Liverpool FC fans Spirit of Shankly brand Hicks and Gillett 'failures'

Liverpool FC fans Spirit of Shankly brand Hicks and Gillett 'failures'

ANGRY fans groups today called on Royal Bank of Scotland to sever their ties with Tom Hicks and George Gillett after the full extent of Liverpool’s debts were revealed.

The Americans were branded "utter failures" after accounts showed that the co-owners’ parent company, Kop Football (Holdings) Limited, suffered a £41million loss last year.

The club’s accountants, KPMG LLP, warned their ownership of the club will be in "significant doubt" should they fail to refinance their £350m debt next month.

They have until July 24 to secure a deal and are currently involving in talks with the bank over a six-month extention.

Paul Rice, chairman of the leading fans group Spirit of Shankly, said today: "The revelations just underline Hicks and Gillett’s utter failure as owners and the club has not progressed one iota as far as investment is concerned.

"Fans should be very concerned with these figures as the Americans have saddled Liverpool with debt which could force the club into administration.

"There have been rumours going around about them getting an extension but we urge Royal Bank of Scotland to not refinance the loan and instead seek more responsible and appropriate custodians for Liverpool Football Club.

"All an extension would do is deepen the club’s problems.

"The owners have clearly been delaying the inevitable in terms of publishing these accounts and I don’t think the scale of the problem is a surprise to anyone."

The club posted a record turnover of £159.1m for the year ending July 2008 and a profit of £10.2m.
But cash is draining out of the club to service the costs of the parent company’s loans with interest payments accounting for £36.5m of Kop Football’s losses.

"Our club is going nowhere with Hicks and Gillett in charge and we need them out," Rice added.

"They have been extremely lucky over the past season as relative success on the field has taken the edge off demands for them to go but this reinforces what we have known all along.

"Until they are gone this vicious circle of putting the club into massive debt and using profits to make huge interest paytments will continue."

Rogan Taylor of Share Liverpool FC – a fans led group looking to buy control of the club, said: "The figures are hardly a surprise and it is precisely what we have been describing. The levels of financial incompetence is just unbelievable.

"In this whole scenario they have just been making noises. They are talking about restructuring the debt which will incur another very large fee, add on the interest and the capital and it is all going south.

"If you look back at the records, we were prediciting 18 months ago they would be running £40m in the red., the business is no longer viable - let’s get them out.

"Football has been a distraction to some degree, but now there is no football people are begining to focus on it.

"Two years ago we were carrying a modest amount of debt and were easily able to service it but two years later we are all over the place because these guys do not use their own money."

Meanwhile, sources in London claim all interest in the middle-east in buying Liverpool, including from Dubai and Kuwait, has now dried up.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/06/05/liverpool-fc-fan-group-spirit-of-shankly-brand-tom-hicks-and-george-gillett-utter-failures-100252-23797859/

Come on you Loser, get out of our club NOW !!!

What the F**k?

Interest dried up??

Just shows the cu*ts not willing to sell, for fucks sake just get out of the club.

We'll shut the door onto you and you'll never be back, and walk down that long and lonely street alone, you arseholes.

The lack of Dubai interest has something to do with the Man City mob being related so they won't compete .

Thanks Parry and Thanks Moores.

Where is the interest going to come from now?

They can't keep this up, they must find 350mill by july 24th and another 350mill 6 months later, with Hicks letting his refinancing of his American assets go past the refinancing date, does he expect to do the same thing with us, if he does he is in for a rude awakening. How the sh*te are they going to get there twice in 6 months.

I've just been reading SSN on my TV and it says that two Liverpool supporters groups have made a proposal to buy out the American owners.

I've just been reading SSN on my TV and it says that two Liverpool supporters groups have made a proposal to buy out the American owners.

Just seen that myself. Hmmm.

The buyout of Liverpool FC will go down in history as a greedy corrupt failure. Hicks and co knew they where saddling LFC with massive debt .Its a ploy they have used before to buy clubs with the intention of loading them up with debt but at the same time trying to increase the price of the shares so they can eventually walk away with a profit for themselves but the club is left up to its neck in deep debt.They have been exposed by the collapse of the world banking system which has cut off any lending to what is called private equity buyouts which is what happened at LFC.

WHOSE TO BLAME?? WELL, MOORES AND PARRY NEED TO SHOULDER AS MUCH RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LEAVING THE CLUB IN A TERRIBLE FINANCIAL MESS ,AS THEY WILL HAVE PERSONALLY MADE A LOT OF MONEY FROM THE SALE ALONG WITH OTHER DIRECTORS AND EX MANAGERS WHO ALL HAVE SHARE HOLDINGS IN LFC.

Hicks has a history of similar buyouts including a  Brazilian football club which he left in a terrible financial mess. They also,made promises of building a new stadium which never materialized.Private equity buyouts are manipulative greedy profit-making scams, which if  go wrong can leave companies in absolute meltdown financially..This could happen to LFC.
Bill Shankly was a very clever man ,he would have seen this coming a mile off and I BELIEVE HE WOULD HAVE FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO OPPOSE SUCH AN CORRUPT TAKEOVER OF A CLUB HE HOPED WOULD BE A DYNASTY. PRIVATE EQUITY BUYOUT =MASSIVE DEBT MAYBE BANKRUPTCY

Hicks has a history of similar buyouts including a  Brazilian football club which he left in a terrible financial mess. They also,made promises of building a new stadium which never materialized.Private equity buyouts are manipulative greedy profit-making scams, which if  go wrong can leave companies in absolute meltdown financially..This could happen to LFC.

Corinthians?

Plenty of stuff on the net about it, was also covered in a book called A Game Of Two Halves.

yes that's the club!! thanks for the book ref

I cant believe how the club has been sold down the river, and not just by Hicks and co !!

Corinthians?

Plenty of stuff on the net about it, was also covered in a book called A Game Of Two Halves.

How the f*ck did the FA approve The gobsh*te as a proper owner,I thought they had the right to veto potential takeovers if the new owner had a history of dodgy dealings? Am I wrong about this?

How the f*ck did the FA approve The gobsh*te as a proper owner,I thought they had the right to veto potential takeovers if the new owner had a history of dodgy dealings? Am I wrong about this?

That whole Fit and Proper test or some sh*t was sort of brought in after our sale had already gone through.

What the take over by Hicks has exposed, is the lack of what banks call due diligence (checking over the sale and looking for any factors which in the future could turn into major problems) that was not done by Moores and Parry.

This has exposed Moore's and Parry as nothing more than inept business people whose greed overtook their ethical judgment to do the right thing for the club and its supporters.

They where handed a great club one by family connections the other by god knows what but they are not clever business men or they would have understood the private equity buyouts are very dodgy and unstable ways of keeping a club on a stable footing

That whole Fit and Proper test or some sh*t was sort of brought in after our sale had already gone through.

Thanks for clearing that up Huyton.

What the take over by Hicks has exposed, is the lack of what banks call due diligence (checking over the sale and looking for any factors which in the future could turn into major problems) that was not done by Moores and Parry.

This has exposed Moore's and Parry as nothing more than inept business people whose greed overtook their ethical judgment to do the right thing for the club and its supporters.

They where handed a great club one by family connections the other by god knows what but they are not clever business men or they would have understood the private equity buyouts are very dodgy and unstable ways of keeping a club on a stable footing

Totally agree mate about the inept abilities of Moores and Parry.