Liverpool FC Forum

[SouthCoastShankly]

Morgan agrees takeover of Wolves

Steve Morgan, who twice tried to buy hometown club Liverpool in 2004, is set to take over Wolves after buying 100% of president Sir Jack Hayward's shares.

Hayward will sell all of the shares for one £10 payment on the condition Morgan invests £30m in the Championship club.

Wolves said a deal will go through in June, with Morgan becoming chairman and manager Mick McCarthy and chief executive Jez Moxey keeping their jobs.

Millionaire Morgan made his fortune after launching building firm Redrow.

He sold his majority shareholding in Redrow in 2000 and is now chairman of the Bridgemere Group of Companies, Harrow Estates plc, and Salamanca Finance plc.

His first bid for Liverpool fell through in the summer of 2004 when he said the club needed to "come clean" about the cost of their new stadium.

Morgan's second attempt collapsed in December 2004 when he "lost patience" with the Anfield board.

Despite Morgan's occasionally stormy relationship with Liverpool's directors, he has always retained a strong interest in football and in 2006 he reportedly lent £2.5m to Wrexham as part of the club's efforts to come out of administration.


Morgan not only has the best interests of the club at heart but has the resources to return the club to its former greatness

Wolves' statement
That loan to Wrexham almost did not happen when it emerged that Morgan could not be owed money by one club and sit on the board of another - meaning he could only do the deal if he accepted he would not become a director of Liverpool.

It is not clear at this stage whether he has cancelled his links with Wrexham or whether he will do that before the deal for Wolves goes through in June.

A statement from Wolves on Monday read: "In keeping his promise to supporters to step aside for the right person, Sir Jack Hayward has taken the unprecedented step of 'gifting' the shares of Wolverhampton Wanderers (1990) Ltd, the club's holding company, to Carden Leisure (Morgan's company) for £10 in return for a £30million investment into the club.

"All of the £30m will be used for the benefit of Wolves. Sir Jack is making this gift for the benefit of the club and in order to secure the future of the club on a long-term basis.

"It is intended that the new capital, over a period of time, will be used to help re-establish Wolves as a Premiership club.

"Although this is a significant amount of money there will not be an 'open chequebook' approach to signing players; instead the club will build on the current strategy of steadily and progressively developing a team of young, hungry and talented players.

"Having been impressed by what he has seen of the club to date, Steve Morgan is keen to ensure stability and continuity by retaining Mick McCarthy as first team manager and Jez Moxey as chief executive."

The statement continued that, in Morgan, Hayward "feels he has finally found someone who not only has the best interests of the club at heart but also has the resources necessary to take over the responsibility for returning the club to its former greatness."

Hayward will remain life president, with his grandson Rupert Hayward joining a board that will also consist of chairman Morgan, chief executive Jez Moxey and local businessmen John Bowater, alongside John Gough and Kevin Threlfall.

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Although this isn't 100% relevant to LFC. I can't help but think how well the board did to avoid invest from Steve Morgan. On the face of it you would of thought a local business man with lots of money can only be a good thing for the club. But the board's scepticism of Steve Morgan has proven wise. All he has tried to do is worm his way into any football club either to make a quick buck or to impose his idea of how a football club should be run.

I am so happy we opted for stable investment from the likes of Gillet and Hicks compared to that chump Morgan!

The following passage says it all to me - That loan to Wrexham almost did not happen when it emerged that Morgan could not be owed money by one club and sit on the board of another - meaning he could only do the deal if he accepted he would not become a director of Liverpool.

So basically he chose not to invest in Liverpool because due to his situation he could not become chairman. Liverpool supporter my ar$e!

[Reg]

I wish the guy well, he's obviously a committed football fan. Wolves have a great history including a final game of season loss to the Reds to allow us to win the league. Derek Dougan streaking through the mud in his gold shirt and all...

[LFC2007]

I just wonder why the hell he'd want to buy Wolves anyway, buying any football club is a huge financial risk let alone Wolves.

[Barca Murph]

The following passage says it all to me - That loan to Wrexham almost did not happen when it emerged that Morgan could not be owed money by one club and sit on the board of another - meaning he could only do the deal if he accepted he would not become a director of Liverpool.

So basically he chose not to invest in Liverpool because due to his situation he could not become chairman. Liverpool supporter my ar$e!

If you bought a football club with your own money, wouldn't you want to atleast be a director of it? And have a say in it's running.

[yckatbjywtbiastkamb]

to be fair to him it was decent of him to loan wrexham 2.5m when they were in severe financial difficulties.
i never really wanted him as liverpool`s owner for the sole reason i didnt think his personal fortune was big enough to go toe to toe with the big hitters in the league.
listened to him on the radio though and he`s a big a red as it gets, hope it goes well for him at wolves.

[Sabre]

I just wonder why the hell he'd want to buy Wolves anyway, buying any football club is a huge financial risk let alone Wolves.

United Kingdom is a serious country, but around the world football clubs are a great opportunity to wash money and evade taxes.

I don't know well this man though, only a couple of things read here, so it's indifferent to me.

[LFC2007]

but around the world football clubs are a great opportunity to wash money and evade taxes.

The very definition of Roman Abramovich.

[The Manhattan Project]

It's a bit risky taking control of a team of werewolves.

Don't you think?

[SouthCoastShankly]

The following passage says it all to me - That loan to Wrexham almost did not happen when it emerged that Morgan could not be owed money by one club and sit on the board of another - meaning he could only do the deal if he accepted he would not become a director of Liverpool.

So basically he chose not to invest in Liverpool because due to his situation he could not become chairman. Liverpool supporter my ar$e!

If you bought a football club with your own money, wouldn't you want to atleast be a director of it? And have a say in it's running.

But if he is so much of a "big red" surely he would have been happy starting solely with investment?