Hicks/Gillette - what a fucking farce.

[all_funkt_up]

I am sick to the back teeth of this pair of cunts.

I am fed up with the way their private wranglings have become very public. In the battle for Anfield, the board appears to be split almost down the middle. Gillette has the majority of votes on the board (due to keeping on good terms with the former owner David Moores and our chief exec Rick Parry) and so Tom Hicks tries to pressure a Gillette ally (Parry) to resign.

Hicks is keen for Ian Ayres, our commercial Director, to replace Parry as Chief Exec and thus give him a working majority on the board. Gillette doesnt want this and so its fucking chaos.

I almost was in agreement with Hicks the other day, about the shambolic way in which our club has been run over the last few years. I dont like Parry at all and I think quite frankly he is shit at his job. However I saw this in the paper today and couldnt fucking believe it:



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article3768457.ece

Fernando Torres future under threat as banks keep watchful eye on Liverpool

Oliver Kay

Liverpool must repay £31.5 million to banking institutions in little more than a year or risk having to sell Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel.

The Times has learnt that Liverpool borrowed the money to sign Torres, the Spain forward who has scored 30 goals this season and has already become a firm favourite on the Kop, from Atlético Madrid last summer. The club then refinanced that debt on January 25, at the same time as they secured a £350 million refinancing package.

Liverpool entered into an 18-month loan agreement with interest of 9 per cent — £2.8 million a year — with a letter of credit to pay back the £31.5 million at the end of the period.

Should Liverpool be unable to pay back or refinance the loan, banks could force the sale of Torres and Babel, who was also included in the smaller refinancing package.

It is unusual for Barclays Premier League clubs to buy players in this way. Deals are normally funded using television income. Liverpool have to pay £30 million a year in interest payments on the £350 million loan, the terms of which end in July 2009. There was no official comment from the club last night.

The revelations came on a day when the turmoil at Anfield reached a nadir after Tom Hicks attempted to strengthen his grip on the club during an interview in which he demonised his enemies inside and outside Anfield. However, the Liverpool co-owner has only six weeks to raise the funds he needs if he is to achieve his goal of buying the club outright.

Having continued his assault on Rick Parry by calling his tenure as chief executive “a disaster”, Hicks admitted that his joint-ownership venture with George Gillett Jr had proved unworkable, but he is looking for the funds that would help him to buy Gillett’s 50 per cent stake and to “fix the entire financial structure of the club” while overseeing the construction of a new 70,000-capacity stadium in Stanley Park.

Gillett responded last night with a strongly worded statement in which he accused his co-owner of destabilising the club. “I am saddened at this latest outburst from Tom Hicks,” he said. “If Tom wanted a serious discussion on the issues to help the club move forward, he should bring his views to the board.

“Here we are, a few days away from a vital Champions League semi-final match and Tom has once again created turmoil with his public comments. Tom should stop. He knows that Rick Parry has my support and that airing his comments in this way will not change my position.

“Tom needs to understand that I will not sell my shares to him.”

Hicks was typically bullish about his prospects of raising the money — or, perhaps more realistically, finding the financial backing — but while he continues to explore his options with Merrill Lynch, his latest financial adviser, the clock is ticking.

Hicks has denied rumours in the City that he is under pressure to refinance his Hicks Sports Group, which holds his stakes in various sports franchises in the United States, but a deadline is looming to buy Gillett’s stake, which is the subject of a rival bid from Dubai International Capital (DIC), the private-equity investment arm of the Dubai Government.

Under the terms of their takeover 14 months ago, Hicks has pre-emption rights on Gillett’s stake in Liverpool and vice versa. That option is understood to expire 90 days after he was informed of DIC’s £200 million offer to Gillett, which was made on February 27. That period would expire on May 27, six days after the Champions League final in Moscow.

Hicks, though, maintains that he will be in charge of Liverpool for the long term, which would be bad news for Parry. “What has happened under Rick has been a disaster,” Hicks told Sky Sports News. “We have fallen so far behind the other clubs. We have still got the top brand in the world of football, but that’s no good if you don’t know how to commercialise it. Rick needs to resign. You have to be able to work with the manager and Rick has proved he can’t do that.”

Parry, who responded with a rigorous defence of his record, will not resign and is under no pressure to do so, given that only two of the club’s six directors want him to go.

Hicks said that, if he succeeds in buying Liverpool outright, he will offer Benítez a one-year extension to his contract, which expires in 2010, but, despite his newfound alliance with the manager, he remains unpopular with supporters.

[all_funkt_up]

So, just to re iterate, we dont own Torres or Babel. If things go tits up, Torres is presumably allowed to walk out and go to another club, with the bank receiving the transfer fee.

We paid around £20m for him - his value is now probably around £30m but the people that would stand to benefit from this would be the bank(s) concerned if the worst comes to the worst. Is this a proper way to run a football club?

[Tom Sawyer]

it's a proper old fcuk up afu, fcuk give me the glazers anytime, where is it all going to end, 2 old men with big ego's trying to split the club in half, now this comes to light about torres and babel, i dont realy see a way forward, what do you think afu, what now.

[all_funkt_up]

I agree a lot with what Hicks has said. Over the last 10 years, Parry has:

Failed to deliver funding for a stadium
Failed to capitalise on our club's brand at home and abroad
Failed with regards to sponsors (our shirt deal is the 6th biggest in the country)
Failed to secure the signature of some of our manager's targets - C Ronaldo, Vidic, Malouda, Simao (I could carry on)
Failed to deliver an efficient ticket office (a massive gripe with our fanbase)

To be honest, I'd struggle to think of anything positive he has done for my football club.

However, I dont trust Tom Hicks to run the club any more than I do Parry. A start contrast to the euophoria of 14 months ago - most fans were genuinely excited when the Yanks took over. They have let us down.

Its a shame its gone pear shaped because a lot of what he says is true and Hicks has recruited a well known figure within the Sports Finance sector (Ian Ayres) with experience in the far east and I think had they not lost our trust, they could have delivered good things together.

[keemanan]

Failed to secure the signature of some of our manager's targets - C Ronaldo

what no Ronaldinho? Kaka?

[all_funkt_up]

Originally Posted by keemanan

what no Ronaldinho? Kaka?

We actually had a deal done with Ronaldo when Houllier was in charge you know. Phil Thompson seasled the whole thing and the board wouldnt release the money.

Same happened with Teddy Sheringham as our board at the time said he was past it and wasnt a long term investment. I think he was about 27 at the time and went on to win the treble with United, while we enjoyed some top class mediocrity
with the likes of Titi Camara, Sean Dundee, Erik Meijer and Emile Heskey.

[andeeeee]

[quote=all_funkt_up;501627]
Failed to deliver an efficient ticket office (a massive gripe with our fanbase
to be honest AFU the ticket fiasco has been caused by the club giving fan card holders priority over certain season ticket holders , we never had this problem before . fuckin club getting x amount of money off fan card holders

[bluek]

ah well, at least it stops you robdogs coveting Citys lovely young jewels - for a while

[andeeeee]

to be honest they`ll never be good enough

[ONEDUNME]

If they aren't good enough to take Harry Kewell's place in the squad then I fear for City's future

They may as well all buy a van and a set of ladders each and forget the football lark.

[all_funkt_up]

[quote=andeeeee;502092]

Originally Posted by all_funkt_up

to be honest AFU the ticket fiasco has been caused by the club giving fan card holders priority over certain season ticket holders , we never had this problem before . fuckin club getting x amount of money off fan card holders

Seasies get priority over Fan Card and PTS all the time. I cant think of an instance where a season ticket holder would not get a ticket and a fan card holder would mate.

Can you?

[andeeeee]

mate of mine got chubbed in the ballot for the athens final , season ticket holder over 40 years been too every cup final in them 40 years

[all_funkt_up]

We have 27000 season ticket holders, or thereabouts.

We got Less than 20000 tickets for the final - so it stands to reason that some people wouldnt get a ticket.

[andeeeee]

all the 27k st holders wouldnt of gone to the euro games , so wernt in the ballot .
the way the club do the away tickets is another farce

[all_funkt_up]

Originally Posted by andeeeee

all the 27k st holders wouldnt of gone to the euro games , so wernt in the ballot .
the way the club do the away tickets is another farce

In my opinion, if you are a fan card holder who has been to 5 Euro games (for example), you should have a better chance of a ticket than a Seasie with 4 or less credits.

The ticketing arrangements for last year were shit, but they had tough choices to make - which happens when demand out strips supply.

Away tickets is done on attendance at previous games. Seasies get first look in and there are virtually no sales that go to FC holders - besides Blackburn and some times Wigan.

Whats your problem with away ticketing?