During the press conference where Roy Hodgson was officially unveiled as Liverpool’s new manager, Chairman Martin Broughton made the following comment concerning the sale of the football club:
“We are looking to the middle of July-ish for the first round of bids but that’s not a final stage – that’s a first entry through. We’re hopeful – and I wouldn’t put it any stronger than that – that a deal can be done by the end of the transfer season. That was always from the outset a hope rather than necessarily an expectation, because these things can take time. We are on course, pretty well, with where we would have expected to be.”
Since this statement was issued it has all gone rather quiet on the current ownership saga. We are now at the end of July and according to Mr Broughton’s statement the first round of bidding should already have taken place.
Recently, Mr Broughton has spoken of the importance in finding the correct owner, one who is wealthy, can take the club forward and is dedicated to building a new stadium. This list of credentials is exactly what every Liverpool fan would want to hear but it does strike you as a ‘stalling’ comment.
Of course we need to ensure we select the correct owner and one that is good for the club but it would appease many Liverpool fans if Mr Broughton kept us all updated as to the progress of the sale a little more transparently than he has. As fans we don’t expect to be told the finer confidential details but it would be nice to hear the club say if the first round of bidding has taken place and if any suitable parties have been identified.
Previously we were constantly hearing newspaper rumours of interest from all over the Middle East with wealthy Sheikhs being linked left, right and centre. Now, even the newspapers have given up on publishing propaganda on the issue.
As a Liverpool fan I’m hoping the sales process is on track and progressing well behind closed doors. I have noticed that since Roy Hodgson has come in as manager our business dealings have been conducted in a more professional manner and the majority of deals have been kept private until the final stages. Joe Cole is a perfect example of this. One week the manager denies speaking to the player and the next he is pictured holding a Liverpool shirt having signed for the club.
Prior to the past few years it has always been the Liverpool way of conducting business quietly and privately and this also seems to be the preferred method of our new manager. Perhaps some of this has rubbed off on the Liverpool board and they are going about selecting a new owner privately and effectively and hopefully on track.
Too optimistic? Let’s hope not.
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yanks have made my club a flop!
so we have a new owner or not???the club is in the first biding or not??mr brought please tell us the truth!i think that the club has new owner,but why it’s this quiet?don’t matter,i cross my finger everytime and i hope that the yanks will go out of our sacre club.YNWA
Well, you have probably, and hopefully, answered the question asked in the headline yourself by aknowledging that “our business dealings have been conducted in a more professional manner and the majority of deals have been kept private until the final stages”. Long may that last.
Let the club handle all the takeover stuff and lets just concentrate on the football!
the sale is a legal process so you won’t hear anything until it is either complete or the chairman says so. also, any bidder has probably asked to remain anonymous un case their bid fails.
So long as we get ‘suitabsome inth le’ new owners witegrity about them then the process can take as long as it needs to. Even if a takeover was completed within this transfer window, it would be too late too recruit good players (thats if the new owners have that kind of money). The priority must be getting rid of the debt that the ‘Yanks’ have burdoned our great club with, getting the new stadium built which will help us become more self sufficient. Liverpool will get this right, we all just need to have a little bit of patience and trust. There may be some painful times ahead, maybe not, but we all have to stick together lads. Good article Martyn! YNWA
They have no intention of selling just yet. Its all about them stalling and giving the banks a load of rubbish so they’d extend the loans. They don’t give a rats ass about the club, the longer their here the more the yearly revenue increases and therefore the more the club is worth. Then ontop of that the longer their here the more in debt to them we become, something like 14 million extra per year if i remember correctly.
hang one what have people been moaning about for the last three years? That everything is being played out too much in front of the media, and we need to get back to some resemblance of the way Liverpool used to be run. Now when suddenly things “Go Quiet” the same people moan, seems to me for Broughton & Purslow that it’s damned if you do damned if you don’t. Ridiculous article.
Ian do you really think banks are that stupid, if you think that, then don’t you think it has crossed the minds of the banks. It’s nothing to do with The Owners they don’t have a say! The bank is a business they are getting money, only once LFC default would they have concern, and there has been absolutely no chance of that happening even if we lost money last season. Why would a mortgage compmany call in the loan if you were paying.
your last comment is well out of sink with reality, Hodgson has already stated that he is not the one doing the business, its our esteemed and honest banker of an MD who does all business and he certainly does not want anyone to know how many more players he wants to sell to make ends meat.
as for the takeover, I for one will not be holding my breath on anything this board or the owners have to say. 3 years of lies and deceit have taught me a lesson.
am hoping middle of august club is sold so the new owners get time to buy sum players but if broughton has anything to do with it (chelsea fan) end of august so we dont have time to buy players just get the yanks out & let uz get back to winning the bread & buttet the league Y.N.W.A.
I just have that strange feelin that a sheikh will come at the final day and buy the club out like the way man city was bought…
People, there are so many negative Liverpool fans nowadays. It never used to be like that. What has happened to so many of you? Hold your heads up high! Does that ring a bell? We’ll be back once G&H have gone, remember, ‘the reds are comin’ up the hill boys, VICTORIOUS’…..YNWA
I am certain this was just a scam to calm down the desenting voices. I cannot beleive any credible business person would want to make such an investment without having a say on the current transefers ie put their hand in the pocket and help us out. This is obviously the case as we are still swimming around the bargain basement buying hopefuls. So in my opinion there is no body out there and certainly nothing can happen in the next 4 weeks when Mr Broughton was “Hopeful” to have it all done and dusted.
when its quite , its a good thing , when u hear of groups interested in buying a club , its usually a marketing move to indirectly say we are for sale, alot of them dont have any interest in the club ,when its quite, it means there is alot going on behind closed doors , and when its at a serious advanced stage will it be leaked , hence to get others interested and hopefully push the price up, liverpool will be sold , i reckon it be done mid september , liverpool has an enormous fan base in the middle east , and everyone knows those sort of investors will want to keep everything hush hush until the club is theirs, once they have secured liverpool it will explode all over the papers, and they will excel liverpool on every marketing front they can, dont be surprised if liverpool have the best stadium in the country in the near future, as everyone knows, the middle east groups like to build big bold statements of structures
First and foremost we have to allow the chairman coduct his business in a pofessional manner. We as a club have had too much dirty laundry aired in public since stadler and waldorf have taken over the club in 2007.
Secondly, (I know alot of LFC fans will not like my next statement) but I like Broughton. On his first statement to the public after his appointment, he announced he was a Chelsea fan, that is something he did not have to do. He was open and honest about his football loyalties as a fan. If you put everythin into perspective, how many LFC players grew up supporting LFC. One of our best players over the last decade was an EVERTON fan and look at the job Jamie Carragher has done for us. He is prepared to give his life week in week out for the cause while wearing the Jersey, so who are we to criticise Martin Broughton.
Lets just hope that he as an employee of LFC does his job in a professional manner and to the best of his abilities and for the best of LFC.
I as a fan, think he will.
So let’s get together and support the board and the manager for the coming season and get LFC back to its rightful place in the EPL.
YNWA.
simple answer cus the moanin manager that blamed off field antics for his stubborn ways has gone. everything has already gone back to liverpool way and not the foreign way, long may it continue an dont right prem title out just yet!!
The first round of bidding has taken place. 3 offers accepted. 2 middle eastern and one american. due dilligence is now taking place by the three groups and so long as they are all still interested after this a new owner will be chosen. all cash rich and looking to invest in new stadium. all three wishing to remain anon until takeover is complete. dont expect to hear anything for about 3-4 weeks. the sale process is in motion. i cannot reveal my idnetity but i am someone envolved in the sale process who feels your anxiety.
Nobody will bid for the club because of the over inflated price the YANKS have put on it. The banks will call in their money then there will be more misinformation leaked saying investment will happen soon & soon & soon! YANKS go now please.
Mr Broughton has been as good as his word so far – so lets keep calm and hope for the best – at least now there is HOPE. As for football matters – WOY IS THE BOY.