Prospective Reds owner John W Henry Tweeted after a year of hiatas from the popular social medium, his first words were “Hello LFC supporters!” Unlike his wife Linda Pizzuti who Tweets regularly under the handle @Linda_Pizzuti, Henry hasn’t Tweeted in over a year.
Interesting to note that as of this moment Henry doesn’t follow the official LFC Twitter yet he does follow @spiritofshankly which for many of us Reds might be seen as a positive. Henry probably is more concerned about knowing what the fans want and getting in touch with them. Following the Union which represents many Anfield faithful is definitely a step in the right direction.
Ironically last week this guy (who I shall not mention his name) claimed that Henry was snubbing the Union, following what I saw today I don’t think so.
John W Henry’s Twitter handle is @John_W_Henry
Y.N.W.A.
Why is everyone quiet over this offer from the Singapore tycoon? From the BBC site (which is slighlty more reliable than other sites) it stated that he tabled a better offer of reducing all the debt. Its still unclear whether NESV will borrow to finance their takeover whereas no such thing will happen with Lim. He is also willing to provide £40 million for transfers. Apparently he actually thought he had won the bid until the last moment (ring any bells people – DIC being snubbed at the last second). All those fans who were singing Broughton and Purslow’s praises should wait and see before making judgements. At the momement I could not care less about these two. My worry is that a better offer will be turned down for someone who in the long run will not be for our good. They have not signalled a concrete idea on the stadium issue and have not explicitly said that no money will be borrowed to finance the buying of the club.
In numerous articles I have read it was a given that there would definately be no leveraged buyout in any deal.
@Jack – And what makes you think that Lim would be any different? The article that you are referring to was filled with information from ‘sources close to Lim’. Hardly gospel.
I’m happy that we’re looking at a group that have proven they understand how to run a sporting organisation in a financial and successful sense.
Money being borrowed is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s the amount and the subsequent financial pressures that need to be looked at. H&G took on a loan that was much greater than they could adequately pay back without undue pressure being applied to the club.
The stadium issue is difficult because I believe that they would prefer to refurbish Anfield, as I’m sure many of us agree but there is strong opposition from Local Council to such a move. It’s not simply a case of making a personal decision and then steaming ahead without a care in the world. Sadly LFC does not trump Government/Wider Public Opinion.
re: Henry following SOS. I’d follow them too if I were in his position. Doesn’t mean that I’m going to listen to them in regards to the club. It’s just a good PR move and potentially keeps him in the loop as to what the official SOS feed is saying.
I think NESV is a better option simply because of the credibility factor they have built with the Boston Red Sox team. YNWA
Leveraged Buy Outs and borrowing money to buy the club are two different things. Although borrowing money will not expose us to administration (as LFC will not be legally required to service the debts) etc, it will mean the Americans will want some of the profits at the end of the year to pay for their own debts. This will surely mean less money for transfers. Lim’s offer categorically states no money will be borrowed.
@Brad- You say money borrowed is not such a bad thing? Why have any money borrowed as opposed to having nothing borrowed? It may not put the club in a financially perilous position but it may mean our hands will be tied behind our backs. My main point is that they have not explicitly told us how this financing will happen. As for the stadium – How are we going to compete with the likes of Arsenal with just expanding Anfield? We can’t have a sugar daddy like Abrahamovitch so we need revenue from a larger stadium to compete for players. Some of our fans are too quick to celebrate before knowing exactly what we are getting into. I hope its not a case of Dejavu
As a Singaporean, I wld definitely hope Lim buy the club and be the owner of Liverpool. However, Lim is a man utd. I believe most Liverpool fan would not want an owner who is a man utd fan. Thus I rather NESV be our owner. YNWA
@Des Exactly the reason i want NESV to own our great club. YNWA.
@Jack – With regards to Anfield, I’ve seen suggestions that it would be possible to expand to ~60K, which is about the capacity of any new stadium that would be built. Emirates is 60K, just for comparison.
Anfield is an historic ground and if the possibility to expand (including other linked facilities) exists, then I think that would be a preferred option. Until they have a firm idea of which direction they are able to proceed in they can’t make any promises. They’ve signalled that the stadium in a prime concern and I’m content with that for the time being.
Yes, I agree that no loan is better than having one. That wasn’t my point. We also know that not every billionaire can be trusted to run a club like they promise to. The fact is that NESV have proven that they can operate a sporting club, making it successful and financially viable. Yes, they could monumentally bugger it up but you can make the same claim against anyone else.
The fact is that the NESV business model has obviously impressed the board and perhaps that is where Lim’s doesn’t quite match up?