The emotional rollercoaster I'm currently riding because of Liverpool Football Club must end soon... mustn't it? Despite losing my preferred bidder from the takeover table, I'm told to remain upbeat and positive. Easier said than done though isn't it!
My sources insist that there's still at least one "very wealthy" bidder at the table. We don't know who but we do know that there's interest from India. Have a read up on Mukesh Ambani as it's rumoured that he's our 2nd "very wealthy bidder" that I have been refering to recently. Unlike Khalifa was, I can't confirm that this guy is trying to buy in.
We also know that Peter Kenyon, who now works for Creative Artists Agency (CAA), has been in talks with the Reds. He's acting as an advisor.
I'm not as excited as I was about things but I'm doing my best to keep the faith.
As things stand, at the time of this editorial, I cannot see a takeover coming from Qatar, Abu Dhabi or China. I'm not convinced about American interest either. My attention has switched to India.
Sheikh Khalifa would have been ideal. Abu Dhabi could have thrown a £1billion at the club to use as a marketing and promotional tool without even noticing it missing. There's not many people out there with that kind of wealth who could buy the club and not need a direct return from us. This is why I was devastated in my last video update. Although Tom Hicks has been labelled as the reason why Khalifa has ended his interest, there is also a suggestion that his people were not happy with the way the club is currently run. I don't know if that's true, I'm just the messenger.
I'm told that there is still a possibility of a takeover going through this summer and with people still at the table then we should remain upbeat I guess. But with Tom Hicks and his shadow George Gillett having already scuppered other takeover attempts, you can see why I'm worried. The valuation is simply scaring bidders away. Clearly they think they can negotiate Hicks down but it's not happening as yet and don't forget it's not just about the asking price, there's also bolt-ons such as percentages of future gate receipts and prize money that they're trying to work into a sale. Disgusting.
If the owners don't make their payments to RBS having rejected perfectly good bids then the RBS would repossess. But what worries me is they could sell players to service that debt which means RBS would then be happy. Look at it this way, if you were in arrears with your mortgage but then found the cash, your mortgage company would be happy. They wouldn't repossess your home. It's the same scenario, just on a much bigger scale. But if you were in arrears and then rejected a perfectly good offer for your home from a potential buyer, then the mortgage company would repossess. I hope that makes sense to those of you who are a little confused.
The other thing I said recently was that Tom Hicks and George Gillett were locked out of negotiations. What this means is that they can't get in the way during such talks because the board is doing the negotiating. However, Tom Hicks and his shadow can still reject offers because they own the club. Nobody can make them take a deal but RBS can repossess the club if they fail to service the debt having had perfectly good offers.
On the management front I was happy to hear that we've been speaking to Manuel Pellegrini. The link is genuine and it ties in with my claims that managing director Christian Purslow has remained at home to try and find a new Liverpool FC manager and that Roy Hodgson is leverage for other canidates. Purslow should be in South Africa by now. He's still due out there but it makes a refreshing change to see that he's still hard at work. Rick Parry would probably have taken a fortnight's holiday had he still been at the club.
I like Pellegrini. Ok he's not a looker like Rafa but he's an attack minded manager and his Spanish connection would go down well at Liverpool. You can see the thinking here by Purslow and co. But I am told that there are other candidates ahead of Hodgson and that Pellegrini isn't our exclusive target. More talks are planned though which is interesting.
Poor Roy. I actually like the guy. But I just think if we're going to appoint a guy like him then we should go for Kenny Dalglish instead.
YNWA
What do you think?
Duncan Oldham
KopTalk Editor
