The chaos behind the scenes that the two American owners have created at Anfield continues to stifle our ambitions and our hopes of moving to the next level, that was promised when Hicks and Gillett swooned over Anfield.
Just over a year ago I wrote an article criticising the American owners, suggesting they had misled Liverpool fans over their intentions in the club after they invested one of the lowest amounts in summer signings in recent years.
Back then it wasn’t even dreamed of to dare criticise the new amazing owners, and most Liverpool fans gave me a good verbal bashing. I was accused of being ‘another never happy red‘, of committing ‘sensationalism at its worst‘, somebody told me to ‘take a holiday‘ and another classic response was ‘Aren’t we moving to a bigger and better stadium in 2010 thanks to Tom & George?‘
That last one still makes me tickle when I look at the barren Stanley Park these days.
A couple of months ago when the Americans cunningly landed the club in to a few hundred million pounds worth of debt, the sweetener was that around £40 million had been handed to the Anfield summer transfer fund.
But the fact remains that already this summer we are £7 million in profit from our transfer dealings and we have removed some big wage earners and replaced them with lower wage earners. Some estimates suggest that so far the wage savings will be in the region of £8 million per year.
I make that £47 million we still have to invest in players.
But hang on – the entire Gareth Barry deal has been dependent on Xabi Alonso leaving for a roughly identical price.
When David Moores sold up we were promised substantial transfer investment year on year, but all we have been left with is substantial debt payments. Around £30 million per year just to pay for a loan that isn’t being used on a stadium, and isn’t being used on new players.
What is worse, is that Liverpool fans appear to have resigned themselves to the misery. Debates are no longer about these two clowns who are damaging our club, but over the pros and cons of selling Alonso to pay for Barry.
You know, and I know, that this is not the way it should be at a club that has been to three European semi-finals in three seasons, regularly sells out of match tickets within 24 hours of going on sale, and is one of the best supported football clubs on the planet.
The names that have been on everyone’s lips this summer – Robbie Keane, David Villa, David Silva, David Bentley, Gareth Barry, Berbatov – these are the kind of players that should be training in Switzerland with Liverpool Football Club RIGHT NOW. We shouldn’t be forced to choose one, and we shouldn’t need to sell one of our finest midfielders to fund the deal.
I’m convinced more than ever that there are only two individuals holding back Liverpool FC’s development – two very greedy Americans who promise the world but deliver nothing.
You may have resigned yourselves to this pathetic carry-on, but it’s not good enough for me. Not by a million miles.
Message to @CY. Are you one of Hick’s PR team members? If so then kindly take a long running jump of a cliff and take your idiot boss with you and his son too, in fact, his whole family.
I was under the impression that the “veto” ended and Gillette could sell his shares now. So why hasn’t he? I’m reading the comments here and feeling very upset and depressed. But you have to blame Rick Parry for all of this mess and should be sacked when hopefully DIC takeover as we haven’t won the premiership since he took over. He is the cause of all of this, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a secret Manure supporter and has purposely done this to ruin us. Which it looks like he has now.
Best thing for us is, Parry to go, Gilette to go, Hicks to go, Moores not to be allowed near the club and DIC to own us.
Oh and by the way, for those here saying arabs are a bad, my father worked in Saudi Arabia for 4 years and me and my family went there for a month to visit him, he also speaks fluent arabic and the arabs are a very friendly people, don’t let the few spoil it for the rest.
Nothing more to say
Daylight robbery I was told and I believe it as only the very rich have the gall to walk into a bank buy a football club and say are we not great people to do this, it didn’t cost a penny as we set up the football club in it’s own name and all the debt is on you people of Liverpool,thank you and now I shall instigate price rises of the likes you have never dreamed of and squeeze you dry, when that’s done and we have lived the good life on your money we shall take it all back to America to invest it in our country. Thank you the people of Liverpool…signed,Tom Hicks and associate….
Simply put, you are absolutely spot-on. Hicks and Gillet have to either start putting their hands in their pockets big-time, or leave. Simple as….
also … parry has been here just as long as weve NOT won the league for !! AGENT PARRY from stretford anyone ? his selfish dealings to ensure his own progression shoved dic out of the way at the last minute. our close failure seems to be his aim !! just enough to be close. with dic investment, difficult to say, but we could have done it last year…he dug up these tw**s..flush him down the toilet along with the star spangled banner boys…
Bang on mate – we must always remember what has gone on before & not take this media crap that seems like everything starts with what they’ve got to say – ie. no football before sky etc. they seem to be able to frame the debate however they want (and they’ve got a sizeable anti lfc bias ).
We want parry out hicks out gillette out. we want dic to be given a chance, although we know they’re in for the dough – even if stevey morgan was given the whip, chances are cash would be his motivator !! i hope we get villa or keane, barry or silva & keep alonso & we manage to offload voronin, pennant, leto, itanje, carson…its all just a way of juicing up the fans for next season & filling up some newspaper/net inches – notice how newspapers are always the roughly the same length, like the news isnt totally random & comes in handy fit to sizes !! whoever we do or dont get, we have to trust rafa to make the correct decisions for liverpool football club. i do trust him. spurs signed modric 8 weeks ago – no bulls**t just signed him – weve been f**king around for 2 weeks over 2 million quid for o neill !! rafas working with one hand tied behind his back !! after all this though – we’re not a million miles away !! if we’d have beaten united at anfield & away at sh**sville – we’d have lifted the big one !! fuingers crossed & IRWT
Well what can we do as fans to stop this misery???
In my opinion not alot. Where have Hicks and Gillett gone at the moment? we havent heard a word from them. Good owners that!
To be honest, ALonso is better than Barry, Babel is better than Bentley and Torres is better than Villa so to be honest we are better off right now.
I unfortunately agree with the article.
But what are we supposed to do in the meantime?
The really sad thing about this transfer window is that the nucleus of a great team already exists at Anfield. The team only needs only a few quality additions in our acknowledged weak spots to put us over the line. The gulf between us and the big two is one that we would be well capable of bridging with even a relatively modest outlay because we already have a strong nucleus and a brilliant manager who I believe would use any funds to maximum effect. Nearly all of the big name players we want to sign but can’t are ones who really want to come to Liverpool as their first choice which is usually half the battle. Imagine what Rafa could do right now with the extra £30 million that Hicks and Gillett have taken out of the Club to pay their annual interest for their takeover loans. A tremendous opportunity is being missed now purely because we have two used car salesmen for owners.
Spot on article. Where has the promised transfer funds gone? We are making more money from sales than transfer. The wage bill has been reduced alot. The yanks are lining their pockets while the club suffers.
I am not one of those who complained about your article last season but I should apologise because I was somewhat convinced by the yanks. now, I know better and I just wish they were gone. Can’t we (the supporters) do something??? If yes, what? I’m willing to try start a movement against them.
I think our main problem as stemmed from the US pairing and of course lets not forget RICK PARRY!! (doing well for himself i see, just got on that committee of european football blah blah blah… SACK THE PEICE OF SH!T!!)
The best signing we can hope for this season aint a player IT IS DIC, but as someone as stated lets not be naive this time round. If they take over lets not put up with redesigning this that and the other. WE NEED ACTION TO BE TAKEN NOW!!!
I know we can’t be naive about DIC but they are our best option right now… G and H are clowns that know nothing of football. We will probably have a disapointing season this year, all i can say to that is, lets stay behind our players and of course RAFA… IF the americans are in charge next season, and we win nothing, they might want rid… ITS UP TO US TO PREVENT THAT!
In Rafa we trust, Fuck off americans!
Well how in gods name could any American investor with no knowledge of football have any passion for the club Moores knew this and is to blame for zip epl titles of that i have no doubts, had he sold to the arabs the fear they would succeed and make him look like a cheap muppet must have been overwhelming.
I agree with you. I never believed they were right for us. Its been known for ages that america is going to have a credit crunch and this has hurt these two idiots badly. They have lied and broken promises much like their dumb president. Rick Parry gets a lot of flack and rightly so he seems more concerned with getting elected to some shitty european committee than doing his job and getting us transfers. He spent two years trying to get investment and from what i’ve seen he has managed to put the club in debt instead. Good Job Mr Clueless!! This club deserves better but its being infested by cancers like Parry and The two yanks. We need some to hack away and get rid of this charlatans. Its sad that money rules football like everything else but this summer i feel this idiots have made our club look like a begger getting nothing for quality players (4 mil for riise and carson their internationals for god sake). Why are we buying barry its stupid business we should have told villa to buzz off the moment they said 18mil you can’t negoiate we fools. Does the play make us better, NO. If this saga was about villa or silva because they are world class and can make us better. Why aren’t we going for bentley?? Its seems spurs are going to end up with everyone we want and i agree that us finishing outside the top four could happen especially if tom and george decide to publicly destroy the club. Its cost us last season. Next season we will not (it hurts to say) push utd and chelsea because we still don’t have a good enough team to beat either of them just like last year. I hate being negative but i have no reason to be positive. YNWA but i wish rick and the yanks walk the other way!!
Mate you’re not the only one who was slated for criticising the new owners this time last year.
I’ve given up on Liverpool fans, who claim to be “the most knowledgeable fans in the world” and yet, in the face of this crisis of ownership, are so lethargic and apathetic that it shames me to believe I’m the supporter of the same team as these people. At this rate, with no new investment in players and massive compounded debts, we are fast moving towards the Leeds United road.
Couldnt agree with your article more. its frankly become embarassing now, no i lie its been emmbarasing for a very long time. our great club has become the laughing stock of football and its just not on. We now seem so deprerate for money that we have hacked 6m off Scott Carson’s fee for a poultry 4m. and seem to have no choice but to sell one of our best players to fund another. Something needs to be done and done fast or we will fall further and further behind. these pair of clowns need to do the right thing and and scurry back to the US and concentrate on hocky or rodeos or whatever that lot like to do. GET OUT OF OUR CLUB!!!!
Mate….I completely and wholeheartedly agree with everything you have said…………but might I also add that I also have been saying exactly the same things as you about the two Yanks since the first day they arrived. They are an absolute disgrace and it bothers me immensely that Liverpool fans as a group seem to have offered no meaningful organized resistance to these two scumbags whose plans (all financial) depend on our ongoing support. We are like the equivalent of a woman who complains of being raped but instead of fighting back when he has the chance to do so just lies down and spreads her legs upon request.
The yanks aren’t goin anywhere, lets get real. this is a toal mess they have created, they have us over a barrel, carson has been sold on the cheap to make way for barry, the whole thing stinks and u can’t take anymore
Oh dear, my beloved club is in serious trouble, and the one person,(Rafa), who could save us is being tested to the absolute limit.Tho to be fair we are not that far behind Utd, Chelski or Arsenal.Daniel Agger is back and our two weakest positions (left and right back) have been strengthened.Remember our downfall last season was too many draws too many soft goals conceded.I know i’ll be accused of being another blindly faithfull Red but it is the truth.The American’s days are numbered and they know it, come the collapse of the stadium build in Sept. they will be gone and this once (always) great club will rise from the ashes and regain its rightful place as no.1.
@CY,
Degen wasn’t second choice, he was injured all tournament, they hoped he would be ready for the latter stages but they never made it.
As for this article i agree with it, but i hate hate hate the way everybody is begging for DIC, have we learned nothing in the last year and a half? We should not trust and throw ourselves at new owners. DIC have offered nothing, done nothing and proven nothing to our club, so why should we give them the graces of being heroes before they even join? That is a dangerous game to play and is exactly what most LFC fans did when the Yanks took over, now look where we are.
STOP BEING SO NAIVE REDS!
YNWA.
Im on your side mate
Fed up with it
Dont see any future for my team / club
I love my team LFC who are now have been my life!
The strange thing is my passion for LFC wont go away and never will with all this doom and gloom .
Are the yanks the same!????
Do we have a future under the Americans???
Anyway we can only hope we will be rescued by someone.
LIVERPOOL FC MY HOME TOWN TEAM
I fully agree I was always dubious over the takeover by Hicks and Gillett especially coming from a nation which knows nothing of the passion which football provides especially the passion that us Liverpool fans feel everytime the lads pull on the shirt , we kick every ball with them. These yanks just come from a place where money talks and it’s time they started claiming their ridiculous expenses elsewhere !
I agree with this article whole heartedly. Although we cant blame the Yanks for trying to make a profit, the way they have milked us of our money is simply F***** up. Where has all the Champions league revenue gone to? We’ve been signing freebies way too often, last season we had Andriy Voronin and now this Degen dude.
To be honest, any HUMAN with a reasonable BRAIN would notice that during the EURO CUP which concluded not 2 months ago that OUR DEAR PHILIP DEGEN WAS SECOND CHOICE RIGHT BACK FOR SWISS.
COME ON! WE ARE LIVERPOOL. if this guy is not even good enough for SWISS FIRST TEAM, how can he be ever good enough for liverpool? (no offence to the swiss but in the honest truth the swiss team isnt the best in the world).
Now Rafa has to take some blame for signing mediocre squad players like benayoun and pennant but credit be due hes got torres. and he alone makes up for the crap that rafa bought previously. now the question is, LFC should at least have 10 million of transfer kitty if not 20 every year.
This is the minimum. Yet we have troubles signing mr. barry who is priced at 18 when we already sold crouchie for 11. HELLO????
someone do the maths. Net income = crouchie 11 + risse 3 or was it 4 + transfer kitty of at least 10 = 24 or 25.
net expenditure = dossena 8 + degen FREE WHEE WAT A STEAL = 8
25- 8 = 17. which is the price of barry.
I SHOULDNT BE HEARING ABOUT PATHETIC BEGGING ACTIONS FROM RAFA and hear rafa receiving all that condescending treatment from MARTIN O NEILL. rafa is committed 100% and he deserves more than that.
in conclusion we shouldnt need to sell alonso for barry or keane. i dont even like barry in the first place but thats not the point.
COME ON YANKS WHERES OUR MONEY GONE TO?
I think we are only as bad off as we were with moores in charge, at least he wasnt a liar though! Just read we’re after aguero, I’d love him but where will he go? Manckester, what about maybe Huntelaar? Villa? Silva? Ribery? Alves? Probs United, Chelsea, Barcelona or Real. Whats stopping us from being as big as these? Serious investment needs to be made NOW, both in playing staff and the Stadium (Please stop reducing the size of it every five minutes, id rather stay at anfield than spend a zillion pound for an extra 10,000 seats) If you cant do it leave these Isles and never return! Whos to say DIC will be any better though?
I blame the biggest joker of them all *rick Parry
The Barry deal is not dependent on the sale of Alonso.
Action is needed. We need to face facts that this season is going to be a write off with 4th and a run in the champions league being the sum of our ambitions.
Action however painful in the shot run is needed. People aren’t going to give up their season tickets and nor should they but how about season ticket holders turning up on match days and demonstrating outside and then not actually taking their seats for the first game. We have less money than arsenal and they’ve actually built their new ground!!! We can’t just keep moaning but then turning up like sheep. Its the very fact that Anfield is full week in and week out which is giving the yanks the bravado to hang on.
We saved our manager. Now its time to save our club.
Exactly right, I spoke with a mate today who was talking about Barry signing and I said to him, but why aren’t the press interested in the lack of a Liverpool transfer budget and/or funds being available etc…… and then I read this wonderful article that puts it all into words brilliantly.
I feel cheated too and guilty as I feel for all their PR at the start. The worrying thing is the DIC story appears to have gone cold and Hicks’ stubborness at not wanting to be seen as a failure means we may be stuck with these no nothing fools for the long haul.
The thing that still really grates at me is why the hell did they want Klinsmann? The only reason I can think of is (as personally I think he is unproven as a coach) is that they thought he could motivate the players better than Rafa, therefore meaning less could be spent on transfers…. if that was the case, that is an unforgiveable, catastrophic misunderstanding of football as you will ever see.
Also, beware Hicks’ PR team – they are known to be posting on forums!
I was very excited when DIC decided to buy the club and terribly disappointed when they were forced out. Those who are familiar with Dubai know that this country not only possess huge amount of money but also high expectations. They don’t dare think of being second best, they simply go for the best. They have one of the best airlines in the world, the tallest building in the world, soon Dubai Land which is expected to be bigger and better than Disney Land and also in two years time the biggest airport in the world.
Had they remained I am sure that in less than two years Liverpool would have become the best team in the world. And would have stayed there too!
Liverpool’s been had.
Which makes me wonder why we passed up on the Dubai group in the first place. Are we now paying the price of ALL OF US being consciously and subconsciously Arabphobic and preferring to deal with two very white and avuncular phonies.
A friend who works in football financing tells me that the muppets are making up and probably wont sell up for some time 🙁
Agree with all your opinions. The Yanks have lied over and over again in the press and on live TV. Its like being owned by JR Ewing and Cliff Barnes. They hate each other and they are so deceitful and greedy its untrue! They are using the club to fund stuff over in the USA I’m sure, cos as Chiller said, where has all the money gone? We’ve been making plenty due to consistent form in the CL and we still rake in a load from SKY. I hope they nick off back home and put their efforts into the unreal sports they’re used to in the form of Hockey and Baseball etc. I hate liars!
If you have not signed the petition in the link below, please do so now. It got off to a great start and has somehow stopped with fans thinking these fat American b******* are not so bad actually. Wrong. They will destroy our club. Get them out now.
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?AR10308
At last some sanity from Liverpool. Massive debts and a split board and a manager who isn’t trusted by the owners to spend the money well – a recipe for success ? I don’t like the regime here in Chelsea but it seems a million times better than at Anfield. You guys are going to find this season very difficult – Everton, Villa and Pompey. Hate to say it – even Spurs after that 4th spot.
Hard to believe now but please don’t forget I predicted it if it happens….
These muppets sit around screwing our club to death until Rafa decides enough is enough. Then they decide to put their choice of manager in place: one Martin O Neill, the same MON that has screwed our club over Barry left right and centre. He has sort to belittle our club at every turn for the last three years so you can be sure he’d be the muppets choice for our new manager!
Oh well, I guess if that happens we’ll have one thing NOT to worry about: glory-hunting fans!
When the yankee clowns took over I stressed my own concerns over 2 owners with 50/50 share as apposed to the one owner, all be it that one owner was a company in the form of DIC. Ultimatley it is not just the fact that the Americans see the club as a cash cow that has damaged us, but also their bickering and falling out.
I however do not just blame the Americans, there was one key man in convincing David Moores to turn his back on an agreement with DIC. This man stood to win in 2 ways, 1 he had his own shares which would earn more money and 2 he got to hold on to a job he was about to lose. No prizes for guessing who I am talking about then, it is of course Rich, the dithering, Parry. This man has proved harmfull for the club in many ways but you can blame this numb skull for these idiots being in control at Anfield. The sooner thy are all gone the better for the Kop faithfull.
I agree, fundamentally nothing has changed, they are still lying, two faced, greedy, deceitful, heartless men who do not care a bit for the values, passion and dreams we hold dear. They have made our club a laughing stock, all without investing a cent of their own money. We would be better off still under Moores, at least he was one of us.
Transfers, don’t get me started on that mess ! We should have been able to sign Barry, Keane, Silva from day one, not have to scrimp and save, sell players, and stuff around in the transfer market – we are LIVERPOOL !
Go home H&G you’re not wanted here – ever !
Look at Chelski. They have spent £24 mill so far. I know I should not compare but at least they are making a statment of intent. We could be doing the same as Rafa at the end of last season said that he hoped to finalse the big transferes early. Well with out any money that is not gonna happen. Not Rafas fault. I can see him walking as the Yanks sit on their FAT BUTTS! Counting our money. I don’t think they have any real ambition for the club just for themselves.. I smell 2 RATS.
When these two liars came in with there Bull. I got suckered into the crap they were feeding the fans. Now we can see them for who they are it hurts every time I think about it. They have borrowed a lot but where has the money gone? Could some one tell me as I can not work it out.
If I had one wish for the club it would be for the Americans to sell up to DIC and get out of our club. DIC have money by the ton the Americans have not invested much of their own money just a lot of gas and air.
So sad but so true. What makes it worse is we have a manager and a spine of players good enough to win the league. Just have to hope Benitez out stays the owners – and someone buys us soon. Everything we hear suggests the Americans will be forced into selling sooner rather than later. Tomorrow would be good.
Well i for one am with you, its heart breaking to see us begging in the transfer market, well it is early in the pre-season we have only brought in a few low level signings which can hardly be sending shock waves out to our rivals, we can only hope and pray for a minor miricle from Rafa.
Carson could have easily been part of the Barry deal at around 6-7 million . and would be training with us right now. Now he’s going for 4 million. Alonso would be in Turin now also for 14 million. I am fearing the worst again this year . Lots of panic buying in the end of the transfer deadline.
Good article i agree with you all the way about these two clowns it is time they they left our club and stopped running it in to the ground they are making us a laughing stock, please DIC rescue us from these clowns and give the club back to the supporters
The thing is that the price of the club will diminish as we fail to be successful. The Americans will realise this and will have to sell out soon. I believe Gillett can sell up in September (after the transfer window unfortunately) after his monumental cock up of not giving the correct notice last time and Hicks cannot afford the new stadium. Things will move in the coming months but not before their 30M interest payments have wrecked the current season
Damn right! Yankees out and as soon as possible.
Couldn’t agree more. l too was always sceptical of these muppets taking over our beloved club after the DIC bid was rejected and unfortunately we were right. What do two greedy yanks know about ‘soccer’? Nothing. Please sell to DIC and go home now.
I agree with you wholeheartedly.