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Drama in L4, Liverpool FC's potential rise from the ashes

Drama in L4, Liverpool FC's potential rise from the ashes

In 2007, Liverpool Football Club became the property of Kop Holdings, a company headed by George Gillette and Tom Hicks, two ‘wealthy’ Americans that had a history of sports investments.

Although they were quite obviously here for the short time and for profit, they had money and were ready to help Liverpool move on up and to the next level. Literally straight after loosing the Champions League final in 2007, Rafa Benitez made a statement that signalled his intent and what he expected from the new owners. The club was clearly in need of investment, we had the basis of a good team, but it we'd been punching away without any real promise for too long. Our previous owners had invested when and as well as they could. The new owners, we hoped, would be able to take us that one step further.

Alas.

In reality, the club made one huge purchase, Fernando Torres, for £24million. That’s what, about two-thirds of what the three recent big spenders have spent over the past 5 years on a single player. One player will not win you a league title. No matter how good he is, and how close we got in 2009, a 1st place finish was never going to be a realistic target.

Yes, people will point at Aquliani, but I doubt Liverpool ever outlaid the full price for an injured player. If anything, what seems like a pending transfer to Juventus (crying shame for a clearly talented player), a lot of that money will be recouped. OK, so there’s Robbie Keane too, but six months later, he found himself back at White Hart Lane with most of the outlay cancelled.

In reality, we saw just £8million outlaid on transfers on top of what was bought back in through players sales. £8million is nothing near the level on support we were promised or that is required to put the might LFC back at the top of the tree. Never mind the lies and broken promises about a stadium that never materialised. We’re still waiting for that first spade in the ground, Mr Hicks.

Three years on and the club was put up for sale. In April 2010, British Airways Chairman, Martin Broughton, was bought in as the Chairman of Liverpool FC and tasked with finding a buyer for the club. With Broughton being a life long Chelsea fan, and actually failing to attend a Liverpool vs Chelsea game at Anfield, his standing may not have been what it should have been amongst Liverpool fans. With so much going wrong behind the scenes, this looked like another failure by the board.

Fast forward to the beginning of October and we have a club languishing 3rd from bottom of the Premier League, managed by a man that isn’t big enough for the job, in my opinion. Set your time machines for the 12th October 2010, and you’ll find yourself in a courtroom battle for control of the club.

American based NESV agreed a sale with the board, after setting a deadline for the 5th October for a decision to be made and with that one announcement came scenes of joy from all of those with a Red heart.

Unfortunately, there was more too it than that. It’s clear that the current owners wanted as much of the £600million that they were after (originally £800million) so that they could make a profit. Profit from a failing business idea based on debt.

Idiots.

Their greed led to two members of the board being fired and instantly replaced by two allies that would have ensured the failure of NESV’s bid.

Thankfully, the Americans are as dumb as they are greedy.

Their agreement with RBS meant that there were two conditions that would make the sale more likely than not.

Firstly, they signed an agreement that they meant they couldn’t interfere in a reasonable sale, or make any changes to the board, only the newly hired Chairman, Martin Broughton, could do that. Don’t forget, this is the board they appointed anyway.

Secondly, 15th October is the extended deadline that RBS set for the repayment of their £200million loan. That doesn’t include interest.

Both of those conditions meant that NESV’s reasonable offer, other offers barely breached the £300million mark so it’s hardly unreasonable, was easy to accept after due diligence. The other point to make is that the failure to make the repayment by that date would mean that the holding company would be put into administration, potentially incurring a 9-point deduction and placing the club in a precarious position. In reality, who would pay £300million for a club that, because of it’s debts, is only worth £240million?

Thankfully, the final decision, on the 13th October 2010, was made in every Liverpool fan’s favour. With a board meeting planned for this evening, Liverpool should be NESV’s latest capture and we can hopefully emulate the success they’ve had elsewhere. Hopefully a winning mentality will find it’s way back into Anfield, and more importantly, a suitable manager is put in place.

You can find out more about the events that occured between the 5th and 13th October at any combination of these pages:

Roy Hodgson is a man I admire, but the quality that Liverpool Football Club needs? I’m not convinced. Everyone of his signings have been a failure in my eyes and with the club already rooted near the bottom end of the table, they have little time to make the necessary improvement.

Despite all of this, let us remember, that there are far more important things than football, it's just too easy to forget until it's too late. Paul Dalglish has it right for at least 96 families.

Many strides have been made, both forward and backwards in the past 24 hours, and I don't intend to commentate on them. I am not enjoying the show, but wanted to share some thoughts and sum up what has happened to our beloved club over the last 3 years.

Tags:

liverpool fc, lfc, nesv

Categories:

Thoughts, Politics, Sports

This article was posted on by Charanjit Chana

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Written by Charanjit Chana

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