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This article from the Wall Street Journal has put a huge smile on my face:

A Texas Tycoon Learns a Lesson: Don't Mess With Liverpudlians
Tom Hicks Owns Flailing U.K. Soccer Club; Fans Take Anger to the Bank—Literally

In the old days, English soccer hooligans settled scores with knives and broken bottles. As Texas billionaire Tom Hicks is learning this week, the weapons of choice these days—camera phones, Twitter and spam emails—can be almost as scary.

Mr. Hicks, co-owner of England's hallowed Liverpool FC, is on the run from a mob of angry fans who blame him for the team's tailspin. The 118-year-old club was one of England's best when he bought it in 2007. Since then, the crippling debt load he took on to buy Liverpool has strained the team's finances and contributed to its woes on the pitch.

Now, Liverpool faithful are waging a fierce campaign to evict the American owner. Their strategy: Scare away banks and other financiers who might throw Mr. Hicks a lifeline, starving Mr. Hicks of needed cash and forcing him to sell. To do that, they are using the tools of the digital age to track Mr. Hicks' efforts to drum up money, then bombard would-be lenders with thousands of irate emails, phone calls and Tweets.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Hicks learned firsthand what it's like to be the prey in a digital hunt.

Around 3:40 p.m., as Mr. Hicks sat on a sidewalk bench in midtown Manhattan, he was spotted by Liverpool native Paul Wilson. It occurred to Mr. Wilson, a 35-year-old financial consultant, that the offices of Deutsche Bank AG and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. were on the same street. He guessed that Mr. Hicks and his son, Tom Hicks Jr., might be visiting the banks to plead for funds.

So Mr. Wilson whipped out his BlackBerry, snapped some photos, and zapped the images to his wife, Erin McCloskey. Then he trailed Mr. Hicks walking into the lobby of the building that houses Deutsche.

"I didn't throw my coffee on him, but the thought did cross my mind," Mr. Wilson said Wednesday.

Ms. McCloskey quickly posted the photos on Twitter and explained the circumstances.

Over in Liverpool, the Hicks sighting was like an open-net goal for Alan Kayll, a 40-year-old cab driver who is a ringleader of the anti-Hicks campaign. Mr. Kayll quickly penned a form letter to J.P. Morgan and Deutsche officials urging them not to help Mr. Hicks refinance roughly £200 million ($313 million) that is owed to Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, stemming from his purchase of the team.

"If you join Tom Hicks in raping and pillaging Liverpool Football Club, then you will be making a very powerful enemy," his letter read in part. "You are facing an energized, well-informed mass of Liverpool fans from around the world."

He posted the letter online, along with the email addresses of executives at Deutsche and J.P. Morgan.

An hour later, a senior J.P. Morgan executive had already received 30 emails from Liverpool fans, with new messages landing every few minutes. "It's totally viral right now," the executive said, deleting emails as they arrived. Public-relations staff at Deutsche said they received hundreds.

Neither bank is in talks with Mr. Hicks, said people familiar with the situation. Through a spokesman, Mr. Hicks declined to comment on Tuesday's events or his stewardship of the team.

The team's financial woes have hurt its performance. Liverpool finished last season in seventh place, a disaster for fans accustomed to being in England's top four. A team official said this week that the cost of servicing its debts is depleting club resources. Fans argue that makes it tougher to recruit top players.

Meanwhile, in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, the melee was just beginning. Adam Eljarrah, an 18-year-old Liverpool fan attending New York University, saw Ms. McCloskey's Twitter messages. He showed up outside Deutsche's skyscraper on Park Avenue. The pre-med freshman carried a poster, popular among Liverpool supporters in England, declaring that Mr. Hicks and his co-owner are "Not Welcome ANYWHERE."

Mr. Eljarrah says he loitered outside the building for about 45 minutes, hoping to confront Mr. Hicks. Around 6:30 p.m., Mr. Hicks emerged. According to a person familiar with the incident, the younger Mr. Hicks spotted Mr. Eljarrah—identifiable in his red-and-white Liverpool scarf—and told a nearby cop: "This guy is trouble."

As the police officer intercepted Mr. Eljarrah, he says, he waved his sign and yelled, "Get out of our club!"

Liverpool fans aren't the only ones lashing out at American ownership. Manchester United fans have mounted a campaign against the family of American businessman Malcolm Glazer, which owns the team and has loaded it with debt.

In Liverpool, fans who are angling to remove Mr. Hicks are sporting scarves bearing a "Thanks But No Yank$!" slogan.

Lately, financial institutions have borne the brunt of Liverpool's rage. Fans have been flooding RBS with letters and phone calls urging the bank to seize the club and give Mr. Hicks the boot. Top executives' inboxes sometimes have been hit with several hundred emails per day.

A few weeks ago, some fans started a Facebook page encouraging people to boycott RBS. Mr. Kayll, the cab driver, drew up lists of financial institutions Mr. Hicks is believed to have approached, posting them on a website he helps run that urges fans to help oust Mr. Hicks.

The site features an image of a blood-drenched RBS logo. The site's motto: "We will go as far as we need to."

Despite the site's menacing slogan and graphic, Mr. Kayll says his group is "totally against violence. We're a group of passionate fans trying to save their football club. All professional people with families."

The campaign hit Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire co-founder of Blackstone Partners, whose GSO Capital Partners hedge fund considered participating in a deal to help Mr. Hicks refinance the RBS loan. By Monday, GSO had backed out of the talks. A Blackstone spokesman, Peter Rose, said the emails (including thousands aimed at Mr. Schwarzman) didn't affect GSO's decision not to participate in the deal.

That wasn't the message Mr. Kayll got. Driving his cab in Liverpool Tuesday morning, he says he received a call from London-based GSO executive Michael Whitman. Mr. Kayll says Mr. Whitman told him GSO lost interest in part thanks to the pressure campaign. "He said, 'We understand the passion of Liverpool supporters and obviously took that into consideration,'" Mr. Kayll says.

Mr. Whitman didn't respond to requests for comment. Blackstone acknowledges that Mr. Whitman and Mr. Kayll spoke, but deny he said the email campaign forced GSO out of the deal.

Still basking in victory hours later, Mr. Kayll was euphoric when the Hicks photos from New York dropped into his lap. He crowed: "We know his every move."

Spirit Of Shankly, Friday 24th September 2010

Direct Action - Tomorrow


Tomorrow should be a game where we are looking to get back on track on the pitch. Instead, we will be fighting for our Club, to get it back on track in the boardroom. We, as supporters, have a duty to protect the future of our Football Club. Tomorrow is the continuance of a campaign to fulfil that duty. During, and after the Sunderland game we will protest.

Today we have seen and heard what the manager has had to say about protests. Our message remains as clear as ever - we will do what we feel is necessary. As supporters we don't want to be protesting. We want to be talking football not finance, we want to be talking left backs not leveraged buyouts.

Instead, circumstances dictate that we must do all of this - the protesting, the campaigning, the pushing to have new owners. Over three years ago, this "group of people" were watching new signings such as Torres and Mascherano, looking forward to a 'spade in the ground' in 60 days that would see us with a brand new stadium, competing with the best in the world, and built in time for Jamie Carragher's testimonial.

This "group of people" has over 50,000 people supporting what it is trying to achieve, with countless more supporting the campaign for new owners. We are very much anti owner for one clear and unequivocal reason - they have lied.

This "group of people" will protest and will continue to protest, because we have a bond, an unbreakable one with our Football Club. We can't just walk away. This Football Club is part of who we are, it's part of who our parents and grandparents are and were, and it's part of who our children will be. It's an emotional attachment that cannot be ridden roughshod over by businessmen in the pursuit of greed rather than glory. It's an emotional attachment that means we will do whatever it takes, regardless of whether it makes things more difficult or not, to save our Football Club.

This "group of people" will always support the position of Liverpool manager. We will continue to demand that the resources of the Football Club are directed towards assisting him in his job rather than being squandered on servicing unsustainable and unnecessary levels of debt.

The protests will continue. To those who say it affects the team performance, our argument is simple and honest - massive debts, crippling interest repayments and lying owners are what is affecting the team. If you don't believe us, read the accounts. Or ask the players who have recently spoken of the need for new owners. Or better still, ask Roy Hodgson.

It's our duty, our responsibility, and our desire to bring about change at our Football Club. To rid it of men with no honesty, no integrity and no concern for the Club's future. Tomorrow, we will carry out that duty.

Maddock at it again....

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Liv...icle587399.html

I'm all for getting rid of hicks but money talks and following him around in a taxi and sending emails wont change much. I know this man hicks is evil personified and I know that he took corinthians to relegation. He also has already been in this position before last time he had a favoured candidate to buy him out of the mess he was in and threw spanners in the works when there was a deal done with someone who was offering to pay up more than his preferred choice. Business and football don't lie well together that is why it is so hard to accept when things go wrong. You can use language like 'rape' and 'pillage' hicks and all other businesmen will use profit and loss. It's horrible but LFC is just a vehicle for him. Don't mean to sound patronising but emotive discussions about raping and pillaging are a bit much for me even though I would love to see this guy get his deserts but these people never do get whats coming to them do theyApart from the fact that all businessmen have no interest in and proably hate football and football fans, it is the reality and it is why so many people were rightly against the premiership being given the go ahead. Is the English national team in a better postion beause of the premiership and its TV money no? Is man united in a better positon due to money? no I think United are potenially in trouble if and when ferguson goes.
The point is LFC was destined for trouble that's why parry got out it got to big for him and thats ok when there isnt a recession on. OK, they could have sold it to someone less satanic than hicks but LFC would still be in debt after the biggest financial crisis to hit us since WW2. You ahve to question why parry sold to a guy who has already been declared bankrupt and his mate who doesnt seem to have a proverbial pot to p... in. Thanks parry

Wow!! Is this an indication of 'Sky' taking sides?

Their taking the side of football

GERRARD PROTEST OVER YANK REGIME





STEVEN GERRARD stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Liverpool fans protesting against the regime of their hated American owners.

More than 2,000 fans staged a sit-in on the Kop after the 2-2 draw with Sunderland.

And skipper Gerrard, who scored to rescue a point, clapped them as he came back out to warm down on the pitch.

Furious fans hung banners and flags on the Kop and chanted against Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

And Gerrard's move brought applause from those who had backed calls by the Spirit of Shankly and Kop Faithful for a visible protest at the club's financial plight.

Hicks is bidding to find a £281million refinancing package, a move which has provoked fury on the Kop.

(Source: Martin Hardy, NOTW)