Supporters are currently seeing a lot of rumours circulating relating to Amanda Staveley’s interest in Liverpool Football Club, many of which should be ignored.
The latest rumours claim that Fenway Sports Group (FSG) have rejected a £1.5billion offer for the Reds as they have allegedly slapped a staggering £2billion valuation on the club in the hope that Staveley’s backers will head elsewhere, with Newcastle United looking a likely destination.
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We can’t verify the claims relating specifically to those figures but we do believe that an offer in excess of £1billion hasn’t been enough for the owners to consider relinquishing control.
KOPTALK sources claim that Liverpool fan Staveley has already had an offer of £1.2billion rejected by FSG, a claim which has been backed up in an article written by The Telegraph’s chief football correspondent Jason Burt and their North-East reporter Luke Edwards who write that an offer of “at least” that amount has been ignored. It is not clear when this offer was made.
We’re led to believe that Staveley has 3 partners/parties interested in buying a Premier League club with Liverpool at the top of their shopping list. Newcastle United, officially put up for sale by Mike Ashley yesterday, is also identified as a club of interest and one that is available for a fraction of the cost that FSG appear to want for the Reds.
It should be pointed out that there are people not associated to Staveley that are also interested in Newcastle and they wouldn’t have the kind of clout as seen by supporters at Chelsea and Manchester City. Staveley is the one with the big money but most importantly, ‘football people’.
Staveley, who has financial backing to the tune of around £30billion and who brokered Manchester City’s takeover by Sheikh Mansour, has both Far East and Middle East investors in her hands. She favours a takeover of Liverpool with sources claiming she would like to position herself on the board at Anfield if a deal could be struck. That though seems unlikely with FSG deciding that a profit of £900m isn’t enough to tempt them to walk-away, if you choose to believe the latest claims.
She was heavily involved in Dubai International Capital’s (DIC) attempts to buy Liverpool which started in 2006 and continued for a further two years until 2008 even after the club was sold to George Gillett and Tom Hicks. It is also believed that she was behind the Everbright bid for LFC from China last year.
One source claims that FSG would be willing to sell up if they can make a clean profit of £1billion but only Staveley seems in a position to be able to make that happen. Middle East investors who have previously tried to buy Liverpool claim that due to the TV money in the game today, top flight Premier League clubs are too expensive and that clubs that can be snapped up much cheaper should be targeted. The downfall to that is that they maybe don’t have the global appeal and fan base.
Newcastle has been made available for around £400m so that makes sense for potential investors to consider them but the club doesn’t have the same glamour of a club like Liverpool with all of its history and benefits (national and international revenue streams) that come with it.
Liverpool was reluctantly sold to FSG in 2010 with the Americans only gaining control by a single vote when the Anfield board voted on whether to hand over the keys to them. Gillett and Hicks refused to vote leaving it to the other remaining board members who were split over FSG to decide the outcome. One vote was enough for them to take control. One vote secured their purchase.
Former LFC chairman Sir Martin Broughton recently told The Echo: “It was a close decision for all of us – it wasn’t unanimous – [but] it was the position of the board.”
It is mooted that Ian Ayre, who had been appointed as Commercial Director by Gillett and Hicks, was the board member who voted against FSG’s purchase although former LFC managing director Christian Purslow didn’t seem that convinced by them either.
An email which became public during a High Court hearing, confirmed his concerns. In it Purslow wrote: ‘Whilst they are charming, intelligent and credible their bid is by any standards at the extreme bottom end of the ‘right deal’ threshold we set for ourselves: it only reduces debt by less than half and is I feel unlikely to yield incremental equity to fund a stadium.
‘They may say they have money if necessary but I do not take this very seriously. Their eyes only lit up at the idea of other opportunity improvements. An American deal guy simply can’t avoid using other people’s money if they can.
‘There is no extra money on the table to enable short-term investment in what remains a squad palpably needing more quality if we are to be definitively top four. New American sport team owners with the senior guy being a hedge fund manager could not be worst [sic] from an image standpoint, which is an issue for us independents. I have not even talked about valuation. I leave that to other members of the board. So what is positive? Answer, they exist. Which is not a lot, but it is not to be underestimated in importance.’
He also added: ‘So I repeat this is a bottom of the barrel outcome [selling to FSG].’
The Americans have steadied a sinking ship and made commercial improvements at Anfield but educated fans tend to immediately dismiss the suggestion that they “saved” the club. While we don’t think they’re bad owners, we’re of the opinion that they’re not the right owners as they have been unable to complete with the Premier League’s top clubs and during their ownership other clubs have made significant progresses both on and off the pitch.
Newcastle appear close to securing investment and for all we know they could become the next Manchester City in terms of spending power. That, while speculative, should be alarming to all Liverpool fans as they could potentially become a new player in the transfer market. With a great stadium, a top manager and a loyal fan base, we’d actually be delighted to see them secure investment. Not only do their fans deserve it but it would be good for the Premier League. It could though spell major problems for Liverpool who on paper may look impressive but in terms of competing, they’re miles behind clubs that once used to envy them.
The unified ‘FSG OUT’ groups are doing their best to raise awareness that the owners are fast losing support and credibility but their efforts may have come too late with regards Staveley who looks destined to take her billions elsewhere.
FSG desperately need to regain some support at Anfield. They need to pull something out of the bag very soon and not just some ‘feel good’ news. Fans want to see the club challenging the Premier League’s big guns and Europe’s elite once again. Only a complete fan revolt will see FSG consider selling up and as some fans remain turned off by the idea of ousting them, we can’t see much changing on that front. While the ‘FSG OUT’ movement have made progress by coming together, it’s going to take a lot more for FSG to be concerned by their internet campaigns, despite them being monitored very closely.
Staveley is the key to any serious takeover at Anfield but this last chance looks to be slipping away. Unless FSG are frightened off or they significantly lower their valuation of the club, they will remain as owners for many more years.
More on this on our members’ website.
