Ian Ayres, LFC Commercial Director

[Flight]

Skimmed the papers this morning and read an article (think it was in the Daily Post ?) talking about Ian Ayres.

 

 

 

 

i) It said Ayres was recruited to get his feet under the door and take over from Parry;

 

 

ii) More importantly, it said Ayres had briefed Hicks that his recent refinancing had brought the fans back onto his side.

 

 

 

Either its a load of made up rubbish, Ayres is out of touch or he is lieing.

 

 

 

Anyone else seen this ? Would be important to know whether Hicks is getting mixed messages or not. I've no idea what he has been up to since he got here.

[Swipe]

If Hicks even keeps a cursory eye on things happening at the club and in the British media, then surely it's a lie that would be found out fairly quickly.

 

I'd imagine the US media would have picked up on it too, especially in places were Hicks ain't the most popular.

[Guest Kaizer]

If Hicks even keeps a cursory eye on things happening at the club and in the British media, then surely it's a lie that would be found out fairly quickly.

 

I'd imagine the US media would have picked up on it too, especially in places were Hicks ain't the most popular.

 

You mean places like this?

 

In defense of Hicks, as a soccer owner, he is not that bad

By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL

The Liverpool Reds won Saturday, convincingly actually, and fans still staged an angry and -- just guessing here -- probably drunken protest afterward.

 

They despise local whipping boy Thomas O. Hicks and, yes, since you are wondering, way more than angry Stars and Rangers fans. And they want him to sell, fly his butt back to Texas and exclusively screw with his local teams.

 

Nor is his co-owner, George Gillett, exactly Mr. Popular in spite of his best efforts to position himself as Glenda the Good Yank Owner.

 

Liverpool fans hate both of them with a passion equal to that of 15 angry Stars and Rangers fans. They are not simply mad as hell; they really are not going to take it any more.

 

What started as message-board rants about "money-grabbing Bush lovers" who they believe "promised their U.S. fans cash from Liverpool FC" has morphed into a campaign to have fans buy the team. They even have a Web site at www.shareliverpoolfc.co.uk.

 

Just a quick point of interest: Anybody who actually believes Liverpool cash is being pumped into the Stars or Rangers needs to check the starting rotation and the Stars' scoring wings to be disabused of that theory.

 

They are not exactly listening. Nor does anybody here seem to be listening.

 

Of course, in local precincts, this cross-pond hatred of Hicks is somewhat predictably being spun forward as proof he is indeed the worst owner in the free world and needs to sell. And why exactly is everybody listening to a bunch of bloody idiots?

 

Because the truth is Hicks is not a bad soccer owner, not by a long shot, despite what is being circulated at home and abroad.

 

Did you know that Liverpool finished ahead of Arsenal last season, outspent it this off-season and is currently way behind it in the standings? Or that he is helping build Liverpool a new stadium?

 

It sounds like the Reds have a coach problem and possibly a player problem, with greedy owners coming in a distant third. If the Liverpool fans want to see a team where frugality is a problem, there are plenty of good seats available at The Ballpark in Arlington.

 

I say we buy them tickets.

 

They, by the way, have a name. They call themselves the Sons of Shankly. Bill Shankly is Liverpool's Tom Landry, from what I can tell, and they are rallying in his name.

 

They have this crazy idea that they are entitled to a winner. They are sick of -- and write this down, Coach Wade -- being told how good their team played in a loss. They are of the belief that a team with its history is judged by wins and losses, period. And they do not want to hear money talk from rich owners.

 

And if this is not enough to convince everybody a Texas branch is needed, the Sons of Shankly hold their meetings in bars. No, seriously, 300 people showed up to a local watering hole in Anfield this week to gripe about what was wrong and plan protests and figure out how to oust the Yanks.

 

And they did not have to put up with John Hart as GM, The Ho as an ace, or Ladislav Nagy as a scorer.

 

If anybody should be getting together at a bar, calling themselves the Sons of Gainey and Daughters of Fergie, it is the Stars' and Rangers' faithful.

 

But they won't, even though they have a right to be mad. The Liverpool fans will, and I'm not so sure they have the right. So all in favor of the Daughters of Fergie telling those Liverpool fans to get in line, say aye.

 

Aye.

 

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/450036.html

[Swipe]

For every article like that, Kaizer, we've seen a dozen negative ones from the US about him.

[Flight]

You mean places like this?

 

In defense of Hicks, as a soccer owner, he is not that bad

By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL

 

 

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/450036.html

 

 

 

Nice spot Kaizer.

 

Hear her here talking random sports.

 

 

See her here.

 

 

 

 

Most importantly, email her here :

 

 

 

jenfloyd@star-telegram.com

[CaptainXabi]

^^ FFS, you want people to spam her inbox? Ridiculous.

[Swipe]

^^ FFS, you want people to spam her inbox? Ridiculous.

 

Well she deserves to be put in her place for her first line alone.

[New York Red]

I had to write to this ignorant hack. Here it is...

 

Dear Jen:

 

I read your recent piece about Liverpool Football Club and Tom Hicks.

 

I am not some run-of-the-mill soccer supporter like the ones you so presumptuously and pompously described as possibly having a drunken protest after their meeting. I am a very successful executive based in New York with a career in the golf industry. That isn't me being arrogant and Trump-esque; my peers and the press have recognized my efforts. I'm not out of the ordinary when compared to other Liverpool fans because I know this for a fact. You don't. You've chosen to piece together a number of cliches and assumptions, and you've sold them to your publisher as fact. Shame on you.

 

Do your fact finding before you write such drivel. Maybe you are at the stage of your career where you need to pander to your local audience. You may not care at all about how your work is received in Liverpool. What is bothersome is your defense of defense of Tom Hicks and how he is ruining one of the greatest clubs in the history of soccer, and certainly the greatest in English history. This man has chosen to stamp all over the culture of this club, one which welcomed him with open arms and to great adulation. If you really appreciate the subject of your journalistic career, then you would realize that the Hicks Muse methodology of running sports franchises means that they are doomed to failure on the field. It's Hicks legal right to do that. But morally, it's wrong. He emphatically is a terrible owner. Who would you like to compare him to? Randy Lerner? Dermot Desmond? Roman Abramovich? Hicks, by your own admission, has run the Stars and the Rangers into the ground. To him, they may as well be movie theatres. They provide something for the public to do and they generate cash. Nothing more.

 

At least Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban actually care about the fortunes of their teams. You'll see the best act of all this evening when Robert Kraft stands on the podium with Tom Brady. They are winners and they carry themselves with dignity. Tom Hicks doesn't, and he never will. The long suffering Texas fans of his teams will hopefully get some relief from this man just like the Liverpool fans are praying for right now.

[Mike]

is the first paragraph really necessary?

[Swipe]

Dear Jen.

 

I am not some average, working class soccer fan.

 

I have over £100 in my pocket right now and 4 people in my office have to call me Sir.

 

Does that sound like a drunken scally? DOES IT???

Edited February 3, 2008 by Swipe

[CaptainXabi]

Well she deserves to be put in her place for her first line alone.

No, what's the point really? She had to fill pages on a Sunday morning and wrote a stupid article. You know, just like Bascombe (I notice no one posted his email address so that we could all send him personal emails telling him he's incompetent). It's not a malicious article, just a bad one she wrote to fill space. She has no influence and people in Dallas won't even read it because the title says soccer and it's unintelligible.

 

This whole protest attitude is just so getting ridiculous IMO. We don't need to protest about EVERYTHING. Just protest with your f***ing wallet in the summer and Hicks will be off faster than you can say season ticket. Then she won't write articles like this anymore because she can't. It's not that complicated or hard. But no one wants to do that, so we'll spam some reporter instead.

[Falconhoof]

I didn't know you were a successful executive in the golf industry, you've never mentioned it before have you?

[Swipe]

No, what's the point really? She had to fill pages on a Sunday morning and wrote a stupid article. You know, just like Bascombe (I notice no one posted his email address so that we could all send him personal emails telling him he's incompetent). It's not a malicious article, just a bad one she wrote to fill space. She has no influence and people in Dallas won't even read it because the title says soccer and it's unintelligible.

 

This whole protest attitude is just so getting ridiculous IMO. We don't need to protest about EVERYTHING. Just protest with your f***ing wallet in the summer and Hicks will be off faster than you can say season ticket. Then she won't write articles like this anymore because she can't. It's not that complicated or hard. But no one wants to do that, so we'll spam some reporter instead.

 

Her entirely unfounded "guess" that the protest was drunken is disgraceful.

[Falconhoof]

No, what's the point really? She had to fill pages on a Sunday morning and wrote a stupid article. You know, just like Bascombe (I notice no one posted his email address so that we could all send him personal emails telling him he's incompetent). It's not a malicious article, just a bad one she wrote to fill space. She has no influence and people in Dallas won't even read it because the title says soccer and it's unintelligible.

 

This whole protest attitude is just so getting ridiculous IMO. We don't need to protest about EVERYTHING. Just protest with your f***ing wallet in the summer and Hicks will be off faster than you can say season ticket. Then she won't write articles like this anymore because she can't. It's not that complicated or hard. But no one wants to do that, so we'll spam some reporter instead.

 

 

Nobody is spamming her. Take a step back and a deep breath for a second.

[New York Red]

is the first paragraph really necessary?

 

To try and get her to actually read it and pay attention rather than just hitting "delete", then yes. She's contemptuous enough for that possibility don't you think?

 

Remember Mike, this wasn't written to you.

[New York Red]

I didn't know you were a successful executive in the golf industry, you've never mentioned it before have you?

 

That depends on who you ask...

[Mike]

Her entirely unfounded "guess" that the protest was drunken is disgraceful.

 

deliberate, rather than guess id say.

[New York Red]

deliberate, rather than guess id say.

 

Is correct. Yet another horrible, libelous cliche to humour her ignorant readers.

[Diarmuid]

I'm not sure that article is meant to be taken seriously.

[CaptainXabi]

Nobody is spamming her. Take a step back and a deep breath for a second.

Uh-huh, I'm sure she'll get 1000 emails politely telling her she was wrong (not just from here, been posted plenty of places). People sometimes write bad or stupid things. I've seen plenty of stereotypical ignorant things written about Texans in the media. If it's about Hillsborough or some similar event, then it's one thing. Otherwise, there's just no need to react to it.

[New York Red]

I'm not sure that article is meant to be taken seriously.

 

I am. Take a look at some of the comments towards our fans on the Rangers forums in particular. Their ignorance and contempt is horrible. She's pandering to them and it isn't even sloppy journalism. It's contemptuous bullsh*t.

[Zoob]

So.... (ignoring silly journalist bint...) Ian Ayres. He's probably pretty screwed now. Even if he's not an Ally / ear-piece for Hicks, his name is pretty tainted now.

[Rimbeux]

So.... (ignoring silly journalist bint...) Ian Ayres. He's probably pretty screwed now. Even if he's not an Ally / ear-piece for Hicks, his name is pretty tainted now.

 

Seemingly so. If he's not got it already, he must have an uncomfortable feeling when he comes into the office, and if he is to assume higher duties, he will be a target for the fans in a way that makes Parry seem lauded

Edited February 3, 2008 by Rimbeux

[Maldini]

Where did the stuff about Ayres come from?

[JonShar]

Oh FFS people, give over.

 

She said the fans were meeting in pubs and it was probably a drunken protest. So what? Majority of us do go to pubs before/after a game. This is what we've come to, arguing the point with a journalist? Why just pick on one, let's skim the newsfeeds and email everyone who doesn't think we're The Best Fans In The World.

 

Bloody hell. I wish my life was that uneventful.