Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Fuck shit fuck

Look kids, a smiling douchebag!
[Photo Credit: Liverpool Echo]


Fellow Scousers, our nightmare is about to come true.

Hicks & Gillett are close to securing their 350 million pound loan refinancing, which will keep them firmly where they are in the owners' box for the foreseeable future.

The Yank wheeler-dealers borrowed 185 million pounds for the purchase of Liverpool last February, which was augmented by another 113 million from the Royal Bank of Scotland. Somehow, despite Monday's stock market issues, they've managed to assure both RBS and Wachovia that a 350 million pound refinanced loan is a smart idea.

How did they do it? By upping their personal guarantees from 30 to 55 million, and in doing so, breaking the hearts of fans and players alike.

I'm sick of these two. Dubai is still in the picture, but they're adamant that they won't give a huge profit to the Duo if any buyout was agreed upon.

The refinanced loan does keep stadium plans on the table, but it remains to be seen what will happen with the squad and with Rafa Benitez.

Gerrard spoke out the other day about the distraction, and now with this new loan deal, there's seemingly no end in sight.

The Guardian blog has a couple of good articles about this mess, each of which dives into the numbers and percentages points better than I certainly could.

The one thing I do know is that the continued ownership of Hicks & Gillett is bad for the club. The longer they're there, the bleaker things might get, as it won't take much in an already-unstable financial market for the bottoms to collapse out of their heady gambling.


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Fuck. This takes the sheen off last night's Goon shellacking. I'll still find a way to enjoy it later though.

1 comment:

The Fan's Attic said...

Why do we insist that it is the owners' fault when the manager and the team are responsible for the performance of the team. Outside of Gerrard and Torres nobody is producing and the defense is horrid. They also can't play well at home.