Liverpool FC Forum

by **stmichael** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 2:08 am

i'm sorry to sound pessimistic, but i'm becoming increasingly worried that we haven't got the money to spend that most fans assume. ok the thai deal fell through but it seems that our summer transfer budget was dependent on the sale of gerrard. obviously i'm delighted he stayed but i just don't think we have the money to go out and buy 2-3 top class players.

am i right or wrong?

by **Rafa** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 2:11 am

I cant c y we havent got any money. Surley TV rights and Champions League must bring in some cash.

Did u know Moores is the 3rd richest man in British football. He is worth over 1 billion

by **Santa** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 2:50 am

My understanding is that Moores isn't as 'cash rich' as you think he is. I can't see him injecting more money into the club (I pray I am wrong here) at this moment.

That aside, I though our original budget (the one given to GH) was £30~£40M? Take out those we paid for Cisse I say we still have £25M? Anyone any input...?

by **Starbridge42** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 5:35 am

I assume we still had a round £20 million from the Champions League as I cannot see a club of this size really being unable to cough up £7m to pay for Cisse (since we sold Heskey for £6.25 million that almost covers half of Cisse's transfer fee) without dipping into the money from the Champions League place. The club's in a pretty torrid financial state if that is the case.

by **azriahmad** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 6:07 am

Rafa, where did you get the info that Moores is worth over 1 billion? He is a descendent of the founder of Littlewoods, and his share of the wealth is estimated at around 50 to 60 million pounds.

I read the newspaper report on the Thais' due dilligence audit on Liverpool. FYI, I live in Malaysia and we do receive a bit more of the report on the Thais from their press release as we are neighbours to them (but at the same time, we receive less LFC reports so my up-to-date source on LFC is via the web). According to the Thai press release a few months back, LFC at that time has cash of less than 4 million pounds with debts (I presume this is external debt - banks etc.) of 18.9 million pounds and assets (including the players' worth) of over 100 million pounds. It has been said that LFC owes Moores some 10 million pounds which he forked out to part finance Houllier's acquisition. It has not been made clear if this 10 million has been included in the 18.9 million pounds of debts.

By qualifying for the Champions' League, LFC is certain to make some 10 million pounds, which can climb upwards to 20 million if we make the group stages.

The Thai deal was supposed to have injected some 30 to 35 million new funds to LFC while the balance is to go to Moores coffers to compensate him for diluting his equity to accommodate the Thais and to repay his advances to the club.

LFC is not exactly skint, but then not exactly that rich either. We need a larger stadium as the present 40,000 seat Anfield is some way off manure's 67,000 seat Old Trafford and they rake in some 1 million pounds more per home game due to this larger capacity.

by **fritzylfc** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 10:10 am

looking back over the last ten years the club has spent 200 million on players at a guess.during which we achieved very little. the transfer market has put a heavy burden on the club, we buy expensive players then let them go for a song.moores is saying its pay back time for him. the club could be in a bit of financial trouble.

by **mynameisred** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 11:11 am

If it was payback time or if we are in financial trouble there is two outcomes possible. The first is that Moores has sold the club short by letting his personal interets overshadow the good of the club a la Morgans investment the second actually the second was gonna be based on this payback time theory but Im not actually going to humour that one coz as far as I am concerend his first love is the reds not money.
Basically we are not in the same league as s.cum and chelski at the moment, we CAN catch up with the s.cum after we build the stadium but we need time. I simply believe that Rafas taking his time, he could have sold Gerrard easily and nobody could have blamed him it would hardly have been his fault, he could also have thrown a spanner in the works of the cisse deal both options giving him a bit of money or the board could even accepted the council money and groundshared with the bluenoses. Or even turn us into a plc and float us.
We have good players and whilst last season was a disaster we finished in 4th place. If those players playing that bad can be improved 10%-15% by Rafa then its progress. IMO we have lots of new players. Owen is going to be like a new player when Rafa sorts out our tactics in the final third of the pitch, Baros is going to play like a man possessed, obviously we have Cisse. But also others, Kewell for me is due a big season, he sometimes looked a class player but now he has rested his dodgy ankle and understands the club a bit better I expect him to be on fire next season. Diouf has alot to prove, coz if he doesnt perform he knows mid table la liga awaits. Others will have to impress the manager and who knows the way Rafa motivates and plays themin a system might get the best out of players like Riise and Finnan.
At the end of the day I feel we do need to recruit a centre back of real class, and a dynamic midfielder perhaps even a keeper but dont expect much more to come in. RB is looking at the big picture here and its complicated, his transfer budget may stretch over several seasons due to the implementation of building a new stadium and the commitment involved in that. However I doubt he would have joined if he was to have no money, perhaps he is waiting for the s.cum and chelski to blow their budgets and thus be able to operate in a more reasonable transfer market.
We should look at things with excitement, you never know now the word is out and Liverpool are open to investment perhaps we are weighing up several offers or perhaps Morgan did not want a new bid in the press. Whatever happens we have at the helm the a manager of the quality we have lacked since Dalglish left.

by **The_Rock** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 1:07 pm

Starbridge42 wrote:I assume we still had a round £20 million from the Champions League as I cannot see a club of this size really being unable to cough up £7m to pay for Cisse (since we sold Heskey for £6.25 million that almost covers half of Cisse's transfer fee) without dipping into the money from the Champions League place. The club's in a pretty torrid financial state if that is the case.

i think heskey was sold for 3 million....

by **The_Rock** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 1:15 pm

yes, i read that article whereby the thais were astonised that LFC had debt about 20 million. So they delayed on the deal at that time.

Well it looks like houllier regime has hurt us more than we thought.

But i still think there would be 1 more signing at least apart from cisse. I hope RB buys a quality centre back.

by **Rafa** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 1:41 pm

azriahmad wrote:Rafa, where did you get the info that Moores is worth over 1 billion? He is a descendent of the founder of Littlewoods, and his share of the wealth is estimated at around 50 to 60 million pounds.

I remember seeing a few weeks ago the football rich list Moores was 3rd. Unless it wasa mis print then im wrong

by **Sean** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 2:33 pm

Considering the success we had from 1964 to 1990, it is a pity that the board didn't market the club effectively at the time to exploit our successes on the pitch. The scum had a decent decade but used their success and subsequent profile alot more effectively than us.

by **Santa** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 4:00 pm

It has all to do with timing. During our years at the top, football, as a business isn't as commercialised as it is today. Blame BSkyB for it...

by **Starbridge42** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 4:26 pm

The_Rock wrote:i think heskey was sold for 3 million....

I read 6.25 million to Birmingham on a three year deal. I dunno I'm reading the newspaper article now... of course we are tens of thousands of miles away, maybe the article meant to say 6.25 million dollars. I'll take your word for it.

'Rafa' wrote:I remember seeing a few weeks ago the football rich list Moores was 3rd. Unless it wasa mis print then im wrong

Or else maybe football clubs aren't as rich as everyone assumes...

by **Santa** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 4:43 pm

I think £6.25M depends on the the player's & the club's performance with £3M payment upfront...that means we are not getting much more than £3M+ :;):

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