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Tabloid rumourmongering tomorrow...

meredithmathieson

By meredithmathieson
in Liverpool FC

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meredithmathieson

meredithmathieson

Posted
Posted

Given that it's a big game for Liverpool, I expect the tabloids will continue their tradition of printing big, negative, 'exclusives' on the morning of the game. As the new stadium rumour has now been rebutted, I wouldn't be surprised to see any one (or more) from the following:

 

1. Tom & George have had their preliminary meeting & decided it's 'hasta luego' Rafa;

 

2. Due to the 'credit crunch' Tom & George can't fund any transfers. Rafa has interpreted this is a breach of faith and will resign;

 

3. Alex Curren doesn't feel safe living in Merseyside anymore, and is pressurising Stevie into uprooting to...[fill in as appropriate];

 

4. Fernando Torres' Madrileño childhood sweetheart is having problems settling in Bootle and wants to return to sunnier climes.

 

5. Jose Mourinho turned down the England job because he told 'close friends' that he will be in the Anfield hotseat come next August.

 

6. DIC back in to buy the club. Board split and Anfield descends into Civil War. Transfer paralysis until it's sorted.

 

Any more that I've missed?

 

Should run a sweep...

Kite

Kite

Posted
Posted
Given that it's a big game for Liverpool, I expect the tabloids will continue their tradition of printing big, negative, 'exclusives' on the morning of the game. As the new stadium rumour has now been rebutted, I wouldn't be surprised to see any one (or more) from the following:

 

1. Tom & George have had their preliminary meeting & decided it's 'hasta luego' Rafa;

 

2. Due to the 'credit crunch' Tom & George can't fund any transfers. Rafa has interpreted this is a breach of faith and will resign;

 

3. Alex Curren doesn't feel safe living in Merseyside anymore, and is pressurising Stevie into uprooting to...[fill in as appropriate];

 

4. Fernando Torres' Madrileño childhood sweetheart is having problems settling in Bootle and wants to return to sunnier climes.

 

5. Jose Mourinho turned down the England job because he told 'close friends' that he will be in the Anfield hotseat come next August.

 

6. DIC back in to buy the club. Board split and Anfield descends into Civil War. Transfer paralysis until it's sorted.

 

Any more that I've missed?

 

Should run a sweep...

 

You seem to be implying that the tabloids take their stories from the threads here?

ali

ali

Posted
Posted

From The Sunday Times

December 16, 2007

Liverpool may Kop owners’ debt

Louise Armitstead

 

THE owners of Liverpool FC are in talks with bankers over plans to load up the football club’s balance sheet with debt.

 

Tom Hicks, the billionaire American investor who bought the club in February with his compatriot George Gillett, has secretly asked Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to explore restructuring options.

 

These are understood to include transferring up to £350m of extra debt taken on to fund the acquisition of the club and secured against the duo’s personal assets onto the club’s balance sheet.

 

The restructuring talks are separate from talks to arrange funding for a new stadium and are likely to shock the Merseyside club’s supporters.

 

Hicks, who controls the Dallas Stars ice hockey team and the Texas Rangers baseball team, bought the club with Gillett, owner of the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, through a privately controlled bid vehicle called Kop Football.

 

The deal was financed by £350m of debt provided largely by RBS and secured through the pair’s private assets. Hicks and Gillett could not be reached for comment.

Cobs

Cobs

Posted
Posted
People are very quick to dismiss media stories, but the Sunday Times is a reputable broadsheet.

which published The Hitler Diaries...

 

:thumbs:

MFletcher

MFletcher

Posted
Posted
which published The Hitler Diaries...

 

:thumbs:

 

Because that one thing destroys their entire reputation?

 

If it was in the Mirror, then I'd dismiss it quickly. I tend to give more credence to stories appearing in the broadsheets.

Cobs

Cobs

Posted
Posted
Because that one thing destroys their entire reputation?

 

If it was in the Mirror, then I'd dismiss it quickly. I tend to give more credence to stories appearing in the broadsheets.

sweet jesus :rolleyes:

 

 

it's the press, it may be true it may be not, the fact it's in the Sunday Times guarantees nothing

 

The Mirror are just as likely (maybe more so) to get a scoop

Kite

Kite

Posted
Posted

f***ing papers are really taking Liverpool for a ride these days. That Times article makes no sense whatsoever but it does seem like journalists have been given carte blanche to print any kind of re-story, rumour or just pure flight of fantasy that they fancy, ever second day or so. It's f***ing ridiculous, it really is.

ali

ali

Posted
Posted

Liverpool playing catch-up as clock ticks for Benitez

United travel to face their great rivals but it's far from the only important meeting at Anfield. By Nick Townsend

Published: 16 December 2007 Indy on Sunday

 

On his arrival at Old Trafford in 1986, Sir Alex Ferguson was consumed by one ambition; that Manchester United should destroy Liverpool's domestic dominance. And just for a moment on Friday, football's history man almost sounded wistful when he recalled the old days when the Anfield club were a power within this land, as well as one who instilled fear throughout Europe.

 

"When we started to develop the club, Arsenal beat Liverpool in 1989 and that changed it a little bit. Liverpool were an old team. We were starting to grow over the seasons," Ferguson reminisced. "Giggs was starting to come through, the younger ones were starting to emerge and we brought in players like Schmeichel, Parker and Kanchelskis. We brought some speed and power into the club. We were developing all the time because we had to." He pauses, and remarks drily of the power shift. "I didn't expect it to be so long..."

 

So, presumably, he was asked mischievously, part of him would relish seeing Liverpool claim the title again, so that the intriguing old rivalry can be resumed?

 

"You must be joking," he retorted. "I'm not a sadist! How does relegation sound?" Even the Scot's attempt at humour has a chill about it. Better that his team are vanquished in the race to the title by one of the London clubs than Liverpool. That would hurt, profoundly.

 

Not much chance of that, though. Once again, the Merseyside club find themselves in catch-up mode. It is primarily their home form – four draws in seven games – that has conspired against them. Victory by United today at Anfield would leave Liverpool nine points adrift of Ferguson's team and bring the radio phone-ins to overloadagain in condemnation of Rafa Benitez, regardless of that midweek demolition of Marseille which propelled Liverpool spectacularly into the knockout stage of the Champions' League. The satisfaction of local pride remains paramount.

 

Yet, for the Liverpool man-ager, there are rarely minuses in his equations. "Before we lost against Reading [last Saturday] everybody was talking about us doing well in the League," he maintained. "Arsenal lost as well so we are almost in the same position as we were before the weekend. We have one game in hand, and if we can beat United we will be really, really close. We will have eight more points than [this time] last season. We are scoring more goals and we don't concede too many. That's the big picture. You must be quiet and calm and try to do the right things again. If we can beat Manchester United they [his critics] will all be saying, 'Fantastic'."

 

Though there is logic to that pronouncement, the Spaniard is acutely conscious of the importance of avoiding defeat today. He is aware that it could have implications far beyond the disapproval of supporters who would then be contemplating another title disappearing down the M62, or down south.

 

It says everything about Benitez's current fragile position that the meeting that will ensue between him, Liverpool's American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and the chief executive, Rick Parry, creates arguably as much fascination as that between his team and Ferguson's. It also reveals much about the state of that union that his only contact with the Americans since the Liverpool manager's transfer-policy comments provoked tensions between him and the owners last month has been through Gillett's son, Foster.

 

Despite Tuesday night's success, Benitez's tenure remains anything but secure in the longer term, and that despite some public exhibitions of support for him. He was asked directly if he had considered resignation.

 

"I was analysing the situation, but after thinking a lot I said to myself, 'OK, the best way to find a solution is keep trying to win every game and afterwards talk to them [the Americans] about the misunderstanding'," he said. "For me it's very simple. If you want to win and are trying to do the best things for your club... and if they want the same it will be easy. The question for me is trying to do the right things for my club."

 

Asked if he would seek reassurances about his own position, Benitez responded: "I'm thinking about the game. I am not analysing what I'm going to say in the meeting. I will go to the meeting with a clear mind that I am trying to do the best for the club. I will try to understand [them]. The key for me is why, because I can't understand why. I still don't know [why this happened]. I said before that I was thinking about the best for my club. Not anything else. Now I try to be focused on the pitch."

 

He was reminded that Liverpool have not won the League since 1990. "But that's not my fault," Benitez insisted. "Look at the money Chelsea have spent in the last four or five years and the money United have spent in the last 10 years and [compare it with] with the money we have spent. People say we have spent big money, but we signed the number of players we needed to improve the squad. The value of the squad is much higher. Now there is a big difference.

 

"Everything is so positive in the last three or four years. You know that you are going in the right direction – but you cannot guarantee the title." No, and particularly not this season, when it is as competitive as ever between the Big Four and with even Portsmouth and Manchester City spicing the mix. But it is his handling of Liverpool's domestic challenge that will dictate how Benitez comes to be regarded by the fans, and ultimately by the good ol' boys from Stateside, not a long march to Moscow and another Champions' League final.

MFletcher

MFletcher

Posted
Posted
not negative enough, huh?

 

No. I love a good doom and gloom story. It's not good enough unless Rafa is going to be sacked if we lose tomorrow and stories begin to circulate that we are intending to groundshare with Everton at Kirkby.

ali

ali

Posted
Posted

YANKEE DOODLE SHOWDOWN

 

Sunday December 16,2007

By John Richardson - Sunday Express

 

Rafa Benitez has revealed for the first time that the highly publicised fall-out with Liverpool’s American owners took him to the brink of quitting.

 

Benitez also admitted that he is not happy with what he considers to be a lesser role in future transfer negotiations.

 

 

Anfield chief executive Rick Parry is now Benitez’s bidder in discussions about player targets with club owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

 

 

The Spaniard has accused the Liverpool moneymen of not understanding the transfer market, while Gillett and Hicks have told Benitez in no uncertain terms to concentrate on coaching the team.

 

'It’s clear to me that my position at the club is different now. We need to analyse why.'

 

Clear-the-air talks are imminent with both Gillett and Hicks on Merseyside to watch today’s critical Anfield confrontation with bitter rivals Manchester United.

 

On the eve of a game which could shape Liverpool’s domestic season, Benitez (right) was in expansive mood, admitting hurt at the way his desire to improve his squad has been interpreted across the Atlantic.

ali

ali

Posted
Posted

Liverpool FC kops it after credit crisis

 

By Simon Goodley and Ben Harrington

Last Updated: 1:13am GMT 16/12/2007 Sunday Telegraph

 

The refinancing of a loan worth about £300m taken out by American businessmen Tom Hicks and George Gillett to buy Liverpool Football Club is on a knife-edge.

 

The pair are trying to refinance a bridging loan provided by Royal Bank of Scotland, which they used to carry out the original £219m purchase of the club.

 

However, it is understood that the refinancing - which is also intended to raise an extra £450m to build a new stadium - has had to be put on hold as a result of the recent turmoil in the credit markets.

 

Hicks and Gillett are also trying to remove their personal assets as security for the original acquisition debt. During the takeover, Liverpool chairman David Moores, who owned just over half of the club, insisted that none of its assets could be used as collateral for the loan to finance the takeover.

 

As a result, Hicks, who controls the Dallas Stars ice hockey team and the Texas Rangers baseball team, and Gillett, the owner of the Montreal Canadians ice hockey club, offered their own US-based assets as security instead, according to people familiar with the matter.

advertisement

 

It is not clear why Liverpool's new owners want to remove their own assets as security for the club's debt, although a refinancing needs to be completed by the end of February 2008, when RBS's bridge loan expires.

 

Wachovia, the American bank, is thought to be leading the refinancing of the RBS bridge loan.

Guest spk

Guest spk

Posted
Posted

u dont sack someone who hhas improved the club in every way every year since he came here. i dont believe any of it. plus if he did leave there is no way that the players he has attracted would stick around. its one thing to boss a dream team, another is to create something special from a club in decline.

 

its bulls***, jog on u c****

RafaShanks

RafaShanks

Posted
Posted
Given that it's a big game for Liverpool, I expect the tabloids will continue their tradition of printing big, negative, 'exclusives' on the morning of the game. As the new stadium rumour has now been rebutted, I wouldn't be surprised to see any one (or more) from the following:

 

1. Tom & George have had their preliminary meeting & decided it's 'hasta luego' Rafa;

 

2. Due to the 'credit crunch' Tom & George can't fund any transfers. Rafa has interpreted this is a breach of faith and will resign;

 

3. Alex Curren doesn't feel safe living in Merseyside anymore, and is pressurising Stevie into uprooting to...[fill in as appropriate];

 

4. Fernando Torres' Madrileño childhood sweetheart is having problems settling in Bootle and wants to return to sunnier climes.

 

5. Jose Mourinho turned down the England job because he told 'close friends' that he will be in the Anfield hotseat come next August.

 

6. DIC back in to buy the club. Board split and Anfield descends into Civil War. Transfer paralysis until it's sorted.

 

Any more that I've missed?

 

Should run a sweep...

 

7. Rafa given an ultimatum to shave off goaty before kick off in tomorrows cruch encounter by owner Tom Hicks, who consider this an act of treason against the American constitution.

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