Financial turmoil could flush out unwanted owners

Earlier this year, Hank Hicks and Billy Bob Gillett ran into a little money trouble and faced the prospect of offloading Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel just to pay the heating bills. Today, the papers are awash with the news that the American investors have suffered at the hands of the current financial apocalypse and will owe two banks (Wachovia and the Royal Bank of Scotland) £350m in January. They do not currently have the cash, and refinancing loans from two of the worst hit banks in the crisis will be harder than getting Ledley King to stay sober in a nightclub.

While the prospect of a fire sale right in the middle of a serious title campaign is a possible (and potentially disastrous) way of raising much-needed equity, the current predicament does have a rather large silver lining: Hicks and Gillett may be desperate to bail out, forcing

Global belt tightening brings mixed fortunes to the big four

Manchester Utd’s £14m-a-year- AIG shirt sponsorship looked to be on rocky ground earlier this week, and the future of the deal looked no more certain as the US Federal Reserve rescued the insurance behemoth with a £47bn refinancing package yesterday: rather understandably, they will no longer consider sports sponsorship a ‘core activity’.

According to this morning’s Guardian, however, the frailty of the American International Group should not concern United as much as the intentions of the Glazer family. Malcolm and co have been forced to spend $150bn on ‘PIK‘ loans in recent months, the interest on which is a hefty 14.45 per cent. A Glazer representative insists that “the investment is for the long term,” although the Guardian strongly suspects ex Football League chairman, United fan and major dealmaker Keith Harris is touting

‘Marcus’ embraces the blogging spirit, and then some

Aside from a nice cold beer on a hot Christmas morning, nothing makes The Spoiler staff happier than a well thought-out constructive comment on a story. So imagine our delight when we saw this lengthy effort from Villa fan Marcus, expressing his utter dismay over the current Gareth Barry transfer saga. We may or may not agree with you, but you are a credit to the blogosphere, chap:

Dear Gareth & your agent,

Before you confuse your career needs with your emotional and irrational desire to play with your mate Stevie in the odd Champions League game, you might like to consider this.

Hicks and Gillett hate each other. The club has their debt incurred acquiring the club. They have already refinanced and the club pays interest of £30m a year. Accounts of Kop Holdings Ltd (set up to run the club) show a loss of £32.3m in the last year, despite reaching the Champions League final. The duo had to draw £1.5m to cover their ‘personal expenses’, hardly something rich men need to do. The duo have still not obtained finance for the new stadium. If they have not got it now, they will not get it. They have no capital worth talking about, the world is already suffering the ‘credit crunch’ and is about to go into recession.

Villa is totally stable and improving.

If the Reds have to sell to buy, they will have to do it again next season. Does any other Champions League club have to do that? Eventually they will run out of players. Are Man U, Chelsea or Arsenal interested in Milner? How long before

Hey Liverpool fans - you’re a high growth opportunity!  

It’s no secret that Liverpool fans have fallen out of love with their American overlords, but have they actually taken a look at the mission statement of prospective new owners DIC? It goes a little like this:

The company focuses on the creation and maximisation of long-term shareholder value through partnership with the management of the assets in which it invests and makes returns on investments which outperform industry benchmarks. […] Dubai International Capital manages an international portfolio of assets around the globe and invests in high growth opportunities through multiple investment channels including buyouts and public equities. 

Careful readers of this tedious piece of business bullshit will notice a lack of reference to the interests of the customers, consumers or whatever the correct commercial description of a fan is. With luck, the aims of investors and supporters will cross paths, but in terms of their attitude towards Liverpool as a business, it appears that the DIC folks’ ideas aren’t a million miles away from those of the greedy Yanks…

Inevitable comedy garment goes on sale

Apparently, Liverpool fans are a tad unhappy with their American owners at the moment (I know, I had no idea either!) and now they have the opportunity to show their distaste via the medium of the t-shirt slogan. Pick up your slice of the famous Kop humour on eBay, and then spend the rest of the afternoon thinking of a ‘Hicks’ pun. I had a go, but my ideas would probably have me driven out of most southern US states with a pitchfork.

[Good find, Who Ate All The Pies]