire state of the BBC's football analyses.

This is an absolutely-nothing article which either states the obvious and essentially acts as an agglomeration of the rumours, conjectural or otherwise, regarding the current positions of potential investors.

Worst of all, you have called it 'cutting through the spin at Liverpool': not only does the article make no incision on any theoretical 'spin', it doesn't even identify what the 'spin' is. You even end with this hilarious paragraph:

''The situation is so opaque and there are so many spinners and agendas involved that it is impossible to predict with any certainty who might end up owning Liverpool. But all the jostling for position at least shows there is interest and that Hicks and Gillett's misadventure in English football could soon be nearing the end.''

So you have essentially said, despite neglecting to identify what you consider to be propagandic - the identification of which is the entire theoretical basis of the article - that it is impossible to 'cut through the spin' around a potential buyout of the club. So why write this at all? Why present it with the title it was given?

As I termed it before: emblematic. This kind of journalism is a tabard for what the BBC is turning into. I have lost count of the amount of articles I've read in the last year the appellations of which completely misrepresent their subject matter.

It's like reading the S*n or the Mail, which is exactly what I come to the BBC to avoid. Unfortunately, it seems even our objective and independent media outlets seem to be slipping into sensationalism.

the main thing is for Laurel & Hardy to go, anything after that is a bonus. CIC have around $350 billion to invest worldwide much much more than Roman or even the Citeh owners. LFC is already massive in Asia, ManU have korea but evreyone is chasing after the chinese market, CPalace had a good go a few years back by buying a couple of players. I think CIC would end up putting loadsa $$$ to get a chinese player somehow in the team, they are not looking to make a return, rather raise the sporting profile of China. Dubai is in big trouble, forget about the Syrian please, this could be big for LFC definately the most attractive bid, dont worry about the fit & proper persons test - it would be a PR disaster for the PL to infer that one backed by the Chinese Govt is not fit to run a UK footie club

"Please will you learn how to correctly use the subjunctive form....grrrr"

I wear mine at a jaunty angle, is that ok?

Two Indian businessmen are in the race as well. Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries and world's 3rd richest man and Subratho Roy, Chairman of Sahara India are only interested in 51% of the clubs shares though. The chinese goverment has denied any direct involment in Kenny's bid

There is a huge amount of ignorance about China which is nicely summed up by this sentence from the blog:

"it is hard to imagine that Huang and Yang have not sought the support of the Chinese government in their venture, even if it isn't providing hard cash"

Exactly why would they seek the support of the Chinese government for a private investment deal if it didn't involve Chinese govt funds? I know we have an image of the Chinese as a subjugated race of people that can't fart without the govt giving permission first but it's very far from the mark. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for the Chinese govt to be involved in this deal either directly or indirectly - if CIC does provide some of the funds it will be as an investment designed to make a profit, or at least to spread the exposure China's huge wealth currently has. I can't see it making a big return so I can't see a lot of enthusiasm from the CCP.

And the suggestions that Liverpool will either have access to 1.4 billion people to sell shirts to OR that they can't make any money because everything in China is fake show two of the contradictory (and false) myths that we have about the Chinese. The number of people with enough wealth and interest in football to be classed as a 'market' probably numbers in the low hundreds of millions, and although there is a massive counterfeit market there is also a growing demand for authentic articles among the middle classes, especially in the richer Eastern seaboard cities.

Liverpool fans have nothing to fear from a Chinese takeover and it simply cannot be any worse than the shower currently in charge.

hi,
in response to the comment about £150 million not being enough for a new stadium, the original cost of the proposed new stadium was £70 million. with the american idiots faffing about and delaying everything they have wasted nearly that amount, around £60 million, just on the proposals. we could have had the new stadium paid for already! add to that the amount of interest on THEIR loans, not LIVERPOOLS loans, that the club has paid for and its plain to see that the bert and ernie's reign has been nothing short of ridiculous. its the least funny joke in history.
now we all want a change as soon as possible but its still a massive gamble. the prospective new owners are saying exactly the same things that laurel and hardy said when they took control. what guarantees do we, the fans, who spend our money making their profits, get?
as for the role of kirdi, he's bezzie mates with burns and smithers, he's just there to try and bump up the price as the bank have to listen to all offers. i do hope those yanks come out of this with nothing, it would be almost criminal if they made a profit out of the mess and misery they've caused.

oooh number 45, get you and your handbag! wake up on the wrong side of your boyfrields bed this morning did you?

It would be very nice to have the CIC's resources backing up LFC.

It boggles the mind.

There is nothing in his survey to inspire confidence that Mr Huang has all the financial resources he would need to take over the club. Indeed the whole situation is known only to the Liverpool Board. Media reports are largely speculation. What is perhaps plain is that the Al Kharafi family would certainly have the funds to restore the club's standing if its interest were to be reawakened.

AnfieldRocks (no 48) is right to remind us of the Indian parties who may have submitted a bid. They have the money and the Indian economy is emerging strongly in the world's business circles. It does appear that they may have entered a bid and that would certainly be among the most interesting ones.

As with most things thesedays there is a lot of rubbish being banded about! The deal with this Chinese guy is not half the deal that we were being told about last week!
The Chinese government summed it all up nicely when they said that Liverpool was too big a risk for them to sink their millions into!
So it's now up to Huang to go it alone or other bids to emerge.
This could really take ages but the fact is that Liverpool are not as good an investment as they used to be! If you look at their prospects for next season the reality of challenging for the Premier League title with Hodgson is remote and the best they are likely to achieve is maybe mid to top 6 again? They are not a top 4 team at the moment.
If this deal does not emerge as we thought last week I think Torres will be gone in January!

I just feel a little bit sad about the whole thing. It somehow feels as though the club I have supported for over 40 years is being touted around like some cheap escort to a group of sweaty businessmen. I just hope that whoever gets to take her to bed, treats her right and doesn't split her infinitive.

On a happier note - I was worried about Roy Hodgson being manager - however after the watching and listening to him over the last weeks I have to say I am very impressed. Well done Roy!

Any deal would be a better one than the current setup that we have at Anfield. These two yanks are the worst owners any club can ever have. I have heard rumours that we will get 150 million transfer kitty. I highly doubt that even if we are bought by the 3rd richest man in the world Mukesh Ambani.

It is good for the clubs economy if the club is bought by an Indian or Chinese business man. We will have a huge revenue from these emerging markets in asian region. Think about the kit sales and the TV revenues and the possible academies that we could set up there to increase our fan base. Unexplored gems these places are. We must get there first!

there's nothing wrong with splitting infinitives, unless you're a grammar geriatric :(

27. At 11:44pm on 06 Aug 2010, BringBackFootie wrote:
Its 450m possible fans not 1.4b, like every citizen is a football supporter, oh dear
_______________________________________________________________________
In my comment (#1)
I actually said "marketing to 1.4 Billion". I didnt for one second suggest that 1.4 billion people would actually buy into the brand or that "every citizen is a football supporter".
I'm sorry that you are unable to understand simple concepts and the irony of you picking the number of 450 million out of the air is not lost on me either.
"Oh dear" yourself.

I think people are getting confused between Owners and the country they are coming from. Just because Haung/CIC are chinese doesn't mean China's growing economy will suddenly benefit football, premiership, LFC, etc!!
The USA is the biggest economy and having yanks as owners didn't mean anything!!

China basically doesn't need LFC, football or any other sports to promote itself, even the most brainless person knows about the country and how important it is to the world. China is a communist country and therefore will be very reluctant to splash the cash as this will cause internal problems and against the government's ideology. If they do buy the club it will be for pure business reason, and definately not for the love of football or the club.

If you really want people with cash then look at the Middle East as they have a culture of splashing money around and having no accountability!! They understand the importance of owning a famous "brand" and what it means to their prestige!! Also most middle eastern sugardaddies have good connection with the UK as they either lived here, studied, have family members here, or see UK as their second home.

I am afraid whoever owns the club doesn't matter as the premiership bubble is about to burst!!

China is a communist country and therefore will be very reluctant to splash the cash as this will cause internal problems and against the government's ideology. If they do buy the club it will be for pure business reason.
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I run a business that deals with chinese manufacturers and have regular contact with various parts of the chinese government.
Lets not mess about here. China is "cash rich" and if CIC becomes involed, then the chinese government will have a stake in LFC. Please dont brand them as 'communists' either. This government is as 'capitalist' as any in the western world and very much more successful at it too.
You say "If they do buy the club it will be for pure business reason(s)."
I'm certain as certain can be that Huang and his backers will run Liverpool FC as a business. I sincerely hope they do. Football is indeed a business.

@60 HIcks is from TeXas which means he is NOT a YANkee
and Gillet is a Cannuck again not a yankee

Once again Yanks are roughly noth east and north west (including California and West Virginia) All the rest of the USA are NOT YANKEES

Its the same as calling every englishman a cockney or scouscers mancunians can you not understand that?

Like all liverpool fans im on tender hooks, but i cant help thinking this could be a time bomb waiting to go off. Yes i cant wait to see the back of the yanks; but at the same time i think its sad that a club like liverpool, is now a chess piece in a high stakes game. The Chinese have all the money in the world; but are they potentially the right owners to lead our club into a new era ? Look at Chelsea; clubs with players wanted by the blues sold them for inflated prices...why...beacuse the blues could afford it. Do we potentially want the same to happen at Liverpool. Then of course we have the manager; Roy has proven his worth and in my mind is the right manager for us; but what happens if the owners have a new manager in mind or a new list of players...and what happens when they want an asian player to play 75% of the time. These are some the questions which no doubt will come into the fray at some point. In Greek mythology 'Midas' turned everything he touched into gold after telling the gods he wanted to be rich. However this gift turned out to be his undoing; as he turned all the food he touched into gold too, meaning he went hungry. In other words we must be careful of what we whish for !!!...ill just wait with mixed feelings.

If I decided to build a house on a nice plot of land I wouldn't give my builder all the cash up front. I'm sure Kenny isn't too worried about having all of the funds in place immediately before the build begins. I don't know the exact figures but naming rights alone for the Emirates pocketed Arsenal a deal in the region of £100m. I personally don't give a monkeys what they name the ground as long as the players turn it into a fortress! If it helps the club in the long term, and a new stadium is crucial to this, then they have to do what they have to do.

I disagree with the modest amount available for players comment. I mean, how much is really needed? I don't think many Liverpool fans, especially ones like myself who saw numerous title wins and then none over 20 years, want the club to be a Man City (as a number of other contributers have alluded to). If you look at the squad, not just the team, we're probably a left back short (if Insua does leave), and an experienced striker short to cover Torres. If Mascherano leaves as expected then his fee will certainly cover his replacement and possibly even the left back and striker issues. There are alot of good youngsters at the club who look likely to come good over the next few years. Ngog will be more effective this year and hopefully Pacheco will feature more. Kelly looks like he can cover any of the defensive positions and is looking like a natural successor or even partner to Carragher. Wilson could also feature after doing so well for Rangers. The squad doesn't need masses to be spent on it to challenge for the title.

There you go, I've said it. If those positions I mention are suitably filled before August 31st Liverpool will challenge for the title.

Cue ridicule and abuse.

Am I the only Liverpool supporter who is concerned about our club possibly being taken over by a branch of a Chinese govenment that has such an apalling record on human rights? Remember Theanamen Square (?) remember the way they treated the Napal uprising in support of the Dali Lama.
I like all other Liverpool supporters want to see the back of the Chuckle Brothers as soon as possible but we have to accept that some things are bigger than football.
I am a genuine Liverpool supporter born and bread in Liverpool and a Kop season ticket holder for 34 years.

I would guess that the cash for a stadium is just what is required to borrow the rest. It's what Arsenal did after all. They did not set aside £450m did they? They got Emirates to pay for some, a bridge loan to pay the rest which they refinanced as a mortgage at completion.

I hate to have Chinese Govt as owners.Those who say we will sell shirts in china..yeah counterfit which LFc will not beneift from. We need middle eastern investment because they love football and will spend lavishly to feed thier love for this sport.

I am amazed at the amount of faith fans are willing to put into the motivations of ANY new owner of LFC (Chinese, Syria, US whatever).

All of these guys are investors, yes they will clear the debts to RBS on day one, but that doesnt mean that they wont just turn around 6 months later and borrow money from somewhere else to refinance the purchase price - thats part of how they are going to make their return.

I predict that in 2 years time we will have loads of stories complaining about the fact that the club has £200m+ in debt (again) to build a new stadium and from refinancing the purchase price and is not investing the expected £50m per season on the next generation of Carlos Kickaballs.

The new owners will then try to sell the club on to someone else 4 or 5 years out to make a profit from the increased stadium revenues and increased Asian pay TV rights.

This is all better than Hicks and Gillette, but lets not kid ourselves that whoever buys the club in the next month wants to do anything else apart from make money from buying the club (relatively) cheap from 2 distressed sellers, making some investments (in a stadium which actually increases revenues and to a much, much lesser extent on players) and flipping it on to some other rich punters in less time than it takes the next england world cup failure to come round.

David_gr - I don't disagree that we may be in debt again in a few years, but I'd rather have debt in terms of a 'mortgage' rather than the debt that Hicks and Gillete built up with nothing to show for it. Our debt was reportedly around the £80m mark when they took over and now nobody really knows how much is owed. The only thing that is clear is that RBS are owed £237m- but this is most probably the tip of the iceberg.

So, if whoever comes in clears this debt and consequently the horrendous interest repayments will be welcome to me as long as they run the club soundly. If they create debt against the stadium in future then fine as long as there is a plan to pay for it. What we don't want is a mountain of debt, with huge interest, and insufficient means to repay.

If RBS are owed £237 million by LFC, can't Huang just pass it straight to Li'l Georgie Osborne as and when he buys the club? We don't want the banks holding on to our money any longer than is necessary do we?

Mr Huang appears not be backed by neither CIC or Franklin Templeton Investment Funds. He doesn't even have a share in the NBA team Cleveland Caveliers as was claimed. An article in today's FT (www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d9d24180-a173-11df-9656-00144feabdc0.html) is very interesting and blows away all the cover stories from Mr Huang. The FT journalists appear to have done a little more research than the those from The Times amongst others. It is indeed a worrying time - but we need to trust Martin Broughton to do his job. He at least has remained silent and I am for one is hoping that he is negotiating with serious long-term investors who will honour the Liverpool Way and allow SOS-ShareLiverpool a voice.

With possible new investment. It will take a while for any Liverpool success. But Roy is a fantastic manager and hope does deliver that success. As you see to my user name i am a Spurs fan and it took several years to see us compete against the top domestic teams. I believe with all our managerial failures it took a good and experienced English manager to bring us success again. I couldn't stand Benitez. I believed he was a poor manager and lived off the (i would say the fluke of CL win 2005... sorry LFC fans). He signed a lot of poor players who i would consider Championship quality but he still moaned of the lack of transfer funds. Benitez would always refuse criticism and would blame everyone else for the recent failures at the club. He was never direct with answering questions when asked. He depended on Gerrard and Torres to carry the team and due to reports never gave them any credit after a good game but publicly criticized if the pair had poor game. His team made LFC a laughing stock last season. Benitez has job to do at Inter after a very successful period under Mourinho i would be surprised if he is shown the door at some point in the next Serie A season. In Rafa we trust? i don't think so. Anyway i hope LFC success in the future under Roy,s guidance. But not at the expense of Spurs though.

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oooh number 45, get you and your handbag! wake up on the wrong side of your boyfrields bed this morning did you?
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Ooooh number 51! A post that's not only blatantly homophobic, but also contains no worthwhile contribution - though I probably shouldn't expect much more from the eponymous 'bez', whose namesake was renowned for overt drug abuse and the absence of any relevance even within his own band.

Maxi Rodriguez chant, this is the same chant as the Fernando Torres chant.


we got the boy from Atletico Maxi Maxi
He's nothing like Biscan Taxi Taxi

He strikes the ball as hard as he can
And everything goes according to plan

MAXI RO-DRI-GUEZ Liverpool's wonder boy

na na na na na na na na na Maxi Maxi
na na na na na na na na na Maxi Maxi
na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na
MAXI RO-DRI-GUEZ Liverpool's wonder boy

The Khirdi guy should not be let anywhere near the club. He is an associate of H&G, who have always proved to be serial liars and taken the club for a ride. Mr Khirdi should therefore not be trusted by reason of association and the Board will be making a big mistake if they sell to him and whoever he has got on board. The backlash on Merseyside will be massive and it will feel like H&G MkII. If he was at all serious about buying Liverpool and not making a Portsmouth out of us, he should never have allowed himself to be touted as the preferred buyer of H&G or associated himself with them in anyway.

To Munsters Rebel: I find your comments about Yankees ridiculous.

All of us British are not English! There are Scottish, Welsh and Irish. If any group of people need a Geography or History Lesson it is you YANKS!!!

To all Liverpool fans:

Just hope that Broughton knows what he's doing and this Chinese bid is not a bag of worms.

Firstly to 'comeonyouspurs' et- al: there was nothing fluky about any team- not the least LIverpool- winning Champions League. Liverpool won the CL fair and square and deservedly against AC Milan. The later scored 3 goals in the first half and Liverpool scored 3 goals in the second. It went to penalties with equal amount of chances to both and AC milan lost. End of story.

Secondly, to the proposed and speculative take over of Liverpool: it appears H& G have ran out of ideas like the previous LFC's manager- Rafa and from the stagnant if not regressive situation that the club finds itself, new owners or investor(s)might be a step in the right directions for the club and its supporters.

However, a note of caution: sentiments should not be allowed to becloud any judgements geared to proper objective analysis of the pros & cons and due dilligence of all the takeover options relative to present situation that prevails in the club.

74. At 5:13pm on 07 Aug 2010, thackers wrote:
Maxi Rodriguez chant, this is the same chant as the Fernando Torres chant.


we got the boy from Atletico Maxi Maxi
He's nothing like Biscan Taxi Taxi

He strikes the ball as hard as he can
And everything goes according to plan

MAXI RO-DRI-GUEZ Liverpool's wonder boy

na na na na na na na na na Maxi Maxi
na na na na na na na na na Maxi Maxi
na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na
MAXI RO-DRI-GUEZ Liverpool's wonder boy

========================================

And this has what to do with the blog?

You'll never wok alone - aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

To those saying that Gillette is Canadian. The fellow is from Racine, USA. Ok, so for some time he was the owner of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team who is the equivalent as the most succesful team in hockey history as is Liverpool FC in English football. Gillette is no longer the owner of the Hockey team as many recall; he got round $500MM for it which of course went into his personal coffers and not a pence towards the club or servicing of debt.
Let's hope the negotiations come to a quick and positive solution and that these 2 USA citizens head back to their lair and leave our club to be run properly.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

As much as the Yanks should take the blame for the financial crisis, Benitez and the players should take some responsibility for the depression which had englufed the club. Bentiez was given money to spend and too many signings failed to deliver. And at times last season, the lack of passion and fight shown by the players almost put me off supporting the club. Everything so far this preseaon has been positive. Joe Cole signing, Torres and Gerrard staying, Roy Hodgson full stop. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect has been the youngsters know knocking on the door - ie Pacheco, Amoo, Etherington, Shelvey - signalling signs of a brighter future. This would the icing cake, a sound businessman who wants to stabilise the club. Who cares if China is involved? The thing is though the feel good factor at the club will last as long as the right signings are made and above all the players perform. We can throw all the money in the world at the club, it is what happens on the pitch which counts.

Whatever people think of Hicks and Gillette, it's worth noting that it was a British bank that was foolish enough to lend them that kind of money. The RBS board must be full of Liverpool supporters (or Scots who saw a chance to strike-a-blow against the English).

Honestly, how many peop1le would invest their own money in a football club and expect to see a reasonable return? Even the largest and wealthiest club in the country is not immune to the fears that it is a high-risk and low-return industry, even when you buy one of the best known "franchises". (Sorry, I couldn't resist that word!)

Maybe the Chinese investors think that they will get a good return in the long run because it is the preeminent global sport by a long way. But they might have to wait until most of the professional clubs have gone bankrupt, and hope that they aren't competing with billionaires who don't really care about the profitability of the club.

The more cynical view of (some) of these foreign investors is that they are merely using football clubs as a means of "parking" money as an insurance policy. In many cases it is easy to argue that they are either not "fit and proper" owners themselves, or they have a government that is not "fit and proper", and who might arbitrarily confiscate their wealth (though that could also be said about a lot of governments closer to home).

Even as a Leeds supporter, I think the most important thing for Liverpool FC (or any other club) is to have a modern, well maintained stadium, even if that means sharing with, errmm, "another" team (look at the two teams in Milan).
As long as the ground underneath the stadium isn't worth more as a housing development, a shopping mall or a car park, then the club will continue whoever the owner is.

Its funny how you people think the Chinese government would even consider LFC as a significant investment. Trust me, LFC means nothing more than just a spec of sand at the beach to the Chinese government. Don't confuse the interest of a few Chinamens to the one of the whole nation. Liverpool supporter's ignorance can be summed up by post #65 and #67.

Regarding the abuse of human rights, have you forgotten the amount of blood that has been split due to the greed of the poms? For centuries you people have invaded and pillvage other weaker countries.

Also Huang is from Hong Kong, the same Hong Kong your ancestors invaded and occupied for almost 1/2 a century, so really I don't see why you people would fear the investment coming from the place you guys occupied for so long.

Also investment from the middel east? The last time I checked Dubai couldn't even afford to finish off projects they were 1/2 way completing due to the lack of funds.

#16. Munsters Rebel.

I do wish you would get your facts straight before you rile away. Mr. George Gillett may well have once owned the Montreal Canadians of the NHL, but that doesn't make him a Canadian. He was born in Racine, Wisconsin, and is an American.

#85. theworldoffootball.

You talk of the ignorance of Liverpool supporters, and yet you use words such as 'chinamens'.
You also castigate 'poms' ( are you an Australian ?) for invading and occupying Hong Kong for almost 1/2 a century. Are 99 years equal to almost half a century ? The terms of the Agreement were drawn up by the Chinese not Great Britain.

Liverpool has a habit of putting up statues of its celebrities around the city - Bessie Braddock, the Beatles, Bill Shankly, William Wilberforce - but I do not see any probability of a future statue of Gillett and Hicks. However, to say £150 million is not enough for the manager to spend on players is silly: to start with he would look for say three players avaraging about £20 million each. That would leave something useful in the kitty for the next rainy day.

The quiet men in the takeover competiion are the Ambani brothers. They have solid reputations and significant funds. If they have indeed put in a bid they ought to be strong contenders. The sub-continent is up with China and South America as a vibrant economy just now.

it's some testament to the management of Beneathus that after spending 250+ million on players the writer claims that a further 75 million "is hardly the sort of transfer kitty that would transform Roy Hodgson's team overnight"
HAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAAHAH

@16 Gillett is NOT Canadian. He was born in Wisconsin, lives in Colorado. Both in the USA. He was a fairly successful owner of a Canadian hockey team (Montreal Canadians).

@62 Canuck means Canadian like Yankee means American.

While Hicks and Gillett ran up the debt they also invested heavily in transfers and wages, a point many Liverpool fans seemed to willfully ignore.

Please also keep in mind that CIC is a sovereign fund, and as such its ONLY fiduciary responsibility is to generate the largest profits for its "investor".

It's a sad day to see people so blinded by their prejudice and anger that they can't see what they're rooting for. First of all; all the anti-american jibes are just silly. It's individuals that should be judged, not an entire country. People in the US call football "soccer" because that is the term the British used when football was invented. They kept the term, so what.

Second, it is sad to see people actually WANT this Chinese bid to be successful. You can say that "Sources have confirmed again to me that CIC currently have no direct involvement in the Huang deal but could come on board later on - perhaps to help provide some of the finance for the new stadium" but in reality the Chinese government control every major decision by big corporations in China. To say that the Chinese government won't be involved in the ownership of LFC is hiding from reality. I certainly WON'T be supporting a club who is financed by a government who demolishes peoples homes to build stadiums, support North Korea, kills protestors, denies people access to free internet searches (i.e., google), etc. , etc.

Football isn't above freedom, and I will support freedom over any club in the world.

85. At 04:17am on 08 Aug 2010, theworldoffootball wrote:
Its funny how you people think the Chinese government would even consider LFC as a significant investment. Trust me, LFC means nothing more than just a spec of sand at the beach to the Chinese government. Don't confuse the interest of a few Chinamens to the one of the whole nation. Liverpool supporter's ignorance can be summed up by post #65 and #67.

Regarding the abuse of human rights, have you forgotten the amount of blood that has been split due to the greed of the poms? For centuries you people have invaded and pillvage other weaker countries.
______________________________________________________________________

Hmmmmm, I really enjoy reading the drivel of someone as sanctimonious as you who then uses racist slurs to describe those from other countries, and then generalises in implying the ignorance of all Liverpool supporters. With regards to spilt blood and all that, remember how 'your' country came about? (sorry, sinking to your level there)

Back on topic...It's an unfortunate reality that for Liverpool to compete at the top of the PL, investment from abroad is our best hope of achieving that. While we cling to the hopes of new owners and hundreds of millions of pounds, where will this end for football. There will surely come a point when clubs' prices inflate to the point where there is no money (rather than little) to be made in investing in a club. Those will be interesting times

I for one have lost the enthusiasm for the sport, and my team, that I once had.

As a Scouser I find that should there be any Liverpool FC owner, other than the fans themselves, the Chinese would be favourite. If football is about money (and it is) then the city of Liverpool would be at the forefront of Chinese minds when expanding into Europe as businessmen and women.
The Port of Liverpool is one of the major Gateways of Europe. I know some of the contributors on this site are angry, short sighted and racist, but that is the way the cookie crumbles.If you hate another human being the fault is with you, not them.
Some people were appalled when the Japanese started to import the Datsun into Europe because of the atrocities committed in WW2, now the Japanese are the biggest car makers in the world.
Things move on and people move on. Every country wants to belong to the world and a few despots try to isolate their people from doing so.
China is no different. It wants to belong and market economics determine that they make their own population wealthier.
Liverpool has the oldest Chinese community in Europe and has even built a 'Chinatown' so the older members of the Chinese community can feel they belong, often to a country their grandfathers came from and they have never seen.
There did not seem to be this hand wringing over Eastern European football takeovers and some of those characters seemed to be very dodgy in their past business dealings, often holding positions of political power in their former countries whilst living in Britain.

May I complain about the racist nature of some of the contributors to this site. This is a debate about the merits of football, not about who invaded who in the 19th c.

Back in 2006 (after a year of abusing Chelsea-supporting mates about buying their cups) I felt that we had lost the chance to win the title on merit.
Investment is all very well as thats what the game is like now, but I would be even happier if the new owners came in, maybe financed two or three players, so we were the same as other clubs each year. If we won the league with that kind of sensibility in the transfer market, I think everyone would be even prouder knowing that we hadnt just bought the title too.
After all is said and done, splashing the cash is no guarantee of winning things. Chelsea had a great manager and his signings were mostly brilliant, but you look at Sparky over at City and not only wasnt he in full control of signings (gotta watch out for eager owners) but I dont think he was given enough time to gel a team (plus the marquee signings were poor - Robinho was a great talent but wrong for the rest of the team).

It's interesting to note that Liverpool are the only UK city represented at the Shangai Expo. A fact not lost on the Chinese.

Liverpool FC, now a commodity, to be bought and sold, by entrepreneurial profiteers, in the black, in the red. A Tragedy for all Liverpool supporters. A tragedy for football.

Liverpool has the oldest Chinese community in Europe, is twinned with Shanghai and the only UK City promoting itself at the massive China Expo 2010, so in many ways it would be fitting if the China bid went ahead.

What we really need is owners willing to put cash on the table rather than just refinancing debts which ultimately could put the club even further in hock. I hope the CIC do get involved and see this as a long term investment with the potential for the CIC to promote itself on the back of LFC's popularity within Asia and the Far East, rather than Liverpool selling more shirts in China!