Topic: DIC pull out of deal/Gillett AND Hicks to take over?

[cj]

numb. speechless. amazed. depressed.

Yah, kneejerk central it is. bloody hell.

If this is not sorted sharpish I worry for the lads on Saturday - they are bound to be all unsettled after all this. Lets hope it is all cleared up by Friday otherwise there is hell to pray...

Why do you feel so strongly about this? If mister gilette is the next probable buyer then I will be depressed as well and can understand you fully. For now though we have a club that stays in local control, doing well in the league etc. Should be all smiles really. I do admit that I'm somewhat concerned about stanley park though.

[Kaizer]

Fuckin small timers.

[stueya]

to be honest this is all hardly surprising really given the shambolic and amatuerish way this club has been run for a long time now, you look at the way Man U and Arsenal are run and you can guarantee this would not happen there. The Glazer doom and gloom scenario thing we all hoped would befall United has never come to fruition, in fact Financially they have gone from strength to strength, Arsenal announce they will build a new stadium and sure enough they build the best stadium in the Premiership. We just seem incapable of getting it right, don't get me wrong the Gillet bid may go through with no groundshare loads of money for new players and all will be well with the world but knowing this boards track record I just don't believe that will be the case.

I'm sorry guys but I think we're Fucked   

[jman316]

I have never been so pissed off in my life like today. This is a fucken cock up. If the pull out of DIC is genuine then my God we have just joined the lane to fuck all. The DIC offer was genuine with gurantees about the Staduim and money for Rafa. They knew what they were doing and they seem to know about football. Plus the fact that they have a blank cheque book in a way. The Gillett fellow comes up with an offer that suites Moores and the rest of the board but not the club and it all goes tits up, they start thinking about it. The fucked up position i think is that they never took the Yankee offer seriously. They just wanted to push the price up on DIC and DIC has decided to counter bluff them.
When Gillett came up with his first offer, he never had enough money in the first place. So where has the money come from? Secured loans? more long term borrowing?
that means the 80 million debt will just be absorbed into his debts, thus the club will remain in debt.
Sad but hopefully, this is not the end of our negotiations with DIC.
Business deals tend to go like that, just that because of the kind of business we are in, everything is in the open.

[ben]

remember kids, everything in this thread is fantastical speculation. might be better to wait a while before calling for people to be strung up. i understand your frustration, and share it, but we really don't know the score behind all this, and until we do, there's little point making our minds up.

[themule]

Bloody ell.   

It does seem like a kneejerk reaction from DIC.  Their statement, towards the end, is almost child-like  (e.g. as business men we move on, and we hope as Liverpool supporters that their new owners blah blah blah, etc)

If that's the way DIC do business, then we're better off without them.  We don't need people who throw their toys out of the pram at the slightest annoyance.  Other clubs can have those types of leaders (eg egghead at west ham, shepherd a newcastle).  We always had a bit more class at the top.

As shareholders/directors of the club, our people have every damn right to consider all offers on the table. OK, I am no fan of the Gillette (sensor 2 was shite),  but for goodness sake if DIC were mature business people they'd understand that we had to look at it.  If the shoe was on the other foot, they'd be looking at all proposals prior to selling one of their assets.

I'm very depressed at this turn of events.....the pricks probably think they have us over a barrel - with the stadium build having to start by March time.  And fuk it, we are over a barrel.  Bastards.

I can only hope their statement was a kneekerk reaction and that parry is on the phone at the minute trying to get to the bottom of their bizarre reaction.
 

Sums up where I stand at the moment pretty damn perfectly.

[Ronanoman]

And I hope Moores tells Gillett to take a hike and all. Arsenal built their own ground with their own money, and so can we.

Maybe not Gillet, although currently that seems like the only option, but we do need investment to build the stadium. Look at how much money Arsenal spend, they come out making a profit half the time. The only reason they could fund the stadium was because Wenger doesn't need or use that much money on players. He buys youngsters cheap and just lets them develop. Plus look at where Arsenal are now compared to 13 years ago.

[kingmonkey007]

the bottom line is that now Liverpool have become the biggest laughing stock in football.

I hope David Moores as asked Gillett how he plans to fund this takeover and ask him if he has learned anything from the 2 times that he went bankrupt on how to run a business.

3 takeover's collapsed and counting....   

[Tom_B]

Are they bollocks. They own a few oil wells, TravelLodge and a second rate horse racing operation. They are to business what Bully's special prize is to quiz shows. They saw that a bigger offer was coming in and they tried to force the board's hand. Losers. And I hope Moores tells Gillett to take a hike and all. Arsenal built their own ground with their own money, and so can we.

Hahaha. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

[ic843]

Well we knew Rafa had his Dirk out

[ds2190]

Yep, I do think they care which club they buy. Chelsea and the Mancs are sold, for DIC it would be us or Arsenal. There's no one else people of this wealth and ego would consider putting their money and name to.

I think they'll be back, and I think Gillett's bid will crumble under scrutiny, not least cos it can't be accepted without Moores' say-so. And despite the fuck-ups he's made, despite the dithering, I don't think we should doubt he wants to do what's best for the club.

I can't see them coming back. As much as I try I really can't.

I've been thinking about it for a few days and came to the conclusion Tuesday that the deal was unlikely to go through. The fact due dilligence took so long made me think that they were possibly worried about the investment. Something obviously hasn't been right or the deal would be done.

We've been told it is close for weeks and it keeps being stalled. You have to ask yourself why.

[kop88]

And I hope Moores tells Gillett to take a hike and all. Arsenal built their own ground with their own money, and so can we.

problem is though mate, we cant. if we cant stretch 2million more to sign alves last summer then i think that tells its own story. as sad as it is, investment needs to happen,otherwise we cannot compete. we have struck lucky with rafa. he is world class and is able to work miracles with what he has got at his disposal. god help us if he decides to walk in the near future, because it worrys me that we will end up a spurs or newcastle if the club doesnt drag itself in to the future.investment is the only way we can compete consistently for the top honours. and im shitting myself that we have just fucked up the clubs best chance we will ever get to move us forward

[nidgemo]

we are liverpool fc not some fucking third rate middle of the road fucking shambles of a club

Exactly.

That's at least 5 years away, after the £500 million debt leaves us financially crippled, when the ground doesn't start in time and the euro money is withdrawn, when Platini has his way and the CL is 3 teams, and chelsea with their russian, and man u and arsenal with their huge grounds and budgets from them qualify every season, and we fight for scraps with newcastle and bolton...

THAT is when we'll be some fucking third rate middle of the road fucking shambles of a club

[johnybarnes]

whers shankslegend when you need him; hopfully he comes in and says 'Dic wer avin a laugh' ha ha ha..... ive gone from denial to anger back to denial again.

[bryanod]

ridiculous, very pissed off.

[The Breadbox]

I realise I'm a bit late jumping on this thread.

I work on a magazine that writes about private equity and (clears his throat and thinks about getting his coat) I don't think this is a bad thing. 

DIC is a very young private equity firm that is looking for trophy assets in the UK, ie Madame Tussauds. 

Plus they will definetly look to sell the club in 3-5 years and they won't care who buys it, just as long as they get the best price.

Gilette owns the Montreal Canadiens who have won more titles than any other club in the National Hockey league.  Ring any bells?  Whilst I wouldn't say they are the most traditional club now that big money has seeped into the game - they do have a fan base that is more loyal than any other and that identifies and lives and breathes the club.  Does that ring any bells. 

In other words, Gilette has a lot of experience dealing with a hard core, loyal fan base where DIC doesn't. 

[Red Lust]

Sheikh Mo' is seriously pissed, and I wouldn't blame him. The club tacitly accepted the takeover pending inspection of the books, and the board have scuppered what was a fabulous deal. This seems like a serious breach of trust, at least the way DIC see it.

Parry and co. have some serious sniveling to do if they are to resurrect the DIC offer, otherwise this will go down as the corporate bungle of the decade. Talk about being made to look like a bunch of infants in a big boy's playground.

I just hope the reason the club has not responded publicly is tey are busy trying to correct things.

[KevC]

Dubai International Capital on Wednesday pulled out of their proposed £450million takeover of Liverpool.
The shock decision came after a Liverpool board meeting last night formally delayed ratifying acceptance of the bid.
Liverpool, under chairman David Moores, opted to take more time to consider a second bid by George Gillett, the owner of Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team.
That offer would give shareholders more for their holdings. Moores, who owns 51.6per cent of the club, would get £8m more from the Gillett deal.
Gillett has already carried out due diligence - the process of investigation by potential investors -so the way is now open for him to make his offer for the club.
That could come at the weekend or next week but it would cast doubts over the funding of the club’s proposed new stadium in Stanley Park.
There had been fears that Gillett wanted to re-open the debate over a shared ground with Everton -something the board and fans do not want.
But it is also clear that Gillett has made a serious sales pitch over the last few days, and it is believed that he has made assurances that a ground-share is not on his agenda.

[xavidub]

Let's take a bit of perspective on this.

DIC are masters at the PR game - look at how they have us salivating at the prospect of them taking over, and how they have convinced all us very traditionalist supporters that a bunch of very sharp, business-orientated arabs are just the very chaps we need running our club.  A masterstroke, no?

So if you were them and were faced with a counter-bid of a few mill more, what would you do?

A: Nothing, just sit back and politely wait to be asked for more cash

B: Put out a press release talking about how much you love Liverpool, look forward to continue supporting it, regret you cannot pay, etc...generate tons of headlines and page after page of emotional outpouring AGAINST Moores, Gillet, the LFC board...then sit back and watch the board come to you cap in hand.

Just think about it...

It could well be a business tactic. I must admit that hearing repeatedly about the vast wealth at the Sheikh's disposal, I was a little surprised at how long they took to make a concrete offer. Perhaps they had reservations from the start.

I can't believe that 8 million is the difference between doing a 450 million deal or not doing it so perhaps the Sheikh's personal feelings are the problem. In that case the deal probably is off.

I don't understand why the board are even considering the Gillett offer since although he has offered good money for the club, I haven't seen anything about his proposals to fund the stadium which I would have thought is every bit as important.   

I feel extrememly pissed off about this, have been worrying about it more than any transfer deals to be honest and I am fucking gutted to be back at square one.

[Emo Phillips]

Does no one else think that if the Gillette deal wasn't potentially better, or more in the club's interest, the board would have dismissed it out of hand?

We're hardly fucked by this news, although it'd be nice to see it resolved ASAP.

[cj]

I'm sorry guys but I think we're Fucked  

Some proper reasoning please? We are nowhere near fucked and I for one believe we have a first team+youngsters which bode well for the future.

[Walshy nMe®]

Exactly.

That's at least 5 years away, after the £500 million debt leaves us financially crippled, when the ground doesn't start in time and the euro money is withdrawn, when Platini has his way and the CL is 3 teams, and chelsea with their russian, and man u and arsenal with their huge grounds and budgets from them qualify every season, and we fight for scraps with newcastle and bolton...

THAT is when we'll be some fucking third rate middle of the road fucking shambles of a club

The bitters would kill to be in a secenario like that. 

[ic843]

Liverpool the biggest laughing stock in football??thats how much pride youve got?? ANyone trying to laugh will be blinded by the reflection off the silverware and the noise of the Kop.

Its threads like these where you get a glimpse of those who love Liverpool FC and those who love Liverpool Fc with money and good reports on Sly sports and nice shiny new kits and players. If anyone wants to give their season ticket away ill have it. Although im guessing the doomsday brigade on here probably don't have them

[Emo Phillips]

to be honest this is all hardly surprising really given the shambolic and amatuerish way this club has been run for a long time now, you look at the way Man U and Arsenal are run and you can guarantee this would not happen there. The Glazer doom and gloom scenario thing we all hoped would befall United has never come to fruition, in fact Financially they have gone from strength to strength,   

Eh? Glazer put them 100s of millions into debt?   

[Veinticinco de Mayo]

Well how long did it take for DIC to release a statement? We had to hear about this from them. Not hear what Parry and Moores have to say

If I were Rick Parry then the last thing I would be doing is releasing a statement.

What he needs to be doing is talking to DIC and smoothing things out while convening a hasty board meeting to bang a few 'eds together.

[DannyD]

Fuck. Disaster. Now the council money will evaporate as well.

There was no Council money well nothing for the stadium, in fact I suspect the length  of time DIC took to go through the books had something to do with the deal we gave the council regarding the infrastructure.

Another poster on here gave a break down of it and concluded that we gave too much to the council because we wanted the Stanley Park so much. Maybe DIC took the whole deal to bits separating what could be renegotiated against what couldn't, all in all it is another mess up by the board.

[johnybarnes]

am i right in saying moores has don us over for 8M extra for him?

[arfy05]

we had a queen bend over for us and offer us whatever we want, yet we still try to bag a prostitute.

[jman316]

Hahaha. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

Yea looks like it truly is to that fellow. Wish we all thought that way. Life would be so easy

[Helsinki Red]

Dubai International Capital on Wednesday pulled out of their proposed £450million takeover of Liverpool.
The shock decision came after a Liverpool board meeting last night formally delayed ratifying acceptance of the bid.
Liverpool, under chairman David Moores, opted to take more time to consider a second bid by George Gillett, the owner of Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team.
That offer would give shareholders more for their holdings. Moores, who owns 51.6per cent of the club, would get £8m more from the Gillett deal.
Gillett has already carried out due diligence - the process of investigation by potential investors -so the way is now open for him to make his offer for the club.
That could come at the weekend or next week but it would cast doubts over the funding of the club’s proposed new stadium in Stanley Park.
There had been fears that Gillett wanted to re-open the debate over a shared ground with Everton -something the board and fans do not want.
But it is also clear that Gillett has made a serious sales pitch over the last few days, and it is believed that he has made assurances that a ground-share is not on his agenda.

Well done Moores.

[fudge]

Really looking forwards to the mancs visit now.

'Sold to the USA, Sold to the USA'

[Xabidodger]

corporate bungle of the decade.

Not heard of Enron???

[Nebular]

i fucking hope and pray that i never live to see the day that anything like that is sung around anfield. we are liverpool fc not some fucking third rate middle of the road fucking shambles of a club with fickle fans who will rip up their season tickets in front of the cameras just to get their own way...fuck me some fans have very short memories. is it not the same board that has financially backed rafa (and houllier before him) to the best of their ability.....i like to think we have class and dignity as a club and as supporters that itll never lead to shite like 'sack the board' chants...fuck off with your kneejerk shite

Really?

I posted on here the other day that the only reason Moores went for the DIC deal was because it kept him and Parry as part of the club. Even though the Gilette deal was always financially more lucrative and made money available for players.

Rafa is already pissed off that the board have "let him down and not backed him sufficiently".

He came close to making it public after the Arsenal defeats, remember? " We don't move quick enough or with enough money".

If we fail to get major investment now, Rafa will WALK.

Just watch.

Fucking well-in David Moores. 

[6BigCups]

I dont know about you lot, but im FUCKING FUMING!!!    our club was about to go into possibly the safest hands a club could be in, we'd even get a stadium built, but because some greedy bastards want more money for their shares, we will now go into the hands of some money grabbing twat, an american 'tycoon'. ticket prices will 99% be going up, and he is taking over us with the sole intention of making money out of us. well done moores you twat. well fucking done!

[redway101]

Clearly this all just speculation.

Perhaps the club became increasingly uneasy with elements of the bid?

If it's just a case of David Moores attempting to play one bid off against the other (and it does look like this) in order to boost his share value then he's seriously damaged the club for his own personal gain.

If this is the case then it's entirely reasonable to understand that DIC having gone so far down the road only to be messed around are extremely peeved. They've every right to not be drawn into a bidding war.

Really disbturbing news, because despite long term reservations they looked a better bet than Gillet.

Bang goes Rafa's transfer budget!

[JP-65]

I can't see them coming back. As much as I try I really can't.

I've been thinking about it for a few days and came to the conclusion Tuesday that the deal was unlikely to go through. The fact due dilligence took so long made me think that they were possibly worried about the investment. Something obviously hasn't been right or the deal would be done.

We've been told it is close for weeks and it keeps being stalled. You have to ask yourself why.

Exactamundo!

In the other thread, I said several times that I thought the other 2 large shareholder blocks could be a "show stopper", and I suspect this is what has happened.  DIC would want visibility on how to get to 90%, with Gillet's bid (and Morgan in the background in this IMO) on the table, this became even more of an issue.

[jimmybobo]

AS we forever quite rightly say we are Liverpool no man nor company is bigger than us, we were here before they arrived as the most succesfull team in England and when they leave we remain still the most succesfull team in England. SO I say fuck the lot of them and the horses they rode in on, or should that be Camels  ?

[xerxes]

problem is though mate, we cant. if we cant stretch 2million more to sign alves last summer then i think that tells its own story.

We had enough money to buy Alves, we just chose to buy Pennant and Bellamy instead. That's the way football goes, you cut your cloth according to what you earn and make your choices.

The way people are going on you would think that DIC were so clever they invented oil. We're better off without them.

[jman316]

am i right in saying moores has don us over for 8M extra for him?

Spot on, if it truly ends up that way. DIC I believe are just putting us in a corner.

[themule]

The way people are going on you would think that DIC were so clever they invented oil.