Comments on: Hicks wins finance battle, but the war goes on http://archive.anfieldroad.com/news-archive/200801252800/hicks-wins-finance-battle-but-the-war-goes-on.html/ The Archives. Liverpool FC. 18 titles. 5 European Cups. Unofficial Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:03:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: anfielder http://archive.anfieldroad.com/news-archive/200801252800/hicks-wins-finance-battle-but-the-war-goes-on.html/comment-page-1/#comment-831 anfielder Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:08:36 +0000 http://www.anfieldroad.com/news/200801252800/hicks-wins-finance-battle-but-the-war-goes-on.html/#comment-831 Yossa and Wood, you guys are badly missing the point here. Of course building a new stadium involves borrowing and expense but only a small fraction of the £350 million is going towards initial construction costs for the stadium. The vast majority is merely refinancing the huge initial loan with which H&G bought the Club. Therefore it is not going towards either the stadium or strengthening the team even though the Club will have to meet the crippling interest payments (over £30 million per annum) on the full £350 million. This is an incredibly disadvantageous deal for the Club and is a breach of the promises Hicks made when he persuaded David Moores to sell to him instead of DIC (God what a mistake that was). Just to put this all in perspective the Club could easily have borrowed the small portion of the £350 million that relates to construction without Hicks and Gillett (This is what Arsenal did). Therefore H&G are adding no value whatsoever to the Club by this loan. Quite the contrary they are saddling it with huge interest payments for which the Club gets nothing back in return. In fact the only things H&G have brought to the stadium project are huge amounts of debt, uncertainty and delay. By making numerous references to the new stadium Hicks is hoping to fool reds’ fans into believing thats where the majority of the £350 million loan is going but this is simply not true. I really hope Reds fans are not naive enough to buy any of Hicks bullshit. This arrangement will cripple for years any attempt by Liverpool to remain competitive on the field. This is not to mention the nightmarish effect Hicks's rift with Rafa has had on morale at the Club. Even if you have major doubts about Rafa's overall coaching ability (and I for one do) you can't go about publicly undermining the coach without making him a lame duck. To do this mid-season at a time when we were still challenging effectively on four fronts is an act of criminal stupidity. Its no surpise to hear that Hicks helped bring Bush to power in Texas. The similarities between the two are uncanny. Hicks intent is to confuse just enough reds fans to prevent us from effectively mobilising against him as a unit but this is exactly what we have to do. Yossa and Wood, you guys are badly missing the point here. Of course building a new stadium involves borrowing and expense but only a small fraction of the £350 million is going towards initial construction costs for the stadium. The vast majority is merely refinancing the huge initial loan with which H&G bought the Club. Therefore it is not going towards either the stadium or strengthening the team even though the Club will have to meet the crippling interest payments (over £30 million per annum) on the full £350 million. This is an incredibly disadvantageous deal for the Club and is a breach of the promises Hicks made when he persuaded David Moores to sell to him instead of DIC (God what a mistake that was).

Just to put this all in perspective the Club could easily have borrowed the small portion of the £350 million that relates to construction without Hicks and Gillett (This is what Arsenal did). Therefore H&G are adding no value whatsoever to the Club by this loan. Quite the contrary they are saddling it with huge interest payments for which the Club gets nothing back in return. In fact the only things H&G have brought to the stadium project are huge amounts of debt, uncertainty and delay.

By making numerous references to the new stadium Hicks is hoping to fool reds’ fans into believing thats where the majority of the £350 million loan is going but this is simply not true. I really hope Reds fans are not naive enough to buy any of Hicks bullshit. This arrangement will cripple for years any attempt by Liverpool to remain competitive on the field.

This is not to mention the nightmarish effect Hicks’s rift with Rafa has had on morale at the Club. Even if you have major doubts about Rafa’s overall coaching ability (and I for one do) you can’t go about publicly undermining the coach without making him a lame duck. To do this mid-season at a time when we were still challenging effectively on four fronts is an act of criminal stupidity. Its no surpise to hear that Hicks helped bring Bush to power in Texas. The similarities between the two are uncanny.

Hicks intent is to confuse just enough reds fans to prevent us from effectively mobilising against him as a unit but this is exactly what we have to do.

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