The Liverpool Red Sox?

[VonErichLives]

yeah, I know there is a soccer thread, I just want a brief...

WTF happened? why was the team taken away from their owners? do they have any legal case in their suit they were "swindled"? and will JH and TW the new owners be ok, or are they going to trow away a lot of money which will mean they will spend less money on the Red Sox which will make me very angry...

This worries me, I remember Patriots owner the Sullivans having to sell the team because he lost his money on a Jackson 5 tour that did crap.

That said, I would expect to see this team playing an exhibition in Boston once a year, since last year there was a soccer game at Fenway park that sold out.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Basically, they had massive debts and the bank called it in as they also had millions of pounds in fees. The owners had until October 15th to sell the club or pay back the loan as an agreed deadline and there was an agreement in place that the board of directors could be formed by the acting chairman while the club was for sale.

The new owner put in a bid which the board accepted as it would clear the clubs debts and he had sports team owning experience. Hicks and Gillette (the old owners) tried to block the sale because they would get no money personally out of the deal (there were bigger offers that would get them money, but I believe they were based on debt too) and claimed they fired 2 of the board and replaced them with Hicks' son and a board member from his business. This was found to not be legal by the courts with no right of appeal.

Hicks and Gillette then tried an injection in Texas, which also failed, so the new owner was installed.

[VonErichLives]

where did the debt come from? does the team normally lose money?

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Hicks and Gillette bought the club with that debt and moved the debts into the holding company that owns Liverpool. Liverpool would have made money if they didn't have to pay all the interest and penalty fees on a £250m loan.

The recession was the final nail on the coffin.

[Londoner]

Loved hearing how dissapointed Hicks was earlier, laughed how he tried to blame the media for making hm look bad as if we can't all make up our own minds on the situation. Fucking wanker.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

250 million pounds isn't that much in a billion dollar industry though. Especially for a worldwide brand like Liverpool. How far behind in their payments were they?

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Basically Hicks and Gillett fucked about with us. They promised us a new stadium and the debts cleared. We got neither.

[Chavo Classic]

I'm a Liverpool fan, and it's the best news I've heard all year about the club. What Hasney hasn't mentioned is that if the club were not sold by the 15th October, it would be likely that they would have defaulted on the loan payment. Royal Bank of Scotland, with who the debt belongs, may had requested Liverpool be placed in administration as a result.

The penalty in the Premier League for going into administration, as was applied to Portsmouth FC last year, is a 9 point deduction. The club is already in the bottom half of the table with only 6 points so far (injuries and inconsistent form has ruined the start to the season). Overcoming the deficit, staying out of the relegation places and trying to mount a serious bid for trophies would have been overwhelming.

I can understand Hicks' stubborness on the sale (he's going to be out of pocket £140m), but he should've have known that no-one is bigger than Liverpool. It is too widely known and loved to be destroyed by greed.

[Chavo Classic]

This should summarise the last few days of whats happened.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9097848.stm

[The Pope]

I'm guessing it was the same thing the Phoenix Coyotes went through.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Liverpool going into administration would have been a disaster for more than just the points. They'd have been open to ludicrous bids for their players. Almost certainly Torres would have went for way below his market value.

[Chavo Classic]

Liverpool going into administration would have been a disaster for more than just the points. They'd have been open to ludicrous bids for their players. Almost certainly Torres would have went for way below his market value.

I can see Torres going at the end of the season anyway. He's underperformed around other Liverpool players since the end of last season, and if we can't even guarantee UEFA Cup football, he won't want to stick around. The difference in the transfer value would have been in the tens of millions, but the end result of losing one of our three star players would have been the same.

[Emperor Smeat]

The way the deal is structured ensures the new owners don't have to worry about eating into Red Sox money if anything bad happens to Liverpool. The money being spent and used for Liverpool is coming from another group in NESV and will always be split from the Red Sox money.

Its meant to be an contingency plan to prevent what happened with Hicks and Gillett when they borrowed heavily from their other teams to help pay for Liverpool and then sold those teams just to pay off Liverpool's debt.

[Hanso Amore]

Hicks is the single worst sports owner ever, ruined the MLB salary structure, ruined liverpool, and is going to run the Dallas stars into oblivion

[CSL]

The difference in the transfer value would have been in the tens of millions, but the end result of losing one of our three star players would have been the same.

Who's the third?

[Chavo Classic]

Who's the third?

Gerrard and Torres are gods, but Reina has been fantastic for years now. People are only catching on now since our defence has been getting worse for the last two seasons and he's being called in action a lot more. He's arguable the most consistent 'keeper we've had for decades.