Will this ever go ahead/away? THE Arab invasion of the Premier League seems certain to continue, with Liverpool's American owners weakening in their resistance to selling the club to Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, WRITES OLIVER KAY. Tom Hicks vetoed an attempted sale by George Gillett Jr, his co-chairman at Anfield, this year, but the American tycoons are expected to return to the negotiating table as an unforgiving financial climate takes a toll on their ambitions for the club. Hicks maintains that he will not sell Liverpool, but the Texan is known to be troubled by the financial storm that has engulfed him and Gillett in the past 12 months. And with the Premier League stakes raised further by the Abu Dhabi royal family's imminent takeover at Manchester City, Hicks and Gillett are close to conceding that they do not have the resources to fulfil the ambitions they had when they bought Liverpool in February 2007. There remains a £400m-plus offer on the table from Sheikh Mohammed, who is leading the bid that was being driven by Dubai International Capital, the private-equity investment arm of the Dubai Government, when Hicks blocked Gillett's attempted sale this year. But Hicks and Gillett are aware that the £350m refinancing deal they secured through the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia a little more than seven months ago is up for renewal on January 25 next year and that the banks are not certain to grant them the option of a six-month extension. They must decide by January whether to try to prop up their regime for a further six months, or to sell. The takeover of City could have a knock-on effect, with Liverpool facing greater competition to qualify for next season's Champions League. The club have annual interest payments of £30m, which last season's revenue from Europe went a long way towards clearing. (© The Times, London).
It sickens me to see football bought and sold and whored around. I know that it has generally been always the way, and there is nothing new here but the amounts of money being discussed and made by different people is disgusting. In an ideal world Liverpool would hone and develop local talent with a sprinkling of bought in players, but nowadays that gets you nowhere. I hope people who think DIC are the answer have no regrets in 10 years time, I guess they cant be any worse than the Americans. We need wise investment to maintain our position in the top 4, and we need more wise investment to secure our future as a title winning team.
Why should we believe this article that states there IS still a bid on the table because last week if im not mistaken DIC said they had no offers for any prem club on the table. That could just be a smokescreen but who do ya believe?????? I cant wait for the day that all these rumuors about our club go away and we can actually concentrate on football matters. This imo is having a negative effect on our club and the sooner the better them Kn*bheads piss off the better Surely DIC couldnt bring this much shit to Anfield????
The Sheikhs net worth was $18 billion USD as of 2007. It'll ruin english football but we'll be left behind if we dont get some serious investment!
Even still it would be good to think there was an active intersted party willing to take on this situation, we all know that there is huge potential with this teeam and club. With the right guidance, understanding and lstening the new owners could turn round the fortunes of the whole club in general, and in turn thier on investment would be handsomely paid back within a relativey short period of time.