Could RBS end up owning Liverpool? David Maddock examines all the takeover options
By David Maddock
Published 17:26 10/08/10
A word of warning to Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Don’t make Liverpool fans angry. You won’t like them when they’re angry.
If the Americans think that they’ve had a tough time from the supporters of the club they own, then they ain't seen nothing yet. Because, believe me, there is a shit storm brewing, and it is heading their way.
When they bought the club, the two Yanks said they were merely “custodians†of Liverpool’s rich and illustrious history, and they would ensure that legacy continued. What happened next is well documented, but they were not custodians in any sense of the word.
Now, at last, they are leaving, but even when they have finally done something right in choosing to sell up, they seem intent on doing it in a manner which will merely heap more shame on their disastrous regime.
Last weekend, it was revealed that the Americans have now converted their loans on the club to a similar agreement to that utilised by the Glazer family at Old Trafford, which essentially defers the debt and wracks it up in ever increasing numbers.
Some estimates suggest levels could even double within the next two years, and everyone agrees that if a buyer can’t be found within the next few weeks, then the club is doomed financially.
That will force the major creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland, to make a tough decision over the future of the club. They can call in their loans – all £250m or so of it – and effectively move Liverpool towards administration, with the threat of a nine point penalty.
Or they can assume control themselves, by effectively taking Liverpool as a wholly-owned subsidiary of their business against any defaulted payments. As bizarre as this seems, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility, because the bank could then sell on to recoup their outlay.
The third option is a sale before the current loans are up for renewal in October, hence all the fevered activity over the past few weeks, as the Americans look to offload their investment while clearing a fat profit.
But they are playing a game of brinkmanship in trying to force up the price, and they are doing it with the very future of Liverpool Football Club, one of the most illustrious and famous sports clubs in the world.
And if they continue with their tawdry little games, then they will risk the ire of the long-suffering fans at Anfield, and risk a reaction that will make recent protests look like a boy scouts parade.
The supporters are already angry, very angry. Listen to some of them, to judge for yourselves. Alan Kayll, chairman of the Liverpool Supporters’ Club, believes that unless the Americans show some responsibility soon, then they will live to regret it.
“We are appalled at what is happening with our club, we are appalled at figures which show interest being paid at a level of millions of pounds a month,†he said.
“How can the club still function with the refinancing package they agreed in April? We urge these two parasites to let the board sell the club this week, so we don’t have to pay another £15m by the end of August.
“They may be destroying our club, financially, but they won’t destroy us supporters from fighting against them and ending this sorry mess we find ourselves in.â€
The problem for Liverpool fans, is that even in selling the club, Hicks and Gillett seem intent on playing the role of pantomime villains.
The chairman Martin Broughton and his board are supposed to have the right to find a ‘best fit’ buyer who will offer the brightest future for the club, even if they don’t necessarily offer the highest price.
Yet we learn that the Americans themselves have been negotiating privately, and are intent on finding a buyer not in the interests of the club, but the interests of their pockets.
We shouldn’t be surprised, because we discovered a long time ago the extent of their greed, but we should be worried. The person they seem willing to do business with hardly looks like the best fit for Liverpool’s long-term health.
He is Syrian businessman Yahya Kirdi, who was originally described as a ‘billionaire’, but in fact has no significant money of his own. He was originally described as a ‘former international footballer’, but in fact wasn’t.
He was described as a ‘corporate businessman’, but in fact owned, variously, some pizza outlets and a clothes store. There is also a suggestion he was once a ‘handyman’, who could fix various odd-job problems. So maybe he could turn his hand to running up a new stadium.
He has been linked, in recent weeks, with another Syrian businessman, Rami Makhlouf, with whom he apparently has some business connections. There is a Rami Makhlouf from Syria who is a major international business player with close connections to the government there... but who has had his assets frozen in the United States, and is forbidden from doing business with any US citizens.
There is a quite brilliant piece of investigative journalism on Yahya Kirdi by Jim Boardman on a Liverpool supporters’ website, Anfield Road, and I urge you to read it on by clicking here.
No wonder Liverpool fans are angry, because even if the man the Americans are in talks with proves to have the money to buy the club, can he really satisfy Broughton, never mind the Premier League’s fit and proper person test?
Kirdi claims that he will have an agreement in place by the weekend. One rather suspects that if he does, then there will be a revolt amongst the supporters the likes of which has never before been seen in English football.
Dave Usher, the editor of the consistently sensible and impressive fans’ website, The Liverpool Way, says that the many, many thousands of supporters who use his forum have had enough.
“What is clear is that the fans won’t take any more of this. With revelations about the ridiculous levels of borrowing in recent weeks, and the lengths the owners are ready to go to in their attempts to squeeze yet more profit out of the club and the fans, then there is going to be a massive reaction,†he said.
“If they think the supporters will simply sit back and let it happen, then they are mistaken. There have been some protests against them so far, but unless the right thing happens very soon, then they will nothing compared to what comes next.â€
The problem for Liverpool fans, is that there seems little chance of a swift takeover. Unless Kirdi is a mere stalking horse for a fit and proper buyer – which seems unlikely – then there are few alternatives.
Kenny Huang’s Chinese bid has real merit in that it is based in the calm financial reality of expanding lucrative Far East markets, but it is clear the offer won’t meet the levels of profits the Americans demand, and so at best will be a protracted, painful war of attrition that could take months to resolve.
Another alternative, the wealthy Sahara Group from India, said earlier this week they would not be bidding “at this stageâ€, which again suggests if they are to bid, it will be some time in the distance, while the Al Kharafi family seem to have financial problems of their own, and are not thought likely to bid.
Which leaves the Royal Bank of Scotland takeover option. And that means you and I could be the next owners of Liverpool Football Club, given that the government is the majority shareholder in that bank.
In which case, me, Alan Kayll, Jim Boradman and Dave Usher are all claiming our place on the Anfield board right now. Given the job done by the current mob, we probably wouldn’t do any worse – and at least you’d know what the hell is going on……
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/david-maddock/Could-RBS-end-up-owning-Liverpool-David-Maddock-examines-all-the-takeover-options-from-Yahya-Kirdi-to-Kenny-Huang-The-David-Maddock-Column-article549143.html
