Fri 05 Jun 2009 The Spirit of Shankly have studied the information that has been released in the last day relating to the accounts of Liverpool Football Club and its associated companies. The picture is alarming and underlines what we have said from the creation of the Union, namely that Tom Hicks and George Gillett are not fit or proper custodians of our Club. The accounts show a number of unacceptable issues and we feel it is fair to say that unless action is taken now by the owners and their funders then the Club is sleepwalking into disaster. The irony is that Liverpool Football Club itself has increased its income and also its profit – what is not surprising though is that the holding company for the football club has massively increased its debt to the point where its own auditors have said that These conditions, along with other matters explained in note 1 to the financial statements, indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the Group's and parent company's ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements do not include the adjustments that would result if the Group and parent company were unable to continue as a going concern. This is utterly unacceptable and coincides with the Union launching a campaign against our owners and particularly Royal Bank of Scotland, to see Hicks and Gillett out and a more sensible business model put in its place that relies upon the profitability of Liverpool Football Club being used to service appropriate liabilities and with all profits being ploughed back into the Club and not siphoned off to service debt that was used to purchase the Club in the first place. Hicks and Gillett’s business model is no longer viable and they should go – the Union’s campaign being launched this afternoon has been planned for some time to coincide with the re-financing decision being taken by RBS. We urge all members and supporters to join with us and use the window of opportunity we have to demand change, and change now! Tom, George - Watch this space. /No money, No Credibility, No Honesty, No Integrity, No Dignity, No Custodians - Hicks and Gillett out NOW!/ *Spirit of Shankly*
But new deals to secure players that are seen as assets is what any business (club) would/should do, whether in debt or not. The problem Liverpool FC have is that they have a debt "pile" which they are not currently able to pay off. One gruesome way of doing that would be to sell many players (assets) and run the club down (ie: dont invest) to pay off the debt, but that reduces the asset value. The Yanks are caught in a difficult situation. A 'White Knight' purchase could resolve the situation but we are relying on an entity that is willing to put its heart perhaps above its head. The Yanks will remain playing hardball until the very last moment, and they may sell other assets to stall the situation and keep Liverpool FC as their jewel in their crown. Ken1975> I know OT and the Emirates are hoovering in gate receipts but are the clubs themselves still making profits after you deduct quarterly payments for loans similar to LFC? Welcome to IrishKop.com Ken. Man Utd are making profits after they have paid off their annual interest payments. Their debt is more than Liverpool FC's but they are going in the right direction as far as banks, etc, and their owners are concerned. We are going the other way, increasing debt. The situation when Moores was selling was that Liverpool had 50 million in debt. Now it has 'de facto' 360m in debt in just a few years. Not good. Chelski is fantasy money as Abramovich is bank-rolling it so we can forget about them in terms of comparisons. Redspider
Several people who have been on the money in the past reckon not all the deals that have been reported have actually been signed !
The media must be having a field day with our news, theres nothing else to report so they are creating media hysteria
To be honest Im not as panicked as a lot seem. All we have heard today is confirmation of what we all have known for quite a while and Rafa wouldn't have tied himself down to a sinking ship. Only an idiot of a bank would extend this loan as nothing is going to happen in the next 12 months to suggest these guys are ever going to be able to re-pay the debt and to get the new stadium built to earn the revenue required will need probably another £500m loan which they wont get. We are not a Leeds in the making, when they went tits up no one wanted to buy them or cover their loan and so they had to sell their players to cover the loans. There is nothing to say we dont have someone be it DIC or another Sheikh monitoring from a distance waiting for the right time to come in and buy the club from the bank at a fixed price as all the banks want is their money back. The bank calling in the loan and the club to cover it to me doesnt seem like a worst case scenario but a best case one as the minimum G&H will sell it for is £350m but will still probably try and make a profit whereas the bank wont
the club is very profitable at the minute and has a lot of growth potential, if the yanks actually did what they promised we'd be on easy street now... the interest on the loans they took out to buy us is killing us at the minute...
Yes thats a fair point but Man U werent always in the strong position financially that they are now, didnt they go thru a rough period before they stabilised? That too is a fair point but chelsea still do have debt, no? and the club still have operating costs? Abramovich has transfer money available but from what I understand is he isnt writing off the debt with his money. too early to panic I still believe
Liverpool finances ludicrous - Taylor http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8084748.stm
What about the reports that rafa made a late £12 million bid for barry, if thats true then there must be some funds available?
Im sure there's cash there for transfers this summer or rafa wouldnt have signed his deal . its the long term effect of these two in charge of the club that worries me the most
They owe the banks £349m and have 6 weeks to convince them they can pay off the loan (how they can do that is beyond me) or find a buyer. If the bank say in 6 weeks no more extensions they can take the club from them as collateral against the loan and sell it off for the £349m and there is nothing G&H can do. As others have pointed out had G&H not used the club as the asset against the purchase of the club which they said they wouldnt do we'd be fine we're only in the read because of the loan interest not because the club is not making money it is. If and its an if an Arab came in took us off the bank they can see even with the current stadium there is a decent profit being made thanks to the worldwide fanbase.
as far as people saying, DIC waiting in the wings - i think that boat has sailed, they were fcuked about to much. Owners wanting too much for the club etc. We have to look at the facts, we are in big trouble because of these two idiots. As it has been released, the 46million debt this year do people still think that rafa will be given money to spend, unless he wins the euromillions i think not
This is true the debt the Chavs had when he took over is still there Abramovich has used his fortune as a guarantee against that but the club still has to pay the bank back when it become self sufficient. I also read in numerous places that a lot of the purchases made by the Chavs were paid for out of interest free personal loans from him that he can call in at 18 months notice. The Chavs are still riddled with debt, if the gangster decided to walk away they would go to the wall in the blink of an eye.