Following email sent (copy of the original template, with a previous email of mine added to the beginning):
Dear Sir/Madam,
I write to you as a lifelong supporter of Liverpool Football Club who along with many others as I’m sure you are well aware by now is deeply concerned at the way our club is being run, and threatens to be run for the foreseeable future. I was brought up supporting the club by my Liverpool-born father, an ex season ticker holder, and have a huge emotional attachment to the club which is in serious danger of collapse.
The current owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have proved throughout their ownership that they are incapable of running a successful football club. They have taken us from a club consistently qualifying for, progressing to the later stages of, and even winning (for the 5th time, only 2 clubs in the world can better this) the most prestigious club competition The Champions League, to a team now struggling to qualify for the much less prestigious and financially rewarding Europa League. Due to the financial constraints brought on by the massive debts Hicks and Gillett have heaped on our club (despite their promises not to do so), and the massive interest payments that are being charged on this debt, we have been forced to sell some of our most valuable assets, with little done to replace those assets. Despite their promises we are yet to see a “spade in the ground” to commence the building of a new stadium, and there are no signs that they will ever have the finance to move ahead with these plans for a new ground. Furthermore there are no signs that, should they be allowed to refinance, they will have the funds to purchase the players required to compete at the level now required in the Premier League.
This morning I, and the millions of Liverpool supporters around the globe, woke to news that Hicks is close to a £281m refinance deal to allow him to take sole ownership of the club, and give him another 2 years to sell the club. If reports are true, then this deal includes no finance for strengthening the squad or building the new stadium - Liverpool FC will therefore continue their downward spiral from what was once one of the, if not THE, best clubs in the world, to a club struggling to even stay in the top flight of English football.
Should Blackstone/GSO or any other of the financial institutions cc-ed to this email bail out Tom Hicks, you will be taking a heavy risk, even without the hostility of the supporters of the club.
You are no doubt aware that Hicks Sports Group defaulted on a $525m loan last year and the details of the lenders’ outrage at his subsequent manoeuvres concerning land around the Texas Rangers’ stadium. If not, we would be happy to provide you with the details.
Hicks subsequently gave interviews making clear that the default was ‘strategic’ and painting himself as a successful businessman in other fields.
Hicks cannot have it both ways. Either he is a successful businessman – in which case he thinks nothing of reneging on financial agreements if they prove onerous to him – or he did not have the money to repay the loan. In neither case can he be considered a good risk for repayment of a large loan.
No doubt, Hicks has portrayed LFC as a successful vehicle with a growing commercial profile and the ability to repay high interest payments in his approach to you. As detailed above, LFC is in decline, thanks to Hicks’s tenure, and has dropped out of the lucrative Champions League. Its inability to support the interest on the current loans is one factor draining the on-pitch success that ensures off-pitch profit.
On Thursday, its ground was 20,000 short of capacity as fans stayed away. It is said that Hicks is seeking to mortgage the loan against the ground and players: if so, you should also be aware that the ground is worth little, being in an extremely depressed area of Liverpool, and the players have made publicly clear their opposition to Hicks’ continuation as owner so that it is likely the best will leave (their ability to pick their own destinations means there can be no guarantee of their achieving their highest worth) should he stay.
It is said that Hicks believes the supporters will accept him as a sole owner. If he has indeed been so deluded as to have informed you of this, I now seek to correct the impression. Hicks and his son are held in contempt by millions of Liverpool supporters worldwide. We are increasingly mobilised and drastic measures, including boycotts, are now being discussed. We are not prepared to see the club we love bled to death.
Has he informed you about Liverpool’s worldwide supporter base? A word of advice: the lukewarm fans will drift away as the debt bleeds the club dry of success, the hardcore fans will boycott and do everything in their power to ensure Hicks is ousted without a penny of profit as quickly as possible.
Don’t believe me? Research us. Look at whom you are dealing with. Look at the boycott we carried out against The Sun newspaper after it defamed our supporters. Look at how we drove shock jockey S Cohen off the air when he insulted our dead. We are not the tame consumers you lbo people are used to dealing with. We are militant, passionate and committed. I don’t know how we will do it, I don’t know how long it will take, but we will drive Hicks from this club and your organisation will be the target of our considered and organised action if you bail him out.
The only way Liverpool Football Club can look to start rebuilding and moving forward is to see both Tom Hicks and George Gillett fully removed from the club.
Yours Faithfully,
Damian Cox
Nottingham, England
