Liverpool debt dispute forces Americans to consider sale
By Nick Harris and Jason Burt
Published: 16 January 2008
A dispute between Liverpool's American owners and the club's board over whether to laden the club with massive debts has cast fresh doubt over Tom Hicks and George Gillett's future at Anfield as new rumours circulated yesterday that they have agreed a deal to sell up.
One source, a major football financier, claimed last night that Hicks and Gillett had agreed a deal in principle to sell the club, which they co-own, for £350m, and that a process of due diligence was under way.
The potential buyers most consistently linked with Liverpool in recent months are Dubai International Capital, an investment vehicle ultimately controlled by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, one of the world's richest men. DIC came close to buying Liverpool a year ago and are certainly still circling, although the source suggested that a different investor – or partnership – might be behind the £350m bid. A DIC spokeswoman said: "We can only say 'no comment' at this stage."
Insiders at Liverpool denied a deal had been concluded with DIC, or that any due diligence was underway. Equally, both Hicks and the club maintain in private that Hicks, at least, is an unwilling seller, to anyone, at the moment.
However, a senior source at Liverpool told The Independent that "it is difficult to say categorically what is going on" and it is understood there is a growing schism between the board – which is trying to run the club on a day-to-day basis – and the owners.
The source of this rift is money, specifically a divergence of opinion about how Hicks and Gillett will restructure their finances. When they bought Liverpool last year, they paid for the club entirely with borrowed money, in the form of a £270m loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland. Of that, £174.1m was spent on equity, £44.8m on pre-existing debt, and the balance on working capital. The RBS loan is due to be repaid next month.
The Americans' representatives insist they are close to securing a new £350m loan, most of which will clear their first loan, with the rest spent on initial outlay on the proposed new stadium. The businessmen want to put the new debt directly on to Liverpool's books, guaranteed, crucially, against club assets, not their own.
Contrary to reports, the so-called "global credit crunch" has not been a significant factor in delaying a new loan. Rather, according to a well-placed source, "the very significant block" to the Americans' borrowing plans has been the board's opposition to heaping that debt on the club.
When Hicks and Gillett took over, they made much of the fact, referring to events at Manchester United two years beforehand, that theirs would not be a "Glazer-style" takeover, with the club potentially imperilled by debt set against its assets. Now, it seems, that is exactly what they were planning. Neither has spent any of their own cash yet. Unless they guarantee the new loans with their own money – which they may be unwilling or unable to provide – the impasse will continue.
In that sense, a buyer offering them £350m for their 100 per cent stake could well be attractive. It would allow them to repay their £270m RBS loan and walk away with an £80m profit between them after just a year's involvement. Yet as recently as last autumn, they were valuing the club at an extraordinary £1bn, a figure unrelated to financial reality.
Hicks and Gillett's relationship with the board is rapidly becoming as fractious as that with their manager, Rafa Benitez, upon whom they heaped huge embarrassment on Monday when Hicks revealed he had interviewed Jürgen Klinsmann in November as a stand-by candidate for Benitez's job.
"You might be able to make a case that they let Rafa know this had happened," said one exasperated Liverpool source. "But what on earth Hicks thought he would achieve by telling the world is beyond anyone."
Until the Americans have either resolved their financing problems or sold the club, plans for the new stadium, like Benitez's future, will remain up in the air.
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by account deleted by request » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:05 am
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Oceans Apart
15th January 2008
Thank God for Newcastle United, eh? Without them, our club would be the biggest laughing stock in English football.
A three-year presence in the top four (with a game in hand on those below who share 39 points) and progress to the last 16 of the Champions League for the fourth year running, elevates the Reds way above what’s going on a St James’ Park. It hasn’t got that bad yet. Or even close.
But it doesn’t seem we can go more than a month or two without the ‘Cantona hitting the Matthew Simmons’.
You can look at Tom Hick’s statement about the courting of Jurgen Klinsmann in one of two ways. The first is that it’s a blatant attempt to force a resignation from Rafa Benítez in an act of constructive dismissal. In which case, the
really has kung-fu kicked the fan.
The second is that, back in November, there was what seemed an irreparable breakdown between the two parties -- a breakdown we all knew about -- but one that has now, somehow, been repaired. Subsequently, with all the continued speculation in the media, Hicks sought to show that -- hands up, it’s a fair cop -- there was some fire behind the Klinsmann smoke, but that it wasn’t happening recently, as the press suggested, and instead took place two months ago.
Or in other words, Hicks’ actions, to quote the Ross and Rachel saga from his country’s famous sitcom, came when “we were on a break”. His roving eye was not an act of infidelity after the relationship had been patched up, but an ‘understandable’ dalliance dating back to when things were looking beyond hope. The problem is, they weren’t officially on a break at all.
I’m not sure what to believe right now; my head feels like it’s been in the tumble drier for a few hours. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt in life, and would love to believe that the true situation is the second scenario I described. But I wouldn’t blame you if you thought me bloody naive as a result.
I approached the arrival of Hicks and Gillett with an open mind, and gave them the benefit of the doubt following some impressive soundbites when taking charge, and allowing Benítez to finally sign an expensive world-class player in the summer (even if the net spend wasn’t enormous).
But now I fear they could have been empty words, and the shape of the American ownership has changed dramatically in the last few months. The new stadium has become a fiasco, but changes in the financial markets and rises in the cost of materials haven’t helped. But whether or not the stadium issues are entirely their fault or mostly in the lap of the gods, the buck (no pun intended) stops with them.
In essence, it could be seen as Hicks finally coming out and backing the manager -- but only after admitting he wavered. I can live with this version of events. But if it’s to force a constructive dismissal (or to save face having been chasing Klinsmann even up until last week) I really would be dismayed. And by talking to the press, Hicks has offered that scenario on a plate to those who’d love to make it so.
The downside present with either scenario is that the debacle is still being played out in the media, and how can that help? Killing speculation is one thing, but doing so in a way that can cause further unrest makes little sense to me. Maybe it was calculated; or perhaps it was a belated attempt at transparency that backfired.
If Gillett and Hicks were genuinely worried about Benítez walking away, then perhaps we can actually feel (a little) reassured that they were ‘on the ball’ in having a contingency plan. That’s one way of looking at it. But why would Benítez even be considering walking away? -- unhappiness at the way the club was being run is the only reason I can come up with.
And there’s also the issue of the choice of the man they were seeing behind Rafa’s back. Klinsmann recently wooed the football folk of Brazil when giving a talk on the game. The BBC’s South American correspondent, Tim Vickery, said that the German “gave a lecture which some hardened people in Brazilian football described as the best they had ever seen.”
He obviously talks a good game. But if you want to know more about the Premiership and European football, as Hicks said, why not ask someone who’s actually managed in the former, and led a team to glory in the latter?
Instead they speak to Klinsmann and Klinsmann duly impresses. Maybe he really is a genius of a coach, and it could have been the most forward-thinking appointment in the history of the sport. Who knows?
But what worries me is that you have two men who admit they don’t know the sport, going and speaking to someone who does -- fair enough -- in order to learn more, and then provisionally offering him the manager’s the job based on what? -- what he said? Is that how easy it is?
In that case it’s a good job they didn’t speak to Neil Warnock. My problem is that, if they don’t understand the sport, how could they know what Klinsmann said made such amazing sense and wasn’t a load of old nonsense he made up on the spot? -- “You need the isosceles triangle midfield, the octagonal defence-offence zone and a rhombus of skilful players tucked perpendicular to the wing.”
And where is the practical proof behind the German’s theories? Because there’s precious little in terms of a CV to refer to. Klinsmann’s claim to fame as a manager was taking a major footballing nation to the World Cup semi-finals on home soil. Even South Korea managed to do that. I’m sorry, but this would be like Liverpool playing every Champions League game at Anfield in order to make the semi-final. As it was, Benítez made two finals having to overcome those pesky away ties at places like the Nou Camp, Stamford Bridge and Stadio Delle Alpi.
Perhaps the most worrying thing was the admission that Benítez’s job really was on the line pending the Marseilles result. Two years ago Man United fell at the group stage, and they had been off the pace in the Premiership for the previous three years; but United kept faith in Ferguson. Arsene Wenger spent four years between 1998 and 2002 not winning the league (or indeed, anything) and failing fairly miserably in the Champions League. But Arsenal never chatted up someone new.
If Rafa’s job was on the line based on his European record this season, I would worry for the future of the club. Because all teams have bad seasons; the well-run clubs don’t panic. Even Everton stuck with David Moyes following two awful seasons in his first four years and European humiliation, and look at how, in his sixth season and now with stability in the boardroom, they’ve become a far better side.
It’s no wonder Rafa ‘sacrificed’ the Reading game with 30 minutes to go. And that led to making it harder in the league. But as soon as a manager is in a make-or-break, must-win situation in November, the pressure is just ramped up. The Reds pulled it out of the bag in France, but the league situation was adversely affected. And understandably so.
If his job was on the line on account of that game in Marseilles (given that the Reds were still far from out of the league title race back then), that suggests a hire-’em fire-’em attitude that just does not work in English football.
I’ve always been of the belief that Benítez is the best man for the job. It’s well known that I am a big supporter of his, and I don’t see the point in allowing him to build up such strong collection of young players, and make signings like Martin Skrtel, if his days are numbered. Maybe the Skrtel signing is proof that things really were resolved at that December meeting?
The only way I’d ever want to see Rafa replaced at any point would be because he genuinely wants to go, not because he feels unable to stay.
Anyone coming in now would get the advantage of all the groundwork Rafa has done, in constructing a world-class spine to the team, and procuring a lot of hugely promising youngsters. But unless you can find one of the very, very few men in the world with a comparable CV, then you’d be in danger of doing far more damage that good. And with every passing year the job gets harder, as the clock ticks from 18 to 19 to 20, and so on.
It’s unfair to blame Rafa for all the current lack of belief shown by the team, given the unsettling nature of what’s been going on all season long. I’m not excusing all of the bad performances and results because of it, but there seems to be an additional layer of pressure hanging over everyone right now.
I’ve always said that too much pressure, and a lack of confidence (which can strike at any time), makes players appear like they don’t care. There’s a difference between being dispirited and disinterested. And different players handle it differently: they have their own body language. Without confidence, players seem more frozen, more wooden. The body tenses up more quickly. It’s natural.
The league title is a big millstone; the only similar one was United’s in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and we all know how long it took Ferguson to remove that burden. In that sense, Benítez has handled it far, far better, if you compare their records in their first four years. That doesn’t mean Benítez will definitely win the league simply because Ferguson eventually did, just that you don’t have to prove you can win the league in the first three or four years. Some jobs take longer.
These days Chelsea, Arsenal and United don’t have the pressure of having gone two decades without the title. And they also have a core of players who have the belief that comes from winning the league. Liverpool can boast neither, not to mention far less money than two of those three clubs.
So where does that leave us? If Rafa knew about Klinsmann before this week, as some reports suggested, then that’s less of a problem. He’ll know that ‘sounding out’ goes on in football. In that case, the worst crime here is a PR gaff, where a comment has been made that has only added fuel to the fire.
If, as other reports claim, Rafa did not know of the Teutonic overtures, then that has to be a kick in the teeth, coming on the back of four successive draws. It just makes his job all the harder, but it will unite the fans behind him once again, with some wavering after a few poor performances.
But either way, it’s another messy moment in an increasingly messy affair -- one which has understandably left a lot of Reds feeling depressed, confused and bitter. There’s no point in speculating about what will happen next, as it appears that anything is possible at the moment.
Last week I managed to get tickets on the Kop for tonight’s game, so a low-key affair has turned into a very important occasion. I’ll certainly be showing my support for the manager.
© Paul Tomkins 2008
Wasn't too sure where to put this, but as a few people seem to like Tomkins blogs and this one covers the Klinsmann affair I thought here was as good as anywhere. If you think its in the wrong place Leon just move it mate.
15th January 2008
Thank God for Newcastle United, eh? Without them, our club would be the biggest laughing stock in English football.
A three-year presence in the top four (with a game in hand on those below who share 39 points) and progress to the last 16 of the Champions League for the fourth year running, elevates the Reds way above what’s going on a St James’ Park. It hasn’t got that bad yet. Or even close.
But it doesn’t seem we can go more than a month or two without the ‘Cantona hitting the Matthew Simmons’.
You can look at Tom Hick’s statement about the courting of Jurgen Klinsmann in one of two ways. The first is that it’s a blatant attempt to force a resignation from Rafa Benítez in an act of constructive dismissal. In which case, the
really has kung-fu kicked the fan. The second is that, back in November, there was what seemed an irreparable breakdown between the two parties -- a breakdown we all knew about -- but one that has now, somehow, been repaired. Subsequently, with all the continued speculation in the media, Hicks sought to show that -- hands up, it’s a fair cop -- there was some fire behind the Klinsmann smoke, but that it wasn’t happening recently, as the press suggested, and instead took place two months ago.
Or in other words, Hicks’ actions, to quote the Ross and Rachel saga from his country’s famous sitcom, came when “we were on a break”. His roving eye was not an act of infidelity after the relationship had been patched up, but an ‘understandable’ dalliance dating back to when things were looking beyond hope. The problem is, they weren’t officially on a break at all.
I’m not sure what to believe right now; my head feels like it’s been in the tumble drier for a few hours. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt in life, and would love to believe that the true situation is the second scenario I described. But I wouldn’t blame you if you thought me bloody naive as a result.
I approached the arrival of Hicks and Gillett with an open mind, and gave them the benefit of the doubt following some impressive soundbites when taking charge, and allowing Benítez to finally sign an expensive world-class player in the summer (even if the net spend wasn’t enormous).
But now I fear they could have been empty words, and the shape of the American ownership has changed dramatically in the last few months. The new stadium has become a fiasco, but changes in the financial markets and rises in the cost of materials haven’t helped. But whether or not the stadium issues are entirely their fault or mostly in the lap of the gods, the buck (no pun intended) stops with them.
In essence, it could be seen as Hicks finally coming out and backing the manager -- but only after admitting he wavered. I can live with this version of events. But if it’s to force a constructive dismissal (or to save face having been chasing Klinsmann even up until last week) I really would be dismayed. And by talking to the press, Hicks has offered that scenario on a plate to those who’d love to make it so.
The downside present with either scenario is that the debacle is still being played out in the media, and how can that help? Killing speculation is one thing, but doing so in a way that can cause further unrest makes little sense to me. Maybe it was calculated; or perhaps it was a belated attempt at transparency that backfired.
If Gillett and Hicks were genuinely worried about Benítez walking away, then perhaps we can actually feel (a little) reassured that they were ‘on the ball’ in having a contingency plan. That’s one way of looking at it. But why would Benítez even be considering walking away? -- unhappiness at the way the club was being run is the only reason I can come up with.
And there’s also the issue of the choice of the man they were seeing behind Rafa’s back. Klinsmann recently wooed the football folk of Brazil when giving a talk on the game. The BBC’s South American correspondent, Tim Vickery, said that the German “gave a lecture which some hardened people in Brazilian football described as the best they had ever seen.”
He obviously talks a good game. But if you want to know more about the Premiership and European football, as Hicks said, why not ask someone who’s actually managed in the former, and led a team to glory in the latter?
Instead they speak to Klinsmann and Klinsmann duly impresses. Maybe he really is a genius of a coach, and it could have been the most forward-thinking appointment in the history of the sport. Who knows?
But what worries me is that you have two men who admit they don’t know the sport, going and speaking to someone who does -- fair enough -- in order to learn more, and then provisionally offering him the manager’s the job based on what? -- what he said? Is that how easy it is?
In that case it’s a good job they didn’t speak to Neil Warnock. My problem is that, if they don’t understand the sport, how could they know what Klinsmann said made such amazing sense and wasn’t a load of old nonsense he made up on the spot? -- “You need the isosceles triangle midfield, the octagonal defence-offence zone and a rhombus of skilful players tucked perpendicular to the wing.”
And where is the practical proof behind the German’s theories? Because there’s precious little in terms of a CV to refer to. Klinsmann’s claim to fame as a manager was taking a major footballing nation to the World Cup semi-finals on home soil. Even South Korea managed to do that. I’m sorry, but this would be like Liverpool playing every Champions League game at Anfield in order to make the semi-final. As it was, Benítez made two finals having to overcome those pesky away ties at places like the Nou Camp, Stamford Bridge and Stadio Delle Alpi.
Perhaps the most worrying thing was the admission that Benítez’s job really was on the line pending the Marseilles result. Two years ago Man United fell at the group stage, and they had been off the pace in the Premiership for the previous three years; but United kept faith in Ferguson. Arsene Wenger spent four years between 1998 and 2002 not winning the league (or indeed, anything) and failing fairly miserably in the Champions League. But Arsenal never chatted up someone new.
If Rafa’s job was on the line based on his European record this season, I would worry for the future of the club. Because all teams have bad seasons; the well-run clubs don’t panic. Even Everton stuck with David Moyes following two awful seasons in his first four years and European humiliation, and look at how, in his sixth season and now with stability in the boardroom, they’ve become a far better side.
It’s no wonder Rafa ‘sacrificed’ the Reading game with 30 minutes to go. And that led to making it harder in the league. But as soon as a manager is in a make-or-break, must-win situation in November, the pressure is just ramped up. The Reds pulled it out of the bag in France, but the league situation was adversely affected. And understandably so.
If his job was on the line on account of that game in Marseilles (given that the Reds were still far from out of the league title race back then), that suggests a hire-’em fire-’em attitude that just does not work in English football.
I’ve always been of the belief that Benítez is the best man for the job. It’s well known that I am a big supporter of his, and I don’t see the point in allowing him to build up such strong collection of young players, and make signings like Martin Skrtel, if his days are numbered. Maybe the Skrtel signing is proof that things really were resolved at that December meeting?
The only way I’d ever want to see Rafa replaced at any point would be because he genuinely wants to go, not because he feels unable to stay.
Anyone coming in now would get the advantage of all the groundwork Rafa has done, in constructing a world-class spine to the team, and procuring a lot of hugely promising youngsters. But unless you can find one of the very, very few men in the world with a comparable CV, then you’d be in danger of doing far more damage that good. And with every passing year the job gets harder, as the clock ticks from 18 to 19 to 20, and so on.
It’s unfair to blame Rafa for all the current lack of belief shown by the team, given the unsettling nature of what’s been going on all season long. I’m not excusing all of the bad performances and results because of it, but there seems to be an additional layer of pressure hanging over everyone right now.
I’ve always said that too much pressure, and a lack of confidence (which can strike at any time), makes players appear like they don’t care. There’s a difference between being dispirited and disinterested. And different players handle it differently: they have their own body language. Without confidence, players seem more frozen, more wooden. The body tenses up more quickly. It’s natural.
The league title is a big millstone; the only similar one was United’s in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and we all know how long it took Ferguson to remove that burden. In that sense, Benítez has handled it far, far better, if you compare their records in their first four years. That doesn’t mean Benítez will definitely win the league simply because Ferguson eventually did, just that you don’t have to prove you can win the league in the first three or four years. Some jobs take longer.
These days Chelsea, Arsenal and United don’t have the pressure of having gone two decades without the title. And they also have a core of players who have the belief that comes from winning the league. Liverpool can boast neither, not to mention far less money than two of those three clubs.
So where does that leave us? If Rafa knew about Klinsmann before this week, as some reports suggested, then that’s less of a problem. He’ll know that ‘sounding out’ goes on in football. In that case, the worst crime here is a PR gaff, where a comment has been made that has only added fuel to the fire.
If, as other reports claim, Rafa did not know of the Teutonic overtures, then that has to be a kick in the teeth, coming on the back of four successive draws. It just makes his job all the harder, but it will unite the fans behind him once again, with some wavering after a few poor performances.
But either way, it’s another messy moment in an increasingly messy affair -- one which has understandably left a lot of Reds feeling depressed, confused and bitter. There’s no point in speculating about what will happen next, as it appears that anything is possible at the moment.
Last week I managed to get tickets on the Kop for tonight’s game, so a low-key affair has turned into a very important occasion. I’ll certainly be showing my support for the manager.
© Paul Tomkins 2008
Wasn't too sure where to put this, but as a few people seem to like Tomkins blogs and this one covers the Klinsmann affair I thought here was as good as anywhere. If you think its in the wrong place Leon just move it mate.
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by Leonmc0708 » Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:58 pm
Cheers Saint - some good echo ones our kid said.
JUSTICE FOR THE 96
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Leonmc0708 - >> LFC Elite Member <<
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by zarababe » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:37 am
Nice one Leone 
Guillem Balague told Sky Sports News he finds it 'laughable' that Liverpool considered replacing Rafael Benitez with Jurgen Klinsmann
Top Spanish journalist Balague, who is a close friend of Benitez, insists the media are surprised by the way Liverpool's owners are behaving
He said: "It's fascinating because what is happening is very much unlike Liverpool and very much like a Spanish club.
"There's all this politics going on and there aren't any footballing reasons to want to get rid of Rafa Benitez.
"It seems to be something else - something to do with the chemistry with the owners.
"But from the point of view of the media, it is quite laughable that they thought of replacing him with Jurgen Klinsmann, who we don't regard as a manager of the calibre of Benitez."
Balague also feels Benitez has made good progress with the team this season, but fears the uncertainty at the top of the club is starting to affect performances on the pitch.
He continued: "I think it has been affecting the side in the last few weeks because the players read the papers and cannot stay relaxed and focused. I think that is something the club should seriously consider.
Good job
"These are things Benitez will not want to hear - especially when you think you are doing a good job.
"Liverpool have never had as many points under Benitez at this stage as they have this season.
"So there is a progression, but the problem is that all the other clubs are progressing as well. But everybody would have to agree that he is doing more than good job.
"And so for him to hear that the owners are talking to somebody else - that would frustrate anybody. I'm completely convinced he wants to continue at Liverpool and what he cannot control, he had better not get upset about."
Balague also indicated there are a number of top sides around Europe monitoring the situation and would be keen to offer Benitez a job, should he leave Anfield.
But he reckons Benitez wants to stay, despite the upheaval in recent months.
Jobs available
"I know for a fact that there are three top European clubs that would take him straight away and the national team would seriously think about it as well - although in Spain that option is usually reserved until the end of your career.
"There is no doubt there will be jobs available for Rafa Benitez, but if you read the brilliant interview in the Liverpool Echo with Tom Hicks you can see excellent work from the journalist, Tony Barrett , who got Hicks to say things that he didn't want to say.
"But at the same time you can see positives. The meeting with Klinsmann happened in November, but there have been a couple of meetings with Benitez since then and the communication has improved.
"So Liverpool might now be working as they should do - though it would be better if the owners didn't keep telling little stories about what they've done in previous months. But the communication is improving and everyone is happier than that interview would make you think."
Balague also suggested there might be an exodus of players if Benitez was to leave, but he feels star striker Fernando Torres is happy to stay at Anfield for the long term.
"I'm sure some players will feel a new manager wouldn't get the best out of them and they might take advantage of that and move on.
"They would say that if Liverpool keep changing their manager, they will not progress at the pace that everybody wants.
"But at the same time, look at the way Fernando Torres celebrates his goals, look at the way he proudly wears the shirt and gets upset when they lose or draw. I am 100 per cent convinced Torres is here to stay, as this is where he thinks he will produce his best football.
"He feels loved at Liverpool and things are working out fine. If Benitez goes, I'm sure Torres will stay."
Guillem Balague told Sky Sports News he finds it 'laughable' that Liverpool considered replacing Rafael Benitez with Jurgen Klinsmann
Top Spanish journalist Balague, who is a close friend of Benitez, insists the media are surprised by the way Liverpool's owners are behaving
He said: "It's fascinating because what is happening is very much unlike Liverpool and very much like a Spanish club.
"There's all this politics going on and there aren't any footballing reasons to want to get rid of Rafa Benitez.
"It seems to be something else - something to do with the chemistry with the owners.
"But from the point of view of the media, it is quite laughable that they thought of replacing him with Jurgen Klinsmann, who we don't regard as a manager of the calibre of Benitez."
Balague also feels Benitez has made good progress with the team this season, but fears the uncertainty at the top of the club is starting to affect performances on the pitch.
He continued: "I think it has been affecting the side in the last few weeks because the players read the papers and cannot stay relaxed and focused. I think that is something the club should seriously consider.
Good job
"These are things Benitez will not want to hear - especially when you think you are doing a good job.
"Liverpool have never had as many points under Benitez at this stage as they have this season.
"So there is a progression, but the problem is that all the other clubs are progressing as well. But everybody would have to agree that he is doing more than good job.
"And so for him to hear that the owners are talking to somebody else - that would frustrate anybody. I'm completely convinced he wants to continue at Liverpool and what he cannot control, he had better not get upset about."
Balague also indicated there are a number of top sides around Europe monitoring the situation and would be keen to offer Benitez a job, should he leave Anfield.
But he reckons Benitez wants to stay, despite the upheaval in recent months.
Jobs available
"I know for a fact that there are three top European clubs that would take him straight away and the national team would seriously think about it as well - although in Spain that option is usually reserved until the end of your career.
"There is no doubt there will be jobs available for Rafa Benitez, but if you read the brilliant interview in the Liverpool Echo with Tom Hicks you can see excellent work from the journalist, Tony Barrett , who got Hicks to say things that he didn't want to say.
"But at the same time you can see positives. The meeting with Klinsmann happened in November, but there have been a couple of meetings with Benitez since then and the communication has improved.
"So Liverpool might now be working as they should do - though it would be better if the owners didn't keep telling little stories about what they've done in previous months. But the communication is improving and everyone is happier than that interview would make you think."
Balague also suggested there might be an exodus of players if Benitez was to leave, but he feels star striker Fernando Torres is happy to stay at Anfield for the long term.
"I'm sure some players will feel a new manager wouldn't get the best out of them and they might take advantage of that and move on.
"They would say that if Liverpool keep changing their manager, they will not progress at the pace that everybody wants.
"But at the same time, look at the way Fernando Torres celebrates his goals, look at the way he proudly wears the shirt and gets upset when they lose or draw. I am 100 per cent convinced Torres is here to stay, as this is where he thinks he will produce his best football.
"He feels loved at Liverpool and things are working out fine. If Benitez goes, I'm sure Torres will stay."
Last edited by zarababe on Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
THE BRENDAN REVOLUTION IS UPON US !
KING KENNY.. Always LEGEND !
RAFA.. MADE THE PEOPLE HAPPY !
Miss YOU Phil-Drummer - RIP YNWA
KING KENNY.. Always LEGEND !
RAFA.. MADE THE PEOPLE HAPPY !
Miss YOU Phil-Drummer - RIP YNWA
-
zarababe - >> LFC Elite Member <<
- Posts: 11731
- Joined: Wed May 19, 2004 1:54 pm
- Location: London
by NANNY RED » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:39 am
Dont know if this ones been put up
Hope in your heart? Not when axe falls on Rafael Benitez
Martin Samuel
As revolutions go, the one conducted by Captain Valentine Strasser in Sierra Leone in 1992 was pretty damn funky. After he seized control from the 23-year dictatorship of the All People Congress led by Major General Joseph Momoh, Strasser intended to make the disco classic Ain’t No Stopping Us Now by McFadden and Whitehead the new national anthem.
You do that sort of thing when you are 25 and the youngest head of state in the world. It’s a bit like getting your best mate to be your deputy, which Strasser did, too. The regime lasted about four years. Strasser’s party, the National Provisional Ruling Council, proved no more adept at dealing with guerrillas from the Revolutionary United Front than the previous government and large swaths of the country, including the crucial diamond reserves, fell into enemy hands.
Strasser also developed a penchant for executing opponents – 26 of them after trial – and even though he was deposed more than a decade ago, many, including Amnesty International, want him brought to justice for alleged crimes ranging from torture to arbitrary killing. He is relatively harmless now and has more recently been found living back home with his mum. He recently claimed to have been beaten up outside a London Tube station in a racially motivated attack.
What unfolded at Liverpool these past three years has not, of course, been a revolution but a Rafalution, yet has followed much the same path. It was launched to a trumpet blast of unshakeable optimism, looked at first to have swept away the canker of a failing old regime and is surely destined to end in chaos, with blood up the walls.
Related Links
Kop and Gerrard boost Benitez
Liverpool’s lurch from champions of Europe to Hicksville, USA, is another chapter in the book called “How Not to Run a Football Club”, which started off as a slender paperback but must now stretch to the size of a full set of Encyclopaedia Britannica. It contains volumes on Leicester City, Coventry City, both Sheffield clubs, large stretches of Wales, East Anglia, South London, Kent and the South Coast, plus dear old Newcastle United, Leeds United and what remains of Luton Town. Liverpool is a tentative addition, but under the present ownership it will surely one day get a sizeable entry of its own.
The departure of Rafael BenÍtez appears no longer a matter of if, but when, his only hope of survival being that the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, beat him to the door. And if BenÍtez goes, the club goes with him. Not the name or the history; there will still be a Liverpool Football Club and they will still play in red at Anfield, in the short term at least. But the philosophy that has defined the past four seasons, the way the club has been managed, the squad that has been constructed, the methods on which a fifth European Cup win, and almost a sixth, were built, would all have to be redesigned.
Liverpool are showing what can happen if the Arsène Wenger battle plan is allowed to go off at halfcock. It is a mess and it could set the club back years.
The board at Arsenal has had two brilliant ideas in the past 12 years. The first was to appoint Wenger, the second to empower him for far longer than the average managerial lifespan. If a man is being allowed to restructure a club from the foundations up, it’s always sensible to bow to his vision, otherwise what is the point?
The key to success at Arsenal was that, having given Wenger a form of executive power that far exceeded his status as an employee, the directors did not fear that he would abuse his freedom. Wenger tore down what Arsenal was and created something new based on his philosophies. Had he been blocked at any turn it could have been disastrous. At the height of his revolution when his captain was French and all his best players were French, Manchester Untied remained in the ascendancy and there were occasional rumours that Englishmen at Arsenal felt neglected or ostracised, there must have been a small temptation to reclaim some control. There would surely have been whispers in the boardroom, fledgeling conspiracies to curtail his transfer policy, his vision of a cosmopolitan academy, to return Arsenal to its preFrancophile traditions.
If there was, it was never realised. To oppose Wenger would be to risk losing him and the directors sensibly accepted that this could precipitate a departure of half the first-team squad and the destruction of all the club had become. So the board continued to back the manager as he restructured the training ground and even allowed him a measure of control over the new stadium, although he met them halfway by agreeing to it in the first place.
And now the vision nears completion. The first team at Arsenal is still a melting pot of nationalities, but the next generation of Arsenal youth players are exciting and largely home-grown. It has taken more than a decade and even when Wenger leaves, his values will endure. It will be expected that Arsenal retain a level of creative flair; players who possess that talent will be appreciated there. He has changed the culture of a football club; more importantly, he was encouraged to do so.
A catastrophe is brewing at Liverpool because the club, having given BenÍtez his head for the best part of four seasons, is about to switch riders midway through the race. If BenÍtez is forced out now, he takes modern Liverpool with him and leaves a crumbling shell. He is the glue that keeps the club together and, without him, it will have to be rebuilt.
He has been permitted to turn Liverpool into a Spanish colony that without him will not make sense. Just as Arsenal’s squad owed its shape and character to Wenger, so a number of significant players at Liverpool would be lost without BenÍtez. Take Javier Mascherano. Does anybody seriously believe that after the laughable way he was treated at West Ham United, he would have remained a second longer in Premier League football had it not been for a coach who could communicate in his mother tongue?
A natural parting of the ways is looming and it begins the moment BenÍtez hits the road. The biggest clubs in Spain would certainly make Fernando Torres a target as well as just about any of BenÍtez’s imports from his homeland, not least Xabi Alonso, José Manuel Reina and Álvaro Arbeloa. The nucleus of Liverpool’s first team would be under threat because BenÍtez had been allowed to exercise his personality so thoroughly.
Hicks and Gillett have to appreciate what is at stake. It could be argued that the equally mesmeric José Mourinho left Chelsea and the ship sailed on, but Mourinho’s personnel were not as plainly rooted in national identity. He imported two defenders from Portugal, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho, one of whom was not always in his best team. His backroom staff were loyalists, but his assistant coach was a longstanding club servant, Steve Clarke.
Mourinho’s greatest influence was on the pitch, with his pattern of play. For all his pride in his native land, the red and green of Portugal never flew over Stamford Bridge. BenÍtez is different. He has placed Liverpool under Spanish influence, the way Wenger made Arsenal a French club according to players such as Tony Adams, and that is increasingly the modern way.
It is not just the first team at Liverpool that has been overhauled by BenÍtez. His head of scouting, Eduardo Macia, has worked hard at attracting 20 or so of the best young players from abroad to Liverpool’s academy, a mid-range investment that it was hoped would insulate the club against stagnation while the new ground was developed.
What will happen to that plan if its mastermind departs? Indeed, what was going to happen had Hicks got his man in Jürgen Klinsmann? Liverpool were still unbeaten in the Premier League when Liverpool’s owner made contact, yet would he have let the Germans take over this Spanish resort, just as an Iberian culture under BenÍtez had replaced the French influence of Gérard Houllier (in his first season, much of the dead wood removed by BenÍtez consisted of French or French-speaking players introduced by Houllier but barely used), each change beginning with the wholesale rejection of the last.
Every managerial alteration brings upheaval – Roy Hodgson at Fulham is struggling to get to grips with the weaknesses caused by the transfer policies of Lawrie Sanchez – but to lose the vital presence in a revolution as substantial as that taking place at Anfield is to risk a directionless mess.
With clubs such as Manchester City and Aston Villa at last finding their feet under capable managers in Sven-Göran Eriksson and Martin O’Neill, to have their club’s rationale inviting comparison with the military juntas of Sierra Leone is something that Liverpool’s owners can ill-afford.
Hope in your heart? Not when axe falls on Rafael Benitez
Martin Samuel
As revolutions go, the one conducted by Captain Valentine Strasser in Sierra Leone in 1992 was pretty damn funky. After he seized control from the 23-year dictatorship of the All People Congress led by Major General Joseph Momoh, Strasser intended to make the disco classic Ain’t No Stopping Us Now by McFadden and Whitehead the new national anthem.
You do that sort of thing when you are 25 and the youngest head of state in the world. It’s a bit like getting your best mate to be your deputy, which Strasser did, too. The regime lasted about four years. Strasser’s party, the National Provisional Ruling Council, proved no more adept at dealing with guerrillas from the Revolutionary United Front than the previous government and large swaths of the country, including the crucial diamond reserves, fell into enemy hands.
Strasser also developed a penchant for executing opponents – 26 of them after trial – and even though he was deposed more than a decade ago, many, including Amnesty International, want him brought to justice for alleged crimes ranging from torture to arbitrary killing. He is relatively harmless now and has more recently been found living back home with his mum. He recently claimed to have been beaten up outside a London Tube station in a racially motivated attack.
What unfolded at Liverpool these past three years has not, of course, been a revolution but a Rafalution, yet has followed much the same path. It was launched to a trumpet blast of unshakeable optimism, looked at first to have swept away the canker of a failing old regime and is surely destined to end in chaos, with blood up the walls.
Related Links
Kop and Gerrard boost Benitez
Liverpool’s lurch from champions of Europe to Hicksville, USA, is another chapter in the book called “How Not to Run a Football Club”, which started off as a slender paperback but must now stretch to the size of a full set of Encyclopaedia Britannica. It contains volumes on Leicester City, Coventry City, both Sheffield clubs, large stretches of Wales, East Anglia, South London, Kent and the South Coast, plus dear old Newcastle United, Leeds United and what remains of Luton Town. Liverpool is a tentative addition, but under the present ownership it will surely one day get a sizeable entry of its own.
The departure of Rafael BenÍtez appears no longer a matter of if, but when, his only hope of survival being that the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, beat him to the door. And if BenÍtez goes, the club goes with him. Not the name or the history; there will still be a Liverpool Football Club and they will still play in red at Anfield, in the short term at least. But the philosophy that has defined the past four seasons, the way the club has been managed, the squad that has been constructed, the methods on which a fifth European Cup win, and almost a sixth, were built, would all have to be redesigned.
Liverpool are showing what can happen if the Arsène Wenger battle plan is allowed to go off at halfcock. It is a mess and it could set the club back years.
The board at Arsenal has had two brilliant ideas in the past 12 years. The first was to appoint Wenger, the second to empower him for far longer than the average managerial lifespan. If a man is being allowed to restructure a club from the foundations up, it’s always sensible to bow to his vision, otherwise what is the point?
The key to success at Arsenal was that, having given Wenger a form of executive power that far exceeded his status as an employee, the directors did not fear that he would abuse his freedom. Wenger tore down what Arsenal was and created something new based on his philosophies. Had he been blocked at any turn it could have been disastrous. At the height of his revolution when his captain was French and all his best players were French, Manchester Untied remained in the ascendancy and there were occasional rumours that Englishmen at Arsenal felt neglected or ostracised, there must have been a small temptation to reclaim some control. There would surely have been whispers in the boardroom, fledgeling conspiracies to curtail his transfer policy, his vision of a cosmopolitan academy, to return Arsenal to its preFrancophile traditions.
If there was, it was never realised. To oppose Wenger would be to risk losing him and the directors sensibly accepted that this could precipitate a departure of half the first-team squad and the destruction of all the club had become. So the board continued to back the manager as he restructured the training ground and even allowed him a measure of control over the new stadium, although he met them halfway by agreeing to it in the first place.
And now the vision nears completion. The first team at Arsenal is still a melting pot of nationalities, but the next generation of Arsenal youth players are exciting and largely home-grown. It has taken more than a decade and even when Wenger leaves, his values will endure. It will be expected that Arsenal retain a level of creative flair; players who possess that talent will be appreciated there. He has changed the culture of a football club; more importantly, he was encouraged to do so.
A catastrophe is brewing at Liverpool because the club, having given BenÍtez his head for the best part of four seasons, is about to switch riders midway through the race. If BenÍtez is forced out now, he takes modern Liverpool with him and leaves a crumbling shell. He is the glue that keeps the club together and, without him, it will have to be rebuilt.
He has been permitted to turn Liverpool into a Spanish colony that without him will not make sense. Just as Arsenal’s squad owed its shape and character to Wenger, so a number of significant players at Liverpool would be lost without BenÍtez. Take Javier Mascherano. Does anybody seriously believe that after the laughable way he was treated at West Ham United, he would have remained a second longer in Premier League football had it not been for a coach who could communicate in his mother tongue?
A natural parting of the ways is looming and it begins the moment BenÍtez hits the road. The biggest clubs in Spain would certainly make Fernando Torres a target as well as just about any of BenÍtez’s imports from his homeland, not least Xabi Alonso, José Manuel Reina and Álvaro Arbeloa. The nucleus of Liverpool’s first team would be under threat because BenÍtez had been allowed to exercise his personality so thoroughly.
Hicks and Gillett have to appreciate what is at stake. It could be argued that the equally mesmeric José Mourinho left Chelsea and the ship sailed on, but Mourinho’s personnel were not as plainly rooted in national identity. He imported two defenders from Portugal, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho, one of whom was not always in his best team. His backroom staff were loyalists, but his assistant coach was a longstanding club servant, Steve Clarke.
Mourinho’s greatest influence was on the pitch, with his pattern of play. For all his pride in his native land, the red and green of Portugal never flew over Stamford Bridge. BenÍtez is different. He has placed Liverpool under Spanish influence, the way Wenger made Arsenal a French club according to players such as Tony Adams, and that is increasingly the modern way.
It is not just the first team at Liverpool that has been overhauled by BenÍtez. His head of scouting, Eduardo Macia, has worked hard at attracting 20 or so of the best young players from abroad to Liverpool’s academy, a mid-range investment that it was hoped would insulate the club against stagnation while the new ground was developed.
What will happen to that plan if its mastermind departs? Indeed, what was going to happen had Hicks got his man in Jürgen Klinsmann? Liverpool were still unbeaten in the Premier League when Liverpool’s owner made contact, yet would he have let the Germans take over this Spanish resort, just as an Iberian culture under BenÍtez had replaced the French influence of Gérard Houllier (in his first season, much of the dead wood removed by BenÍtez consisted of French or French-speaking players introduced by Houllier but barely used), each change beginning with the wholesale rejection of the last.
Every managerial alteration brings upheaval – Roy Hodgson at Fulham is struggling to get to grips with the weaknesses caused by the transfer policies of Lawrie Sanchez – but to lose the vital presence in a revolution as substantial as that taking place at Anfield is to risk a directionless mess.
With clubs such as Manchester City and Aston Villa at last finding their feet under capable managers in Sven-Göran Eriksson and Martin O’Neill, to have their club’s rationale inviting comparison with the military juntas of Sierra Leone is something that Liverpool’s owners can ill-afford.
HE WHO BETRAYS WILL ALWAYS WALK ALONE
-
NANNY RED - >> LFC Elite Member <<
- Posts: 13334
- Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 12:45 pm
by zarababe » Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:43 am
The legend - Kenny - the best yet !
Kenny Dalglish: Don’t hang 'magnificent servant' Rafa Benitez
Jan 15 2008 EXCLUSIVE by John Thompson, Liverpool Echo
* LISTEN to the ECHO's full exclusive interview with Kenny Dalglish http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/videos-....0351950
LIVERPOOL legend Kenny Dalglish today gave his backing to Reds manager Rafael Benitez as the controversy over his future at Anfield reached new levels.
Dalglish insisted Benitez, who has led Liverpool to two Champions League finals in three seasons, ‘did not deserve to be hanged’ for letting his frustrations get the better of him last November.
Dalglish said the backing of the fans in his hour of need was ‘the least he deserves’.
He spoke to the Echo exclusively after revelations by Reds co-owner Tom Hicks yesterday that he and George Gillett had met Jurgen Klinsmann to line him up as a potential successor to Benitez.
Dalglish spent 14 years as a player and manager at Anfield, winning three league titles and guiding the club through the dark days of the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters in the 1980s.
He said: When Rafa was flying, winning the Champions League, you would not need support - you get that automatically, don’t you?
“But when it’s not going so well, that’s when he really needs his allies to get round about him, stand beside him and help him. Because that’s the least he deserves.
“He deserves the help of a lot of people because he’s brought a lot of happiness to an awful lot of people here.
“Over the past couple of months things have not been as good as we hoped they would be.
“But this is when they need to stand up and be counted and get shoulder to shoulder with their man – and their man’s Rafa - and stand beside him.
“He needs it – he needs the help, he needs the confidence in himself.
“Support is the least he deserves for what he’s done for this football club.
“He’s moved lock, stock and barrel over here, which is easier said than done.
“He’s integrated into the Liverpool way of things. And apart from the outburst last November, he’s conducted himself admirably.
“He’s had one blemish – but that shouldn’t hang him.”
Added Dalglish: “The players need to believe in the manager again. They need to get a bit of confidence.. “Without confidence and belief in the playing area, your club is going to struggle on the pitch.”
The Scot, widely regarded as the greatest player ever to have pulled on a red shirt, said he was desperate to see an end to the continuing speculation regarding Anfield’s off-field issues.
He added: “I think it’s a disappointing phase when Liverpool Football Club, who have never washed the dirty linen in public, have contributed over past two or three months to a lot of headlines which really you had never seen before.
“I don’t know who is right and who is wrong. I don’t know the arguments or what goes on behind the scenes. But it certainly does no one any favours whatsoever.
“It affects the players, because they are looking for confidence.
“It affects the manager, because he’s looking for confidence – he doesn’t need the added pressure of this.
“And also it makes Rick Parry’s job more difficult
“ There’s always problems in your workplace but if there’s a problem you sort it out behind closed doors – you don’t sort it out publicly.
“ I thought the line had been drawn under it in November when Rafa was frustrated and came out with words that maybe he wished he had never come out with.
“But maybe his frustration got the better of him.
“I don’t know what would have caused Rafa to come out and say something like that if he didn’t have cause to say it. He must have been really frustrated about things.
“It might not have been the wisest thing to do – but you can understand his frustration.
“The man’s been a magnificent servant to Liverpool Football Club and it certainly showed in the aftermath of that in the support he had from the fans of the club.”
Dalglish said he feared the ongoing controversy was now spreading to the players.
He said: “I don’t think it’s a coincidence results haven’t been as good as everybody would have hoped.There’s a fair judgement there that would say what has happened off the pitch does affect what happens on it.
And the sooner they can kiss and make upthe better the football club will be.
“I don’t know who’s to blame. I’m not interested in who’s to blame. I don’t think anyone is interested in who’s to blame, saying it started here or it started there.
“I think the biggest interest is Liverpool Football Club.
“That’s the common denominator – and in the interests of the club I believe it would be best if it everything went back behind closed doors now.
He continued: “People have got to be more responsible about what they say publicly.
“What you say behind closed doors isn’t really that important.
“I don’t know whether there is a breakdown in communications or not and as Tom Hicks said, everything’s been resolved now.
“Well I think it might have been resolved – but coming out and saying they spoke to Jurgen Klinsmann is I think, in one way commendable, because it indicates maybe the guy’s honesty if that’s why he’s done it.
“But the other side of the coin is that they just don’t need it.
“Rafa doesn’t need it; the players don’t need the uncertainty and certainly the supporters don’t need it.
“And after the fans showed their support for Rafa the last time I would not be surprised if there was another show of support for the man at the game against Luton.
“I think fans will be very disappointed and frustrated. I don’t think they have ever had this before.
“When I was there you discussed it in private and that was it – it was finished.
“I think Rafa’s reputation was reflected in the support the punters gave him.
“Rick Parry has been there and very highly thought of as an administrator on that side and that’s no disrespect – everybody needs a good administrator and if you get one then you are lucky.
“But Tom Hicks and George Gillett, they are the ones that are new to the supporters.
“They are the ones the supporters can relate to least of all.
“So those two have got to have a look and say ‘What PR can we do?’
“What are we going to do to get back in favour with the supporters?
“Because at the moment, as this comes out, I don’t think they will exactly be flavour of the month or the favourite people at the football club.
“The sooner the football gets back on the pages and talking about how well Liverpool are playing and how great a result that was etc, then the happier everyone in Liverpool will be.
“It’s always better to see Liverpool win 4-0 rather than see they’ve been speaking to another manager for a contingency plan – that’s a certainty.
“And it’s always better to read about the football rather than issues in football. Once you start discussing issues within the football club publicly, then I think you start to get yourself some problems.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence the results haven’t been as good since Rafa’s statement. So I think it’s there – the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
“I think the results have been affected and whether it’s because of this I don’t know.
“But is it too much of a coincidence? I don’t think so.
“I think the players want to see the manager to be seen getting the support and vice versa.
“They need the confidence and belief as well in themselves. They need to trust themselves.
“They are easily good enough to be doing better than they have done.
“So don’t let’s be using it as an excuse.
“But it’s understandable if it is partly the reason.
“They’ve got plenty of ability, plenty of players.
“They just need to look in the mirror. They are still the same people and players they were and still the same players they were two or three months ago before it happened.
“So I’d say let’s just get back to two or three months before it happened. Enjoy your football, believe in your manager and I’m sure they will get the support of the fans.”
“Tom Hicks and George Gillett came to Anfield with the blessing of everyone.
“I think they made a couple of mistakes along the way but then everyone makes mistakes.
“However, I think they have got to get themselves back into the favour of the Liverpool people.
“And to get out amongst them and be a wee bit more accessible wouldn’t do them any harm at all.”
Kenny Dalglish: Don’t hang 'magnificent servant' Rafa Benitez
Jan 15 2008 EXCLUSIVE by John Thompson, Liverpool Echo
* LISTEN to the ECHO's full exclusive interview with Kenny Dalglish http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/videos-....0351950
LIVERPOOL legend Kenny Dalglish today gave his backing to Reds manager Rafael Benitez as the controversy over his future at Anfield reached new levels.
Dalglish insisted Benitez, who has led Liverpool to two Champions League finals in three seasons, ‘did not deserve to be hanged’ for letting his frustrations get the better of him last November.
Dalglish said the backing of the fans in his hour of need was ‘the least he deserves’.
He spoke to the Echo exclusively after revelations by Reds co-owner Tom Hicks yesterday that he and George Gillett had met Jurgen Klinsmann to line him up as a potential successor to Benitez.
Dalglish spent 14 years as a player and manager at Anfield, winning three league titles and guiding the club through the dark days of the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters in the 1980s.
He said: When Rafa was flying, winning the Champions League, you would not need support - you get that automatically, don’t you?
“But when it’s not going so well, that’s when he really needs his allies to get round about him, stand beside him and help him. Because that’s the least he deserves.
“He deserves the help of a lot of people because he’s brought a lot of happiness to an awful lot of people here.
“Over the past couple of months things have not been as good as we hoped they would be.
“But this is when they need to stand up and be counted and get shoulder to shoulder with their man – and their man’s Rafa - and stand beside him.
“He needs it – he needs the help, he needs the confidence in himself.
“Support is the least he deserves for what he’s done for this football club.
“He’s moved lock, stock and barrel over here, which is easier said than done.
“He’s integrated into the Liverpool way of things. And apart from the outburst last November, he’s conducted himself admirably.
“He’s had one blemish – but that shouldn’t hang him.”
Added Dalglish: “The players need to believe in the manager again. They need to get a bit of confidence.. “Without confidence and belief in the playing area, your club is going to struggle on the pitch.”
The Scot, widely regarded as the greatest player ever to have pulled on a red shirt, said he was desperate to see an end to the continuing speculation regarding Anfield’s off-field issues.
He added: “I think it’s a disappointing phase when Liverpool Football Club, who have never washed the dirty linen in public, have contributed over past two or three months to a lot of headlines which really you had never seen before.
“I don’t know who is right and who is wrong. I don’t know the arguments or what goes on behind the scenes. But it certainly does no one any favours whatsoever.
“It affects the players, because they are looking for confidence.
“It affects the manager, because he’s looking for confidence – he doesn’t need the added pressure of this.
“And also it makes Rick Parry’s job more difficult
“ There’s always problems in your workplace but if there’s a problem you sort it out behind closed doors – you don’t sort it out publicly.
“ I thought the line had been drawn under it in November when Rafa was frustrated and came out with words that maybe he wished he had never come out with.
“But maybe his frustration got the better of him.
“I don’t know what would have caused Rafa to come out and say something like that if he didn’t have cause to say it. He must have been really frustrated about things.
“It might not have been the wisest thing to do – but you can understand his frustration.
“The man’s been a magnificent servant to Liverpool Football Club and it certainly showed in the aftermath of that in the support he had from the fans of the club.”
Dalglish said he feared the ongoing controversy was now spreading to the players.
He said: “I don’t think it’s a coincidence results haven’t been as good as everybody would have hoped.There’s a fair judgement there that would say what has happened off the pitch does affect what happens on it.
And the sooner they can kiss and make upthe better the football club will be.
“I don’t know who’s to blame. I’m not interested in who’s to blame. I don’t think anyone is interested in who’s to blame, saying it started here or it started there.
“I think the biggest interest is Liverpool Football Club.
“That’s the common denominator – and in the interests of the club I believe it would be best if it everything went back behind closed doors now.
He continued: “People have got to be more responsible about what they say publicly.
“What you say behind closed doors isn’t really that important.
“I don’t know whether there is a breakdown in communications or not and as Tom Hicks said, everything’s been resolved now.
“Well I think it might have been resolved – but coming out and saying they spoke to Jurgen Klinsmann is I think, in one way commendable, because it indicates maybe the guy’s honesty if that’s why he’s done it.
“But the other side of the coin is that they just don’t need it.
“Rafa doesn’t need it; the players don’t need the uncertainty and certainly the supporters don’t need it.
“And after the fans showed their support for Rafa the last time I would not be surprised if there was another show of support for the man at the game against Luton.
“I think fans will be very disappointed and frustrated. I don’t think they have ever had this before.
“When I was there you discussed it in private and that was it – it was finished.
“I think Rafa’s reputation was reflected in the support the punters gave him.
“Rick Parry has been there and very highly thought of as an administrator on that side and that’s no disrespect – everybody needs a good administrator and if you get one then you are lucky.
“But Tom Hicks and George Gillett, they are the ones that are new to the supporters.
“They are the ones the supporters can relate to least of all.
“So those two have got to have a look and say ‘What PR can we do?’
“What are we going to do to get back in favour with the supporters?
“Because at the moment, as this comes out, I don’t think they will exactly be flavour of the month or the favourite people at the football club.
“The sooner the football gets back on the pages and talking about how well Liverpool are playing and how great a result that was etc, then the happier everyone in Liverpool will be.
“It’s always better to see Liverpool win 4-0 rather than see they’ve been speaking to another manager for a contingency plan – that’s a certainty.
“And it’s always better to read about the football rather than issues in football. Once you start discussing issues within the football club publicly, then I think you start to get yourself some problems.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence the results haven’t been as good since Rafa’s statement. So I think it’s there – the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
“I think the results have been affected and whether it’s because of this I don’t know.
“But is it too much of a coincidence? I don’t think so.
“I think the players want to see the manager to be seen getting the support and vice versa.
“They need the confidence and belief as well in themselves. They need to trust themselves.
“They are easily good enough to be doing better than they have done.
“So don’t let’s be using it as an excuse.
“But it’s understandable if it is partly the reason.
“They’ve got plenty of ability, plenty of players.
“They just need to look in the mirror. They are still the same people and players they were and still the same players they were two or three months ago before it happened.
“So I’d say let’s just get back to two or three months before it happened. Enjoy your football, believe in your manager and I’m sure they will get the support of the fans.”
“Tom Hicks and George Gillett came to Anfield with the blessing of everyone.
“I think they made a couple of mistakes along the way but then everyone makes mistakes.
“However, I think they have got to get themselves back into the favour of the Liverpool people.
“And to get out amongst them and be a wee bit more accessible wouldn’t do them any harm at all.”
THE BRENDAN REVOLUTION IS UPON US !
KING KENNY.. Always LEGEND !
RAFA.. MADE THE PEOPLE HAPPY !
Miss YOU Phil-Drummer - RIP YNWA
KING KENNY.. Always LEGEND !
RAFA.. MADE THE PEOPLE HAPPY !
Miss YOU Phil-Drummer - RIP YNWA
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zarababe - >> LFC Elite Member <<
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by BrownBomber » Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:41 am
King Kenny says it best.
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by Ciggy » Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:47 am
Tom Hicks puts block on quick sale
US business tycoon and Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks
US business tycoon and Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks
Oliver Kay the Times
The ownership crisis at Liverpool threatens to drag on after it emerged last night that Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr have rejected an initial proposal of a £300 million offer for the club from Dubai International Capital (DIC).
Hicks and Gillett are prepared to listen to offers for Liverpool less than a year after buying the club, but contrary to suggestions that another takeover is imminent, the American tycoons have already rejected the informal bid from DIC with Hicks’s approach to negotiations raising serious doubts over whether a deal can be struck. Rather than be forced into a quick sale, they plan to proceed tomorrow with a £350 million refinancing plan that will help to stabilise their regime, at least in the short term, and strengthen their bargaining position.
News of the Americans’ intransigence will unsettle Rafael Benítez, who has little chance of keeping his job as manager under the present regime, and also Liverpool supporters, who have made clear their disapproval of the owners. Many fans welcomed the Americans with open arms at the time of their takeover last February, but there will be angry demonstrations against them when Liverpool take on Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League in front of the television cameras this evening.
Liverpool will wait to see what effect the Americans’ refinancing plan and their apparent intransigence has on DIC, which is regarded by many at Anfield as potential “saviours” of the club. There is a widespread feeling at all levels of the club that it was a serious mistake to sell to Hicks and Gillett last February and there is concern that DIC, the private-equity investment arm of the Dubai Government, could be priced out of the bidding for a second time because of an unrealistic valuation placed on the club by the owners. That valuation of Liverpool is based on a belief that the club will be worth almost £1 billion once the new 70,000-capacity stadium is built.
Responding to reports that he had agreed a deal to sell the club to DIC, Hicks issued a statement last night. “I have not received any offer to purchase the club from DIC or anyone else, much less accepted any offer,” he said. “Nor do I have any intention of doing so. Whoever is behind this false report, the facts are that I and my family remain fully committed to co-owning the club, that no one in my family has ever indicated any intention or desire to sell our stake in the club and that we expect and intend . . . to actively and enthusiastically support the club’s manager, players and fans for many years to come.”
The picture painted by Hicks’s statement is unrealistic, with sources in his camp indicating that informal negotiations are taking place with DIC. There have been many conversations between the two parties for the past fortnight, most recently on Saturday, but DIC is understood to be concerned by Hicks’s approach, sensing that the Texan has no intention of selling unless he and Gillett make a huge profit. Their initial proposal — not a formal offer — was dismissed out of hand, with the parties poles apart in their valuation of the club.
After Everton’s 2-1 victory away to Wigan Athletic and Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with West Ham United yesterday, Liverpool lie sixth in the table before tonight’s match against Villa. The Midlands club are also under American ownership, but Martin O’Neill, their manager, has only praise for Randy Lerner, the Villa owner.
“Villa is not a plaything and he is really genuine about this club, as you can see from the things that are going on,” O’Neill said.”
US business tycoon and Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks
US business tycoon and Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks
Oliver Kay the Times
The ownership crisis at Liverpool threatens to drag on after it emerged last night that Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr have rejected an initial proposal of a £300 million offer for the club from Dubai International Capital (DIC).
Hicks and Gillett are prepared to listen to offers for Liverpool less than a year after buying the club, but contrary to suggestions that another takeover is imminent, the American tycoons have already rejected the informal bid from DIC with Hicks’s approach to negotiations raising serious doubts over whether a deal can be struck. Rather than be forced into a quick sale, they plan to proceed tomorrow with a £350 million refinancing plan that will help to stabilise their regime, at least in the short term, and strengthen their bargaining position.
News of the Americans’ intransigence will unsettle Rafael Benítez, who has little chance of keeping his job as manager under the present regime, and also Liverpool supporters, who have made clear their disapproval of the owners. Many fans welcomed the Americans with open arms at the time of their takeover last February, but there will be angry demonstrations against them when Liverpool take on Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League in front of the television cameras this evening.
Liverpool will wait to see what effect the Americans’ refinancing plan and their apparent intransigence has on DIC, which is regarded by many at Anfield as potential “saviours” of the club. There is a widespread feeling at all levels of the club that it was a serious mistake to sell to Hicks and Gillett last February and there is concern that DIC, the private-equity investment arm of the Dubai Government, could be priced out of the bidding for a second time because of an unrealistic valuation placed on the club by the owners. That valuation of Liverpool is based on a belief that the club will be worth almost £1 billion once the new 70,000-capacity stadium is built.
Responding to reports that he had agreed a deal to sell the club to DIC, Hicks issued a statement last night. “I have not received any offer to purchase the club from DIC or anyone else, much less accepted any offer,” he said. “Nor do I have any intention of doing so. Whoever is behind this false report, the facts are that I and my family remain fully committed to co-owning the club, that no one in my family has ever indicated any intention or desire to sell our stake in the club and that we expect and intend . . . to actively and enthusiastically support the club’s manager, players and fans for many years to come.”
The picture painted by Hicks’s statement is unrealistic, with sources in his camp indicating that informal negotiations are taking place with DIC. There have been many conversations between the two parties for the past fortnight, most recently on Saturday, but DIC is understood to be concerned by Hicks’s approach, sensing that the Texan has no intention of selling unless he and Gillett make a huge profit. Their initial proposal — not a formal offer — was dismissed out of hand, with the parties poles apart in their valuation of the club.
After Everton’s 2-1 victory away to Wigan Athletic and Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with West Ham United yesterday, Liverpool lie sixth in the table before tonight’s match against Villa. The Midlands club are also under American ownership, but Martin O’Neill, their manager, has only praise for Randy Lerner, the Villa owner.
“Villa is not a plaything and he is really genuine about this club, as you can see from the things that are going on,” O’Neill said.”
There is no-one anywhere in the world at any stage who is any bigger or any better than this football club.
Kenny Dalglish 1/2/2011
REST IN PEACE PHIL, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
Kenny Dalglish 1/2/2011
REST IN PEACE PHIL, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
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Ciggy - >> LFC Elite Member <<
- Posts: 26826
- Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:36 pm
by stmichael » Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:44 pm
excellent atricle from the independent:
Rafa revolts
By seeing through the bluster of the club's new owners, writes Dion Fanning, Rafael Benitez could be Liverpool's real saviour
Sunday January 20 2008
It was a good week for Rafael Benitez. And, as a result, it was a good week for Liverpool Football Club. Last week, Rafael Benitez's warnings about the men who employ him and run the club were, at least partly, grasped by all.
Benitez has been misjudged, underestimated and written off by many who shape opinion on English football. He doesn't play the media game, but he understands it. Last week, the football world recognised what Benitez was the first to comprehend about Tom Hicks and George Gillett: that they posed a serious threat to his desire to manage a football club properly and, as a result, they threatened the existence of the club as it has been run for 50 years.
Benitez avoids bullsh#t: he doesn't indulge in it and he is not influenced by it. Last May after Liverpool lost a European Cup final they would have won if he had been allowed to sign the players he had identified the previous summer, Benitez called on the new owners to act. "We talk and talk but we never finish," Benitez, downcast and depressed, remarked in Athens. Tom Hicks' private response was swift: he wanted to fire the manager.
It was the first sign of American edginess. Benitez had strayed a little too close to the truth. In TV interviews before the final, Gillett and Hicks appeared consummate PR men. Gillett produced some dollars, then some euros to illustrate his point that they would be backing the manager. When the manager looked for more than the few quid in their pocket, they wanted him sacked.
Last November, Benitez's private frustrations turned to a public explosion when he responded to a private message from Hicks and Gillett by stating publicly that he was "concentrating on coaching and training the team". Hicks would later refer to it as a pout. Friends of Benitez had warned before the manager's outburst that Benitez was "going to send a message to the world".
The world has taken some time understanding it but last week they finally did. The Liverpool Echo's Tony Barrett, in the interview which revealed the plan to appoint Jurgen Klinsmann, managed to expose the thinking of Tom Hicks and perhaps saved the club from itself or at least its owners. Benitez was wise to them last year when they refused to consider signing Kaka Kaladze and told him to concentrate on coaching. They weren't losing confidence in a manager; they were struggling to find money. If they stay and Benitez goes, there is no evidence that any successor, even Jose Mourinho, will have more money. Liverpool will be an impoverished Newcastle United and that's very poor indeed.
Last week Mark Lawrenson wrote that when Benitez gently chided the Americans for their lack of knowledge of the European transfer market, he did not go far enough. Lawrenson suggested he could have said they know nothing about football.
Hicks' comments were a stunning abandonment of the traditions he had promised to uphold. They were also self-serving and cunning. The only reason Hicks and Gillett were meeting Klinsmann last November was not, as Hicks suggested, because they were frightened Benitez would leave but because they wanted to fire him. And the only reason they wanted to fire him was because Benitez had rumbled them: they had no money and their plans for the club were dangerous.
There had been warning signs. In an interview with the American press, Hicks remarked that against Manchester United in December, Liverpool had "played tight". They did not, he claimed, play like they believed they could win. Either he had learned fast or someone was in his ear. Either way, it told of an owner thinking he knew more than he did.
The feud between Benitez and Hicks has been compared to the situation at Tottenham when the club lost faith with a manager but this is a different narrative and a different club. The distinction is not that Martin Jol won nothing while Benitez has claimed the European and FA Cups. Hicks and Gillett have abandoned Liverpool's values and they have no plan B. If their ideas for saddling the club with debt are approved and they move on to dismiss the manager in May, as Benitez expects them to do, then the club itself will be in jeopardy and a manager will be just a patsy.
Benitez is the son of a Madrid hotel owner and as a child he presumably spent many hours watching guests drawn from the business community talking. Hicks and Gillett are a new kind of businessmen, but an old-fashioned type of speculator. They are rich guys with no money who have provided one service during their 12 months in England and that is to offer an illustration of how capitalism works in the 21st century. They may soon depart with a profit of between £75m and £150m for their paper investment. Rich pickings.
But the sale of at least Hicks' share is essential if Liverpool are to survive and, if they do go, the club have Benitez to thank for exposing, firstly in May and again in November, that these were men with neither the money nor the ambition for the club he manages.
Tomorrow evening, there will be the most public display of disaffection yet from Liverpool supporters. Last November, they marched to support Benitez, now they will voice their opposition to the owners. The supporters have decided they too must adjust to the new world. Liverpool fans have always signed up to the belief that things are done "in-house". Managers were rarely booed; dissatisfaction with the board was usually kept quiet. But they too have changed.
A senior Liverpool figure during their days as England's pre-eminent club surveyed the mess last week and ruefully commented, "How can they do business like that?" Now the 'Reclaim the Kop' group is planning mass protest with chants directed at the owners and Foster Gillett, George's son, who is supposed to be the Americans' presence at the club.
Rick Parry and David Moores had the bright idea to appoint co-managers in 1998 when they gave Gerard Houllier (a man so well versed in that he could work for Hicks) and Roy Evans joint authority. Nine years on, they promoted even more dangerous lunacy when they let DIC drift out of the picture. Instead, Moores agreed to sell the club to Hicks and Gillett and Parry pushed the deal. At the time a former player, hugely respected at Anfield, was moved to ask the simple question: "How can there be two owners?"
Gillett may this week look for another partner or he may agree to back Hicks in a refinancing deal which places enormous debt on Liverpool -- something they promised not to do when they took over. If DIC come in, they will be treated as saviours, a role they were not necessarily cast in when they first agreed a deal to buy the club and their long-term commitment was questioned.
Now they are all Liverpool have got. Benitez and Parry are said to have put their differences behind them and both are united in opposing the plans of Hicks and the determination to place the debt on the club. These men who arrived eager and bright-eyed, who talked about the club's heritage and promised to learn the values of the institution they were buying and respect it, are now displaying their ignorance.
Liverpool handed over their club to men who knew nothing about football and knew a lot about bluff and bluster. Benitez realised their new frontier was a mirage in the desert. He did what he had to do. His future and the future of the club is now beyond his control.
This, it must be repeated, is not a story of a chairman losing faith in a manager. This is not Tottenham Hotspur or Chelsea. This is a manager losing faith with his owners, seeing through their promises, their false starts and computer-generated images. When the history of these days is written, last week may be viewed as the real Rafa-lution.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/rafa-revolts-1269774.html
Rafa revolts
By seeing through the bluster of the club's new owners, writes Dion Fanning, Rafael Benitez could be Liverpool's real saviour
Sunday January 20 2008
It was a good week for Rafael Benitez. And, as a result, it was a good week for Liverpool Football Club. Last week, Rafael Benitez's warnings about the men who employ him and run the club were, at least partly, grasped by all.
Benitez has been misjudged, underestimated and written off by many who shape opinion on English football. He doesn't play the media game, but he understands it. Last week, the football world recognised what Benitez was the first to comprehend about Tom Hicks and George Gillett: that they posed a serious threat to his desire to manage a football club properly and, as a result, they threatened the existence of the club as it has been run for 50 years.
Benitez avoids bullsh#t: he doesn't indulge in it and he is not influenced by it. Last May after Liverpool lost a European Cup final they would have won if he had been allowed to sign the players he had identified the previous summer, Benitez called on the new owners to act. "We talk and talk but we never finish," Benitez, downcast and depressed, remarked in Athens. Tom Hicks' private response was swift: he wanted to fire the manager.
It was the first sign of American edginess. Benitez had strayed a little too close to the truth. In TV interviews before the final, Gillett and Hicks appeared consummate PR men. Gillett produced some dollars, then some euros to illustrate his point that they would be backing the manager. When the manager looked for more than the few quid in their pocket, they wanted him sacked.
Last November, Benitez's private frustrations turned to a public explosion when he responded to a private message from Hicks and Gillett by stating publicly that he was "concentrating on coaching and training the team". Hicks would later refer to it as a pout. Friends of Benitez had warned before the manager's outburst that Benitez was "going to send a message to the world".
The world has taken some time understanding it but last week they finally did. The Liverpool Echo's Tony Barrett, in the interview which revealed the plan to appoint Jurgen Klinsmann, managed to expose the thinking of Tom Hicks and perhaps saved the club from itself or at least its owners. Benitez was wise to them last year when they refused to consider signing Kaka Kaladze and told him to concentrate on coaching. They weren't losing confidence in a manager; they were struggling to find money. If they stay and Benitez goes, there is no evidence that any successor, even Jose Mourinho, will have more money. Liverpool will be an impoverished Newcastle United and that's very poor indeed.
Last week Mark Lawrenson wrote that when Benitez gently chided the Americans for their lack of knowledge of the European transfer market, he did not go far enough. Lawrenson suggested he could have said they know nothing about football.
Hicks' comments were a stunning abandonment of the traditions he had promised to uphold. They were also self-serving and cunning. The only reason Hicks and Gillett were meeting Klinsmann last November was not, as Hicks suggested, because they were frightened Benitez would leave but because they wanted to fire him. And the only reason they wanted to fire him was because Benitez had rumbled them: they had no money and their plans for the club were dangerous.
There had been warning signs. In an interview with the American press, Hicks remarked that against Manchester United in December, Liverpool had "played tight". They did not, he claimed, play like they believed they could win. Either he had learned fast or someone was in his ear. Either way, it told of an owner thinking he knew more than he did.
The feud between Benitez and Hicks has been compared to the situation at Tottenham when the club lost faith with a manager but this is a different narrative and a different club. The distinction is not that Martin Jol won nothing while Benitez has claimed the European and FA Cups. Hicks and Gillett have abandoned Liverpool's values and they have no plan B. If their ideas for saddling the club with debt are approved and they move on to dismiss the manager in May, as Benitez expects them to do, then the club itself will be in jeopardy and a manager will be just a patsy.
Benitez is the son of a Madrid hotel owner and as a child he presumably spent many hours watching guests drawn from the business community talking
. Hicks and Gillett are a new kind of businessmen, but an old-fashioned type of speculator. They are rich guys with no money who have provided one service during their 12 months in England and that is to offer an illustration of how capitalism works in the 21st century. They may soon depart with a profit of between £75m and £150m for their paper investment. Rich pickings.But the sale of at least Hicks' share is essential if Liverpool are to survive and, if they do go, the club have Benitez to thank for exposing, firstly in May and again in November, that these were men with neither the money nor the ambition for the club he manages.
Tomorrow evening, there will be the most public display of disaffection yet from Liverpool supporters. Last November, they marched to support Benitez, now they will voice their opposition to the owners. The supporters have decided they too must adjust to the new world. Liverpool fans have always signed up to the belief that things are done "in-house". Managers were rarely booed; dissatisfaction with the board was usually kept quiet. But they too have changed.
A senior Liverpool figure during their days as England's pre-eminent club surveyed the mess last week and ruefully commented, "How can they do business like that?" Now the 'Reclaim the Kop' group is planning mass protest with chants directed at the owners and Foster Gillett, George's son, who is supposed to be the Americans' presence at the club.
Rick Parry and David Moores had the bright idea to appoint co-managers in 1998 when they gave Gerard Houllier (a man so well versed in
that he could work for Hicks) and Roy Evans joint authority. Nine years on, they promoted even more dangerous lunacy when they let DIC drift out of the picture. Instead, Moores agreed to sell the club to Hicks and Gillett and Parry pushed the deal. At the time a former player, hugely respected at Anfield, was moved to ask the simple question: "How can there be two owners?"Gillett may this week look for another partner or he may agree to back Hicks in a refinancing deal which places enormous debt on Liverpool -- something they promised not to do when they took over. If DIC come in, they will be treated as saviours, a role they were not necessarily cast in when they first agreed a deal to buy the club and their long-term commitment was questioned.
Now they are all Liverpool have got. Benitez and Parry are said to have put their differences behind them and both are united in opposing the plans of Hicks and the determination to place the debt on the club. These men who arrived eager and bright-eyed, who talked about the club's heritage and promised to learn the values of the institution they were buying and respect it, are now displaying their ignorance.
Liverpool handed over their club to men who knew nothing about football and knew a lot about bluff and bluster. Benitez realised their new frontier was a mirage in the desert. He did what he had to do. His future and the future of the club is now beyond his control.
This, it must be repeated, is not a story of a chairman losing faith in a manager. This is not Tottenham Hotspur or Chelsea. This is a manager losing faith with his owners, seeing through their promises, their false starts and computer-generated images. When the history of these days is written, last week may be viewed as the real Rafa-lution.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/rafa-revolts-1269774.html
Last edited by stmichael on Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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stmichael - Forum Moderator
- Posts: 22644
- Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:06 pm
- Location: Middlesbrough
by woof woof ! » Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:00 pm
Tom Hicks stands firm - but Liverpool fans set to deliver their verdict
Jan 21 2008 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo
GIVEN recent events at Anfield, it surely can’t be long before a banner is hung on the Gwladys Street bearing the legend: “Agents Hicks and Gillett, Mission Accomplished”.
From being the club which was so well run it was compared to a machine, Liverpool today finds itself in the unlikely role of national laughing stock – and with good reason.
In the latest twist to the ongoing farce, Tom Hicks has insisted that the keys to Anfield which he was given by outgoing Reds chairman David Moores last year will not be handed over to Dubai International Capital.
“I’ve not received any offer to purchase the club from DIC or anyone else, much less accepted any such offer,” he said.
“Nor do I have any intention of doing so,”
DIC clearly think differently and are hovering with an offer of around £350m.
Despite his protestations, there are those who know him well who believe Hicks is merely playing hard ball with the investment arm of the Dubai government to try and force them into paying over the odds for Liverpool.
The only problem is, DIC simply do not operate like that.
If Liverpool FC exists to win trophies, then DIC exists to make profits and you don’t get rich by being held to ransom.
Stalemate is therefore a distinct possibility – that is unless George Gillett refuses to sign up to a financial restructuring deal which will overnight turn Liverpool into a club with one of the biggest debts in world football.
If he refuses to sign up this week then DIC’s bargaining position is strengthened as it is now less than six weeks before Hicks and Gillett have to pay back their initial loan.
When they bought the club in February last year, Hicks and Gillett borrowed £220m from the Royal Bank of Scotland to make it happen.
That personal debt currently stands at £270 and the American duo are now looking at shifting the debt onto the club with a financial restructuring deal worth £350m from RBS set to be done this week – unless DIC’s interest is made concrete and an offer from them is accepted.
DIC officials were today meeting senior executives from RBS in London, talks which are likely to be the precursor to a formal bid of around £350m for Liverpool.
Should refinancing go through as planned then it is still unlikely that DIC will walk away – but any future offer for the club would be lowered to take into account the extra debt and banking fees they would have to take on.
Hicks remains adamant – in public, at least – he will not sell at any price and his stance has only served to inflame tensions between himself and the Liverpool supporters. Not since the days when “Deadly” Doug Ellis was seen as the scourge of Aston Villa has a Premiership club owner been as reviled by the fans as Hicks is today.
Almost a year on from having the red carpet rolled out for him at Anfield, the Texan will tonight to see the Kop attempt to pull the rug from beneath him in an unprecedented demonstration against the Liverpool hierarchy.
By picking a fight with Rafa Benitez – the most popular Liverpool manager since Kenny Dalglish – Hicks has totally alienated the Reds support which will use tonight’s league game against Aston Villa as the vehicle for their discontent.
How ironic that just six months ago Hicks was talking of his visions of the Kop at the long planned, but still not delivered, new Anfield as the orchestra to whose tune the team would play.
Tonight, the Kop will be playing a tune. But far from being sweet, the music will be angry and it will be directed at him and his co-owner, who has remained strangely silent given the firestorm which is raging around him.
“The fans want them out, unconditionally,” said Kevin Sampson, of Reclaim The Kop. “It's as simple as that. “They’re no good for us; no good for the club.
“As the world is seeing it right now, Liverpool is the most welcoming city and its people are the most generous hosts you're going to find anywhere.
“But cross us, and that's that. We're enemies, for life. Ask Mackenzie. Ask Thatcher. Ask Boris The Buffoon.
“These two tried to capitalise on our good will and our unswerving love for this club. But they underestimated us badly, and badly underestimated our love for Rafa.
“The moment they confirmed our worst misgivings and admitted they'd been plotting to oust Benitez, they may as well have started saddling the horses.
“That's it. They are finished here. The fans despise them as passionately as we hate any football rival – in fact, at the moment, it's worse.
“Not that they've shown much nous, but if they have a shred of common sense they'll take the DIC money and gallop out of town.”
In the previous 113 years of its existence, Liverpool FC had never been subject to a single demonstration by its fans.
In the last eight months alone there have been three – all of which have occurred while Hicks and Gillett have acted as self-styled club “custodians”.
The first, a display of outrage over farcical ticketing arrangements for the Champions League final in Athens, was anything but their fault and no-one was suggesting it was, either, at the time or since.
But the following two demonstrations – the “Save Rafa” march prior to the Porto match in November and tonight’s – undoubtedly have their roots in public disquiet about the way one of sport’s finest institutions is being run.
In an article in yesterday’s Irish Independent, Leeds United legend Johnny Giles lamented the recent demise of a club he respects unequivocally and spoke of his fear that Liverpool could end up heading down the same road to ruin as his former club.
He said: “It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a club can go from rude health to perpetual crisis, but at no time before now did I ever imagine I would be talking about Liverpool in such terms.
“For so long, Anfield was an antidote to the crass stupidity we witness at many clubs on a daily basis – certainty in an environment that often leans towards chaos.
“But it doesn't take much to lose the work built up over decades. Success at a club is such a fleeting and fragile thing if you don't continue relentlessly to do the basics right from the chairman down to the tea lady.
“This is a sad time for Liverpool and for all of us who looked to Anfield as one of the last remaining outposts of common sense and decency.”
Sympathy is the one thing that Liverpool has never sought before. But today, that is exactly what it is getting.
But if something is not done fast then such sympathy will soon turn to ridicule.
The Kop will speak tonight and it will speak as one. It can only hope that Hicks and Gillett – and DIC for that matter – are listening.
Jan 21 2008 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo
GIVEN recent events at Anfield, it surely can’t be long before a banner is hung on the Gwladys Street bearing the legend: “Agents Hicks and Gillett, Mission Accomplished”.
From being the club which was so well run it was compared to a machine, Liverpool today finds itself in the unlikely role of national laughing stock – and with good reason.
In the latest twist to the ongoing farce, Tom Hicks has insisted that the keys to Anfield which he was given by outgoing Reds chairman David Moores last year will not be handed over to Dubai International Capital.
“I’ve not received any offer to purchase the club from DIC or anyone else, much less accepted any such offer,” he said.
“Nor do I have any intention of doing so,”
DIC clearly think differently and are hovering with an offer of around £350m.
Despite his protestations, there are those who know him well who believe Hicks is merely playing hard ball with the investment arm of the Dubai government to try and force them into paying over the odds for Liverpool.
The only problem is, DIC simply do not operate like that.
If Liverpool FC exists to win trophies, then DIC exists to make profits and you don’t get rich by being held to ransom.
Stalemate is therefore a distinct possibility – that is unless George Gillett refuses to sign up to a financial restructuring deal which will overnight turn Liverpool into a club with one of the biggest debts in world football.
If he refuses to sign up this week then DIC’s bargaining position is strengthened as it is now less than six weeks before Hicks and Gillett have to pay back their initial loan.
When they bought the club in February last year, Hicks and Gillett borrowed £220m from the Royal Bank of Scotland to make it happen.
That personal debt currently stands at £270 and the American duo are now looking at shifting the debt onto the club with a financial restructuring deal worth £350m from RBS set to be done this week – unless DIC’s interest is made concrete and an offer from them is accepted.
DIC officials were today meeting senior executives from RBS in London, talks which are likely to be the precursor to a formal bid of around £350m for Liverpool.
Should refinancing go through as planned then it is still unlikely that DIC will walk away – but any future offer for the club would be lowered to take into account the extra debt and banking fees they would have to take on.
Hicks remains adamant – in public, at least – he will not sell at any price and his stance has only served to inflame tensions between himself and the Liverpool supporters. Not since the days when “Deadly” Doug Ellis was seen as the scourge of Aston Villa has a Premiership club owner been as reviled by the fans as Hicks is today.
Almost a year on from having the red carpet rolled out for him at Anfield, the Texan will tonight to see the Kop attempt to pull the rug from beneath him in an unprecedented demonstration against the Liverpool hierarchy.
By picking a fight with Rafa Benitez – the most popular Liverpool manager since Kenny Dalglish – Hicks has totally alienated the Reds support which will use tonight’s league game against Aston Villa as the vehicle for their discontent.
How ironic that just six months ago Hicks was talking of his visions of the Kop at the long planned, but still not delivered, new Anfield as the orchestra to whose tune the team would play.
Tonight, the Kop will be playing a tune. But far from being sweet, the music will be angry and it will be directed at him and his co-owner, who has remained strangely silent given the firestorm which is raging around him.
“The fans want them out, unconditionally,” said Kevin Sampson, of Reclaim The Kop. “It's as simple as that. “They’re no good for us; no good for the club.
“As the world is seeing it right now, Liverpool is the most welcoming city and its people are the most generous hosts you're going to find anywhere.
“But cross us, and that's that. We're enemies, for life. Ask Mackenzie. Ask Thatcher. Ask Boris The Buffoon.
“These two tried to capitalise on our good will and our unswerving love for this club. But they underestimated us badly, and badly underestimated our love for Rafa.
“The moment they confirmed our worst misgivings and admitted they'd been plotting to oust Benitez, they may as well have started saddling the horses.
“That's it. They are finished here. The fans despise them as passionately as we hate any football rival – in fact, at the moment, it's worse.
“Not that they've shown much nous, but if they have a shred of common sense they'll take the DIC money and gallop out of town.”
In the previous 113 years of its existence, Liverpool FC had never been subject to a single demonstration by its fans.
In the last eight months alone there have been three – all of which have occurred while Hicks and Gillett have acted as self-styled club “custodians”.
The first, a display of outrage over farcical ticketing arrangements for the Champions League final in Athens, was anything but their fault and no-one was suggesting it was, either, at the time or since.
But the following two demonstrations – the “Save Rafa” march prior to the Porto match in November and tonight’s – undoubtedly have their roots in public disquiet about the way one of sport’s finest institutions is being run.
In an article in yesterday’s Irish Independent, Leeds United legend Johnny Giles lamented the recent demise of a club he respects unequivocally and spoke of his fear that Liverpool could end up heading down the same road to ruin as his former club.
He said: “It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a club can go from rude health to perpetual crisis, but at no time before now did I ever imagine I would be talking about Liverpool in such terms.
“For so long, Anfield was an antidote to the crass stupidity we witness at many clubs on a daily basis – certainty in an environment that often leans towards chaos.
“But it doesn't take much to lose the work built up over decades. Success at a club is such a fleeting and fragile thing if you don't continue relentlessly to do the basics right from the chairman down to the tea lady.
“This is a sad time for Liverpool and for all of us who looked to Anfield as one of the last remaining outposts of common sense and decency.”
Sympathy is the one thing that Liverpool has never sought before. But today, that is exactly what it is getting.
But if something is not done fast then such sympathy will soon turn to ridicule.
The Kop will speak tonight and it will speak as one. It can only hope that Hicks and Gillett – and DIC for that matter – are listening.
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by Ciggy » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:30 pm
Superb article from the Echo.
Time to end this desperate crisis
Jan 21 2008 by John Thompson, Liverpool Echo
THE roar of the Kop has been heard all over Britain and Europe. Tonight, an attempt will be made to send it right across the Atlantic Ocean.
Liverpool fans are in a state of fury and dismay, convinced their world famous club is enduring the biggest crisis in its modern history.
And who can argue they are wrong?
A marriage that everyone hoped was made in heaven has spiralled into a nightmare captured in barely believable headlines, one played out amid a climate of deep distrust.
There is no doubt today that the majority of match-going supporters – surely still the most important people at any football club – believe the American dream is for them over and beyond repair.
And tonight at the game against Aston Villa they are set to call on Tom Hicks and George Gillett to do the decent thing – and grant them and their club the quickie divorce that many now believe offers the most dignified, possibly the only honourable route out of here for all sides.
Hicks and Gillett may see it differently and believe this fractured marriage can be repaired. Particularly if they really are intent on keeping the house.
They own it – and this is up to them.
They are hugely successful business partners who made a first class first impression when they bought Liverpool almost a year ago. They were appropriately welcomed with open arms by an Anfield faithful yearning for more success.
But stadium delays and confusion, alleged personal rifts, claims of imminent broken promises which will load all their personal debt onto the club, and a series of unsightly public rows with a driven manager whom most supporters still love and believe in, have rocked Anfield to its core.
This is not the Liverpool way.
And for the sake of a club which someone outside Merseyside recently described as ‘a national treasure’, it just cannot go on like this any longer. Particularly when a rejected suitor is waiting on the sidelines with a genuine offer which Liverpool fans are praying Tom and George cannot and will not now refuse.
An SOS sign was hung out on the Kop last week to Dubai International Capital.
It will be there again tonight, but will not be walking alone in its display this time.
Liverpool fans may know as little about the Dubaians as they did the Americans.
But the sure truth is the Dubaians have never fallen out of love with the idea of owning Liverpool, even though the long – possibly overly long – initial engagement was broken off suddenly amid acrimony, as pre-wedding nerves on both sides became tested.
Their interest in securing a deal at Anfield has never dwindled, not least because they are convinced the American re-financingŠnumbers simply do not crunch going forward and put Anfield in even more jeopardy, even more harm’s way.
It is not just the supporters and other experienced experts who care about the club who believe there is a real risk of Liverpool emulating Leeds United – possibly worse.
When there is, it seems, a genuine prospect of the Royal Bank of Scotland claiming default on the current mortgage and re-possessing the property, who can blame them?
There is no doubt Liverpool fans are anxious to see the Dubaians allowed in to rescue their club from this situation. And if there is any doubt, the odds are it will vanish this evening with a clarion call to DIC spilling from the Kop.
It no longer matters how Britain’s most successful football club got here. Right now it doesn’t matter who is to blame and how.
All that matters is that a truly great European football club and its lost, bewildered and angry supporters, get out of here. And fast.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett, are deeply committed family men who for all their wealth and hard-headed business brains surely understand that family ultimately comes first.
Particularly when that family feel and culture is actually a crucial part of their business asset, as much as it is an emotional reality.
The Kop is real currency – and losing it will cost in dollars, as well as in damaged eardrums.
For that simple reason, the co-owners must today do what they know is right in their hearts as much as their heads for a club steeped in that family tradition. One in which Kopites here have invested their lives, not just their hard-earned money.
If the Americans sincerely believe they can somehow get Liverpool out of this crisis and repair the damage then maybe, just maybe, they can risk taking that chance.
But the supporters at Anfield, many genuinely sick to their stomachs with worry, may now never be convinced, so serious is the collateral damage and loss of trust all round.
If Hicks and Gillett deep down accept that it just hasn’t worked out and that no amount of counselling can help, it is to be hoped they, or one of them, will sell their share to the Dubaians and walk away with no hard feelings either way.
Liverpool’s first business love is today waiting in the wings. She won’t go away and it’s clear the majority of the fans don’t want her to – though if there is to be a second marriage it might be worth hiring a Philadelphia lawyer to draw up the pre-nuptial contract.
But that, if ever, is for another day.
Liverpool Football Club and it’s wonderful, devoted supporters have suffered enough.
However it happens, every fair-minded and honourable man will surely agree it is high-time this desperate crisis was swiftly brought to a dignified end.
Time to end this desperate crisis
Jan 21 2008 by John Thompson, Liverpool Echo
THE roar of the Kop has been heard all over Britain and Europe. Tonight, an attempt will be made to send it right across the Atlantic Ocean.
Liverpool fans are in a state of fury and dismay, convinced their world famous club is enduring the biggest crisis in its modern history.
And who can argue they are wrong?
A marriage that everyone hoped was made in heaven has spiralled into a nightmare captured in barely believable headlines, one played out amid a climate of deep distrust.
There is no doubt today that the majority of match-going supporters – surely still the most important people at any football club – believe the American dream is for them over and beyond repair.
And tonight at the game against Aston Villa they are set to call on Tom Hicks and George Gillett to do the decent thing – and grant them and their club the quickie divorce that many now believe offers the most dignified, possibly the only honourable route out of here for all sides.
Hicks and Gillett may see it differently and believe this fractured marriage can be repaired. Particularly if they really are intent on keeping the house.
They own it – and this is up to them.
They are hugely successful business partners who made a first class first impression when they bought Liverpool almost a year ago. They were appropriately welcomed with open arms by an Anfield faithful yearning for more success.
But stadium delays and confusion, alleged personal rifts, claims of imminent broken promises which will load all their personal debt onto the club, and a series of unsightly public rows with a driven manager whom most supporters still love and believe in, have rocked Anfield to its core.
This is not the Liverpool way.
And for the sake of a club which someone outside Merseyside recently described as ‘a national treasure’, it just cannot go on like this any longer. Particularly when a rejected suitor is waiting on the sidelines with a genuine offer which Liverpool fans are praying Tom and George cannot and will not now refuse.
An SOS sign was hung out on the Kop last week to Dubai International Capital.
It will be there again tonight, but will not be walking alone in its display this time.
Liverpool fans may know as little about the Dubaians as they did the Americans.
But the sure truth is the Dubaians have never fallen out of love with the idea of owning Liverpool, even though the long – possibly overly long – initial engagement was broken off suddenly amid acrimony, as pre-wedding nerves on both sides became tested.
Their interest in securing a deal at Anfield has never dwindled, not least because they are convinced the American re-financingŠnumbers simply do not crunch going forward and put Anfield in even more jeopardy, even more harm’s way.
It is not just the supporters and other experienced experts who care about the club who believe there is a real risk of Liverpool emulating Leeds United – possibly worse.
When there is, it seems, a genuine prospect of the Royal Bank of Scotland claiming default on the current mortgage and re-possessing the property, who can blame them?
There is no doubt Liverpool fans are anxious to see the Dubaians allowed in to rescue their club from this situation. And if there is any doubt, the odds are it will vanish this evening with a clarion call to DIC spilling from the Kop.
It no longer matters how Britain’s most successful football club got here. Right now it doesn’t matter who is to blame and how.
All that matters is that a truly great European football club and its lost, bewildered and angry supporters, get out of here. And fast.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett, are deeply committed family men who for all their wealth and hard-headed business brains surely understand that family ultimately comes first.
Particularly when that family feel and culture is actually a crucial part of their business asset, as much as it is an emotional reality.
The Kop is real currency – and losing it will cost in dollars, as well as in damaged eardrums.
For that simple reason, the co-owners must today do what they know is right in their hearts as much as their heads for a club steeped in that family tradition. One in which Kopites here have invested their lives, not just their hard-earned money.
If the Americans sincerely believe they can somehow get Liverpool out of this crisis and repair the damage then maybe, just maybe, they can risk taking that chance.
But the supporters at Anfield, many genuinely sick to their stomachs with worry, may now never be convinced, so serious is the collateral damage and loss of trust all round.
If Hicks and Gillett deep down accept that it just hasn’t worked out and that no amount of counselling can help, it is to be hoped they, or one of them, will sell their share to the Dubaians and walk away with no hard feelings either way.
Liverpool’s first business love is today waiting in the wings. She won’t go away and it’s clear the majority of the fans don’t want her to – though if there is to be a second marriage it might be worth hiring a Philadelphia lawyer to draw up the pre-nuptial contract.
But that, if ever, is for another day.
Liverpool Football Club and it’s wonderful, devoted supporters have suffered enough.
However it happens, every fair-minded and honourable man will surely agree it is high-time this desperate crisis was swiftly brought to a dignified end.
There is no-one anywhere in the world at any stage who is any bigger or any better than this football club.
Kenny Dalglish 1/2/2011
REST IN PEACE PHIL, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
Kenny Dalglish 1/2/2011
REST IN PEACE PHIL, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
-
Ciggy - >> LFC Elite Member <<
- Posts: 26826
- Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:36 pm
26 posts
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