‘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
Spanish striker could be working for a bank next year
According to The Times, Liverpool will be forced to sell Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel if they do not stump up £31.5m owed to creditors.
Usually, Premier League clubs fund purchases through television income, but Liverpool made the unusual step of borrowing the money from banking institutions to pay for their star striker and the tricky Dutchman. The club refinanced the £31.5m debt in January, at the same time as they secured a £350m refinancing package. Liverpool will have to pay £30m a year in interest alone on the huge loan, the terms of which end next July. If they fail to repay the smaller loan by the end of the 18-month agreement, the Reds will have no choice but to sell Torres and Babel.
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…
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.
Americans join the Prem’s rich tapestry of abhorrent moneymen
Liverpool climbed back into fourth place in the Prem in style last night, but celebrations at Anfield were overshadowed by protesting fans, angry at the way their American owners are handling affairs at the club. They’re guilty of undermining the manager, holding back the cash and dancing around Stetson hats while firing off six shooters into the air, but are they the worst businessmen ever to control the purse strings of a Premier League club?
My vote for worst Premier League owners (and worst football team owners of all time) goes to Bjørn Rune Gjelsten and Kjell Inge Røkke, the Norwegian clowns who took charge of Wimbledon in the late 90s. After putting barmy Norwegian manager Egil Olsen in charge, they stood by and watched the club get relegated, and then killed them off completely by orchestrating a thoroughly unpopular move to Milton Keynes. Destroying the legacy of a club and introducing a dangerous precedent for franchising in football kind of puts Tom Hicks and his Klinsmann tapping in perspective, n’est pas?
What do you make of it all? Cast your votes and leave your comments below:
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