Liverpool's prospective new owners have told Roy Hodgson his position is secure, despite him overseeing the club's worst start to a season for 57 years. Anfield turned against the new manager during Sunday's defeat by Blackpool but while a swift overhaul of the squad is unlikely under New England Sports Venture, the 63-year-old has been guaranteed an opportunity to lead the club's recovery.
Hodgson is under pressure after a dreadful start that has left Liverpool in the relegation zone, with just one league win this season. The former Fulham manager is believed to have a compensation clause in his three-year contract should new owners wish to make their own appointment, but the chairman, Martin Broughton, insists there is no desire from John W Henry, NESV's principal investor, or within the group, for a change.
"There is a commitment to the manager," said the Liverpool chairman. "They are very happy that this manager is the right person to take this club forward."
Beyond Hodgson's position, the impact of the NESV proposal on the on-field fortunes is expected to be significant, albeit that Broughton confirmed it is not a takeover in the mould of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea or sheikh Mansour at Manchester City – "That is right," he said – and is linked to the development of a stadium.
The US proposal includes a commitment to pay off £240m debt in cash, drastically reducing Liverpool's interest repayments, which stood at almost £40m for the year ending 30 July 2009. "It means the club has vast profits available to the levels it always should have had available to invest in the business instead of servicing loans," said Broughton. "Whatever happens, it's massive progress."
There are potentially sizeable revenues to be tapped. "George [Gillett] and Tom [Hicks] have not been all bad," Broughton said of the current owners. "There is this perception that they did nothing at all and were a complete disaster, but if you look at the commercial side of the business they have appointed Ian Ayre, they gave him a mandate and the freedom to do his job as a commercial director, and he has more than tripled revenues. If they had not been leveraged then they would have started the [new]stadium, and we wouldn't being saying what terrible guys these are."
With Uefa's financial fair-play rules due to commence in 2012 – whereby clubs must break even over a rolling three-year period to qualify for European competition – a debt-reduced Liverpool would regain a powerful financial position once a stadium is built. Failing to fulfil the promise to "put a spade in the ground" within 60 days of their takeover cost Hicks and Gillett credibility and trust among Liverpool fans, and the issue was an integral part of NESV's negotiations with Broughton.
"They are committed to stadium development," Broughton said. "It may be through a Fenway-like development [the rebuilt home of the Boston Red Sox] that gets us to a 60,000 stadium at Anfield. It may be a new stadium. They haven't yet been able to make that call because they haven't been able to do sufficient homework to be absolutely clear on the right way forward. They haven't had direct conversations with local councillors, for example, which might be necessary. They are very willing to have those discussions and to have those investigations done as a matter of urgency because they do commit to stadium development.
"They just want to be sure it is the right stadium development. They will fund it with a sensible, normal level of debt and equity. They have had discussions with RBS about financing a stadium, but they are premature, because they don't know what is happening yet."
The Anfield area has suffered badly waiting for the club to meet its stadium promises and, according to the leader of the City council Joe Anderson, redevelopment must be a priority. "While fans will no doubt welcome this as the path to changing fortunes on the pitch, the delays in starting the new stadium have been a huge concern to the city council, and the effect this is having on the wider role of the regeneration of the Anfield community," Anderson said. "Investment in a new stadium must be an immediate priority and I look forward to holding talks with new owners as soon as possible to press home the need for the work to start."
The prospective takeover was welcomed by the defender Jamie Carragher. "Everyone knows it'll be a good thing for the club," he said. "Hopefully it will be sorted sooner rather than later and we can start looking forward on the pitch and start improving results, which is what we need to do."
Broughton indicated that Ayre and the chief executive, Christian Purslow, the two directors Hicks sought to remove from the board before the agreement was reached with NESV, may remain in situ under the prospective new owners.
BUMP. No one has seen this yet.. :'(
Hodgson is under pressure after a dreadful start that has left Liverpool in the relegation zone, with just one league win this season. The former Fulham manager is believed to have a compensation clause in his three-year contract should new owners wish to make their own appointment, but the chairman, Martin Broughton, insists there is no desire from John W Henry, NESV's principal investor, or within the group, for a change.
"There is a commitment to the manager," said the Liverpool chairman. "They are very happy that this manager is the right person to take this club forward."
Beyond Hodgson's position, the impact of the NESV proposal on the on-field fortunes is expected to be significant, albeit that Broughton confirmed it is not a takeover in the mould of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea or sheikh Mansour at Manchester City – "That is right," he said – and is linked to the development of a stadium.
The US proposal includes a commitment to pay off £240m debt in cash, drastically reducing Liverpool's interest repayments, which stood at almost £40m for the year ending 30 July 2009. "It means the club has vast profits available to the levels it always should have had available to invest in the business instead of servicing loans," said Broughton. "Whatever happens, it's massive progress."
There are potentially sizeable revenues to be tapped. "George [Gillett] and Tom [Hicks] have not been all bad," Broughton said of the current owners. "There is this perception that they did nothing at all and were a complete disaster, but if you look at the commercial side of the business they have appointed Ian Ayre, they gave him a mandate and the freedom to do his job as a commercial director, and he has more than tripled revenues. If they had not been leveraged then they would have started the [new]stadium, and we wouldn't being saying what terrible guys these are."
With Uefa's financial fair-play rules due to commence in 2012 – whereby clubs must break even over a rolling three-year period to qualify for European competition – a debt-reduced Liverpool would regain a powerful financial position once a stadium is built. Failing to fulfil the promise to "put a spade in the ground" within 60 days of their takeover cost Hicks and Gillett credibility and trust among Liverpool fans, and the issue was an integral part of NESV's negotiations with Broughton.
"They are committed to stadium development," Broughton said. "It may be through a Fenway-like development [the rebuilt home of the Boston Red Sox] that gets us to a 60,000 stadium at Anfield. It may be a new stadium. They haven't yet been able to make that call because they haven't been able to do sufficient homework to be absolutely clear on the right way forward. They haven't had direct conversations with local councillors, for example, which might be necessary. They are very willing to have those discussions and to have those investigations done as a matter of urgency because they do commit to stadium development.
"They just want to be sure it is the right stadium development. They will fund it with a sensible, normal level of debt and equity. They have had discussions with RBS about financing a stadium, but they are premature, because they don't know what is happening yet."
The Anfield area has suffered badly waiting for the club to meet its stadium promises and, according to the leader of the City council Joe Anderson, redevelopment must be a priority. "While fans will no doubt welcome this as the path to changing fortunes on the pitch, the delays in starting the new stadium have been a huge concern to the city council, and the effect this is having on the wider role of the regeneration of the Anfield community," Anderson said. "Investment in a new stadium must be an immediate priority and I look forward to holding talks with new owners as soon as possible to press home the need for the work to start."
The prospective takeover was welcomed by the defender Jamie Carragher. "Everyone knows it'll be a good thing for the club," he said. "Hopefully it will be sorted sooner rather than later and we can start looking forward on the pitch and start improving results, which is what we need to do."
Broughton indicated that Ayre and the chief executive, Christian Purslow, the two directors Hicks sought to remove from the board before the agreement was reached with NESV, may remain in situ under the prospective new owners.
However, Hicks is reluctant to sell..., and until he does so, I fully expect Hogdson, and the players to continue under-performing - The club currently sit 18th in the league, just a point away from bottom-of-the-table West Ham, and with a game of utmost importance in two weeks time, away to Merseyside rivals Everton, who picked up their first 3 points of the season at St. Andrews last week, thanks to a Roger Johnson own goal, and a Cahill goal in the 90th minute to seal the win.
- What do you think Liverpool fans? You have a reputation for backing managers, but after 7 games, the Kop end were calling for Dalglish after watching Blackpool beat Liverpool 1-2. He has little experience at the very top level, though he did manage Inter Milan when they were in trouble in Serie A, as well as guiding Fulham from relegation candidates to Europa League runners up in two years, surely he needs more time, especially once Broughton has successfully sold the club (With any luck. I'm with you 'pool fans!) to uh.. the Yanks....
BUMP. No one has seen this yet.. :'(
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