Form the official site . If already posted or belongs in a thread mods please move or delete .
Last month Martin Broughton was appointed Chairman of Liverpool FC. In an exclusive interview with the official website and LFC TV, we ask the man tasked with overseeing the sale of the club to answer questions submitted by fans from all over the world.
Hundreds of questions arrived by email, many more were posted on the forums of both the official and unofficial websites and the 22 eventually selected cover all of the main issues that supporters wanted us to raise with the new Chairman..
1. What was the motivation for your appointment? Who appointed you? What is your role and your objective?
"The two joint owners concluded that it's the right time to sell the entirety of the club and also concluded that that process would have more credibility with me in the Chair. So, the owners appointed me but with the full support of the bank - which is the principle creditor. So my role is as Chairman, a part-time Chairmanship, but the key part of the role is to oversee the sale process and find a new buyer for Liverpool - that's my objective."
2. Who is running the club on a day to day basis?
"On a day to day basis, Christian Purslow is the Managing Director and he's supported by Phillip Nash and Ian Ayre. The day-to-day business is in good hands."
3. What role did the Club's bankers play in the sale decision and what conditions have they placed upon a sale relating to time and any terms?
"They haven't placed any conditions on the time or the terms. They were obviously involved in the discussions because they were looking to play down some of their debt, so they are keen to have a resolution of the debt issue - but the decision to sell was actually the owners not the banks."
4. What criteria, other than the asking price, will you apply in accepting any bid?
"I'm selling this on behalf of the owners but also on behalf of Liverpool Football Club - so yes, the bid is important but it's got to be the right owners. It's got to be someone who's going to look at the new stadium, investment for the future, who thinks about the culture, the ethos of Liverpool. It's got to be someone who can tune into that - they've got to be part of what Liverpool is all about."
5. What are the immediate implications for the team on the pitch and the urgent squad strengthening called for by the playing staff?
"Well, I think it's business as usual, in that sense. We continue [as normal] during this process while we look for a buyer - not everything is coming to a full stop. The squad does need strengthening but we really need to sit down - and we have sat down - with Rafa to determine what is the strengthening that it needs, who are the right players, who needs to be sold - if anybody, etc etc. It's an on-going process and won't be held up for this."
6. Would you speak to supporters' representatives about a stake being taken in the Club by them? If not, why not?
"We'd certainly speak to them but I think when the owners were looking for a new investor to come into the club alongside of them on a partial basis, that was actually more appropriate for a stake being held by supporters. We're now looking to sell the whole thing - a stake is more likely to be a complicating factor. If supporters now could come up with a bid to buy the whole thing, then I'd be interested in listening. A stake? It's difficult to see how that really fits in."
7. Would you broker meetings between the Union and any serious prospective purchasers prior to any sale being confirmed?
"Any sale process has to be strictly confidential. It would be totally inappropriate I think to put prospective purchasers in touch with any group of fans."
8. How can you balance being chairman of BA with being chairman of LFC and still be effective in both roles?
"Well, I'm part-time executive at BA and I'm part-time at Liverpool. I should say that when I first took on the British Airways role, I was also Chairman of the British Horseracing [Board]. Subsequently, still as Chairman of British Airways, I was also President of CBI, so I'm used to doing two big roles at the same time. It works at British Airways and it'll work here."
9. How long do you expect to be Chairman of LFC?
"Until we sell, so a matter of months."
10. Will you be staying on in any capacity once the club is sold?
"No, I don't anticipate that."
11. Tom Hicks has recently said that he expects the club to go for £800m. Do you consider this statement realistic? Are such statements putting off potential buyers?
"I'm not sure what has been said and by whom - there's been all sorts of things in the media but there is no price. There's no fixed price, there's no agreed price - it's a willing buyer / willing seller trade. We have willing sellers and I think there are willing buyers out there - that will determine the price."
12. Have you been informed of a specific price by the owners that they would be willing to accept for the sale of the club, and do you think that it is realistic?
"No."
13. If the owners find the £100 million that they needed to find a few months ago, will that stop the sale of the club or has that option now gone?
"I think that option has gone. They are looking to sell the whole Club."
14. Various groups have expressed an interest in buying LFC over the past 5 years, have any of these been in touch since you took on your new role?
"The process we're following up is to get in touch with all of those - to see whether there is still interest. Some of them were only offered partial interest in the past - so we're pursuing every single one of those and others."
15. Every week there seems to be a new potential "investor" announcing his plans via the media to buy the club, building fans hopes up, then after a few days there is a denial that they were ever interested. Can we assume that any future owner (s) of the club will deal in private with you and not do business through the media so that we can ignore all this ridiculous speculation?
"I absolutely agree - ignore all ridiculous speculation. Any serious owner would surely want to do it privately, which is how we want to do it. We anticipated a lot of interest, it's a great club. There's bound to be a lot of interest and there will continue to be lots of conjecture. Every media person wants to be the one who can go back and say, 'I told you back on such and such date that these people were interested'. Expect to see all sorts of names in there - ignore the whole lot."
16. As Chairman of the club, why didn't you make it an urgent priority to seek a meeting with Rafa to clarify his and the club's position?
"Well, I did actually make it a priority and I don't really want to go into the details of that. We have met. It was a frank exchange of views, it was constructive. It was very helpful."
17. Would there be any possibility that Anfield would be seriously considered for redevelopment rather than a new stadium by any new owners?
"I think that's extremely unlikely. It seems to me that the new stadium is so compelling that any new owner would want to go down that route."
18. Can you please assure the fans that Gerrard and/or Torres won't be sold-at any price to pay off debts?
"There's absolutely no reason to sell either Torres or Gerrard. I don't want to sell either of them; Rafa doesn't want to sell either of them. The club is not looking to sell either of those. We don't need to do it to pay off any debt."
19. There has been speculation in the media this week that Chelsea are to make a £70m bid for Fernando Torres. With you growing up a Chelsea fan, can you understand how some of our fans may be concerned?
"I can understand their concern. Torres is one of the great players; every club would love to have him. We have got him and there is no intention of selling him."
20. If there is no investment before the summer, how much cash, if any, is our manager getting?
"I don't think any Premier League chairman would answer that question, so let me try to answer it in a different way which I think is the right way to do it. What I have asked from Rafa is what I think any football club board would ask at the end of the season is an appraisal of each of the players, where the weak links are, which players he would prefer to sell if he had the opportunity, what players positions he needs to fill, what would be his prime candidates, which are his priorities. I don't think we start with how much money do you have, it's start with what the club needs and take it from there, and understand the priorities."
21. Will there be dealings with money ie renewing contracts, signing new players, etc before the club is sold? Or will all of the money stuff be halted until new owners come in?
"It's business as usual. We are just carrying on as usual."
22. What does success look like for you?
"Success for me is completing the sale in a relatively short period - a matter of months - to somebody who hindsight says was a very good owner for Liverpool."
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/22-questions-for-the-chairman ------> click here if you want to see this video also
