EPL Talk » George Gillett

Benitez Cannot Buckle Under Pressure

Paul Bestall — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:05:21 +0000

“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.

Liverpool Fans Believe In Fairytales As A Prince Rides To The Rescue

Paul Bestall — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:04:35 +0000

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??

Hicks and Gillett Force Benitez To Bargain Hunt

Paul Bestall — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:38:59 +0000

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!

Will Robert Kraft Purchase Gillett’s Share of Liverpool?

tyduffy — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:12:56 +0000

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 Up For Sale: The Details

The Gaffer — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:55:59 +0000

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?