In a week that has seen the arrival of Christian Poulsen from Juventus, some uncertainty over Javier Mascherano and another round of claims, counter claims and denials, concerning the takeover, Liverpool fans took their places for a Friday night finale.
As news developed through the evening that a club statement would be issued around the 9pm mark, following Roy Hodgson’s comments earlier in the day that a board meeting was taking place in London, hopes started to rise amongst some Liverpool fans. Hope that perhaps there was more meat to the Huang and Kirdi bids than had previously been documented and that life under Tom Hicks & George Gillett would finally be a thing of the past.
Hope is all it was to those fans and the predictable was delivered by the club via their official website at 9.25pm in the following simple form of a holding statement on the matter.
Liverpool FC statement regarding the proposed sale of the club.
The Liverpool FC Board has reviewed a number of proposed bids for the club at a meeting held today.
The Board will continue to act in the best interests of Liverpool Football Club and its supporters, doing all that it can to ensure that the Club is ultimately sold to a buyer who has the resources and real commitment to give it a long-term, stable and secure funding position for its plans.
The sale process is continuing. However, its timing and outcome remain uncertain. In the meantime, we will not comment on rumour and speculation.
Thoughts quickly turned to “what was the point of that?” amongst the devoted Liverpool fan base, as the deflation set in that they knew nothing more than they did already… but does it show more than a first glance offers?
Since the club was placed up for sale, the board of Liverpool Football Club have been keen to make a very determined point, that all concerns regarding the transfer of the club into new ownership would be kept well out of the media spotlight until a conclusion was reached. This to a degree they have managed to do, it would be closer to idiotic than naive to believe that the media could be kept at a distance over such a high profile transaction, there are just too many sources of information to quieten, so they have just let the rumour mill do its worst in the majority.
So why make a statement now? A statement that seemingly offers nothing bar the obvious, well maybe pressure is the answer to that question. There was no need for Liverpool to issue the statement they have, there was nothing new to report and little merit gained by it, do the board feel they had to say something? Plenty of meetings have passed in recent years through times of trouble and the walls of Anfield remained tight lipped, admittedly it is reported that full board meetings are a bit of rareity to say the least but this one has hardly proved to be a special occassion. Are the board feeling all the eyes upon them and needing, reputations sensing the need to justify their ego’s and that work is being done.
You can also take a slightly different view on the matter that at times, especially when under pressure for delivering answers and updates, it can be quite hard to say nothing. To a degree we can apply similar principles of physics, we know from Newtons 1st law “Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it” and his 3rd law “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. So therefore, if nothing is said or nothing that can conjure up opinion one way or another, then the situation cannot become worse or shown as delayed beyond expectation and neither can it escalate to a level of further uncomfortability and demand. Perhaps to a degree it would be logical to assume using this method of thought that it took the LFC board considerably longer to say nothing than it may first appear in reading.
Background information will continue to be sought on the offers proposed from investors, which is seemingly difficult to believe that it is much more than a two horse race at present, despite the “considerable” interest reported back. We cannot lose track of the sheer size of the task at hand though, which in some areas appears a little too easy to do. If Paddy Power were asked to provide odds on what was more accurate, the chance of RBS assuming control of Liverpool FC in October or a takeover being announced tonight then it was quite simply a no brainer on where to place your money.
The Liverpool collective is in effect asking someone to start off by clearing a circa £237m and frequently rising mistake before they even start at first base, this is no simple question to ask anyone which ever way you dress it up. We cannot forget that the situation that exists at Liverpool very much lends itself to requiring a solution of an individual or a consortium of billionaire capacity and cash rich is considerably different to assets, yet hope or even desperation to a degree finds fans running off numbers and bid values that we dont truly comprehend at times and pondering why it is taking the time that it is. These individuals are sadly not available in bulk which provides a considerable upper hand in negotiations.
Whether Huang’s background blurs anymore with mystery, whether Kirdi continues to resemble more market trader than corporate giant or RBS end up with an acquisition they dont want will continue to be debated for a while longer yet. However Liverpool FC has to continue to remain looking for the right people with the right credentials making the right offer for the long term viability of the club and its fans, a deal in place before the end of the current transfer window is not a neccessity its a luxury. Time is of the essence without a shadow of a doubt but there is certainly slightly longer to play with than perhaps we would like our hearts to accept.