We are, after all, in this together!

As we all know, times at Anfield are challenging and difficult at this moment. It is a time for strength of support to well up around the club. It is in these times of adversity that the 'kop faithful' has delivered time and time again.

A Xmas Message (I'm about to get slated for!)

I got quite a few re-tweets which led to yesterday's post being one of my most viewed. Watch this one dive bomb, oh and watch the idiot counter at the footer go up.
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Wholesale Changes Needed at LFC

You know the core of all organisations, once a number of employees are involved, are the same. Whether you're in the business of buying and selling goods or engineering rocket parts the key challenges all share the same intrinsic qualities.

Hello.... we've had injury problems!

So the media battering of our manager continues. It would appear that unless Rafa Benitez wins every game for the rest of the season (and every competition we remain in) there will be no respite. Even if we win our next few games, the first time we trip up will no doubt mean the onslaught is reignited in every tabloid, newsroom and sky sports review.

Reflecting on the Arsenal game

I've purposefully stayed away from my blog and other sites to reflect on the game yesterday. The reason being that even die hard Rafa fans, like myself, have their moments of questioning things, especially after such a torrid run.

After some reflection though I believe the tactics employed for the first half were spot on. I expected Rafa to play Masch and Lucas, and they did exactly what was expected of them. Which was to break down Arsenal's attacks and prevent their sublime passing game. Arsenal looked shell shocked in the first half and really struggled to compete against our pure intensity. We played that well that Wenger 'lost it' like never seen before by established players. For 45 minutes we played them off the pitch.

However with two defensive midfielders you're not going to create many chances. One of our problems being that we didn't take the ones created, especially the Gerrard / Torres one (although Torres in fairness is coming back from injury - be honest, a few games under his belt and we all know the result would have been different).

After going one up and already having your best defensive options on the pitch it's natural to expect us to sit it out and play on the counter attack. Something which Gerrard and Torres were doing relatively well in the first half. Although they do not appear to have quite 'clicked into place' like last season yet.

But as if we hadn't had enough bad luck this season, it was an own goal that effectively ended the game for us. With confidence already fragile and luck always seeming to run against us (beach balls, injuries and refereeing decisions anyone?) we looked like a frightened fighter who had just taken a sucker punch. A punch that led us to quickly losing the intensity, which had seen us convincingly terrorise Arsenal for the first forty five. While Arsenal came at us with a renewed vigour, the flea in the ear from Wenger echoing no doubt. As the half went on hope really diminished as the players returning from injury faded.

The good news is that there were times when the team showed some of the promise of last season. Short periods of quick passing football with vision. But balls though were sometimes just not quite getting there or passes were being played for a run when the player wanted it to feet. The hallmarks of a side which has faced tumultuous changes and is just our of sync at the moment (but with an underlying potential).

With a run like this you ask yourself questions. I have said that Rafa is not beyond reproach and he should not be. I stand by my reasons for giving him more time though (injuries, form of key players, bad luck etc.). The reason I haven't changed my mind since yesterday is that tactically I think his decisions were right. Masch and Lucas won that first half battle for us and he tried to bring in additional creativity after the two Arsenal goals went in. We lost to the bad luck of an own goal, a superb strike from Arshavin and a team with key players just getting back from injury. The tactics were right, the team selection was right; but bad luck remains while our confidence continues to be knocked.

However, three games we should and must win coming up. If we lose any of them (without us losing half the squad through injury or illness) well I think even the most die hard Rafa fans will be starting to ask questions.

You'll Never Walk Alone

Liverpool FC - Title Contenders

This is one of those posts that when you start writing it you hope it isn't about to backfire on you. Fate, a bad omen or superstition stops posts like these all over the world? Not me, oh no, I'm going to post it and if it backfires... well I'll just delete it later ;-)


Towards the end of November I questioned whether we should be written off as 'title contenders' and that our moniker should be replaced by '4th place scrappers'. At the time United were 8 points ahead of us (the same difference existing the season before, albeit we were the ones 8 points ahead), a not insurmountable points difference I argued. But Chelsea were a further 5 points ahead of them. I had already pointed out that Chelsea had a potentially points dropping run coming up and the African Cup of Nations to contend with, but a few days later I tweeted that I expected City to definitely beat them. This was following a poor run of results by City with a team that was capable of so much more. I personally think Chelsea just caught them at a time when they had to prove they could be contenders, even if they weren't (if you get what I mean).


So a few weeks on, after concluding that we shouldn't be written off as title contenders, where are we up to? Well, if we win today (and despite us still not having 'fired on all cylinders') we move a step closer. We will have reduced the points gap to United by one point and Chelsea by three. I realise this would only be the first small step but it would be a significant step forward nevertheless.


We finally have our first team back and Rafa has selection headaches today more akin to last season rather than this. A first team I would suggest that is better than United's and as good as Chelsea's. Our squad unfortunately cannot compare to either of them, so keeping our first XI fit is imperative if we are to lead a charge to the top. But, fitness withstanding, I truly believe that a 10 point gap can be closed down against a team which has faltered of late and still has to lose their best players for a period. Lets see how they get on without their best midfielder and striker shall we? 


As for United well they have more quality than us when you get past the starting XI, so injuries don't quite effect them in the same way; especially against the lesser teams. But I believe their starting XI is currently punching above their weight. They do not seem to have the cutting edge they had with Ronaldo (who effectively won the title for them last season). Despite some good results I expect they will start to fade and possibly implode when they hit their bad patch, which they will.


We have been written off way to early, by everyone (ourselves included). There is still over half a season to go and we can still pull a rabbit out of the hat. But we must start today and come the 3rd January we will need to have picked up maximum points. This is not impossible once our first XI starts firing on all cylinders. Let's see how the land lies then shall we?


One final thought. I've got good money on Wenger arriving at Anfield today lambasting his luck in the date of this fixture. This would have been a very different post a few weeks ago!


You'll Never Walk Alone

Liverpool's Debt 'Problems'

There have been a couple of interesting articles this week in relation to Liverpool's debt 'problems'. So I figured that now should be a time to revisit this old topic. Those of you who've read my posts will know my opinions on our club's debt and its owners. For those visiting for the first time you can find them here:


Liverpool FC and the Blame Game
Liverpool FC Sinking in a sea of Debt
Liverpool FC - Blame Game Decisions Part One (Owners)


The first article is about Tom Hicks' and the ownership of his American sporting ventures. It would appear that Tom's debt woes aren't contained to these shores as he comes under increasing pressure to pay off debts across the pond as well. The potentially enforced sale of the Texas Rangers, for up to $500m, being the possible cure to his financial headaches. This follows on from the recent sale of George Gillette's NHL team, the Montreal Canadiens, presumably for similar reasons.

It is becoming abundantly clear that the worldwide credit crunch is coming back to haunt those individuals involved in leveraged takeovers or expansion. Never forgetting that the wealth of people is based on paper assets, as well as their money, an individuals wealth can vanish quite quickly. This however doesn't appear to be the case with our American owners who are both expected to realise a profit from their recent asset sales.


Back in the days of debt being a perfectly normal way of life the lenders, I believe, were as much at fault as anyone else. How else do you explain Hicks' lenders providing him the opportunity to default on interest payments for up to two years? Oh how the world has changed now, you'd be lucky to miss a single payment these days!


We really need to start thinking about the world as pre and post credit crunch. Before the credit crunch I do not believe there were any doubts that Liverpool FC would have a new stadium well on its way to completion by now. The stadium would no doubt have been completed while also adding star players. How? Well, back then, the banks would have happily continued lending to pretty much anyone with a half decent business record and some personal wealth. 


Is this the fault of the businessmen of the world? Well they have to shoulder some of the responsibility but they will, quite rightly, ask you to consider the pressures they were under. You see debt funding, while easy to attain, was one of the ways of creating or maintaining competitive advantage. As an example if you sell widgets but the widget maker up the road has a new machine meaning he can produce and thus sell his widgets cheaper, well you have to react or go out of business. While debts were freely available every 'widget maker' in the world was updating their plant and machinery to create competitive advantage. Market conditions, consumer choice, shareholders and globalisation all placed pressure on senior managers to react (or live with the consequences of non reaction), so invariably they reacted rather than died.


So then consider these normal pressures and add in fan pressure and expectation to the quite clear realisation that with some considerable investment Liverpool FC could, in the fullness of time, surpass the revenue and profit generating machine at Old Trafford. To borrow or not to borrow and get there quicker while leaving my own cash free? I know what my answer would have been.


Sport is a business like no other, where on the pitch success is inextricably linked to off the pitch rewards. You can't just let time stand still with your playing squad while you take a few years to build a new stadium. Likewise you can't invest hundreds of millions into the playing squad without the stadium (and thus revenues) to pay for them over the longer term. Add in the increased requirements for home-grown talents (requiring investment in academies) and unless you are owned by Sultan Loadsofmoney or Oligarch Abramovich you simply can't do both things at once. You have to balance the requirements. Before the credit crunch and while using borrowed money these 'balanced steps' were more like leaps forward whereas post credit crunch they are now quite small. Thus requiring a lot of extra patience.


Borrowing is something that, post credit crunch, is increasingly difficult to do. Reeling from the reverberations of the financial shock waves, financial institutions have now gone the complete opposite way of their pre credit crunch proclivities. This is not only a reaction to the mistakes but also a result of the requirements to retain better capital reserves. Banks quite simply cannot take chances like they used to. Any lending must be first and foremost prudently assessed. Let's be honest many sporting ventures were / are over leveraged and therefore always going to come under close scrutiny. I don't really care what Alex Ferguson says, the fact that he netted over £80m in the summer and spent very little speaks absolute volumes to me. We are not the only ones in this situation. Any sporting venture across the world which is considered to be over leveraged will have to 'cut their cloth'.


What is interesting, to me anyway, is that Liverpool FC probably represents the owners' most saleable asset. However they probably believe that LFC is still an untapped oil reserve that will provide an exceptional return on investment in the future. Hence why, in my opinion, no amount of demonstrating is going to do any good, but potentially harm, with calculating hard nosed businessmen. Especially as, in relation to debt, the marketplace seems to be sorting itself out through banking imposed requirements.


As the debt avenue has closed down the owners need to bring in additional investment capital into the business. Before the credit crunch they could have achieved their targets (and kept all of the returns) without diluting their shareholding. That does not seem feasible now. Which in fairness they appear to have recognised and are attempting to do something about.


So we move onto the frank account from Rafa Benitez this morning and how he has helped the owners with their need to bring down the debt levels. I actually see this as a positive. It becomes clear, for the first time, that Rafa is actually involved and up to speed with the finances of the club. Even more importantly it appears that he is playing his part, being realistic and still not writing off success. It would also appear that he signed his new 5 year contract, despite the callings of Real Madrid, in full knowledge of the situation.


Rafa has taken a very responsible and realistic position in the current situation. Something I actually find quite heartening and something that the 'anti-Rafa brigade' and every journalist should consider (as well as our injuries, delay to Aquilani, loss of form from key players etc.) the next time they decide to open their mouths with their short term views.


The possible down side is that you would expect that key players are also aware of the situation and there could be a knock on effect on morale for our star players, knowing that additional 'star players' may not be arriving any time soon. Although I can't think of any one better to manage this than Rafa.


As I have stated countless time we are on a long term ride people. This is seen throughout every level of the club. We no longer have access to quick cash through borrowing. Therefore things are going to take time. 


- The owners, I have no doubt, will move on. When they can realise a good return on their investment. This will take time.


- A new stadium will be built. But we need the global uncertainty over borrowing to subside or an investor to come in. This will take time.


- New players will be brought into the club. But we need the global uncertainty over borrowing to subside or an investor to come in. This will take time.


- We will win the Premiership and other competitions when we get an injury reduced season or new players come in to the squad. This will take time.


Anything negative that anyone wants to do, say or try and impose in the mean time (in relation to the owners or Rafa) will not get us any nearer to the club's current goals. Goals which they seem to be inexorably heading towards. They all need to be left alone and given time to get on with business.

Response to Rafa Critics

I just posted the following to a site some of you may not visit any more and thought some of you may like to agree or disagree with my logic?

Our squad has looked terribly thin at times this season. However, we have also had one of the worst run of injuries for a long time. In fairness to Rafa he can only work with what he has. He could have gone the Houllier way of doing things by buying what were predominantly average players at the £5 to £14m range. You then end up with a more equalised squad so injuries aren't felt as badly.

However, this didn't work for Houllier (or Roy Evans for that matter), we were always the 'nearly men'. With a limited budget Rafa has tried to bring in players who can make a difference over a season and any of them over say £12m (Torres, Masch, Johnson) have had that affect. We came very close last season but the loss of Alonso together with injuries and the delayed full debut of Aquilani have all had a detrimental affect so far this season. But the ingredients and long term strategy is right in my opinion.

I think Aquilani is a key figure and will re-balance the attack/defence. It isn't working with Masch and Lucas, from an offensive perspective, but they are the best fit pairing at the moment in my opinion, especially given our defensive lapses!

Realistically we don't have the budgets of the top 2 (or some other teams), or the youth development set up of Arsenal. Rafa has recently taken over matters with youth development and some patience is required in this regard. He is having to stage bringing in the star players who can make a difference. Look at what the hacks at the papers say. A few seasons ago we were a one man team (Gerrard), then we were a two man team (Gerrard, Torres) - hopefully towards the end of this season or next we'll be a three man team (Gerrard, Torres and Aquilani). But circumstances dictate this slow progress, not Rafa. Unless of course you want a team filled with average players again?

People continue to take a short term view at a time when a longer one is required. Time for additional quality players to be 'staged in' and the youth development to be overhauled is needed. There is a reason why Rafa was signed for 5 years.

In relation to Aquilani I think Rafa is being ultra cautious with him. In fairness I dread to think what stories will be written if he is crocked in his first full debut. None of us know the full state of his fitness and we need to bide our time for someone who could be an imperative player in the future.

The man eats, sleeps and drinks football. I'm sure he is fully aware of what needs to be done, starting with another striker to 'fill in' when required, once resource is available.

What H&G Have Done Wrong

First, a suggestion if you haven't read blame game part one, I suggest you do so first.


So in the words of Leo Gehts *shrugs shoulders hands up* "ok, ok, ok, ok, ok!".

I have stated time and time again that I am H&G neutral. Despite this I continue to be accused of being pro H&G and 'sticking up for them'. This is not true! However, on reading my posts (and being honest with myself) I can see why this opinion may have been formed by some. 


I was also told that I don't offer a balanced opinion, just my own. Again, hands up, I used the wrong terminology. I try to offer a balanced argument. For example some people say that a calculator is no good as a dictionary, while I like to say its no good for looking up words but really good for working out sums.

By the same token this post should not be seen as me changing my opinion of our owners, it remains neutral. But I've sat down with one target in mind - to look at what H&G have done wrong and what has gone wrong since their takeover. After all there is a reason why I'm not pro H&G isn't there? So I'll try and explain in more detail why I'm not pro H&G.  I will though try and continue to balance my arguments, as that's my way and I believe the most effective way of reaching agreement.

Let's get the boring regurgitated stuff out of the way first. They decided to make a mockery of the entire club with their very public spat and approach to Klinsmann. This was quite a culture shock for most Liverpool fans as Moores and Parry, while not being the greatest commercially in my opinion, had conducted themselves 'behind closed doors'. Despite the current public face of H&G appearing to be one of unity no one really knows if they are at peace with each other or how long that peace may last. Internal politics are prevalent within most organisations across the world, some are minor skirmishes while others turn out to be full blown hostile takeovers. The full blown ones very rarely lead to long term peace or stability while all parties remain (and I speak from first hand experience - but that's another story).

Now one of the problems is the media (as usual) who very quickly targeted into the H&G skirmish and have possibly, as they do with other things, blown it out of proportion. So we don't really know exactly how major their fall out was or how genuine their current public unity is. Although the interview of Tom Hicks would indicate it was pretty major! This should be of genuine concern to all stakeholders as I doubt longer term stability can be guaranteed if there are still problems in their working relationship.

The Klinsmann situation baffles me to some degree. However, none of us really know how much political noise Rafa was making at the time. We do know that he had very clear ideas about how to take the club forward (from a footballing perspective) which included overhauling the entire footballing structure from grass roots scouting up to the first team. A process which is now under way. Again, these kind of politics are seen all the time in businesses and it would appear that Rafa is happy with how things have turned out. I believe he is still committed to the cause and I've not heard him complaining about a lack of transfer funds. He knows he still has a lot of 'fan power' and as such I believe if he wasn't happy we would know about it. It's not like he has ever been shy is it?

The owners though have to hold up their hands and admit to these mistakes. As I said earlier these kind of things happen in organisations all over the world. They are very rarely played out in the media though and there is really no need for it to happen, if managed correctly.

So what else have they done wrong? Well there is no getting away from the fact that we are in more debt than we have ever been. I have always looked at this from a business perspective and as such have accepted the leveraged assets as a way of getting things done. Especially given the comparison against the other top 4 clubs (as I posted here 'LFC - Sinking in a sea of debt?'). 


I guess though that (at its peak) debts of up to c. £350m are scary to most people. We are talking huge amounts of money owed to banking institutions. I have never accepted the fact that they lied about 'never putting debts onto the club' as I posted in the blame game part one. However, the possibility that they have been disingenuous exists. I find it hard to believe that they never planned to borrow to move the club forward. Indeed they have a track record of borrowing against a company's assets to drive growth. I guess the real question is, had they been up front from the start would there be peace, or would the disgruntlement have just started sooner?

I truly believe there was every intention to build a new stadium as it was integral to driving revenues. The timing of the credit crunch and how it affected our banks fits too neatly for us to dismiss the credit crunch as the real reason why our stadium is on hold. They were foolish though to offer any time scale on starting the stadium when they did (especially one so short). They surely already had in mind that the initial plans would not be acceptable to their longer term plans. So why not just come out, there and then, and say so.

The real problem of their own making, as happened on the pitch last season, was our expectations were raised to an all time high. We went from being a club living within its means to all of a sudden not being owned by one wealthy man but two. While one of them was wealthy by 'normal' standards the other, well he was a billionaire and had appeared in Forbes' top 100 rich list. This was it wasn't it? Superstar players, a new stadium and success, back to the good old days. Then the players started coming in and our expectations go even higher and this is it.... here we go... players, loans, stadium, credit crunch... screech... crash!

At the time of the takeover I'm pretty sure not many fans had done any research on our new owners. They've done plenty now and the way they make their millions becomes clear. They leverage a businesses assets to drive growth quickly. This had become increasingly common business practice across the world during the borrowing frenzy seen over the last decade. The Glazer deal was probably the first high profile sporting takeover utilising this method of borrowing within the UK. However, their borrowing was to simply buy the club without the need to immediately drive revenue increases.

Interestingly while the protesters in Manchester have been quiet recently there do appear to be rumblings again. The discontent 'up the road' may soon return to the fore and the chants of too much debt, interest payments, no star player purchases and those damn Americans will return. For two so vehemently rival clubs the similarities between us and them is astonishing!

In business you start up and you achieve growth. That growth drives revenues which in turn increases profits. You can then take those profits out of the business or reinvest to provide more growth, revenues and thus profits. Business owners who reinvest quite often have an exit strategy, for on completion of driving the value within the business. Once they have increased the value of the business and the brand they can then 'cash in'.

The recent 'lending frenzy' allowed an easier way to get to the 'cashing in' stage. Instead of using profits to drive growth you in essence borrow future profits allowing for accelerated growth which in turn drives revenue increases quicker. There is a certain amount of logic in doing this. You don't tie up personal cash, which instead you use as tacit security for the banks. That is to say the banks feel secure in lending money to H&G because they know of their wealth. By not requiring the use of your own funds you can spread your risks and grow several businesses at once. 

But there is a downfall to operating this way, which we have seen. There appears to be a lack of commitment to the business from the owners. In simple terms they appear to have nothing to lose. If Liverpool Football Club fails it won't affect their bank balances. This creates the suspicion we are seeing from some fans. Especially when you consider where our expectations were. Fans want to see that debt, if we have to have it, mean something by way of new players and stadia.


There is nothing wrong with a football club having debts to drive growth. Indeed when our debts are less than half of our direct competitors (comparing apples with apples) it could be said we are in a healthy position financially speaking. A few people have come on and said they don't care about comparing us this way, despite there being a quite logical reason for doing so. 


There is a very simplified argument doing the rounds about our debts, but the debts are a realistic component of growth for any business. The problem is the commitment, or lack of it, and not the debts. If H&G had match funded our debts from their personal wealth, instead of using it as 'tacit security' I doubt there would be a problem. They would have shown their commitment and we would have a stadium underway or half the debts. But in my opinion it is the lack of commitment and not the debts which is the underlying problem.

The other problem with the whole situation, as I have said in the past, is the real lack of communication from the club. Now in fairness to H&G, we can't tell them to wind their necks in one moment (when they're plastered all over the papers) and then tell us everything that's going on the next. However, throughout this whole situation there appears to be a lack of information about the future direction of the club. What is the strategy? 


I know that Spirit of Shankly have met with the senior management of the club but not all of us are members. I found some useful information from the meeting minutes, so why not publish them on the LFC website? This by the way isn't a dig at SOS, who I have stated on several occasions I have respect for, but they don't necessarily represent the views of the entire LFC fan base. The club should be communicating with all of us through the medium which is already in place.

So in summary they have:

Played political games within the organisation

Been unrealistic about some of their plans

Inappropriately treated some staff (Rafa - Klinsmann fiasco)

Possibly been disingenuous - in that they will have presumably known their plans at the outset

Shown a lack of commitment by using debt instead of personal finance

Haven't communicated effectively

My opinion - (it's not right or wrong, it's an opinion)


These are all symptoms of the problem rather than actually being the problem. The problem is Liverpool FC has become a fully fledged business. A business which uses modern business practices and takes risks in order to increase the return on investment. Think back to the origins of football clubs. They were generally community driven and the football clubs were an integral part of their local community. How times have changed! The 6 problems I have noted above are all part of business. Within businesses most or all of them, depending on the business, are encountered on a regular basis.


There has been a change in modern time football in that football clubs turnover and make serious amounts of money. This pushes football clubs into the business arena and with each push there is a pull effect from the football club's community origins. While I would imagine Spirit of Shankly has members from all around the world, I suspect the core of its membership is from the local areas. These are the people who are most affected by this pull effect and they are quite rightly upset, confused and in need of answers; which are not forthcoming.


Hicks and Gillette are fully fledged hard nosed businessmen. They have made hundreds of millions by being this way. They no doubt have a very clear plan and exit strategy. Due to years of control under a management team, which didn't take advantage of the vast commercial possibilities, they saw the clear opportunity Liverpool FC represented. The most successful team in British football and all of this unrealised commercial potential. Unrealised potential means hundreds of millions of pounds in this case. Do they have an emotive tie to the club? I doubt it. They are businessmen who saw an opportunity and are taking it. The good thing out of all this is that the true value can only be realised by achieving on and off the pitch success. So H&G must invest in both.


For all of those fans though who have an emotive tie to the club, who do care about the club from more than a financial perspective, it's hard to see it being pulled away from its community roots. It's even harder to see the risks being taken to get to the exit strategy of H&G, for great financial reward, without the financial commitment. I say 'without the financial commitment', none of us actually know whether personal guarantees have been given on the loans for Kop Holdings.


So why am I neutral? 


Well as a business (and I admit I do tend to look at things from this perspective) they are running it very, very well. The business is not, as far as we can see, in any danger of collapse and is not reliant on H&G for the long term (which is an important point to me). Yes it has debts but there is supposedly only actually £105m against the club itself. Which for the progress we have made is actually a good deal for LFC. This level of debt would be attractive to a new buyer should Kop Holdings collapse. Also consider what £105m is in relation to the assets it's secured against, especially the playing squad.


The debts when H&G came in were c.£45m so what does £60m buy? New players of a quality which are a step up from Moores/Parry signings, investment in the academy and youth set up, increased wages for star players, remaining 50% share in LFC.tv and the 'soft costs' for the new stadium. I won't go through the Kop Holdings debts again here (refer to blame game part one). We have also significantly improved commercially and the push towards the exit strategy is well and truly under way.


We can't force a change of ownership and if we could I don't know who else we would want to come in. Another businessman would be, well... another businessman. A sugar daddy would take risks and leave us dependant on him in the long term, a la Abramovich. 


I'm not convinced fan ownership is the way to go as it would put too much pressure on results (we've already seen the knee jerkers at work this season). Yet at the same time this is the clearest way to push the club back to its community roots. However, I believe that business expertise and backing is required to make us truly competitive in the global environment.


Do I have a suggestion? 


Well kind of. For the best benefit of the club as a whole I would like to see a mixture of community and business working together. I'd like to see some of the club owned by businesses and some by fans. I don't particularly think the club is served very well by being owned privately by one or two individuals as any businessman is going to be trying to make their millions at 'exit time'. Millions which could be ploughed into the club. 


There will be even greater resentment of H&G when they do leave with their bags of cash, but this is private enterprise and that's what makes the world turn money wise. It's just impinging on more emotive enterprises these days. Let's be honest you don't care who owns Tesco or even your local grocery store or how many billions any of them make. But you have an emotive tie to your football club and we can't just go to Asda if we don't like it can we!


The best answer to me is through an already existing method. Float the business on the stock exchange and have this joint collaboration between fans and business. The owners can still keep a good, but not controlling, majority and the rest of the business can be owned through faceless organisations and the fans. But I doubt it will happen. The owners quite clearly have a plan and I doubt much will get in the way of that plan, and they do own the club after all.


Final thought


One final thought and yes for this bit, for humanity, I will stick up for them. H&G are human, they are not evil dictators and they do not deserve some of the things which are apparently happening to them (hate mail, abuse etc.). 


They are businessmen and what they are doing is what business people do day in and day out. They make millions and billions of pounds for themselves. They have a certain skill set to do this that not everyone has. At the same time they employ people, they give to charity, they pay taxes, they fund local community projects and they fund the local community through rates etc. 


This is today's society and the way in which it works. We have every right to be worried or angry but for every hate letter or email and for every hurled insult you weaken your position. Some people think this is the only way to get through to them. It is the wrongest and most in-appropriate way to get through to them. 


If I was them and had no emotive tie to the club I know what I'd be thinking from a business perspective. I'd be thinking 'screw you, I'm going to stay here in America and I'm going to squeeze every last penny out of this club and I don't care what state I leave it in. You want to see greedy capitalist behaviour well here it comes.' 


If you want them out of Anfield you should tread carefully and you should think and re-think your plans until you are certain you are heading along the right path. Strategically and politically every step must be fully considered and all implications weighed up. We all have limits and as businessmen you are more likely to push H&G past theirs, rather than get them to tuck their tails between their legs and disappear. Until they've made a return on their investment of course.

The 'Dubai Effect' Still to be Felt by LFC?

I recently wrote on the potential side step we took in relation to DIC's proposed takeover which fell through. Given the recent goings on in Dubai it is possible that fate dealt us a kind blow during the ownership wrangle. It is unfortunate then that Liverpool FC may still find itself within the turbulence of what is happening in Dubai.

When reading the articles about Dubai last night two notable names kept coming up. Reports suggest that the bank most likely to be affected by the Dubai fall out is our shiny new sponsor Standard Chartered. It is unknown at this juncture as to how indebted the Dubai companies in mention are to Standard Chartered. Worryingly though there is now talk of a second wave to the credit crunch - with our new sponsor at the fore front of it. Standard Chartered fared quite well during the credit crunch, hence their ability to enter into a record breaking (at the time) shirt deal with Liverpool. It is early days with the Dubai 'situation' but Standard Chartered will certainly be a name to keep an eye on.

The other name which has been thrown into the mix of the potentialy affected is RBS. RBS is a different 'kettle of fish' altogether, having been battered by the first wave of the credit crunch. In the blame game part one I put together the timing of their demise and it's impact on Liverpool Football Club. Following the first wave of the credit crunch Liverpool's owners had to pay off £60m of the debt capital. This was despite the club being in a relatively stronger position financially than its competitors (in relation to debt). Is it conceivable that a second wave of bad debts (not from Anfield) to hit the bank could mean they have to impact on their good customers again? It is certainly possible that they will once again have to shore up their own finances. Any more demands for capital repayment will no doubt have an impact on any transfer budget and future growth plans for the club.

On the plus side this may yet all blow over and in a year's time some will be back wishing that DIC had bought us. Many are suggesting that Abu Dhabi will still ride to Dubai's rescue, see it's not what you know...

Three reasons why Rafa will not be sacked

We just don't seem to have any luck at the moment do we? 11 players come out and give there all for 90 minutes, dominating possession and playing football that some nay-sayers would question whether we were even capable of, with so many of our 'top' players missing.

I keep repeating the same mantra at the moment. Our full strength team, in form, can beat anyone in the world. For those interested I would have that team as Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio, Kuyt, Mascherano, Aquilani (hopefully), Riera, Gerrard and Torres.

Although mooted by recent standards the rumblings from some quarters still bring Rafael Benitez's career with LFC into question. For a man who has shaped our team into the one above and with a history of winning throughout his career this is, in my opinion, ill founded and laughable. Who exactly are we planning on replacing him with?

But before Rafa's future can even realistically be called into question at least two of the following need to happen.

Losing the backing of his players

One thing that was abundantly clear to me last night was that 11 men went out there to give there all for the club and their manager. Even those who do not get regular games gave their all. The one player who did pick up some criticism was Voronin but he was chasing everything and to be honest I thought he was just trying too hard, and thus forcing himself to make mistakes. I think the same is true, in part, of Benayoun. He was his usual skilful bag of tricks but at times near the end he looked like he just wanted to do it all. They were all giving their all.

Then I noticed something interesting following each near miss. Everytime something didn't quite go right there was a look to the bench; an apologetic look? Maybe it's just me but I took some of these desperate looks to Rafa as a sign of 'I'm so sorry'.

Managers who have lost their team do not play like our team did last night.

Losing the backing of the club's mangement

Well we can nip this one in the bud quite quickly can't we? There aren't many left in the upper echelons of the Anfield hierarchy to come out and publicly give Rafa their backing. George Gillett, Kenny Dalglish, Christian Purslow have all come out and backed Rafa and confirmed that he is there for the long haul and that, at the moment, we must all pull together and ride the storm.

Mention should also be given to other Premier League managers who have all come out and backed Rafa. Talking about the lunacy of a manager with Rafa's record attracting this kind of speculation. I agree with Paul Tomkins that Arsene Wenger needs a special mention for what he has recently said.

Losing the backing of the fans

They're fickle things some of them fans, always have been always will be. Ever demanding with aspirations that must be met, failure should not be an option. It's amazing that some think 11 games in and 9 points behind the leaders and 7 behind last season's champions is failure. We are nowhere near calling anything failure yet!

The short term view taken by some is astounding and I will ask again, where are we getting anyone better from? Rafa has a record admired by most, before and during his tenure at Liverpool, under what have been difficult circumstances. Then, despite the barrage of criticism from the media and some sections of the fan base, he comes out confident and quoting you'll never walk alone. You'll never walk alone unless you don't win the next few games? Doesn't sound like the Liverpool way to me!

Despite all of the above Rafa continues to enjoy support from the majority of fans. I have been in all sorts of forums over the past few weeks (enough to make my head spin) and I am confident that this is true. There are pockets of nay sayers, aren't there always? But on the whole he has not lost the fans' support. I always find it ironic that the press continue to talk about his cold, hard demeanour and yet he is idolised and /or respected by most of us.

So there you go 0 out of 3 at the moment and I don't see it changing anytime soon. I'll leave you with one final thought every Man U and Arsenal fan I know keeps going on about Rafa's time being up. Interestingly I was saying and hoping for the same thing when Ferguson's and Wenger's names were in the spotlight! When they start telling me we should give him a bit longer I'll start worrying.

Liverpool Football Club - Reasons for Optimism

Despite the poor run of form recently and the ongoing pro Rafa 'v' anti 'Rafa' and pro H&G 'v' anti H&G there are reasons to remain optimistic about the future of our great football club.

1. We have recently signed an (at the time - since overtaken by Real Madrid's Bwin deal) world record equaling sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered bank. "I am tremendously excited," said Christian Purslow, the club's managing director, when the deal was signed. "It's a hugely important day in the history of Liverpool Football Club. "This is the largest commercial agreement we have ever entered into. To have attracted a partner of the calibre of Standard Chartered Bank says everything about where we are trying to take this football club."
2. Carlsberg are reportedly still interested in some sort of sponsorship deal, perhaps worth as much as the outgoing shirt deal.
3. We have today signed a further sponsorship deal with 188Bet for 3 years. "We are delighted to welcome 188Bet to our family of partners. Their innovative approach to betting will enhance the fan experience, in addition to benefiting good causes through the 188 Foundation," said Ian Ayre, commercial director of Liverpool Football Club.
4. Tom Hicks is reportedly close to a $500m windfall when he sells his baseball franchise. He has stated that this club and LFC are separate. But the man has money!

And if (although I doubt it will) it does all go pear shaped we continue to attract significant interest from investment parties. While everyone is aware of the potential Saudi deal, billionaire Robert Kraft has once again expressed a desire to invest in the English Premier League with Liverpool Football Club his preferred choice. Kraft has always insisted that some sort of salary cap is required in the EPL and Platini's recently announced plans for reform could well deliver that; re-igniting Kraft's desire to purchase our club according to reports. Platini's plans would also see all football clubs secure their own long term futures.

On the pitch we continue to have a major injury crisis; meaning we're needed more than ever! As far as I'm concerned we have a team (Reina, Aurelio, Carragher, Agger, Johnson, Kuyt, Mascherano, Aquilani, Riera, Gerrard and Torres) which, when fit, can beat anyone in the world! We just have to ride the storm at the moment!

So keep smiling Liverpool fans. Everyone can forget about worrying about finances and put aside any bickering for the next few hours and let's get behind our team as one!

You'll NEVER Walk Alone

P.S. @robbohuyton - maybe you were right about this bloody blog!

LFC - Time for Peace?

Damn it! I said I wasn't doing another football related post. This isn't an LFC blog and I'm pretty sure I must have other interesting things to write about. But here's how it works. Yesterday I'm driving wondering what my next blog post might be about - politics, business, drugs, celebrity and I can't think of anything. Then today something triggers in my mind and my head goes 'that's a good blog entry' and well... here we are!

I have come across a bit of an enigma. Last week I posted on the site www.liverpool-kop.com about a point of view expressed which was similar to my own first LFC post. I commented and linked to my own story saying I was going to write about LFC's debts.

The site is run by Jaimie Kanwar someone I have never met and our total correspondence comprises of a few emails and tweets. After writing my post Jaimie asked if he could re-post it to his own site. I agreed and managed to get an insight into what it's like to run a site like his. I have had to respond numerous times to criticism, questions etc. and read comments which were not too flattering about my work.

This led me to reviewing more of Jaimie and his other writers' work and I think it would be fair to say that he does not shy away from controversy. On reading some of the responses it was becoming clear to me that he may actually be 'The Stig'. Between some valid points, some rantings and responses you can almost hear Jezza Clarkson "some say he's actually a Manchester United fan, some say he's in it for the advertising money while some would say he's a wannabe editor for the daily sport. We all know him as the Stig!"

There are some who accuse Jaimie of just finding the latest big LFC news and then purposefully putting forward or posting the 'view of the few' to promote a reaction. How true this is I guess only he knows. One thing is sure - with headlines like the following, criticism is always going to be forthcoming:

• Crouch for sale as Rafa's irrational vendetta continues
• Manchester United debacle once again exposes Steven Gerrard's lack of leadership ability
• Why Liverpool cannont and should not sign David Villa
• Rafa suffering from Houllieresque delusion of blandeur

However it is fair to say that there are often positive posts on the site. In the stories I have read an attempt is also made to back up the views with some form of rationalisation, even if it is not always accepted. He does not shy away from 'flip flopping' either and is happy to change his view point at a later date. Does this suggest an open mind or back up the 'sensationalist seeking' point of view?

If he is indeed The Stig then I guess his Richard Brunstrom would be SoS (Spirit of Shankly) who oppose the current ownership of the club. SoS is the Liverpool supporters union which was formed in January 2008. They are opposed to the current ownership of the football club and have the stated aim of holding the owners of the club to account.

Now, I will state again that I am Hicks and Gillett (H&G) neutral. But at the same time I am a realist and the realism of the situation is where SoS' biggest weakness lies in my opinion. They may well have some valid concerns, some of which have been shared amongst the majority of Liverpool fans, but their options and powers are limited. The most valid of concerns is the level of debts leveraged against the club. As per my last post I don't believe we are in as bad a position as painted by the media and I personally am relaxed about the club's finances. However, it has to be accepted that an additional c.£300m of debt is around the clubs neck post H&G. This is big money and concern is therefore understandable.

But the owners are financially accountable to their backers (the banks) and cannot be forcefully deposed by anyone else. So when it comes to the fans well, what can we do? Most of the actions available to us (stop going to the games, stop buying from the club shop, arrange demonstrations) in some way will damage the financial and / or commercial success of the club. This is as unpalatable as finding another club, so we end up in stalemate.

Stalemate is also where Jaimie ends up in most of his 'comment wars' following his posts. Sometimes we just have to accept that we're not going to agree. While all the trying to 'grind each other down' to accept another point of view simply serves to further damage the unity of the club as a whole.

Let's get personal. Last week I smiled at my girlfriend (an Everton fan by the way) and she didn't like it so a short argument took place. Obvioulsy there is a bit more to it than that but you'll be bored. Anyway I went to play squash while she stewed at home. I came home to a lady fixed in her belief that she deserved an apology. It wasn't forthcoming. I sent out a warning shot that 'we're not just going to agree on this so we should just forget about it'. Not good enough. So she shouted, I shouted, she called me several names not befitting her 'lady' title, I threw some things, broke some things and then she ended up in tears. Five minutes of silence were followed by me 'breaking the ice' and we agreed that we weren't going to agree (like I said at the start). Life is like that sometimes. You just have to get on with things accepting that damage can be avoided if you 'agree to disagree'.

Back to the football and I may be about to offer a simplistic view but while other clubs are limited to arguing over who they should buy, yesterday's result and the referee's mistakes we're collectively adding major arguments about our ownership and the financial structuring of the club. To our sponsors and prospective commercial partners it must appear like their is dis-harmony throughout every level of our football club. Not appealing is it?

I will say again that H&G's public outbursts played out in the media were stupid. However, they appear to have learnt and are at least displaying some sort of harmony for the world. The fans are not.

In relation to the club itself there is a significant weakness which exacerbates the problems. They do not, in my opinion, communicate effectively with the fans about their intentions or plans. They shouldn't need to justify their actions or endanger any competitive advantage they are looking for. However the amount of misinformation could, in my opinion, be reduced if we knew the high level strategies of the company direct from the club. Fans need to know 'from the horses mouth' that our debts can be managed and that the club is progressing towards the global football powerhouse it should be. Pre H&G our accounts and business overview were available from the club website. They are not anymore. They can be downloaded from companies house but why do we have to go looking for them and how many people know that? Little things like this promote the idea of a club trying to hide something.

One of the questions I asked myself as I was posting responses to my last blog entry was 'why am I having to justify our debts?' I didn't have all of the information required and was making judgements which were weakened because of this.

So, my opinions for you to shout at this time....

• Should the fans have an opportunity to hold the football clubs owners to account? Yes, we do hold the ultimate power over the club and company as we are their consumers. LFC need to recognise this and work with SoS - I have noted that Christian Purslow has met with SoS and intends to do so again.
• Is the current situation damaging our club? Yes, disharmony within the fanbase is always going to cause questions to be asked. Whether the future commercial success of our club will be hampered is still to be determined. I am confident it is not helping our prospects though.
• Could LFC communicate with us better? Yes, I believe they can. We don't need to know everything. But it strikes me that a lot of the speculation and misinformation could be dealt with if the club opened up a bit more. In the same way that Rafa is the focal point for the team Christian Purslow should push himself forward as the focal point for the company. He appears to have the support of most LFC fans.
• Should everyone have the opportunity to have their say and put their opinions out there? Yes, of course - we do live in a democratic country.
• Are the constant 'comment wars', speculation and media intensity doing us any good? No, we're not getting anywhere. We're having the same conversation over and over again. Go and look at Jaimie's posts in relation to H&G. In some cases they are as near to being repeated verbatim as you can get!

What would I suggest? Well I think the fans need to come together as one and agree that we are going to have 12 months of 'peace time'. During the next 12 months we come together in unity behind our great football club. God knows after yesterday's result we need it!

That is not to say we forget about things. But consider this. We agree 12 months of harmony throughout the club. In 12 months' time if the debt situation has worsened without clear justification from the club, or, other detrimental things have happened SoS or whoever else will have gained the moral high ground. They will then be in a much stronger position to convince a larger number of fans, thus having a larger influence over the club. Looking through posts on many LFC sites and forums there is evidence of a softening towards H&G and a hardening towards SoS. I could be wrong about it but on some of the posts I see I believe a wind of change is underway.

For clarity, my position -

• I don't care who owns our club.
• I care very much who runs it and that it is run well with an overall target of turning LFC into a 'global football powerhouse'.
• I am pro Rafa and believe if he can be given the tools he needs he is the right man
• I am realistic that without equity investment we need to borrow money to grow and achieve our targets. This is for the good of the club longer term.
• I believe our debts (as per my last post) are not as bad as the other 'top 4'clubs.
• I believe the press have a tendency to pick up on LFC stories. Why shouldn't they? We are a globally recognised football club, the most successful football club in history. We're going to be a target. While there isn't general unity at every level of the organisation, including the fans, we'll keep feeding them stories.

Finally and critically I believe we should have 12 months of 'peace time'. No demonstrations, quiet on the forum front, no shouting at our owners when they appear. In 12 months things will have improved or have worsened. Either way things will have 'crinkled out' and we the fans won't have damaged our club's future prospects.