Liverpool FC Forum

by **account deleted by request** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:33 am

Liverpool owners face cash crisis
By David Bond, Chief Sports Reporter
Liverpool's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, have just over a month to refinance the loans they used to buy the club in a £220 million deal last February.

Although it was previously thought that the £270 million funding package arranged with the Royal Bank of Scotland was due to be repaid two years after they bought the club, The Daily Telegraph can confirm that the loan expires in February 2008, with an option to extend for a further 12 months.
That means the American businessmen are facing a race against time to finalise a new £350 million financial package with RBS and American investment bank Wachovia to pay off their original loans, inject £60 million into the new stadium project at Stanley Park and cover £25 million of credit notes used to buy players.

As revealed by yesterday's Telegraph, a plan to raise a further £300 million to complete the relocation from Anfield to a new 70,000-seater ground has been shelved until 2009 at the earliest. But of far greater concern to Hicks and Gillett is the need to reach an agreement with their bankers for the first phase of the refinancing.

Although RBS could take control of the club if the Americans defaulted on the loan in February, the extension option could give them some extra breathing space. But Hicks and Gillett are keen to conclude a new deal before the existing agreement expires.

City sources added that it was extremely unlikely that RBS would pull the plug on Liverpool, knowing the controversial move would be a public-relations disaster. And despite uncertainty surrounding the future funding of a new stadium, RBS know Liverpool remain a well-run business with an annual turnover in 2006 of £121 million. Qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League has also removed one added financial pressure.

Talks between RBS, Wachovia and the Americans' bankers, Inner Circle Sports, were continuing last night but while both sides remain hopeful of doing a deal, hopes are fading of clinching an agreement before the Christmas break.

Although a spokesman for Hicks and Gillett insisted yesterday that they were working towards announcing a deal in the next 24 hours, one banking source here said confirmation was unlikely to come before Christmas.

The hold-up is understood to have been caused by concerns over Gillett's ability to put up more than £87 million in cash and guarantees to underwrite the new bank financing.

Hicks and Gillett are being asked to pump in £20 million in cash each, along with £75 million in letters of credit and £60 million in personal guarantees. One solution could be for Hicks, the wealthier of the club's chairmen, to help cover Gillett's share of the guarantees.

According to City insiders, another major sticking point has been the owners' plans to load their £270 million acquisition debt on to the club's books. That is believed to have met fierce opposition from some members of the Liverpool board who don't want the club to be used to service the cost of the Hicks and Gillett takeover.

The attempt to load the acquisition debt on to the club's balance sheet is all the more controversial because Gillett and Hicks vowed not to follow the route taken by Manchester United owners, the Glazer family, when they took over last February.

Gillett said at the time: "We have purchased the club with no debt on the club so, in that regard, it is different [to the Glazers]."

An alternative structure is now being worked on which will result in more debt placed on to the club's parent company, Kop Football Ltd. But that has placed extra pressure on Hicks and Gillett to prove they have the money to guarantee the loans.

Liverpool chose to say nothing publicly about yesterday's Telegraph report, but a club source stressed plans for the new stadium would not be blown off course.

The Liverpool source added: "The stadium plans are still on track although, as was stated publicly earlier this week, the design may have to be scaled down in terms of extravagance. There is some tough talking going on between the Americans and the banks but the stadium plan is financially sound."

Liverpool announced earlier this week that the plans for the stadium, unveiled in July, were being scaled back after they came in £50 million over budget.

This is what our club as become......... a financial nightmare

by **The_Rock** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:54 am

I have been generally supportive of the new owners....but the more speculation i read...the more

i get.....

I thought they said the take-over will not put any debt on the club .......but they seem to be backtracting on this.....

by **account deleted by request** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:27 am

Despite rumours suggesting the club are encountering problems with the long proposed ground move, RAWK can exclusively reveal today that Liverpool Football Clubs new stadium is to go ahead. Further to this positive news it has also been confirmed the stadium will break new ground for sporting venues by smashing through existing conventional technology barriers.

You can forget the bland and soulless ParryBowl design that re-appeared again this week. In what will undoubtedly be hailed as a feat of engineering ingenuity, “New” Anfield will be the first stadium ever to be constructed entirely out of vapour, thin air and empty words.

In case you needed reminding, here’s an abridged timeline:

Jan 2001 - Plans to move to a 70,000 seater stadium announced. These are later scraped when the ~£120M costs are deemed too expensive.
May 2002 - Club reveals designs for ParryBowl and announces new stadium will be ready for 2004-2005 season at a cost of ~£70M.
2002-2007 - In successive failed attempts at hawking the club to secure funding for the project, Parry clocks up enough air miles to single handedly warm the planet by a few more degrees.
July 2007 - 6 ½ years after a move was first mooted and 5 years after ParryBowl, “stunning” new designs unveiled to widespread acclaim.
Dec 2007 - As in 2001, plans to implement “stunning” design scaled back again, with cost cited....again
Dec 2007 - Reports appear that the club are unable to secure funding for the entire project , a mere 10 months after selling it’s heritage to two men based on their promises to fund the new stadium.

With supporters questioning whether a new stadium will come before a manned mission to Mars, Tom Hicks & George Gillett were unavailable for comment today. Maybe tomorrow? What’s a few days on the back of 7 years of mis-management at the highest level of the club?

Look, if some of you think there are unanswered questions on the pitch right now, think again. There are far more OFF it that need answering. Some that have been open since 2001.
LINK

by **redmikey** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:21 am

all i can see is dodgy yank tw@ts trying to make a buck from the tv money and doing a leeds to us

very worrying times ahead imho

great post saint,but depressing reading when you take into account the money situation in american banking at the moment

and on parry , the man is a joke and fast turning liverpool into a item of fun for the big european club to mock, we won the champions league and didn't make the most of the poss revenue, we have a great manager who is now having his terms dictated to him by a yank and a clown(how long will rafa put up with that!)

we have great fans world wide who struggle every week to get tickets or decent merchandise,we should have been at the forefront of the football world in the nineties but we weren't and now we are massively eclipsed by that shower of sh!te down the east lancs

but where do we go, the yanks aren't going to sack their yes man in parry, he won't give himself the bullet(clowns never do)
rafa will only put up with a certain amount
and with out money and stability we will go nowhere,

by **puroresu** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:23 pm

should have sold to DIC. These cowboys show no clarity. I thought they were paying for the stadium. It seems to me that the $$$ crisis is the reason why the money issues have appeared. The doller gets weaker by the day and the credit crunch crisis see's no end in sight. Just how much borrowing will take place? how much debt will the club have?

by **Judge** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:59 pm

puroresu wrote:
JoeTerp wrote:There will be a new stadium eventually, thats a fact. Look at the new Wembley, that took forever (4 years) but its done

surely that isnt the point. It may well be done eventually but I want concrete details.

then it didnt take forever
:laugh:

by **account deleted by request** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:00 am

Fernando Torres, starting to pay back his £21million transfer fee, scored twice yesterday as Rafa Benitez's Liverpool trounced Portsmouth 4-1 at Anfield to stay in touch with the Premier League pacesetters.

But off the field, the failure so far of efforts by American owners George Gillett jnr and Tom Hicks to refinance the £220million they borrowed from the Royal Bank of Scotland to fund their takeover of the club 10 months ago is pushing Liverpool towards an unprecedented period of uncertainty.
The American owners have missed a selfimposed deadline to strike a deal with RBS before Christmas.

The bank will not allow the club to go under but the problems facing Gillett and Hicks could hasten their departure — and see Dubai International Capital, the state-backed investment firm who were in pole position to buy Liverpool before the arrival of the Americans, back in the market as potential new owners.

Adding to the intrigue over the club's future, it is understood that former Germany World Cup coach Jurgen Klinsmann has been sounded out as a replacement for Benitez.

It is believed that contact between Klinsmann and the club has taken place at a high level and the German is thought to be interested in taking over at Anfield.

Despite assurances that there is money to spend in the January window, Benitez's public rift with Hicks and Gillett over the club's transfer policy may be beyond repair.

Boardroom backing for Benitez has been lukewarm in the wake of reports linking Klinsmann with the job.

Sources close to the ex- Tottenham striker and former Footballer of the Year believe he is eager to end his self-imposed exile from football and take a top manager's job.

A move for Klinsmann could proceed regardless of whether Hicks and Gillett remain the owners of Liverpool, but the crisis in their refinancing plans threatens to undermine the club both on and off the pitch. [B]

Despite revelations last week that talks with RBS and American bank Wachovia over a new £350m loan had stalled, Kekst, the American owners' New York-based PR firm, continued to brief that a deal would be done before Christmas.

[B]But Friday, the last day for business before the festive break, passed without announcement and although it is understood that negotiations will continue, banking sources on this side of Atlantic believe an impasse has been reached.

Hicks and Gillett have until February to refinance the £220m they borrowed from RBS to fund their takeover, plus the interest which has accrued in the past year, the credit notes used to buy Torres and Ryan Babel, and £60m to cover initial work on a new stadium.

If they are unable to strike a deal before the deadline and unable to persuade RBS to take up the option of extending the existing loan for another year, the bank stand to become the de facto owners of the club.

If we go into administration we will be fined 15 points, which will obviously make us much less attractive to any potential buyer (Dic)

by **The Manhattan Project** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:21 am

Manhattan will design the new LFC stadium.

It will cost effective and on schedule.

It won't have a roof though, but we don't need one because fans have coats with hoods.

by **J*o*n*D*o*e** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:49 am

Bump

as far as i know something is meant to be happining today (9th) regarding the stadium, not sure if we will get to see any pictures but i believe a decision on which design the club opt for will be made.

anyway ive bumped it up in anticipation.

by **The Manhattan Project** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:04 am

They need to say something. According to an article on RAWK the government said there will be no further inquiry to examine the stadium issue, so all that seems to be left is for Hicks and Gillett to get the design finalised today, get the money situation sorted, and work can start immediately.

by **cpc4eva** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:15 am

dont know if this has been posted yet.........?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport....0279545

Yanks turn to Kop fan for help
By John Cross 09/01/2008

Liverpool owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have held secret talks with millionaire John Miskelly after turning to the Northern Ireland tycoon to solve their financial crisis.

Lifelong Liverpool fan Miskelly - a property magnate - tried to put together a £250million takeover consortium last year only to lose out to the American pair.

But Hicks and Gillett have gone to Miskelly after struggling to put together a £300m refinancing package, and also need to find a further £300m for their 'new Anfield' stadium project.

After failing to find a suitable refinancing package through a bank, Hicks and Gillett are investigating other options - including an outside partner or even selling their interest.

Ulsterman Miskelly has the funds to help but he would need support to put together a full consortium bid for the club.

Even as Hicks and Gillett met in New York late last night to discuss financing a new stadium and the future of manager Rafa Benitez, the Spanish coach hit out at suggestions that he could look elsewhere as the pressure grows on him.

"I want to completely commit myself to Liverpool Football Club. I do not see my future anywhere else because I do not want to go anywhere else," said Benitez.

"I want to win trophies for my club, for our fans and for the people - and I still believe we can do this.

"There has been so much improvement here over the last couple of seasons and I believe there is still a lot more to come.

"The squad is now the best it has been since I first came here and we have many young players who are only going to get better.

"All I can say is that I want to be here this summer... and many other summers after that."

by **cpc4eva** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:55 am

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2008/01/09/new-investors-could-be-lined-up-to-help-pay-for-new-liverpool-fc-stadium-64375-20328060/

New investors could be lined up to help pay for new Liverpool FC stadium
Jan 9 2008 By Dave Higgerson

THE designs for Liverpool Football Club’s new home are expected to be released today after a crunch meeting in America.

Owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett were joined by club chief executive Rick Parry in New York yesterday to receive presentations from two architectural firms pitching their plans for Stanley Park.

A source familiar with the situation insisted the meeting was to pick a stadium design.

But another source said the possibilities of bringing new investors into the club to spread the risk of building the new stadium could also be discussed.

There was also speculation the future of manager Rafael Benitez would also be discussed.

Last night Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle urged the owners to end “uncertainty” and “prevarication” surrounding the club.

The Government Office North West (GONW) confirmed it would not be calling in the 60,000 seater stadium plans given permission in November, but abandoned by the club in December when costs increased from about £300m to around the mid-£300m mark.

Dallas architects HKS were told to make their plan cheaper.

That stadium had the capacity to be expanded to 76,000.

Manchester-based AFL, behind a previous proposal rejected by Hicks and Gillett because it was “obsolete”, was told to improve on its scheme for Stanley Park.

Yesterday’s meeting was to choose between the two revised plans. Club chief executive Rick Parry has previously said the new design will have a capacity of around 70,000, requiring a fresh planning application.

by **Roger Red Hat** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 5:45 pm

Could it be that they have let the new name for the stadium slip??

from bbc:

No inquiry for Reds' new stadium

The proposed new stadium would seat 60,000 fans
Liverpool Football Club's proposed new stadium has moved a step closer with a government announcement that there will not be an inquiry into the plans.
The secretary of state Hazel Blears has decided after considering the £400m plans and objections to Stanley Park stadium, there is no need to intervene.

She said she was satisfied that the final decision should be made on a local basis.

This means that the club will wait for permission from city council planners.

Some local residents and councillors objected, calling it a "monstrous" development that was too big for the area.

The new £400m stadium will house 114 executive boxes, twice the number in the original design, and is planned to regenerate public land which stands between Anfield and Everton's ground, Goodison Park.

The latest plans for the 60,000-seater stadium include improved leisure and retail facilities.

The Reds' current home will be redeveloped as a car park, sports centre and hotel.

by **The Manhattan Project** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:02 pm

I think "Stanley Park stadium" is more of a description of the site and project rather than the official name.

by **Dundalk** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:07 pm

Plus Stanley Park stadium isnt worth any money to them pesky Americans

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