Liverpool FC Forum

by **account deleted by request** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:14 pm

LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Liverpool FC's co-owner Tom Hicks is talking to hedge funds to help him raise funds to buy the British soccer club and start building a new stadium, the Daily Telegraph reported on Monday.

The U.S. billionaire, who wants to buy out the 50 percent of the club controlled by co-owner George Gillett, is talking to some of the hedge funds that helped finance the Glazer family's purchase of Manchester United, such as Perry Capital, Och-Ziff Capital Management and Citadel, the newspaper reported.

While one hedge fund rejected the approach, others are still in talks with Hicks' advisors, the newspaper said.

Hicks could not immediately be reached for comment

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Doesn't sound like Hicks is going to give up without a long drawn out fight

by **Reg** » Mon May 05, 2008 1:06 pm

As George Harrison said, All Things Must Pass. Hicks can make all the noises he likes but he couldnt close it 3 months ago, or 2 or last month or last week and the clock has been ticking pretty loud since then. If he had the resources it would have been sealed by now. Most people quietly walk away when their time is up, but this guy realises the more noise he makes, the greater the chances of getting a better price. We have to suffer longer but ultimately the shy-ster will be out. What a year.....

by **The Manhattan Project** » Mon May 05, 2008 1:31 pm

Have they started building the stadium yet, or have they spent all their money building the scale models?

by **Reg** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:59 pm

I believe those Sons of Shankly lads have already built the mainstand using old pallet boards and orange crates and the Kop starts next week once once they´ve robbed the wooden floorboards off the landing stage at the Pier Head.

Latest word is it will be ready mid summer and NannyRed has offered to make the pasties and Oxo drinks ! :laugh:

by **account deleted by request** » Mon May 05, 2008 4:06 pm

Reg wrote:I believe those Sons of Shankly lads have already built the mainstand using old pallet boards and orange crates and the Kop starts next week once once they´ve robbed the wooden floorboards off the landing stage at the Pier Head.

Latest word is it will be ready mid summer and NannyRed has offered to make the pasties and Oxo drinks !

Edited

by **account deleted by request** » Tue May 06, 2008 2:28 pm

Liverpool's new stadium approved
May 6 2008 By Dave Bartlett

LIVERPOOL FC’s third stadium plan was approved today.

Councillors gave the go-ahead to the £350m proposal for a 60,000-seater ground in Stanley Park at Liverpool town hall.

It is the third time in five years the council has backed a stadium scheme from the Reds, but it is still unclear when work will start.

The club’s American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett ordered a massive redesign of the original proposal when they took over last year and their plan was approved last summer.

But it was shelved and redrawn a second time by Dallas-based architects HKS earlier this year when the tycoons decided it was too expensive.

Today, the council’s planning committee backed a scheme showing a number of crucial changes, notably a smaller underground car park beneath the stadium and a reduced height.

The alterations do not affect the restoration of the rest of Stanley Park, which is already underway.

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Tue May 06, 2008 2:31 pm

fingers crossed this time eh saint.

by **account deleted by request** » Tue May 06, 2008 2:32 pm

god_bless_john_houlding wrote:fingers crossed this time eh saint.

3rd time lucky mate

by **sworth26** » Tue May 06, 2008 2:47 pm

Do you not think it would be better to wait a little longer to see what happens in the summer? Although it may mean the current plans are scrapped again, if Dubai get control I would imagine they would want to create something potentially even more spectacular...

by **Igor Zidane** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:17 pm

Statement from SOS regarding last night end of season bash and some interesting stuff regarding DIC.

Last night was special - a great occasion and everything Liverpool support is about. A big thank you to the performers and bands, those who organised it, The Olympia and those of you who came. We'd appreciate a bit of discretion about the very special guest and we'd also like to take the opportunity to thank him.

As a result of our ongoing dialogue, we've had it confirmed that Dubai are prepared to put a supporter's representative on the board and have approached SOS to work out exactly how such a thing should be done. We're taking this commitment at face value and expect them to follow up on it if they take control of the football club. We are not doing Dubai's PR for them, but feel obliged to say we've found the dialogue we've had with them to be rewarding and full of possibilities. There is the opportunity to change the way in which our football club is run and the way in which football clubs across the country are run. They may well disappoint us and their words do need to be followed up with actions but to this point those of us who have had discussions have been impressed.

A supporter on the board is a significant responsibility; one which we want but one which will need long consultation, with Dubai, with other agencies but most of all with you, the supporters. What we expect of such a role, how we want it to be defined, how we select it, these are key questions which tap into the bigger question which it is time to start asking: What, in 2008, do we expect of Liverpool FC in terms of how it manages itself off the pitch to compete on it? In the next fortnight we're going to try to start this debate across the forums. We don't think SOS and its management committee has all the answers, but collectively we are capable of answering this question and given the opportunity from Dubai we're capable of having these answers impact upon the football club should it change hands.

Lastly, we've won nothing yet. Hicks and Gillett are still here. We are working on more ways to make clear to the entire world how they've abdicated their responsibilities as custodians. When we have concrete plans we'll tell you how you can help. In the meantime we're listening to any suggestions you have. Let's redouble our efforts over the summer. This football club is the greatest in the land. It's supporters are the greatest in the land. We learnt that yet again last night. We shouldn't be lions led by duplicitious donkeys any longer. Let's change that.

Thank you for your support.

Spirit Of Shankly

by **account deleted by request** » Tue May 06, 2008 10:41 pm

Times online

Tom Hicks, the embattled Liverpool co-chairman, will come under increased pressure to prove that he can raise the funds to build the club's proposed new stadium in Stanley Park after the latest designs for the troubled project were approved yesterday.

Liverpool City Council announced that it had approved the new designs for the stadium, which were unveiled by Hicks amid great fanfare in January, but there are serious doubts within the club about whether the Texan has - or can generate - the £300 million needed to build the stadium.

Sources indicated last night that there are no plans to begin construction in the foreseeable future and that, with Hicks at loggerheads with George Gillett Jr, his co-chairman, the proposed 71,000-capacity stadium - initially built to a capacity of 60,000 with a view to expansion - could remain a pipe dream.

Gillett intends to sell his 50 per cent stake in the club to Dubai International Capital (DIC), the private equity investment arm of the Arab state. Hicks retains ambitions of buying out Gillett and assuming sole ownership of the club, having vetoed Gillett's proposed sale to DIC in March, but despite enlisting the help of Merrill Lynch, the financial management and advisory company, he has not yet raised the funds that he requires, with an unforgiving financial climate raising further doubts as to whether he will be able to do so.
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Sources have described the impasse as “the major issue for the club”, saying that Hicks will come under severe pressure either to prove that he can generate the funds needed to take Liverpool forward or to sell his stake in the club to DIC and allow Gillett to do likewise.

The design approved yesterday is the third that has been submitted to Liverpool City Council, with Hicks and Gillett having been forced to scale down the grandiose original design that they unveiled in July last year.

When the new plans were revealed in January, Hicks boldly stated that Liverpool supporters “should have high expectations for the future: a premier sporting experience at their new stadium at Stanley Park and a winning club on the pitch for years to come”, but yesterday there was a more sober announcement on the club's official website, saying only that Liverpool “welcomed” the council's decision and “is committed to taking the stadium project forward and to starting on site as soon as possible” with a view to relocating in time for the 2011-12 season.

It also remains to be seen what level of funding Rafael Benítez, the manager, will be given to strengthen his squad this summer. Benítez has been active in the transfer market, making bids to sign Gareth Barry, the Aston Villa captain, Aaron Ramsey, the highly rated Cardiff City teenager, and Philipp Degen, the Borussia Dortmund full back, but sources at Anfield have indicated that the majority of new signings are likely to be financed by the sale of fringe players, such as Scott Carson, who is on loan to Villa, John Arne Riise, Jermaine Pennant and Peter Crouch.

A pre-contract agreement to sign Degen on a free transfer is in place, while Benítez is confident of success in his pursuit of Barry, having offered players such as Carson, Riise and Pennant as makeweights in any deal for the England midfield player.

Barry is regarded as a priority signing for next season, particularly as Lucas Leiva, the Brazil midfield player, is likely to join Javier Mascherano, of Argentina, in missing the start of next season to play in the Olympic Games football tournament in Beijing.
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by **account deleted by request** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:51 pm

United play for the double on back of £58m losses last year
David Conn The Guardian, Tuesday May 6 2008 Malcolm Glazer's takeover has led to Manchester United's financial fortunes taking a nosedive

With Manchester United powering to a probable second successive Premier League title and ready for a Champions League final, it appears that life at Old Trafford could hardly be rosier, but the club's accounts, now published in full, detail a significantly bleaker picture of the club's finances under the ownership of the Florida-based Glazer family.

Before the family's 2005 takeover, United prided itself on being the only Premier League club regularly to make a significant profit, to have cash in the bank and, unlike all the others, no debts. After the leveraged takeover, the Glazer family loaded their borrowings on to the club and the position has changed. The accounts for the company that the Glazers use to own United show total borrowings, in the year to June 30 2007, were up to £666m, by far the highest of any English football club, ever. The total owed to all creditors, including the banks, was up to £764m and includes £56m that United owe to other clubs in transfer fee instalments on players Sir Alex Ferguson has signed.

The total interest payable by the club on its borrowings was £81m, although only £42m was actually paid. The rest, which accrued on the millions owed to hedge funds, is allowed to roll up until the whole amount has to be repaid in 2016, or, alternatively, until the Glazers can refinance it. A total of £152m is currently owed to hedge funds, at 14.25% interest a year - £22m from 2007-08. Last year the Glazers tried to refinance but were unable to strike a deal with financial institutions, and a spokesman acknowledged that the credit crunch is making it more difficult now.

David Gill, United's chief executive, announced the headline results back in January, stressing that United's phenomenal money-making power, with 76,000 crowding into Old Trafford and the Premier League's huge TV rights deals, had produced record income of £210m and operating profits of £75m. The full accounts show, however, that even though United made a further £11m profit from buying and selling players, the interest and other accounting provisions pushed United into recording an overall loss of £58m.

The accounts also reveal that by far the highest proportion of income, £92.5m, is still generated on home match days, and although the club has announced more modest ticket price rises for next season than for the previous two, supporters groups continue to protest that they are paying the debts of a takeover they opposed. "It is outrageous that supporters are paying the huge interest on these borrowings, which are worrying for the club's future," said Sean Bones of the Manchester United Supporters Trust. "Our money is pouring out to pay the Glazers, while they have not put a penny into the club."

The spokesman for the Glazer family pointed to the club's success on the field, and in generating income off it, as evidence of the family's competent management. "The family continue to run United as a business," he said. "Their model is to encourage success on the pitch by backing Sir Alex Ferguson, and to grow revenues off it. The interest payments are more than covered by the cash generated."

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I know this is about the mancs rather than Liverpool, but I believe there are stark warnings for us included in this article. Hicks is supposedly looking to finance his buyout of Gillett through Hedge funds, and as you can see from this article they are not the cheapest loans available by any means.

by **heimdall** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:35 pm

Every morning I wake up and hope to see that Hicks and Gillett have finally sold to DIC, I think I only need to wait a few more weeks now though. No one in the right mind is going to give Hicks any more money in the current climate, the US economy is in melt down closely followed by the UK so he will have no option but to sell up.

by **Torres25** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:47 pm

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz boooooorrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnn

jesus wake me up when its all done & dusted

by **Bad Bob** » Wed May 07, 2008 5:21 pm

Torres25 wrote:zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz boooooorrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnn

jesus wake me up when its all done & dusted

Right, time for bed, lad. Let the grown-ups talk, mmmkay?

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