LFC Takeover Accelerates

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It is believed that at the present time the process for Liverpool Football Club to find new owners, to replace American’s Tom Hicks & George Gillett, has taken a significant step forward. The English Premier League have now been contacted by Liverpool Football Club and a number of interested investors, including Kenny Huang, to alert them that a change of ownership at the club could be imminent.

Under the so called post-Portsmouth rules, the English Premier League have to be given 10 days’ notice of any takeover, the prospective owners are also required to have a face-to-face meeting with the league chiefs to convince them enough finance is in place to support the club for the forthcoming season.

The formerly known and much criticised Premier League club owners ‘Fit & Proper Persons Test’ has been rethought, redesigned and renamed  as the ‘Owners & Directors Test’. The new revision includes such changes as anyone barred from other sporting organisations or competitions will not be allowed to be a club director, clubs have to provide evidence every quarter that they are up to date with tax payments to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and they give permission for HMRC to give details on any non-payment directly to the league so they are alerted to a possible problem as much in advance as possible.

Richard Scudamore, Premier League Chief Executive said: ”

We believe we have the measures now in place, the early warning system, that will reduce the risk of having a repeat of the Portsmouth situation.” he added, “The objective of the Premier League is to reduce risk and try to prevent the worst happening but we can’t eliminate risk entirely as that would involve us interfering as shadow directors in the running of clubs.”

Should the outline of the the deal currently being negotiated by Kenny Huang and his Far East Sovereign Wealth Fund partners, be as accurate as described, then the deal being concluded would make Liverpool the wealthiest club in world football, beyond the realms of even Manchester City, with the funding that they would have access to. It is believed that one of the major interests to Huang is the ability to open Liverpool Football Club to the Eastern markets, currently unexploited and take them on to a level of brand and support previously unseen in football. A market that would also have major appeal to Liverpool’s new sponsors Standard Chartered, who list Asia as one of their primary focuses.

In many ways, if Huang continues to lead the race for ownership of the Kop, it maybe seen as somewhat of hostile takeover. Some of the tactics he is being credited as cleverly using, no doubt are a major irritant to the present custodians and would leave them far from the profit they wished to walk away with from the deal. While other interested parties continue to be mentioned as being possible candidates, such as The Rhone Group (leveraged buy out specialists like Hicks & Gillett), Syrian Yahya Kirdi and formerly interested Dubai International Captial (DIC), Huang and his partners remain the seemingly only credible source of purchase, as well as the most favourable one, to many financial professionals in the field.

For the Premier League to be contacted and provided with the 10 days notice that they require as part of their process, Liverpool must remain confident of a deal being concluded within that period of time. Whether Huang succeeds in his bid remains to be seen, as does just how much H&G walk away with at the end of the day. 6 votes make up the Anfield board, how those votes are cast over the next 10 days will continue to remain just a little interesting.

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9 Comments

  1. I believe it’s 5 votes, the yanks have 1 each. Broughton has 1, Ian ayre 1, and poulson 1. Who is the 6th?

  2. It’s about time to get rid of those 2 useless, money-faced yankee idiots who have generated a mess from using LFC’s name and still expecting to gain from it. Adios to u 2 idiots!!!! Anyody else is still better than the two of thwm, who knows shit about football as in FIFA and not American football!!!!

    That’s also not to forget the 2 home-bred idiots in Moores & Parry who, because their own gains, collaborated with those 2 Yankees.

  3. new liverpool team :

    ………………reina

    …….skertel………….agger
    ……………marcherano
    johnson gerrard messi dherente
    banzema joe
    torres

  4. I desperately hope Liverpool is bought, although I ardently believe that anyone with a substantive relationship to ANY government should be prevented from investing in football, especially if those governments are of an oppressive nature.

    Personally, I’m convinced will happen eventually as FIFA/UEFA are the self-proclaimed guardians of the international game. Anything that could degrade the quality of international football – or even render it an irrelevance – will incur the wrath of those organisations. We can malign Blatter and Platini (especially the former, unashamedly corrupt caricature), but they have the potential to protect football’s integrity. Measures to curtail dubious investment should be made more stringent (e.g., having an investor’s ownership revoked without possible profit from sales).

    This is Liverpool and we are more than any billionare. We’ll endure longer than their wealth, endure longer than those clubs whose very existence is hinged on external investment. We shouldn’t try to emulate Mancester City. They have no nucleus, their squad is disparate and incohesive, while all have been incentivised beyond the current norm’ by money. That can’t bode well for them…I hope :-p

    If there is investment, then what do we really need? Greater depth, yes, but that requires only moderate investment. Even first time acquisitions can be prudent and underrated:

    A left back: Marcell Jansen, Paul Konchesky, Stephen Warnock
    A defensive/central midfielder: Jeremy Toulalan, Jean Makoun, Scott Parker, Michael Carrick, Lee Cattermole, Riccardo Montolivo
    And the striker: Peter Crouch, Guillaume Hoarau, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Carlton Cole, Darrent Bent, Pedro, Gabriel Agbonlahor

    How many of them would surpass the 20 mil’ threshold? Manchester City’s approach is already antiquated and I hope it will be reflected in their performances. Each dismissal, each gluttonous transfer campaign returns them to Year Zero.

  5. Mascherano is gone Anakjin – don’t think a takeover will change his mind. Not sure I’d want him to say anyway. Just hope we can get the right offer agreed and in the bag in plenty of time for Roy to splash the cash and bring in a top quality strike partner for Torres.

  6. It would certainly be nice to be able to afford a world class player when we need one, but I’d hate to be ANYTHING like City. For example, in this transfer window it would have been nice to bring David Silva to the club. It would have been pretty lavish spending by our standards, but we do need a true winger, and £24million isn’t that obsurd. Loic Remy seemed like the kind of player we should be bringing in as well. Loads of potential, perhaps costs a bit (£12m) but certainly not excessive spending for a top side.

    I couldn’t see Roy blowing through a £100 million kitty even if he did have they money, but I think £40m spent wisely would be great. That is £40m not including money from sales. We can’t be a sell to buy club. We need genuine investment from our owners to build the depth requried to win the league.

    How does everyone feel about possibly being the richest club in the world? I still think the rumors of the sale are a bit overstated, but I suppose there is a chance.

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