Liverpool reported debts of 473million

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Why the big anti Liverpool feeling on here? I'm no fan of Liverpool but I have respect for them. They are one of the few teams to have won titles over the years without the arrogance and lack of dignity that Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea have doen over the years.
Its a proper football club that still has its roots in the area with passionate fans that like football to be played the right way and try and uphold the traditional values of the game. I can't see why anyone would want them to get shafted buy greedy american investers, we as well as anyone know what its like when your club gets taken over and you feel helpless to do anything. I for one think they should be applauded for not excepting the current ownership and forcing them out.

Not EVERYONE on here hates them. Only the ones who don't bother to think of the bigger picture and base their opinions on what they read in the meeja and that they hate scousers for some personal reasons.

Liverpool are the only "big" club who have any credibility in terms of loyal fanbase and total involvement in their community IMO.

I lived there for many years and I know how that club represents the best and worst of that great city...at least they are a real football club. If they went down the swanee I, for one, would miss them.

Even the wise and funny Edna has missed the point in relation to them and what has happened to the club. We should remember what happened to our club and how we felt when money,greed, and business interests destroyed our BHA and try and spare a bit of sympathy for their supporters.

Just because they were a massive club and their fans brought the game into disrepute once or twice they have provided the English game with more drama and passion than just about anyone else over their long history.

Good luck to 'em.

 

[beorhthelm]

has been mentioned here that they have a month to sort out their finances or get deducted 9 points..........interesting

wont happen as i understand it. the debt is with RBS who are unlikly/wont petition for administration, rather they will simply foreclose and take ownership of that portion (convert debt to shares?). bascially for all the bad finances, Liverpool is still a money print that can happily cover the debt and interest payments, banks like this.

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

After the Yankees the Red Sox are the second wealthiest baseball club in the States. I guess they have done all the usual due diligence but you have to wonder if they do really understand footie. In a baseball game they have nearly 3 hours to flog food, drink and all the other overpriced tat they have, it’s a bit less in soccer. Must have been all those mock scousers with Liverpool shirts they saw wandering around outside Fenway Park………………………..

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Why the big anti Liverpool feeling on here? I'm no fan of Liverpool but I have respect for them. They are one of the few teams to have won titles over the years without the arrogance and lack of dignity that Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea have doen over the years.
Its a proper football club that still has its roots in the area with passionate fans that like football to be played the right way and try and uphold the traditional values of the game. I can't see why anyone would want them to get shafted buy greedy american investers, we as well as anyone know what its like when your club gets taken over and you feel helpless to do anything. I for one think they should be applauded for not excepting the current ownership and forcing them out.

Double post

 

[fataddick]

As a Red Sox fan I really hope this doesn't go through. We've just had our shittest season in a decade and tipping funds into the money pit that is the Premier League (and more specifically Liverpool FC) really ain't going to help us.

I agree with those who've suggested that if the Sox owners think they can apply a baseball business model to Premier League football, they are going to be sadly mistaken. Wages is just about the only thing that's similar. (The Red Sox had a $162 million annual payroll this year, presumably Liverpool's is a fair bit, but not a gabillion, less).

TICKET PRICES: Whilst you can get standing tickets and bleacher (middle of nowhere) seats for $12-$20, the best seats at Fenway cost $300+, and the average seat is in the $50-$150 range. Despite this, the Red Sox have sold out EVERY GAME FOR THE LAST SEVEN YEARS in their small (36k) capacity stadium. Given the antipathy to price rises in football these days, the economy of Liverpool (for those non Surrey 'Scousers' attending), the lack of appeal of most cup competitions (Carling, Europa, etc) could they realistically expect to recreate such prices/attendances at Anfield?

THE NUMBER OF GAMES: Here's the biggest one, the baseball season is 162 games long (81 home games), more (up to 91 home games) if a team reaches post-season. Even with European involvement (something Liverpool likely won't have next season) and decent cup runs, a PL team wouldn't manage even close to half that, which again means maximising the returns on those games that do take place at Anfield.

FOOD, DRINK & MERCH: If you don't make the money raising ticket prices, you have to make it from selling stuff. Whilst Liverpool have comparable merchandising potential worldwide to the Red Sox, there's nowhere near as much money to be made on selling stuff at Anfield compared to Fenway. Someone said a baseball game was "nearly three hours long", the shortest one I've been to is 3hrs15, the longest 5hrs. As people can drink booze in their seats (and over 300 people prowl the stands selling beer, hotdogs, popcorn, crackerjacks whatever the hell they are, to people in their seats) that is a huge audience for a long space of time. Prices at Fenway are higher than Anfield would stomach too, $8-$9 for (84% of) a pint of beer, almost double what an average Boston pub would charge. And Americans, being fat bastards, eat a lot more than the rat children of Merseyside. So unless you're going to get away with charging £5+ a pint at Anfield, and somehow make it so people can neck six pints each (along with three hotdogs and a binbag full of peanuts) in the 15 minutes of half time, you're stuffed.

In summary, the Red Sox are complete muppets if they buy Liverpool. And I shall be e-mailing them this.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Liverpool are a great club and their success in Europe reflects well on England and English football. They set the standard that other clubs, particularly Man Utd, have tried to replicate. It's good that they've had "a bloody nose" but I wouldn't want to see them fall out of the Prem.

This story serves as a warning to would-be investors that a big Premiership team is not a licence to print money. Hicks and Gillette bought in to make a fast buck, but the RBS are now calling the shots and the Americans will be lucky to get their money back.

I'm not sure where the money for the new ground comes into all of this; Hicks and Gillette wanted £300million for the club, the debts were an additional £350 million and the new ground is another £350million.

The BoSox are rich but not to the extent of this sort of money, and I can't see this acqusition helping the baseball team at all. Great news for the Yankees.

 

[desprateseagull]

are football mortgages the new toxic debt?

and will we (via govt / taxes..) be bailing out the premier league, in a couple of years..?

 

[auschr]

couldn't happen to a nicer club LOL

 

[Brightonfan1983]

BBC Sport - Football - Liverpool to be bought by Boston Red Sox owners

Makes for jaw-dropping reading.

You have to remember is that the only people who suffer are the supporters. Yes, they should boycott games and organise mass protests, (it truly amazes me that even during the Man Utd Green and Gold 'protest' they continued to go to games, buying programmes and eating the stadium food) but maybe this will bring it home to them that their club may in as much peril as any other.

 

[Aldo]

Why the big anti Liverpool feeling on here? I'm no fan of Liverpool but I have respect for them. They are one of the few teams to have won titles over the years without the arrogance and lack of dignity that Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea have doen over the years.
Its a proper football club that still has its roots in the area with passionate fans that like football to be played the right way and try and uphold the traditional values of the game. I can't see why anyone would want them to get shafted buy greedy american investers, we as well as anyone know what its like when your club gets taken over and you feel helpless to do anything. I for one think they should be applauded for not excepting the current ownership and forcing them out.

This.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Red Sox owner set to take over . Money available for players

Same old !!

Chris Holroyd to Anfield - £28M ?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

...the only "big" club who have any credibility in terms of loyal fanbase and total involvement in their community IMO.

I lived there for many years and I know how that club represents the best and worst of that great city...at least they are a real football club. If

That would be Everton them

 

[RexCathedra]

Whether they turn a profit or not Merseyside as a business remains to be seen, but NESV should be the first sound player management Liverpool's seen since the Moores left.

Henry & Co will not be driven when it comes to personnel, and have developed a habit of letting talent walk rather than re-signing them for more than they feel they're worth, together with a measured approach to signing free agents.

The Kopites may have to settle for solvent.

I'm not sure where the money for the new ground comes into all of this;

I imagine there won't be a new ground. The present ownership substantially rebuilt Fenway instead of replacing it, although the tiny 1934-vintage seats remain. Very not-bum-friendly. Made local politicians quite happy not having to stump up for a replacement, and were good with other accommodations -- taxes, etc, -- as a result.

 

[withdeanwombat]

I've consulted CMD and Nick,and their advice is to sell all the players who earn more than £500 per week,and increase admission charges to £175 per game with no concessions.

 

[Beach Hut]

This is so sad if ever there was a decline this is it.