Brian Reade: An Epic Swindle

Looking forward to this one, due out April this year.

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/brian+reade/an+epic+swindle/8297894/

An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With a Pair of Cowboys

This book tells, for the first time, through the personal experiences and insights of the key people involved, the true horror of Tom Hicks' and George Gillett's disastrous 44-month reign at Anfield. It will tell how two men who knew nothing about football, and whose only ambition was turning a fast buck, managed to take over Liverpool without putting down so much as a cent. It tells how the naive buffoons who ran LFC gave the keys of one of the world's most iconic football clubs to the worst kind of leveraged buy-out sharks, with no questions asked. It tells how even the most hardened of Scouse cynics, including the author, fell for it. The endgame to this saga - the sale to the Boston Red Sox owners, Hicks' desperate attempt to sack the board, a renewed offer from Singapore, the High Court case and the Texas injunctions - is a drama worthy of its own book. Brian Reade's gripping account incorporates exclusive interviews with participants at every level, from the board directors to ex-manager Rafa Benitez, ex-players including John Aldridge and Ian St John, and current players Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. 44 Months With a Pair of Vultures is the riveting story of how close one of the great football clubs came to financial implosion.

That's going to be a very interesting Reade 

I'm definately getting it.

After I read 44 Years With The Same Bird, I'm interested in anything Brian Reade writes.

Looking forward to this one, due out April this year.

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/brian+reade/an+epic+swindle/8297894/

An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With a Pair of Cowboys

This book tells, for the first time, through the personal experiences and insights of the key people involved, the true horror of Tom Hicks' and George Gillett's disastrous 44-month reign at Anfield. It will tell how two men who knew nothing about football, and whose only ambition was turning a fast buck, managed to take over Liverpool without putting down so much as a cent. It tells how the naive buffoons who ran LFC gave the keys of one of the world's most iconic football clubs to the worst kind of leveraged buy-out sharks, with no questions asked. It tells how even the most hardened of Scouse cynics, including the author, fell for it. The endgame to this saga - the sale to the Boston Red Sox owners, Hicks' desperate attempt to sack the board, a renewed offer from Singapore, the High Court case and the Texas injunctions - is a drama worthy of its own book. Brian Reade's gripping account incorporates exclusive interviews with participants at every level, from the board directors to ex-manager Rafa Benitez, ex-players including John Aldridge and Ian St John, and current players Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. 44 Months With a Pair of Vultures is the riveting story of how close one of the great football clubs came to financial implosion.

 An extract from Brian Reade's new book - An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys

Brian Reade’s new book An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys is the riveting inside story of how Liverpool FC was dragged to its knees during the ­shambolic reign of US owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Here is an extract:

Tom Hicks’ favourite camera crew was summoned to his Dallas mansion for the most repulsive PR stunt ever pulled by anyone connected with Liverpool FC.

As he sat in his cosy armchair, his wounded expression as fake as the gas-flamed fire burning behind him, back at his Formby home Steven Gerrard stared at his TV in disgust.

A year into the Americans’ reign, civil war was raging at Anfield, with fans, manager and board members at each others’ throats. And now the absentee Texan owner was calling for chief executive Rick Parry’s head on worldwide TV.

That Sky interview was the final straw for the Liverpool captain. He never wanted to look at Hicks or Gillett again.

Gerrard says: “I was thinking, ‘When is this going to end? One year? Two years?’ You could see it was just going to get messier and the people really suffering were the team and the supporters.”

In their first meeting, the Americans promised Gerrard they would restore the club to the pinnacle of European football while respecting its history.

“But that wasn’t the case, especially when they were dragging the club through the courts,” he says. “That was a disgrace. I can’t find the words to describe them. Let’s just say they had some balls. I didn’t think they’d drag the club to those lengths for some money. It just showed how greedy they were.”

At his home a few miles down the Merseyside coast, Jamie Carragher watched that same TV interview in April 2008 in despair. He recalls: “That’s when I thought it had got past a joke. To fly a TV crew over to your house, dress your kids in Liverpool tops, and start dishing the dirt on worldwide telly I just thought, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’ It was unforgivable.”

Like Gerrard, Carragher became emotionally exhausted with the Anfield anarchy.

“It was like your mum and dad scrapping. You don’t care what they’re fighting about, you just want to scream at them to shut up,” he says.

“The manager and owners might not have liked each other but they should have concentrated on letting us play football. I got sick of the rowing – it just wouldn’t stop. Everyone was playing politics with no regard for the damage they were doing to the club. I wanted to shout, ‘Can we forget about this and just play football?’”

The two local legends were also conscious that, in the final 18 months the Americans were there, the team suffered from an acute lack of investment. “We were so close,” says Gerrard. “Two European finals, finishing second – we were two or three decent signings away from competing with anyone. That was the frustration.”

Gerrard won’t say it because it would seem like an excuse, but friends say there were times when he felt that the Americans cost him the one thing he’s craved all his professional life – the Premier League. Carragher feels the same. “I want to win medals and if the owners had put their money in like they promised then I might have won more than I did. You look at other players who are winning titles and you want to be better than them. So when the transfer money dries up like it did with those two, it gets you angry.

“I’d never say they definitely cost me a League title medal as it was down to us players, but if we hadn’t had crippling interest payments like we had we could have been spending an extra £15-£20million in the last few transfer windows, which could have made the difference.

“I’d loved to have played in a new Anfield, too, but I won’t. If they’d put that spade in within 60 days as they promised, I’d be playing in it now.”

Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina told the pair he was amazed they didn’t go public and demand answers. Both admit the dilemma tortured them at the time and still plays on their consciences today. “I totally understand why some of the fans were frustrated we didn’t speak out,” says Gerrard. “When I’m down with England I hear stories about what big players have said at their clubs, but when me and Jamie speak we’re worried people might say, ‘Does he think he’s bigger than Liverpool?’ So it was a horrible situation as I wanted to come out and use my status to help but I was terrified of it backfiring.

“Should I say something? Would it make a difference? Who are we to criticise our bosses? They were the questions I kept asking myself and at times they were on the tip of my tongue. But if I’d wanted to speak to the owners I couldn’t, they were never there. It was a mess.”

Carragher agrees: “Maybe me and Stevie should have come out when we had the power and said something, but we’re from here. We love the club and never like saying anything negative about it. It’s what we believe in. So whatever is thrown at you, you feel you have to take it.

“It’s like if someone in your family does something wrong you’ll still stand behind them even if you want to slag them off.”

The pair’s major worry was how the fans were suffering. Gerrard says: “The lowest point was when the Kop were holding sit-ins to protest. I was thinking, ‘Let’s get them out, enough is enough, the sooner these are out the better.’”

It got to Carragher so much he stopped reading newspapers. “I switched off. I wasn’t reading about football, it was backbiting and bitching and plots and people slagging each other off.

“The game wasn’t played on the pitch but off it. Political games. It became a bad soap opera. I wasn’t just thinking about my game. I was thinking, ‘Whose side should I be on?’ I wished I could do my training and think about nothing else, but it became impossible. I was taking it all home with me.

“In the end I was so pleased the Americans walked away with nothing as they had their chances to sell the club and make their profit but chose not to. They didn’t care about Liverpool – they just cared about themselves.”


http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Brian-Reade-An-Epic-Swindle-44-Months-With-A-Pair-Of-Cowboys-Read-extract-of-how-Liverpool-was-dragged-to-its-knees-during-the-shambolic-reign-of-US-owners-Tom-Hicks-and-George-Gillett-article725227.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Read an extract from Brian Reade's new book - An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys

By Brian Reade in Mirror Football Blog

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/incoming/article725265.ece/ALTERNATES/gallery-large/Brian+Reade+An+Epic+Swindle+-+44+months+with+a+pair+of+cowboys

Brian Reade: An Epic Swindle - 44 months with a pair of cowboys

Brian Reade’s new book An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys is the riveting inside story of how Liverpool FC was dragged to its knees during the ­shambolic reign of US owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Here is an extract:

Tom Hicks’ favourite camera crew was summoned to his Dallas mansion for the most repulsive PR stunt ever pulled by anyone connected with Liverpool FC.

As he sat in his cosy armchair, his wounded expression as fake as the gas-flamed fire burning behind him, back at his Formby home Steven Gerrard stared at his TV in disgust.

A year into the Americans’ reign, civil war was raging at Anfield, with fans, manager and board members at each others’ throats. And now the absentee Texan owner was calling for chief executive Rick Parry’s head on worldwide TV.
Click here to find out more!

That Sky interview was the final straw for the Liverpool captain. He never wanted to look at Hicks or Gillett again.

Gerrard says: “I was thinking, ‘When is this going to end? One year? Two years?’ You could see it was just going to get messier and the people really suffering were the team and the supporters.”

In their first meeting, the Americans promised Gerrard they would restore the club to the pinnacle of European football while respecting its history.

“But that wasn’t the case, especially when they were dragging the club through the courts,” he says. “That was a disgrace. I can’t find the words to describe them. Let’s just say they had some balls. I didn’t think they’d drag the club to those lengths for some money. It just showed how greedy they were.”

At his home a few miles down the Merseyside coast, Jamie Carragher watched that same TV interview in April 2008 in despair. He recalls: “That’s when I thought it had got past a joke. To fly a TV crew over to your house, dress your kids in Liverpool tops, and start dishing the dirt on worldwide telly I just thought, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’ It was unforgivable.”

Like Gerrard, Carragher became emotionally exhausted with the Anfield anarchy.

“It was like your mum and dad scrapping. You don’t care what they’re fighting about, you just want to scream at them to shut up,” he says.

“The manager and owners might not have liked each other but they should have concentrated on letting us play football. I got sick of the rowing – it just wouldn’t stop. Everyone was playing politics with no regard for the damage they were doing to the club. I wanted to shout, ‘Can we forget about this and just play football?’”

The two local legends were also conscious that, in the final 18 months the Americans were there, the team suffered from an acute lack of investment. “We were so close,” says Gerrard. “Two European finals, finishing second – we were two or three decent signings away from competing with anyone. That was the frustration.”

Gerrard won’t say it because it would seem like an excuse, but friends say there were times when he felt that the Americans cost him the one thing he’s craved all his professional life – the Premier League. Carragher feels the same. “I want to win medals and if the owners had put their money in like they promised then I might have won more than I did. You look at other players who are winning titles and you want to be better than them. So when the transfer money dries up like it did with those two, it gets you angry.

“I’d never say they definitely cost me a League title medal as it was down to us players, but if we hadn’t had crippling interest payments like we had we could have been spending an extra £15-£20million in the last few transfer windows, which could have made the difference.

“I’d loved to have played in a new Anfield, too, but I won’t. If they’d put that spade in within 60 days as they promised, I’d be playing in it now.”

Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina told the pair he was amazed they didn’t go public and demand answers. Both admit the dilemma tortured them at the time and still plays on their consciences today. “I totally understand why some of the fans were frustrated we didn’t speak out,” says Gerrard. “When I’m down with England I hear stories about what big players have said at their clubs, but when me and Jamie speak we’re worried people might say, ‘Does he think he’s bigger than Liverpool?’ So it was a horrible situation as I wanted to come out and use my status to help but I was terrified of it backfiring.

“Should I say something? Would it make a difference? Who are we to criticise our bosses? They were the questions I kept asking myself and at times they were on the tip of my tongue. But if I’d wanted to speak to the owners I couldn’t, they were never there. It was a mess.”

Carragher agrees: “Maybe me and Stevie should have come out when we had the power and said something, but we’re from here. We love the club and never like saying anything negative about it. It’s what we believe in. So whatever is thrown at you, you feel you have to take it.

“It’s like if someone in your family does something wrong you’ll still stand behind them even if you want to slag them off.”

The pair’s major worry was how the fans were suffering. Gerrard says: “The lowest point was when the Kop were holding sit-ins to protest. I was thinking, ‘Let’s get them out, enough is enough, the sooner these are out the better.’”

It got to Carragher so much he stopped reading newspapers. “I switched off. I wasn’t reading about football, it was backbiting and bitching and plots and people slagging each other off.

“The game wasn’t played on the pitch but off it. Political games. It became a bad soap opera. I wasn’t just thinking about my game. I was thinking, ‘Whose side should I be on?’ I wished I could do my training and think about nothing else, but it became impossible. I was taking it all home with me.

“In the end I was so pleased the Americans walked away with nothing as they had their chances to sell the club and make their profit but chose not to. They didn’t care about Liverpool – they just cared about themselves.”

Makes a great read,and shows what went on with Bert and ernie

Interesting comments from Carragher and Gerrard, who we all wanted to speak out during it all.

Obviously they had to protect themselves as employees first and foremost, particularly when you want a contract extension...

Interesting comments from Carragher and Gerrard, who we all wanted to speak out during it all.

Obviously they had to protect themselves as employees first and foremost, particularly when you want a contract extension...

Not sure I agree with you mate. I think like most other players , former players and even Kenny, they kept quiet because all it would really have done is stirred things up even more in the papers without accomplishing anything.

The ONLY way we were ever going to get rid of the two tw*ts was by someone buying the club. Players speaking out about owners and managers would more than likely only have put off potential buyers, NOT persuaded owners who couldn't have cared less about the club to do the right thing.

I desperately wanted Dalglish, Gerrard and Carra to come out with a statement at the time, but now looking back, I think they probably did what was best for the club by keeping quiet. Hopefully the nightmare is now over and we can all start to dream again.



   

This book will really disappoint me if Brian spends too much time on Gerrard and Carragher considering their lack of comment and action, when the club was in the sh*t. The likes of Pepe Reina and Torres were prepared to come out and say things, no reason why the locals couldn't of as well. Also I don't like the way Carragher seems to insinuate that Rafa was just playing "political games" with Hicks and Gillette like he was no better than the cancers. No need for that at all and it just gives the outside world more anti Rafa ammunition.

Good points s@int, agree with all that.

Look forward to getting this book.

Your couldn't make this sh*t up, Gillette thought Gerrard was gay and was getting married to his male partner Alex Curran

Brian Reade’s new book An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys is the riveting inside story of how Liverpool FC was dragged to its knees during the ­shambolic reign of US owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Yesterday, we brought you a fascinating extract . Here's more:

As George Gillett digested the words he was reading, the blood drained slowly from his face.

Surely there was a misprint in this report about Steven Gerrard marrying his long-term partner Alex which completely changed its meaning.

He read it again but it came out the same, so he phoned his co-owner: “Tom, there's something you need to know. Our team captain is gay.”

A bemused Hicks asked for the evidence and when Gillett read it to him, in between guffaws, he explained that in England the term “partner” can refer to a member of the opposite sex.

Their captain wasn't tackling for the other side. Alex was a woman.

It was just another example of the The Madness of King George, typified by him pulling a fistful of dollars from his pocket and claiming there was no limit to how much manager Rafa Benitez could spend. He could sign “Snoogy Doogy” if he wanted.

“He just sat there chuckling away looking like one of the Muppets,” said Jamie Carragher. “It only needed Hicks next to him and we'd have had Waldorf and Statler.”

Gillett’s favourite phrase, when Benitez tried to pin him down on his transfer budget was: “I'll give you £50million plus whatever we get in the draft”, which was so nonsensical it almost had Benitez butting walls.

He answered one transfer budget request by telling Benitez he’d spotted a new running machine in America, and perhaps if he got one it would improve the players he already had.

As someone who saw the Benitez e-mails remarked: “They looked like they'd been sent from the funny farm.”

The irony was that Gillett confided in more than one journalist that Benitez had serious mental problems. He even coined a name for the condition. Rafa, he would say, is a “Serial Transactionist.”

Not long after Robbie Keane signed for £20million, Gillett breezed into the hotel restaurant on the morning of a game, shouting “Hey, where's Keano? I gotta see this Keano.”

Keane piped up: “I'm Keano.”

To which Gillett replied: "Jeez, you're not very big for all that money we spent on you, are you?"

He was on true eccentric form when Liverpool travelled to Fiorentina.

Ten minutes into the second half, he disappeared inside the stadium only to return laden with Cornettos, Magnums and choc ices, which he handed out to everyone in the directors' box. At 10pm. With winter around the corner.

A senior figure tells of the comical nature of one of the early board meetings.

Halfway through, Gillett stood up and announced he and his son Foster were leaving to watch the players train at Melwood.

There was an embarrassed silence as the pair left and a decision was taken for the entire board to climb into cars, zoom off in pursuit of the Gilletts and re-convene the meeting in the Melwood dining room - a scenario made even more surreal by Gillett constantly leaping up to wave at players.

Whenever he was at his Colorado ski resort and heard a footballer was visiting surgeon Richard Steadman’s nearby clinic he would ingratiate himself with them.

He once cornered Robbie Fowler, phoned a senior figure at Anfield, and said: “You'll never guess who I'm with out here in Colorado. Let me put him on.”

When Robbie said “hello,” the Anfield man asked: “Are you as embarrassed about this as I am?”

Robbie replied: “Far more embarrassed” and was told: "OK, just turn the phone off, hand it back to him and pretend you lost me.”

But a hard-nosed operator lurked behind the avuncular exterior.

One morning, Gillett burst into the office of commercial director Ian Ayre after suspecting he’d been conspiring against him with Tom Hicks and unleashed a tsunami of abuse: “You f***ing b***ard, you've been trying to sell my f***ing club from under me. This is not the f***ing way to do it. I'm going to make sure this is the last f***ing day you work here.”

He swore and threatened for three minutes, veins popping out of his skull, sweat dripping from his brow, slaughtering a man who'd been in his job less than a year but who was already turning around the club's finances.

When he stopped, Ayre explained himself, and told him: “If you've got nothing else to say to me, then I've got nothing else to say to you.”

To which Gillett replied: “Anyway, what's going on in our club?”

***

As the din from the fans protesting outside the boardroom grew louder, Tom Hicks sidled up to a senior club figure and asked what the hell was going on.

“You can't have it both ways,” he was told. “When I asked you why you bought Liverpool you said one of the reasons was the fans who are so engaging and loyal. You can't expect them to be those things then sit back and take it up the a**e when you're giving it to them with both barrels. That's why they're out there.”

Hicks muttered “gimme a break” and sauntered away with the noise ringing in his ears.

The billionaire Texan didn’t take to people threatening his power.

At the initial 2007 press conference, although he had only been involved in the deal for weeks, he demanded the running order be changed so he spoke ahead of Gillett, who had been working on it for six months.

There was never any doubt about who was the alpha male in the partnership.

Gillett would bad-mouth Hicks and vow to stand up to him but, time after time, he would cave in.

A classic example came in the spring of 2009, with Rafa Benitez's proposed new five-year contract. He swore to a senior Liverpool figure he would never sign it. Three days later, it came back signed.

When they rowed, Hicks swatted Gillett away like a mosquito.

A typical scenario would be Hicks dismissing him with a put-down and Gillett playing the injured victim asking: “What have I ever done to you?” To which the Texan would reply: “What have you ever done?”

An Anfield insider who saw one row unfold said: “Hicks looked at him like he was a sad little man. He made reference to the meat-packing deal which brought them together and said: 'When you were a minor shareholder you acted like you were in control. Now you have parity you are insufferable.’”

Anyone who challenged Hicks was bullied into a corner.

Only days after buying the club, he decided to ditch plans for a new stadium and get his architects in Dallas to design something bigger.

“We ain't building that stadium,” he said to project manager Martin Jennings, “it’s not big enough. I'm going to get new designs done.”

When Jennings told him the architects had allowed for an option to expand the planned stadium to a 70,000 capacity, Hicks snapped back: “Are you f***ing listening to me? Are you with us or against us?”

To which Gillett rode in on cue: “Martin, we ain't building that f***ing stadium.”

They didn't build that stadium. Or their own one.

***

Whatever happened, Hicks always seemed to come out on top.

Seven minutes before kick-off of a 2007 Champions League against Barcelona, Gillett demanded someone get him a scarf, intending to show the world how much he loved the club.

A senior club figure told him: “This is Liverpool. You don't wear big scarves, especially if you're a director.”

A peeved Gillett then took his seat in the directors' box, only to find, standing next to him with the biggest, reddest, shiniest Liverpool scarf resting on his shoulders, Tom Hicks - and a cameramen clicking away at the pair of them.

Hicks with scarf, Gillett without. He wasn't happy.

George Bush’s Texan buddy, on the other hand, never sought anyone's advice and cared little about tradition or taste.

How else do you explain him walking into the Anfield boardroom before one game and hitching up his suit trousers to reveal a new pair of cowboy boots bearing the Liver Bird crest?

Worse still, he told everyone he had summoned to admire his leather masterpieces, that if they wanted a pair he could get them a good price.

TOMORROW: Killer e-mail revealed in Hicks' attempt to sack Benitez and why Rick Parry sold the family silver

Brian Reade’s new book An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys

The riveting inside story of how Liverpool FC was dragged to its knees during the ­shambolic reign of US owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

As George Gillett digested the words he was reading, the blood drained slowly from his face.

Surely there was a misprint in this report about Steven Gerrard marrying his long-term partner Alex which completely changed its meaning.

He read it again but it came out the same, so he phoned his co-owner: “Tom, there's something you need to know. Our team captain is gay.”

A bemused Hicks asked for the evidence and when Gillett read it to him, in between guffaws, he explained that in England the term “partner” can refer to a member of the opposite sex.

Their captain wasn't tackling for the other side. Alex was a woman.

It was just another example of the The Madness of King George, typified by him pulling a fistful of dollars from his pocket and claiming there was no limit to how much manager Rafa Benitez could spend. He could sign “Snoogy Doogy” if he wanted.

“He just sat there chuckling away looking like one of the Muppets,” said Jamie Carragher. “It only needed Hicks next to him and we'd have had Waldorf and Statler.”

Gillett’s favourite phrase, when Benitez tried to pin him down on his transfer budget was: “I'll give you £50million plus whatever we get in the draft”, which was so nonsensical it almost had Benitez butting walls.

He answered one transfer budget request by telling Benitez he’d spotted a new running machine in America, and perhaps if he got one it would improve the players he already had.

As someone who saw the Benitez e-mails remarked: “They looked like they'd been sent from the funny farm.”

The irony was that Gillett confided in more than one journalist that Benitez had serious mental problems. He even coined a name for the condition. Rafa, he would say, is a “Serial Transactionist.”

Not long after Robbie Keane signed for £20million, Gillett breezed into the hotel restaurant on the morning of a game, shouting “Hey, where's Keano? I gotta see this Keano.”

Keane piped up: “I'm Keano.”

To which Gillett replied: "Jeez, you're not very big for all that money we spent on you, are you?"

He was on true eccentric form when Liverpool travelled to Fiorentina.

Ten minutes into the second half, he disappeared inside the stadium only to return laden with Cornettos, Magnums and choc ices, which he handed out to everyone in the directors' box. At 10pm. With winter around the corner.

A senior figure tells of the comical nature of one of the early board meetings.

Halfway through, Gillett stood up and announced he and his son Foster were leaving to watch the players train at Melwood.

There was an embarrassed silence as the pair left and a decision was taken for the entire board to climb into cars, zoom off in pursuit of the Gilletts and re-convene the meeting in the Melwood dining room - a scenario made even more surreal by Gillett constantly leaping up to wave at players.

Whenever he was at his Colorado ski resort and heard a footballer was visiting surgeon Richard Steadman’s nearby clinic he would ingratiate himself with them.

He once cornered Robbie Fowler, phoned a senior figure at Anfield, and said: “You'll never guess who I'm with out here in Colorado. Let me put him on.”

When Robbie said “hello,” the Anfield man asked: “Are you as embarrassed about this as I am?”

Robbie replied: “Far more embarrassed” and was told: "OK, just turn the phone off, hand it back to him and pretend you lost me.”

But a hard-nosed operator lurked behind the avuncular exterior.

One morning, Gillett burst into the office of commercial director Ian Ayre after suspecting he’d been conspiring against him with Tom Hicks and unleashed a tsunami of abuse: “You f***ing b***ard, you've been trying to sell my f***ing club from under me. This is not the f***ing way to do it. I'm going to make sure this is the last f***ing day you work here.”

He swore and threatened for three minutes, veins popping out of his skull, sweat dripping from his brow, slaughtering a man who'd been in his job less than a year but who was already turning around the club's finances.

When he stopped, Ayre explained himself, and told him: “If you've got nothing else to say to me, then I've got nothing else to say to you.”

To which Gillett replied: “Anyway, what's going on in our club?”

***

As the din from the fans protesting outside the boardroom grew louder, Tom Hicks sidled up to a senior club figure and asked what the hell was going on.

“You can't have it both ways,” he was told. “When I asked you why you bought Liverpool you said one of the reasons was the fans who are so engaging and loyal. You can't expect them to be those things then sit back and take it up the a**e when you're giving it to them with both barrels. That's why they're out there.”

Hicks muttered “gimme a break” and sauntered away with the noise ringing in his ears.

The billionaire Texan didn’t take to people threatening his power.

At the initial 2007 press conference, although he had only been involved in the deal for weeks, he demanded the running order be changed so he spoke ahead of Gillett, who had been working on it for six months.

There was never any doubt about who was the alpha male in the partnership.

Gillett would bad-mouth Hicks and vow to stand up to him but, time after time, he would cave in.

A classic example came in the spring of 2009, with Rafa Benitez's proposed new five-year contract. He swore to a senior Liverpool figure he would never sign it. Three days later, it came back signed.

When they rowed, Hicks swatted Gillett away like a mosquito.

A typical scenario would be Hicks dismissing him with a put-down and Gillett playing the injured victim asking: “What have I ever done to you?” To which the Texan would reply: “What have you ever done?”

An Anfield insider who saw one row unfold said: “Hicks looked at him like he was a sad little man. He made reference to the meat-packing deal which brought them together and said: 'When you were a minor shareholder you acted like you were in control. Now you have parity you are insufferable.’”

Anyone who challenged Hicks was bullied into a corner.

Only days after buying the club, he decided to ditch plans for a new stadium and get his architects in Dallas to design something bigger.

“We ain't building that stadium,” he said to project manager Martin Jennings, “it’s not big enough. I'm going to get new designs done.”

When Jennings told him the architects had allowed for an option to expand the planned stadium to a 70,000 capacity, Hicks snapped back: “Are you f***ing listening to me? Are you with us or against us?”

To which Gillett rode in on cue: “Martin, we ain't building that f***ing stadium.”

They didn't build that stadium. Or their own one.

***

Whatever happened, Hicks always seemed to come out on top.

Seven minutes before kick-off of a 2007 Champions League against Barcelona, Gillett demanded someone get him a scarf, intending to show the world how much he loved the club.

A senior club figure told him: “This is Liverpool. You don't wear big scarves, especially if you're a director.”

A peeved Gillett then took his seat in the directors' box, only to find, standing next to him with the biggest, reddest, shiniest Liverpool scarf resting on his shoulders, Tom Hicks - and a cameramen clicking away at the pair of them.

Hicks with scarf, Gillett without. He wasn't happy.

George Bush’s Texan buddy, on the other hand, never sought anyone's advice and cared little about tradition or taste.

How else do you explain him walking into the Anfield boardroom before one game and hitching up his suit trousers to reveal a new pair of cowboy boots bearing the Liver Bird crest?

Worse still, he told everyone he had summoned to admire his leather masterpieces, that if they wanted a pair he could get them a good price.

TOMORROW: Killer e-mail revealed in Hicks' attempt to sack Benitez and why Rick Parry sold the family silver.

Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Brian-Reade-An-Epic-Swindle-44-Months-With-A-Pair-Of-Cowboys-Read-extract-of-how-Liverpool-co-owner-thought-Steve-Gerrard-was-gay-article725313.html#ixzz1JxMkRJ4V

Great read and just pre-ordered the whole book of Amazon!. Del estimate May5th.Even though it was such a dark period in our recent history it really fascinates me.It really does sound that they were just two squabbling kids.And out of that section it becomes clear that JC and SG were as frustrated as we were.I think they probably regret not saying something now,but at the end of the day them two w*nkers were paying there wages.

Went to get this today..... Not out until 28th 

Must be an age thing.

Great read this is gonna be. Sorry if it has already been said on here but when is it out or is it already out?

Day 3 of the extracts in The Mirror:

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Brian-Reade-An-Epic-Swindle-44-Months-With-A-Pair-Of-Cowboys-Day-Three-Read-extract-of-how-Liverpool-owners-Hicks-and-Gillett-betrayed-Rafa-Benitez-and-wooed-Jürgen-Klinsmann-article725482.html

Ah forget my first line.

RedPuppy just let me know with the last post

http://www.123pricecheck.com/Product-266239/0857385992-An+Epic+Swindle+44+Months+With+a+Pair+of+Cowboys.html

Just so you don't get swindled!

Available on Amazon here as well, brilliant. Got a few books to finish so i may order it next month, gonna be a good read though!

I added to my wish list in Amazon. I will have to get it after I get my birthday money in a couple of weeks.

Ordered this from Play.com the other day. I hope postie pulls his finger out tomorrow.

Got a ready supply of plasters for my Jaw, as I'm sure it will be dropping quite frequently during the read.

Ordered this from Play.com the other day. I hope postie pulls his finger out tomorrow.

Got a ready supply of plasters for my Jaw, as I'm sure it will be dropping quite frequently during the read.

Postie is very late! Bloody Bank Holidays.

Anyone reading this...

Hoping to get my copy this week

Some more due in this week with Amazon and Smiths (both under £9)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epic-Swindle-Months-Pair-Cowboys/dp/0857385992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304416534&sr=8-1

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=9780857385994

Just got mine from Amazon, will start to read it tonight

A hundred pages in, it is a riveting read.It's really worth getting!

Still waiting.......

Read it, a good read in fact a must read, as it proves the fan's campaigns did have an effect on the outcome. Don't really learn more than we already know, expect maybe a bit more detail.

.Like Moores taking Gillette and Hicks's word on the fact that they wouldn't load the club with debt, that is getting them to look in his eyes and say it, apparantly that was enough!

.Hicks and Gillette were suppose to meet Rafa after the 2007 European Cup Final for a meeting about the transfer budget for next season, only after the game H & G disppeared off to America without a word to the manager! Rafa was already suspious of them by then, hence his annoyance at the press conference next morning. Not only that Rafa didn't even have a hotel room to go back to after the game, due to a cock-up with the hotel about the number of rooms booked! That's how Liverpool were run then.

.Find it hard to get my head around why Jamie and Stevie chose to stay silent throughout the H & G years. Jamie in particular seems to contradict himself with his reasons for his silence.

. The E-mail campaigns by the various fan groups certainly had there share of successes. RBS and a number of the financial businesses that Hicks tries to get involved with have quotes from various people about how impressive the sheer volume of communications from fans were.

.Purslow actually stated to Tony Evans that it was his job to be involved with picking up the players after a game! Also he was saying to journalists that the transfer policy had not changed when he came in, ie when they started  incorporating agent fees and improved contracts as part of the transfer dealings. Rick Parry no less was telling the same journalists that it had changed, and he basically thought that Rafa was getting shafted.

.The final thing about Purslime was he said to Rafa just as they forced him out of the club, that he shouldn't think it was anything personal, apparantly Rafa just laughed at him, myself I'd of punched him if it was me.

As I said an interesting read, and I would recommend it, if nothing else it's a reminder that we should always keep our eyes open on what's going on at our club. 

Still waiting.......

Where did you order it from mate?

Part 2.  Some good info about our email campaigns.  I've got to get this book 

   
Liverpool FC: An Epic Swindle – Part Two

May 6 2011 Liverpool Echo

BRIAN READE – lifelong Reds fan, former ECHO writer and now a Daily Mirror journalist – has documented the ill-fated years when Tom Hicks and George Gillett owned Liverpool FC. In the second of two extracts, he recalls how people power drove the Americans out

Extracted from An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys, published by Quercus at £12.99.

THE SANDON is a big, working-class pub on a bleak, semi-derelict road, unremarkable except for the fact that on March 15, 1892, in one of its snugs, Liverpool Football Club came screaming and kicking into the world.

Back in those pre-Boer war days the Sandon was where the players would change into their knickerbockers and directors and fans would take porter and ale before ambling to a patch of grass a goalie’s clearance away, called Anfield.

What better venue then for the descendants of those Victorian pioneers to gather 116 years later to formulate a way of reclaiming the old club? The news that Tom Hicks and George Gillett were attempting to refinance their initial loans by putting £350 million of debt on LFC lit the fuse that sparked a fans’ explosion.

Supporters group Reclaim The Kop called for a mass demonstration at the game against Aston Villa on January 21 and towards the end fans sang the chant that would become a classic of the cause: “ Get out of our club, you lying b******s, get out of our club.”

Peter Hooton, lead singer of The Farm and a lifelong Liverpool fan, was conscious of a group called Liverpool Supporters Network, who were trying to bring websites and fanzines together to unite against the Americans. He contacted the men behind it, Andy Heaton and Dave Usher and proposed that instead of everyone being a website warrior in their own bedroom, they held face-to-face meetings and worked out a proper line of attack.

The idea of a mass meeting appealed to Hooton but he feared it could get out of control and descend into a futile gesture if it wasn’t properly run. So he brought in Paul Rice, who was a former chair of the Broadgreen Labour Party. Hooton’s thinking was that if you could control a meeting of the Broadgreen Labour Party back in the Militant days, you could control any gathering.

Rice felt he needed the Americans’ financial situations analysed and clarified so he contacted Dave Elder, a New York financial expert, asked him to pick the bones out of Hicks’ and Gillett’s dealings and send him a fool’s translation. Which he did.

“We circulated it at the meeting and basically it began to explain how the Americans had structured their debt and how it was starting to come back on to the club,” said Rice. “I think that was the first time we’d actually realised the severity of the situation and were able to explain what a leverage buyout was.

“The Americans were the on-going target but there was actually an appetite out there to do something much wider and that’s really how the idea of a supporters union came up rather than a single issue protest group.”

As 350 fans packed into the back hall of the pub, the air crackled with anticipation. Every major fan group was there: Reclaim the Kop, the Urchins, fanzines, the websites and forums. It was like the coming together of the five families in The Godfather.

At this point the union of support groups called themselves the Sons Of Shankly after playwright Nicky Allt’s inspired suggestion. It was changed to Spirit Of Shankly to keep the politically correct lobby happy and maintain the SOS message.

As events moved on, radical members wanted to adopt a more aggressive approach by taking the fight directly to the Americans and Spirit Of Shankly organisers knew that smarter, more lateral thinking was called for. The idea of Kop Faithful was to build up a following of like-minded fans who wanted to take direct action to organise internet campaigns. They ended up with 15,000 recruits who could engage in swift, concerted cyber attacks. The SOS had its SAS.

The Royal Bank Of Scotland, whose continued funding allowed Hicks and Gillett to survive, bore the brunt of the first wave of Kop Faithful cyber terrorism.

An RBS senior executive, Rebecca Oliphant, who replied sympathetically to an email from Kop Faithful member Steve Horner left her contact details and within hours her inbox was bombarded by hundreds of mails from Liverpool fans urging the bank not to refinance Hicks and Gillett. When she was telephoned for a response, Oliphant went ballistic. Far from scaring them off, the reaction made Kop Faithful realise how effective their campaign might become if they applied themselves.

They imagined the effect of a much bigger assault on every key executive of the company.

The process was simple. An e-mail will be put together by one of Kop Faithful’s handful of writers, it would be posted on the website with a list of recipients and instructions to copy, paste send and distribute among friends, fans, other websites and Facebook accounts. The young generation of techno-savvy fans overcame all obstacles placed in front of them by anti-spamming agencies.

Every Monday morning senior employees of RBS would turn up for work, switch on their computers only to be faced with several thousand anti-Hicks and Gillett e-mails clogging up the inbox.

Then, as the October refinancing deadline approached and Hicks began looking elsewhere for backers, the game changed. Whenever a bank, hedge fund or equity house was linked to the Texan, the addresses of all key personnel would be unearthed, an e-mail would be posted and they would be made aware of who they were dealing with.

On Saturday, September 18, 2010 Kop Faithful learned that Hicks was on the verge of securing a two-year agreement with a company called Blackstone/GSO to pay off RBS and refinance.

By Sunday afternoon 14,000 e-mails hit the inboxes of Blackstone executives and those of allied companies. The message included the following: “If your company agrees a £280 million refinancing deal with Tom Hicks to retain his share in Liverpool Football Club then the only return that you will see on your investment is bad publicity and a severe backlash from Liverpool supporters.

“You are facing an energised, well-informed mass of Liverpool fans from around the world. We are tapped into a constant stream of information on the ownership situation.

“If the Blackstone Group/GSO Capital Partners joins forces with Tom Hicks in raping and pillaging Liverpool Football Club then you will be making a very powerful enemy. You have been warned.”

The following day as Kop Faithful member Alan Kayll drove around in his taxi he received texts telling him that Blackstone were rumoured to be pulling out. Armed with the telephone number of Michael Whitman, a senior Blackstone executive, he rang for clarification. He left a message on Whitman’s answerphone asking if the reports were true and requesting he called back by 10am the following day. “If you don’t call me back by then I’m going to put your name and phone number on every single Liverpool FC website,” Kayll warned.

Whitman replied to confirm the reports were accurate and added: “We have taken the passion and commitment of Liverpool supporters into this and I wish you well with your campaign.”

Soon afterwards a reporter on the Wall Street Journal rang from New York to ask Kayll about the story and said: “You do know that you crashed the entire Blackstone/GSO system?”

The following day Kayll and Kop Faithful were on the front page of the Wall Street Journal in a long article under the headline: “A Texas tycoon learns a lesson: don’t mess with Liverpudlians.”

There was scepticism in some quarters over whether Kop Faithful’s e-mail campaign actually killed the deal. We will never know the exact truth but there is no doubting the fact that the e-mail storm warning did have an impact on influential American decision-makers in those days when Hicks sought to refinance.

Hicks himself blamed the cyber terrorists for leaving him with nowhere to run. They may not have eventually trapped their prey but they bricked up a lot of the escape routes.

This is the part of the Hicks and Gillett saga that should fill Liverpudlians with genuine pride. It started as a gathering of 350 fans in the backroom of the Sandon pub and spawned a grassroots union, mass protest, media campaigns and Internet war. It led to meetings with representatives of some of the richest and most powerful men on earth and eventually made the Gordon Geckos of Wall Street quiver in their Prada shoes. Those fans refused to take what Hicks and Gillett were throwing at them.

They exposed the pair for what they were and made them pariahs in their own moneyed community.

No group of sports fans has ever left so many rich men feeling so powerless, confused and unsure about their decisions as Liverpool supporters did during those 44 months.

They did not ultimately evict the Americans from Anfield, the Royal Bank Of Scotland did, by taking them to court. But those fans made it increasingly difficult for the bank not to carry out the eviction.

Where did you order it from mate?

Came yesterday, I think the problem was the post and not the company, (Play.com) as they e-mailed me that it was on its way on the day it was published.

Came yesterday, I think the problem was the post and not the company, (Play.com) as they e-mailed me that it was on its way on the day it was published.

That's good to hear, prepare to be shaking your head in sheer disbelief at some of the goings on though. It's amazing that this club has come through it all and is still here.

Part 2.  Some good info about our email campaigns.  I've got to get this book  

Brilliant, that!

I'm only on page 28. HOW on earth Moores, Parry and the Board did not Google Hicks is a mystery worthy of Arthur C. Clark.

Back in stock on Amazon by the way.

£7.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epic-Swindle-Months-Pair-Cowboys/dp/0857385992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304416534&sr=8-1

Back in stock on Amazon by the way.

£7.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epic-Swindle-Months-Pair-Cowboys/dp/0857385992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304416534&sr=8-1

I'll eventually get my book then I hope.

Back in stock on Amazon by the way.

£7.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epic-Swindle-Months-Pair-Cowboys/dp/0857385992/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304416534&sr=8-1

They said mine was on its way today. 

I bought this book yesterday at a bout 4.pm i had to put it down at midnight as my eyes couldnt stay open.

What a read this book is showing the level of incompetence from moores and parry was quite staggering that they could fall for all the drivel from a pair of conmen.

Reade writes with great wit and incredible heart about the liverpool people and city,bloody brilliant book its just a shame its about our great club and how close we came to going bust.

Go out and buy it,you will not be dissapointed.

Loved the bit about crashing the Blackstone servers, wasn't aware we'd managed that.

Need to get this book pronto

Reade writes with great wit and incredible heart about the liverpool people and city,bloody brilliant book its just a shame its about our great club and how close we came to going bust.

Go out and buy it,you will not be dissapointed.

Brian Reade...is that you? 

After 3 days solid reading of this book, it is safe to say I am very pleased with the situation of the club now too what it was! jesus what a mess.

I struggled reading this, mainly because of it's car crash nature, it was akin to reliving a nightmare I didn't have to. I'd only read about 50 pages.  At about 0130 I gave up on getting to sleep and about half hour ago I finished the book.  It's not fun, the anger and resentment, the sense of betrayal, some things I've read have left me feeling very ambivalent about certain individuals, others you see some reasoning behind their actions.

Most of all, I feel a horrible need to email a financial institution.  


On an aside, anyone in the UK who fancies a read, I'm quite happy to post this on, just drop me a pm.  And if you want to make a nominal donation to the forum or HJC as way of recompense, who am I to stop you?  

I'm about 2/3 of the way in, around the time where the term "cracks beginning to show" have evolved more into giant gorges.

The first half of the book is really gut wrenching, to relive the amazing time in Istanbul is one thing but to see on paper what it meant for the club and the possibilities it opened but we just didn't take hurts... a lot.

It hurts to know we have been under bad management for so long, (At least Moores and Parry cared but were just not up to it businesswise) but I am about to crest over the mountain of mistakes and undermining to the point where H&G get their comeuppance.

It's sometimes hard to read and brings back unwanted memories but it is a great read and shows a great understanding of what was actually going on behind the cringe-worthy press statements and newspaper rants.

Great read, terrible how close things come to with the Two clowns. We must be moer vigulant from now on.

Only started reading this late last night and I have hardly put it down today.

180 pages in and it is an absolutely riveting read.

I do my best not to moan about anything LFC on these pages because I remember the state we were in under those two clowns. This book has took those sentiments to new heights, it's unreal how badly this club was getting run and almost surreal now looking back on it.

Any red, moaning on here, please read this book, it will make you grateful for what you have got.

Believe me.

I'm off to finish it off.

Only started reading this late last night and I have hardly put it down today.

180 pages in and it is an absolutely riveting read.

I do my best not to moan about anything LFC on these pages because I remember the state we were in under those two clowns. This book has took those sentiments to new heights, it's unreal how badly this club was getting run and almost surreal now looking back on it.

Any red, moaning on here, please read this book, it will make you grateful for what you have got.

Believe me.

I'm off to finish it off.

Definitely! I finished reading it just two weeks ago and it really put me in perspective of what a great condition the club today compared to last year. Cringeworthy to read.

Just finished reading it for the second time, and it really does put things in perspective.

More than that though, it makes me prouder than ever to be a Liverpool supporter, because of the part we played in ousting those no good money grubbing tw*ts from our club, when many other clubs would have just rolled over and died (take note manu)

Just finished reading it for the second time, and it really does put things in perspective.

More than that though, it makes me prouder than ever to be a Liverpool supporter, because of the part we played in ousting those no good money grubbing tw*ts from our club, when many other clubs would have just rolled over and died (take note manu)

Just bought this book, I take it it's worth reading then KIK if you've read it twice? Going to take it on hols with me.

Just bought this book, I take it it's worth reading then KIK if you've read it twice? Going to take it on hols with me.

I've got it downloaded on my Kindle, was gonna read it on hols as well 

(in between shandies) 

I've got it downloaded on my Kindle, was gonna read it on hols as well 

(in between shandies) 

We can compare notes 

Shandies 

Babysham 

Just bought this book, I take it it's worth reading then KIK if you've read it twice? Going to take it on hols with me.

Well worth it, although it is a little upsetting at times, and has the potential to make some very angry.

Well worth it, although it is a little upsetting at times, and has the potential to make some very angry.

Don't want it to spoil my holiday, might take something else instead 

Nah...I'll take this.

Makes me so angry seeing what Idiots were in charge of our club. Not just the Yanks but also Parry and Moores.