Liverpool FC Forum

Given that news I think it's highly unlikely we will spend in January. If they are serious about a full sale then until that is sorted I doubt we will be spending much in the summer either.

Big questions now about how much they sell for, who can afford it and where will that cost go.

Seems there is a lot of devil in the detail and their statement is more around always looking for investment etc as opposed to declaring the club is for sale

It’s also very worrying in regards what happens if a state gets involved- Klopp would leave

This is the statement. On the face of it I would say it's pretty consistent with what FSG have repeatedly said over the years. They'd be open to other parties getting involved and if a really good offer came in they'd consider selling entirely but otherwise it's business as usual. Tom Werner has said this on camera a number of times. With the UK looking at a prolonged recession it would probably be a good time to sell and I'm guessing if someone comes in with a offer close to £4bil they would accept.

If the board do decide to sell outright, I for one have nothing bad to say about their intentions. They have been responsible for our ressurection, and ploughed funds into play recruitment, world class staff, and stadium expansion. They have taken us as far as they can and as business people they are looking to cash in after 12 years. I hope Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs find the right owners that care about the club, the city, and understand the the LFC culture.

If there is a major invester that is willing to invest that would be nice, which would eventually see a future transition of the majority shareholder taking control after a mid term handover.

Seems there is a lot of devil in the detail and their statement is more around always looking for investment etc as opposed to declaring the club is for sale

  agreed. Think if the right price was offered for a complete sale FSG might accept it but the tone of the statement does suggest they're looking for a hefty cash injection from an investor .

FSG obviously realise more money is needed if we are to continue to compete with the "State" funded clubs.

Interesting times ahead 

It's looking like there might actually be something behind this. Originally looked like a clickbait headline from The Athletic but now multiple sources are reporting independently without quoting The Athletic.

mramo » Mon Nov 07, 2022 3:18 pm wrote:If the board do decide to sell outright, I for one have nothing bad to say about their intentions. They have been responsible for our ressurection, and ploughed funds into play recruitment, world class staff, and stadium expansion. They have taken us as far as they can and as business people they are looking to cash in after 12 years. I hope Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs find the right owners that care about the club, the city, and understand the the LFC culture.

If there is a major invester that is willing to invest that would be nice, which would eventually see a future transition of the majority shareholder taking control after a mid term handover.

Excellent post. Agree with every word. Personally I hope they remain as the major shareholder and continue to run the club. I honestly don’t think we have ever had better owners. A couple of daft mistakes along the way and maybe a little more player investment after we won the CL and the Premiership title but apart from that I honestly don’t think they have done a lot wrong. A business value of £300m and on the verge of bankruptcy to circa £4b in 12 years is a huge indicator as to what they have achieved.

I'd say the 3 contributing factors are their disappointment the super league was a failure,  recognizing no one can compete with City and when they realized FFP was a farce.

The Mirror are reporting that the failure of the ESL, FFP and the price Chelsea went for are the reasons for taking in investment or if the price is right a potential sale.

As I understand if we go down the investment route it will be in LFC rather than FSG which should mean money going into the club and team.

Either way interest has to be strong so I'd expect things to move quite quickly one way or the other. Hopefully in time for January.

FSG have backed themselves into a corner as the valuation of the club is now so high that only a rich arab style buyer could afford to buy us, placing us straight into the City and Newcastle category of 'state owned'.

Only ones with any muscle that don’t already own a PL team are Dubai and Qatar.

I worry that if we are bought at that price that it will come with debt. I read somewhere that Chelsea have been burdened with 800 million in debt now, we don’t need that burden. Also Chelsea are in a prime part of London so any land they own would be factored into their valuation, I’m not sure but I can’t see Liverpool having the same valued assets.

I can’t see anyone other than a rich gulf state taking us higher than what we are, without risking the long term future of the club with debt, we went through that already and dodged a bullet because of a financial crash, will we get lucky again? I’d be worried if we got sold.

Agree with you Kazza, I'd rather stick with the yankees than risk being sold to an arab. Better the devil you know.

I don't think we're that attractive to a sportswashing nation. PSG, City, and Newcastle we're comparatively small clubs starved of any success so as long as the money was pumped into transfers their fans were happy to turn a blind eye to politics and humanitarian atrocities their owners are involved with. Any protentional owner doing their due diligence will find that Liverpool is a politically engaged sociaclist city and having your own fans calling you out sort of dilutes your sportswashing programme.

I'm guessing the strongest interest will come from US led consortiums with PE backing. I just hope that whoever takes over doesn't go down the route of heaping debt on the club like what has happened at Man Utd and Burnley, and like H&G did to us.

Fans would be naive to think FSG care where the money comes from. They will sell to anyone who puts up the money they want. If they can't get a full sale at the price they want they will take an investor but bottom line here is they have no appetite to put their own money in.

If its just a percentage of the club they want to sell then why not go down the road of fan ownership. That way the club will always be protected and have a voice regardless of who eventually takes control. Not advocating full fan ownership at all but a minority holding in the form of a supporters trust. A move like this would prove that they actually care about the future of the club ahead of the ridiculous price they will get.

If the club was ever at risk before it will be nothing compared to what the sale price brings.  It could go for between 3.5 to 4.5 billion and that will eventually be the death of us!!  Personally I think they have a hard neck looking for that kind of price considering what they put in.