The word administration will universally strike fear in football fans. Points deductions and a mass exodus of players is something that will normally follow after a club slips in to administration, however I am certain Liverpool won’t have to suffer the costs of the dreaded A word.

British newspapers are today reporting that Liverpool slipping in to administration will mean the collapse of the NESV takeover. However I can’t see why Liverpool’s finances will collapse in that way.

If the High Court rules that the NESV takeover cannot be completed, then it will be down to the Royal Bank of Scotland to decide the clubs fate. Their options would then be, to call in the massive debt, and effectively repossess the club, or to extend the time given to Tom Hicks and George Gillett to repay the loans.

The later of the two options seems highly unlikely given the duos past record of paying their debts. So what would happen if the club was to be repossessed?

In this case the Bank of Scotland could appoint an administrator, however it would seem pure madness to do so when there is a party who is actively looking to buy the club. The most sensible solution would appear to be for NESV to simply clear the clubs debt with RBS and therefore takeover the club.

So Liverpool fans shouldn’t be alarmed by the murmurs of administration because it would be a move that wouldn’t suit any party. As long as there is interest in the club, Liverpool will not be going in to administration. With a club of Liverpool’s history and prowess, there will always be interest.

Yes this is all speculation, and with the strange dealings that have gone at Liverpool during the past few weeks and months maybe we should expect the bizarre, but you have to feel that Anfield will be free of the burden of Hicks and Gillett in the not so distant future.

On a side note, Tom Hicks summed up his relationship with Liverpool fans by saying they “are a noise we are dealing with.” I think that says it all about this regime and the desperate need for change on Merseyside.

Fans of Liverpool Football club have finally got what they wanted with the news that George Gillett and Tom Hicks are set to sell the club. New England Sports Ventures, fronted by self made-millionaire John W Henry, will takeover at Anfield subject to Premier League approval.

But speaking to Liverpool fans soon after the news broke there was a general feeling of scepticism and to be honest they have every right to be wary about another takeover. While Henry will clear the club of debt, Liverpool fans have learnt first-hand the problems that can come when the wrong people are in charge of a football club.

But in Henry the club should be in safe hands. While he may not be in the super-rich bracket of the likes of Roman Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour he will be bring a sense of rationalism and stability that was so often lacking under the infamous duo of Hicks and Gillett.

In his time with the Boston Red Sox Henry made the most out of maximising the clubs revenue and at Liverpool he has something that Chelsea and Mancheser City don’t have. Their established history of success brings ready made marketability and therefore revenue.

Previously this revenue had got straight into clearing the clubs rapidly increasing debt, but with the club now out of the red Henry has a chance to overcome his lack of a super-fortune.

I don’t think this move will be a quick fix for Liverpool’s problems on the field, and fans shouldn’t get their hopes up that the takeover will see stars arriving at the club left right and centre. But it could allow for sensible progression which in turn could bring the long term success that the club desperately craved.

While we don’t know what Henry’s plans are surrounding the clubs new stadium, which in my opinion is the key to the clubs development , you have to feel that the club is in a much better position than of this time yesterday.

All the signs are now pointing in the right direction for Liverpool off the field, and the clubs fans should welcome the new owners with open arms, even if he wasn’t the sort of buyer they had in mind.

What do you think? Is this takeover the right move for Liverpool Football Club?

After nearly two years of shadow boxing, the camps of Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov are about to start to the real battle for control of the Gunners. Arsenal’s 4th largest shareholder, Lady Bracewell-Smith is looking to sell her 15.9% share and his retained the U.S. based brokers Blackstones to find a buyer. With both potential owners well within the the minimum threshold, the temptation to bid for the chunk that Lady Bracewell-Smith wishes to relinquish will be tantalising.

The additional issue here is that the Arsenal board view Kroenke as the friendly option and have assisted him by selling him shares between £8,500 and £10,000 each. Usmanov is rightly or wrongly, viewed as an unwilling option to most of the remaining board members. Whilst the animosity that both suitors faced is certainly nowhere near the levels it appeared when they began to buy up stock, Kroenke is now in poll position to push his shareholding in to the realms of making a bid for the entire club. He’s been on the board since 2008 and has quietly and effectively bought up stock and shares as it’s been made available.

Of course, the news has come as something of a surprise but it would now seem as if Arsenal are quickly moving toward new ownership, sooner rather than later. Kroenke currently holds 29.98% and Usmanov holds 26.26%. If anyone goes over 30% then they must make an offer for the rest of the shares, similarly to the situation that Manchester United had on the build up to the Glazer takeover.

Yet critics of Kroenke will point to the walking disasters that the Glazer reign and the Hicks/Gillett pairing and the fact that both groups that now own Liverpool and Manchester United came from U.S. sporting backgrounds. The difference for me is that Kroenke holds an MSL team and is well aware of the nuances of English football, having seen the issues that have blighted English footballs two most famous clubs.

The animosity is similar yet different, Ferguson has the full support of the fans who can see his hands are tied. Benitez uses the situation to cover the dreadful tactics and signings he makes to garner support with the fans. Both set of fans are completely at odds with the owners and it would take an amazing series of gaffes for Kroenke to alienate the Arsenal support to anywhere near the level his compatriots have.

Silent Stan would seem to be the prime candidate to make a bid for Lady Bracewell-Smith’s shares and so trigger the takeover threshold. Ironically, Kroenke is currently facing a similar situation over his stake the St. Louis Rams, which I still can’t get used to them being known as even if has been 16 years since the left Los Angeles. Or maybe I’m just showing my age!

Currently a bid of $750 million dollars is on the table for 100% of the Rams, Kroenke currently holds 40% so could be set to make a tidy amount of around $300 million, which would probably leave him more than enough to purchase the remaining 70.02% of the Gunners. Add a fantastic stadium recently built, consistent top 4 finishes and a constant conveyor belt of talent groomed by Arsene Wenger and you have a fantastic opportunity to take over a top quality Premiership side.

The only possible issues for financial outlay are the clubs debt, which currently stands at just over £200 million and strengthening the clubs playing squad. Arsenal do not require major surgery either off or on the field, regardless of whether Cesc Fabregas stays or rejoins Barcelona in the summer. One things for certain, Kroenke is definitely in pole position to take control of Arsenal, sooner rather than later and the rivals saddled with massive debts, disappointed fans and player squads and grounds in need of overhaul will be watching with trepidation. Arsenal could be about to embark on another glorious era.

Spirit of Shankly, a Liverpool supporter’s union, has erected billboard posters in its city to protest against the American owners of Liverpool FC, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

The posters, which read “Tom & George: Debt, Lies, Cowboys – Not Welcome Here,” have appeared on billboards on major roads into Liverpool. Five have been rolled out so far with another five expected soon, according to the Liverpool Echo.

“Tom Hicks and George Gillett aren’t welcome at Liverpool Football Club,” said a message on the Spirit of Shankly website. “They were at first – they made promises that the fans believed, and we all looked to a rosy red future. That future now looks dark and bleak under Hicks and Gillett, and we as fans need to change that.”

The three key messages on the billboard posters focus on debt, lies and cowboys. When Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool FC, the club reportedly had a debt of approximately £44 million. That debt has now grown to £237 million.

Liverpool supporters also feel that Hicks and Gillett have lied to them several times. First, that Hicks and Gillett said that the takeover of Liverpool would have no debt involved in it. Second, that the American owners built up the hopes of Liverpool fans that a new ground would be developed yet never materialized. And third, over the way that the American owners publicly admitted that they were in talks with Jurgen Klinsmann to replace Benitez.

The reference by Spirit Of Shankly to cowboys refers to “Their job as ‘custodians’ [which] has been nothing but making it up as they go along, taking expenses (over £2 million as shown in the accounts up to 2009) from the club for their no expense spared trips to come and watch us play, entertaining family and friends along the way.”

Photo credit: Spirit Of Shankly

Imagine that you, as a fan, decided to drop your club an e-mail asking about potential signings. You wrote the e-mail in good faith and asked questions about the amount of money the manager had, would it be bolstered by additional monies raised by selling deadwood and the long term investment. You then copy an article from the Liverpool Echo arguing that Benitez shouldn’t have to manage the debts brought on to him.

Imagine your surprise to the receive a response to that e-mail from Tom Hicks Jr, who launches in to a foul mouthed tirade with the fan and invites him to “Blow Me F@@@-face. I’m sick of you.” The e-mail was also addressed to “Idiot”. This story broke on Saturday evening, but had been doing the rounds all day until the British media picked it up and ran with the story.

Suddenly and shockingly, Liverpool fans had finally managed to pin down the arrogance that they have had to deal with over the last 34 months since Hicks and Gillett saddled the club with £350 million worth of debt. Cue all manner of critical articles began to appear and the Spirit of Shankly fans group rode in to quite rightly demand that Tom Hicks Jr resign with immediate effect. They correctly pointed out that Hicks Jr’s position had now become untenable.

So this afternoon, he finally resigned with this statement by numbers: “I am very sorry for my harmful words. To the fans and club, please accept my sincerest apologies,I have great respect for Liverpool Football Club, especially the club’s supporters. I do not want my actions to take away from the club’s future, therefore I am resigning from the board.”

Now this for me makes things even worse, because he’d denied it for nearly 48 hours, so can anyone actually take a word he says as honest? He abused a fan, who made a valid query and then denied it calling the fan a liar. Only when the criticism became so vocal and major newspapers began to cover it did the story change to the truth. Yes, sometimes fans can give as much abuse but the e-mail was polite and simply wanted some points answering.

At no point did that justify Hicks Jr’s actions, which if anything simply smack of deluded arrogance. The spoutings of someone who has spent too long living in an ivory tower with nothing but disdain for the fans of the club his father and business partner have crippled with debts.I have a lot of sympathy with the fans over the way the club has been weighed down with so much negative equity.

Yet this mess has now come back to haunt the Spirit of Shankly group as this footage of their end of season party has now surfaced.Now at some point someone, somewhere has to get a grip of this situation. The last 48 hours were bad enough for Liverpool Football Club, but this video could complete unravel all the good work that S.O.S are doing to try and fight the Hicks and Gillett regime at Anfield.

If anything it’s all so depressing to see the same level of vitriol celebrated over something a hell of a lot more offensive than an e-mail from a silly little man. Celebrating the deaths of anyone is beyond reproach. Now is anyone from Spirit of Shankly going to make a statement or resign over this? Can Liverpool’s name be dragged through the mud anymore?

“It is difficult for us to qualify, but not impossible,We have to win our game and see what happens with Fiorentina and Lyon. Then we will approach the last game.” Benitez has certainly fought his corner today after the galling last minute equaliser Liverpool conceded in the Stade Gerland last night. Of course, the nay sayers and doom merchants are already drafting Rafa’s last rites as the promise of last season seems already consigned to the dustbin by mid November.

Even Liverpool’s most feverish critics must be surprised how quickly the wheels have fallen off this season. 5 league defeats, knocked out of the League Cup and facing demotion to the Europa League have seen Benitez under the most pressure he’s ever faced during his tenure at Anfield. With the financial situation at Liverpool as tight as it can be, the key achievement for Liverpool to aim for this season is to finish in the top 4 in the Premier League.

Of course, Lyon may win in Florence in 3 weeks time and Liverpool could win the last two games, making sure they beat Fiorentina by 3 clear goals to finish second, but it’s a straw that is swaying away from Benitez. With Torres still carrying a groin injury, Gerrard injured for who knows how long and Carragher having his ropiest period in a Liverpool shirt, the Reds 3 key players are all suffering in one form or another.

During the summer, all the predictions pointed to that it would be Arsenal who would be the one side in the big four that would be the most nervous about retaining their place at the Premiership’s top table. With Manchester City, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton all waiting to pounce, no-one considered that Liverpool would be the one with the most to lose.

Without the stadium revenue that Manchester United and Arsenal can pull and without the billionaire sugar daddies that Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham can call on, the financial rewards that the Champions League has to offer is crucial to Liverpool’s continued success. They NEED to be in Champions League to continue progressing, regardless of reputation, Manchester City have already shown money can attract players above their current station.

Yet Liverpool will not find it any easier and by December 13th they could be staring up at the top four and hoping that they can find a vein of form that has so far eluded them this season. They’ve failed to beat every decent side they’ve played this season, with the exception of Manchester United two weeks ago and that in itself is a worrying trend. With massive matches against Manchester City, Everton, Fiorentina and Arsenal in the next five weeks, something needs to sorted and quickly.

Of course, Benitez has a position of strength in the fact that he signed a 5 year contract in March this year and Liverpool’s finances would tend to support the argument that the club can’t afford to sack him. Liverpool fans tend to support their manager through thick or thin, only Graeme Souness lost the fans in the last 30 years and at the moment the attention for the fans frustration is the owners.

Chelsea sacked Scolari when the club were fourth, 7 points behind Manchester United. Liverpool are currently 6th, 9 points behind and whilst we may assume what Hicks and Gillett do, would it surprised anyone if they pressed the panic button? Unfortunately not.  Trouble is, they may call on Jurgen Klinsmann, which shows just how little about club football they actually know.

So could it be really true that the two most unpopular men in Anfield are looking to sell a 50% stake in the club to the Saudi Arabian Prince Faisal bin Fahd Abdullah al-Saud? The story started to leak late last night in the UK, which was quickly denied, (rather foolishly it now seems) but as today has progressed more news about the potential investor has come to light.

Now this story seems to have originated in the Saudi newspaper Al Riyadh yesterday in an interview given by the Prince. An eye watering amount of between £200-£350 million seems to be floating around on the news wires, a massive jump in Liverpool’s value since the Hicks and Gillett bought the club back in 2007 for £174 million. Quite what they’ve done to at least double the value of the club is beyond me but there you have it.

Now Prince Faisal bin Fahd Abdullah al-Saud was at Saturday’s demolition of Hull City, as he was finalising the deal that will see Liverpool opening four football academies in North Africa and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi’s love of football is well known and this is another major coup for the duo after the new shirt sponsorship deal was announced two weeks ago. An alleged £20 million per annum 4 year deal see’s Liverpool’s revenue jump up massively. So much for the global downturn!

The key point here is just how much of the club will the Prince be buying? The prospectus that was being touted around for investment earlier this year was chasing amounts of around £50 million for a minimal stake in Liverpool. It seems that by casting their fishing line out for clown fish, Hicks and Gillett may have accidentally and rather fortunately hooked a shark instead.

I have to say that those two have surprised me in the last couple of weeks, especially if this story is true. The levels of idiocy, infighting, the incredible amounts of money they’ve paid themselves through the club and the general destabilising effect these “owners” have had made me think that they’d lose at a game of texas hold em against a blind raccoon. It seems that for the moment, they can’t do wrong for doing right, which makes a pleasant change.

Most Liverpool fans, quite rightly have not been impressed with the new owners for quite a while and the list of issues has been covered plenty of times, so we’ll leave that well alone. Collectively, most Liverpool fans will be breathing a sigh of relief as they’ve gone from begging at RBS and Wachovia to refinance the loans used to buy the club to now being able to bathe in money.It also gets the dynamic duo one step closer to the exit door at Anfield, which cannot be a bad thing for all concerned.

I doubt the Prince will be looking to make this a long term partnership and Liverpool, regardless of your feelings towards them, are easily one of two clubs in English football that people from all over the world will have heard about. Owning Liverpool F.C. should be a license to print money, not lose it in the way Hicks & Gillett have managed!

By getting his foot in the door and probably buying half of each partners stake, the Prince raises his power immediately. When you’re faced with two men who clearly have fallen out, buying a football club off them should be a piece of cake or will it cause even more problems as 3 owners from completely different cultures try to come to a consensus when running the club?A buy out may the best for all concerned I think.

No doubt, it will bring a little more stability for Liverpool and their fans, but how long until Hicks or Gillett puts their foot in it again??

February 2007, the dawning of a great new era in Liverpool’s history as Tom Hicks and George Gillett bought the club from the Moore’s family. Promising massive investment and the funds for the construction for the new stadium that Liverpool needed, it seemed as if Liverpool were finally about to catch up with Manchester United financially under the stewardship of Kop Football Holdings.

Now, almost two and half years down the line, after their most successful Premiership season in 8 years, you would think that the owners would allow Benitez the money he needs to increase the strength of the side to allow them to push on and keep competing with United and Chelsea. Unfortunately, the accounts that were released last week and the missing out of Gareth Barry, last summers top target, will not be filling Liverpool fans with hope.

Added to that rumours continue that Real Madrid continue to circle above Xabi Alonso to add the defensive screen to their newly acquired attacking foils and Javier Mascherano’s wife is apparently pining for a return to a Spanish speaking nation with Barcelona more than happy to accommodate them in Catalonia. Liverpool issued a statement yesterday advising that neither player was for sale nor had they received any offers for the duo.

To some fans that means they’re both going to be sold, but with us unsure of the financial situation at Liverpool, it would be unfair to comment on pure speculation. By all accounts, they’re in the driving seat for Glen Johnson’s move from Portsmouth, but the price being bandied about is touching £18 million. Portsmouth have given Johnson their blessing that he can move if a side in the Champions League come in for him and United and Arsenal don’t need another right back. I doubt he’ll want to return to Chelsea for a second stint.

Of course if Liverpool do sign Johnson, which would by all accounts use the transfer budget unless it was bolstered by signings and releasing players that simply haven’t made the grade, such as Jermaine Pennant or Ryan Babel. Selling established first team players does not come in to Benitez’s thinking and for them to challenge United and Chelsea they have to keep hold of their best players and add more quality to the full back positions.

Whilst I have been critical of Benitez in the past, you have to feel sorry for him. He’s working for a pair of guys who haven’t held a promise they made back in February 2007 and he’s seen off two potential replacements and a Chief Executive to be able to sign a new contract that runs until 2014. He now just needs Gillett and Hicks to finally deliver the £200 million player investment they promised him when they took over. They know that Benitez has the support of 99.9% of Liverpool fans and they’d risk everything if they undercut the manager by selling first team regulars.

The big test for Benitez for the 2009-2010 season is to build on what last years excellent season offered Liverpool fans and push for a consistent title challenge throughout the year. For them to continue and progress, the manager has to receive the financial backing to progress. He knows that United now have a war chest of £100 million and it’s likely that Chelsea will have even more to spend and that’s without taking into consideration Manchester City or Arsenal’s forays in to the market over the summer.

Without that backing, Liverpool could go backwards and Benitez doesn’t deserve that!

 American billionaire Robert Kraft may make a £270m bid for George Gillett’s 50 percent share of Liverpool.

“We haven’t ruled it out completely,” Kraft told Sky Sports News.

“But I’m worried a little bit. I want to be able to win whatever we do. But there are no rules in terms of spending on players.

“We would never want to be in a business where we couldn’t compete and right now some of the structure doesn’t allow you to compete on a level playing field.”

Kraft currently owns both the New England Patriots of the NFL and the New England Revolution of MLS.  He wanted to invest in Liverpool as far back as 2005.  He also reportedly made an inquiry about buying the club last season before being outbid by DIC.

Kraft’s purchase would benefit the Merseyside club.

If he can muster more stable financing, it would deflect the itchy-triggered shotgun of debt currently pointing at the club from the initial American purchase.

Removing Gillett would ameliorate relations somewhat between the board and Benitez, as it was Gillett who opposed Benitez assuming control of transfer policy.

Kraft’s reputation in both the NFL and MLS is as an owner who hires the best people, and who allows them to do their job without meddling.  It is, thus, not a coincidence that his franchises have been successful.

The previously hapless Patriots have won three Super Bowls and appeared in four this decade.  The Revs have made the MLS Cup final four times under Kraft.  They also won a US Open Cup in 2007 and SuperLiga in 2008.

However, Kraft’s purchase would not be a complete panacea.

Kraft’s teams have been successful, though, in a manner that may be troublesome for Liverpool fans, it has been without spending.  The Patriots, during their Super Bowl runs always kept under the NFL’s salary cap.  The Revs have repeatedly drawn criticism for not spending money or taking advantage of the Designated Player slot.

The American may muster the requisite intelligentsia at the top of the club.  But, he may not be down with spending £20m each transfer window to bolster it.

Liverpool fans may emulate the fiscal flexibility of Chelsea or Manchester City.  But, with Robert Kraft at the helm, they may more resemble Arsenal.

Liverpool FC has sought the help of investment bank Merrill Lynch to find a buyer for the club, according to a report in The Times newspaper.

Out of the 20 clubs in the Premier League, Liverpool has been one of the hardest hit in the credit crunch due to the £350 million that American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks borrowed that has to be refinanced this January or next July at a time when their bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, may be unwilling to restructure the loan. The Royal Bank of Scotland was bailed out by the British government just last week.

The Times newspaper reported that auditors looked at Liverpool’s books last week as part of the beginning process of finding a buyer, but no buyer has been found thus far.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, was interested in buying Liverpool FC in the past but it’s believed that the American owners are now asking too much money for the club, reportedly up to £550 million.

The best thing for Liverpool, its players and fans would be for Dubai International Capital (DIC) or a similar business group to purchase the Merseyside club, ridding the club of the very unpopular American owners Hicks and Gillett, and moving on a course to build a new stadium in Stanley Park.

What do you think? Will DIC and the American owners be able to compromise and work out a deal? Or will the future of the club drag out until a new owner can be found?