George Gillett and Tom Hicks decision to finally sell the club outright was effectively forced on them. After they rejected the offer from the Rhone Group for 40% of the club, the deadline of the 31st June set by the Royal Bank of Scotland has come ever nearer. RBS and Wachovia were demanding that Liverpool’s debt be reduced by £100million and they were unwilling to refinance the loan for a longer period. The only way they could convince RBS and Wachovia to extend it further was to convince them that they were going to sell off the club entirely. To do this, they will bring in Martin Broughton sometime this week as an independent chairman to act as a reasonable intermediary between the American owners and potential investors, while hiring Barclays Capital to look for potential buyers.
The hiring of Barclays Capital is crucial for one fundamental reason, the involvement of a woman called Amanda Staveley. Born to a rich landowner, Staveley progressed to studying Modern Languages at Cambridge before dropping out to become a business entrepreneur. She was initially successful as a businesswoman buying a restaurant called Stocks in Cambridge and then founding a business out-sourcing company called Q.ton. However after the dotcom boom went sour, the business went bust after a merger and Staveley’s business career seemed to be over before she was in her thirties.
Staveley was however a stubborn lady and moved to Dubai to regroup in 2001. She set up a firm called PCP Capital Partners and she has progressed over the last 10 years to build the best contact list in the Middle East of any Western businesswoman. She became good friends with one of the richest members of the Abu Dhabi Royal family Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and was instrumental in the Sheik’s takeover of Manchester City. She was paid a £10million commission for her services but the interest for Liverpool fans doesn’t end their. Staveley also has some fantastic connections in the City, including a top banker at Barclays. They combined to help bail out Barclays Bank when the recession hit in 2008.
Rather than be bailed out by the taxpayers, Staveley got Sheikh Mansour to buy 16% of Barclays at the cost of £3.5billion while her Barclays banker partner got the Qatari government to invest to shore up the bank. She was given £40million personally for her involvement in the deal and her personal wealth now stands at over £100million. She still works incredibly hard at her work though and it is said that she turned down a marriage proposal from Duke of York Prince Andrew to focus on her business. Her friends include people such as Simon Cowell but she is seen to be an incredibly down to earth person, no doubt down to her previous failings in business a decade ago.
Her connections in the Middle East no doubt mean her services will be utilised again by Barclays Capital in the sale of Liverpool Football Club. Both her previous involvement in football takeovers and her contacts with rich investors in the Middle East mean her participation will be essential. In fact, Staveley has been involved with a takeover of Liverpool before, fronting DIC’s bid for the club, so the omens look pretty good that she will find a potential investor this time. A Sheik from the Middle East could well be coming to Merseyside if all goes to plan.
Related article: A profile of Martin Broughton – LFC’s next chairman?
I remain a sceptic as there have been so many false dawns with these two clowns selling. The other thing that has irked me is why all the reports I have read state a date of June 31st, last time I checked a calendar this date never existed, so has everyone just cut and pasted this article from somewhere.
oh really so you tell us what we all knew, this blode thing is good at her job, but you fail to know one fact, that the d.i.c will not and never pay close to 600 mill for a club they feel is worth 260 at best, you are linking old news with new news that is lonking the dots. not bad but you are a way off thinking that it is all as simple as this and the above links of names and business’s.
this article is wrong in so many ways, they have been trying to sell the club for 3 years now.
Excellent article, interesting stuff. (It’s kind of odd as a football fan to have developed such an interest in how investment-level bank debts operate and all that, but that’s the lot of the LFC fan these days.)
I think it’s implied at this point that RBS is holding the reins — I’m sure they realize that 600 million is a joke and have the balance of power over H+G to bring them to reason.
Why would anyone in their right mind pay so much over the odds to be plagued with debt.We also have a ground to build and a squad to strengthen.So all in all we need someone with in excess of £1 Billion to spend.Asking for over 100% profit for endebting and dragging such a sucessful global brandname through the mire is nothing short of a joke,one a certain (Bill) Hicks would have been proud of.
YNWA
Allah be praised, the promised land beckons but the new stadium will have to be redesigned so it faces mecca and I don’t mean the bingo hall
It’ all about the greed of BIG MONEY people ! The clubs do not belong to the supporters anymore and,sadly,never will be again!The big boys are headed ‘EAST’ for lots more profit !
in reply to a few of the above comments :: the difference now is that the club HAS to be sold for legal reasons. So at minimum a new investor is definitely needed, And the sheiks (in question) are shrewd buisness men, so wont pay over the odds and seeing as the global recession is drawing to an end, this is the perfect time to strike (and probly get helped out by the govenment for providing jobs when theyre needed). In summary if it gets the new stadium and settles things on the pitch, ill be a happy chappy. Just hope its done well in time for next season 😀
the bottom line is investment;
first of all even before the owners go, players go and make some money, as that what rafa has had to do for nearly 3 years. its that bad, liverpool need to get the deadwood out and be ruthless with it.
out;
REIRA
BABEL
BENAYOUN
PLESSIES
EL ZHAR
DEGEN
DARBY
SPEARING
NEMETH
SAN JOSE
ITANDGE
CAVALIELIO TO,
THAT LOT WOULD FETCH CLOSE TO; £40 MILLION IF WE CAN FIND BUYERS.
AURELIO- FREE, GET HIM OFF THE WAGE BILL;
WE NEED NEW OWNERS , WE ALL KNOW THAT, HOWEVER , IT HAS TO BE DONE QUICKLY AS PLAYERS ARE GOING TO SAY “WHY SHOULD I PLAY AT LFC, THE GREAT CLUB THAT IT IS, BUT WITH THESE OWNERS AND THE PROBLEMS, WHO AND WHAT BIG NAMES ARE GOING TO SIGN? SO TO ALL YU FANS THINKING GET RAFA OUT AND THAT CUN* IN JOSE,,, IT WILL NOT MAKE MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE OR CHANGE UNTILL ALL THE PROBLEMS HAVE GONE AND WE CAN RUN THE CLUB PROPERLY?
JUSTICE TO THE 96,,, GOD BLESS.
LETS NOT FORGETT, LETS REMEMBER THE FAMILES AND PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD TO SUFFER.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
YOULL NEVER WALK ALONE……..
add mash to that as he clearlhy wants to leave.
Sell to barsa for 30m add to the above that makes
70m
Rafa said we need 5 players at 20m each.
I feel we need to improve on the players we release so if we sell mash we need to get a better
player so you have to spend more to get a better players not less.
I say we do not need 5 players we only need two
world class playeres, say 40m striker and 30m winger. By getting rid of the dead wood you save on salery so this will enable you to pay the increased salerys of the two new world class players.
You may even be able to recoup the signing on fee
on shirt sales if you buy correctly.
Chris, think for a second.
You want us to sell Mascherano as well as the names that Samuel Charles mentioned. What does that leave us with? If we want to have a strong squad, able to challenge for the title and compete in cups, we need to aim for two players for each position…
1st
…………………. Reina …………………
.. Johnson .. Carragher …. Agger …… ? ……
…………….. ? …… Aquilani …………..
…. Maxi ………. Gerrard ………… ? ……
………………… Torres …………………
2nd
………………… Martin …………………
…. Kelly … Skrtel … Kyrgiakos .. Insua …..
………….. Lucas …….. ? ………………
….. Kuyt ………. Pacheco ………. ? …….
…………………. N’Gog …………………
£70m you say, all blown on a striker and a winger?
You’ve got rid of Aurelio and not replaced him?
You’ve sold three of our wide players and replaced them with only one?
You’ve brought in a striker, which is a step in the right direction for sure, but not replaced Mascherano. This £40m striker i assume is going to play regularly. So does Gerrard move back and play alongside Aquilani? Sounds an awful lot like playing Lampard and Gerrard together to me, with both players wanting to attack, attack, attack. You see Benitez doing this? Let alone the fact he’s obviously a 4-2-3-1 man (a good, modern formation; before anyone suggests 4-4-2 is better). Assuming he’s still the manager of course, but what top continental managers use a similar system to the one your best players would be forced into? Everyone uses a holding midfielder for a reason. Even all-out-attack sides like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Arsenal.
So, reasonably we’d need a left back, two left wingers and an extra midfielder (a “holding” midfielder, unless you’re going to promote Lucas) to have enough numbers. An extra midfielder wouldn’t go amiss either, though we’ve gone the last two seasons with Mascherano/Alonso/Lucas and Mascherano/Aquilani/Lucas with Gerrard occasionally dropping back. I wouldn’t say that gives us great depth so an extra midfielder would be ideal on top of Mascherano’s replacement.
That’s us sorted in terms of numbers, but numbers hasn’t really been the problem in the past – it’s only the case because you’ve decided to sell half the squad – our problem has been players not good enough for their role in the squad, i.e. N’Gog being backup to Torres. We’d need a striker definitely, as you acknowledge. Kelly’s injury prone and not really suited to playing right wing-back ala Johnson, so we’d need a new player there unless we rely on Carragher again (hopefully not). David Martin (or Gulacsi, or whoever) is unproven, as is Pachecho, though they might be good enough to have peripheral roles if (A) Reina is fit most of the season as he usually is and (B) we have enough other attacking options around Dani in case he can’t cut it instantly.
Some would argue we need a new centre back to replace Carragher; somebody dominant in the air like Sami was. This is a matter of opinion, so i’ll ignore it.
If you got rid of all those players, for us to have a strong squad (which has been our biggest shortfall) you’d be looking at having to bring in a:
Right back
Left back
Defensive Midfielder
Midfielder
Left winger
Left winger
Striker
7 players with that £70m. Which means gambling on players in the £10m-£15m (at best) again … i say “again” because it’s little different to the £8m-£12m price range of players like Babel, Kuyt or Riera given the recent inflation in prices.
With the current owners, half of that £70m would be swallowed up and not reinvested, as an aside.
With new owners, we might get some added investment. But then you wouldn’t be selling players like Mascherano if we had new investment as he’s one of our best players and wouldn’t have any desire to leave if we were going to be capable of competing for trophies.
I think we should be realistic. Even if we get new owners i think the very best we can hope for is one star player and a few to bolster the squad, which would be brilliant in itself. I’m not expecting that much. I’m not expecting us to have new owners by the summer really.
If we get a good left back to compete with Insua, replace Riera with a potentially very good wide left player (who won’t cost top dollar) and add another striker to the squad (Jovanovic?) i’d be happy.
Whether new owners come in to add investment is a matter of wait and see. There are some many stories and have been so many in the past that i believe nothing until something concrete materialises.
Yes we need to get rid of deadwood, but to me deadwood is a player who has had a chance and not taken it. someone who is unable to live up to playing with the liverbird on his chest. In that list there are 6 young players who havent had this chance due to there being other players to play. you also include yossi who has been one a consistent performer the last two seasons scoring goals and creating. Then you have degan who when he has had a chance to play hasnt been too bad has played well pushing forward up the right wing from defence.
For me the dead wood includes riera, maybe babel but he is starting to show what he wants to do and has admitted that fighting for his place is what he wants which seems to have shown on the pitch.
Lucas is someone who is a good squad player but is never in a million years a 1st team premiership top 4 player let alone league winning.
Carra is someone who has done our club amazing service but this season he has slowed a bit more given away how many fouls and penalties, and the silly handball he gave away to receive a yellow against fulham was embarrassing. Not to forget the handball against Benfica. I dont think we should get rid of him but he should know that the time has come to not play every game just like Sami did. There are two central defenders in Agger and Skrtl who are more than capable and the greek hasnt done too badly either.
We have good central defenders. A good right back and cover for him in degan. We need a left back desperately.
Personally I think gerrard masch and aqualini (when he finally settles) is a great midfield and you throw maxi and even babel into that, you have speed, pace and 4 players with the ability to score goals. That obviously leaves kuyt out who I am a fan of but he doesnt have blistering pace or skill to take a defender out in an instant but he is someone who can come into a game and change the way we play. Rafa is never in a month of sundays gonna play week in week out with 4-4-2. But for when he does it should be Aqualini who makes way for a 2nd striker. We need another world class striker but is he really gonna come to liverpool to be an understudy no, do you think Villa would join us and be happy to sit on the bench 3 out of 4 games no dont be silly.
So for me our team shud be
Reina
Johnson, Skrtl, Agger, Need left back
Masch, Aqualini
Maxi, Gerrard, Babel (or replacement LW)
Torres
Subs
Kuyt
Lucas
Nemeth/Pacheco
San Jose
Degan
Ngog
Keeper
Everyone on that bench can change a game in different ways and thats what we lack.
This time, this wiil happen and hopefully we’ll get the owners that we deserve. The last time Laurel and Hardy tried to sell the club, was to try and make a profit, this time they have the banks on their backs and they HAVE to sell, and they will get no where near the £600m they are looking for, and that’s what every investor interested in the club have been waiting for. DIC told Laurel and co. that they would never get the price they were looking for and they have been proved correct. These oil sheiks are worth billions for a reason, They’re not stupid. Thats why they are worth what they are worth. So the last thing to say is let Amanda Staveley get on with in and good riddence to Muppet 1 and Muppet 2.