Couldbe

Please.... give over the nostalgia

No manager worth his salt will touch us at the moment, we are a club on the brink of being bankrupt, unbalanced squad /team, no transfer funds and also up for sale so any new owners could take a clean broom approach, hence it all points to a interim manager , on a rolling contract , say 1 year, available now , i.e. cheap , and with Liverpool connections. Any ideas?

Possible Scenario now: Rafa leaves --- Inter snap him up as manager.... Dalgish appointed as interim manager for next season.... Masch leaves for Inter ..Gerrard Leaves for Real Madrid... and as for Torres he leaves for Chelsea. Dalgish gets £40M to spend from £100M brought in. Dalgish signs Parker / Upson / Bent / Ireland Glory days ahead...... well looks like we have swapped places with Man City from 3 years ago ..mid table beckons,

The pressure on them to sell wasnt as intense 2 1/2 years .... signs are now an offer is on the way but below their asking price., so media campaign is well and truly on.

Oh for Gods sake... Gerrard had a bad groin problem all last season, he cannot keep playing in his current role at the club indefinitely, time is now to retrain him into a new role.

Fabergas is off to Barca .. looks solid he wants out

From Oliver Kay on Twitter Watching England training in Irdning. Gerrard pinging passes around from deeper midfield role. Interesting. Where Capello goes, Rafa could follow.... as Gerrard got the legs still to play as before, now might be the time to change his role similar to what happened to Roy Keane.

True summary, he is an able administrator but definitely not suited to a leadership role ala CEO As for Moores.... rabbit caught in the spotlights comes to mind, completely out of his depth. History will and is showing him to have been the main destructive reason for the clubs current situation. Yanks are only a cause of his disastrous control of the club. Without Moores there would never have been the Yanks. Cause and effect.

Mourinho interview with times mourinho interview Interesting bit about rebuilding Inter team to compete in CL where before they always went at last 16 stage. I went step by step. I cannot play Champions League level without two very strong central defenders. We cannot play Champions League without a specialist in set pieces, because the matches are very, very tight and sometimes you need that man to make a difference. We need a midfield capable of having the ball and controlling most of the matches. We cannot succeed in the Champions League without a striker made for the big moments. Not a striker to score three goals from 15 chances. A striker who is able in two chances to score a goal. If you apply above to our current team, you can see where we are weakest.

Did not Gillette recommended Purslows appointment? Forrest Gump Purslow is acting out his football fantasies and will destroy the club.

Are not UEFA about to change the rules on much of a clubs turnover can be spent on salaries and transfers? Kraft would be interested then.

Broughton role was/is to sell the club but events or serious friction between Liverpool Senior Managment ensured that he was dragged into to resolve this friction as it was not helping protray an image of a professional, well run club attractive to any buyers out there. I would imagine thats his key goal at moment plus getting possible buyers to the table ASAP, and presenting the club as one well run club albeit with high debts and good management / commerical structure in place. Plus in fairness his experience would wipe the floor of the club administration management there at present. Plus also wasnt Purslow recommended by Gillette to Hicks as MD and he okayed it?

Well said.

V.good news. Was wondering about this..... excellent stuff.

We owe money yes but we have paid I think most of fee during year, refer to Rafa comment about balancing books,(transfers) plus we could get £10M for Benny and he is older. No, think Benny will be sold and Aqua kept for one more year. BTW check Broughton thread about him having legal authority on sale of club without resource to H&G, article from FT. V.Good news.

Reckon Aquilani,will be kept but Benayoun sold on, similar enough playing style.

Quote from article ....Without a change of direction and the promise of a realistic challenge for honours next season, Liverpool's squad will be decimated. But this makes no sense, its a chicken and egg situation, how can we challenge for honours without a new owner to pump capital investment in, for christs sake in 2009 we posted a loss of £45M,unless before August 31st we are sold we cannot expect funds to rebuild the squad. Unbalanced article that. Anyways Torres/ Masch and the rest going to WC2010 are by now looking forward to it and getting away from the club and hoping when they come back that we have a new owner.

That Bascombe article is an opinion piece dressed up as an news article.

Completely lost the dressing room ??? So Reina and Masch as well have lost confidence in him... doubt it.

Does Broughton have H&G power of attorney as Chairman to sign off a deal on their behalf? In other words if he thinks an offer is acceptable , he accepts are H& G obliged to accept.

Best bits from interview.. 22. What does success look like for you? "Success for me is completing the sale in a relatively short period - a matter of months - to somebody who hindsight says was a very good owner for Liverpool." 16. As Chairman of the club, why didn't you make it an urgent priority to seek a meeting with Rafa to clarify his and the club's position? "Well, I did actually make it a priority and I don't really want to go into the details of that. We have met. It was a frank exchange of views, it was constructive. It was very helpful." 15. Every week there seems to be a new potential "investor" announcing his plans via the media to buy the club, building fans hopes up, then after a few days there is a denial that they were ever interested. Can we assume that any future owner (s) of the club will deal in private with you and not do business through the media so that we can ignore all this ridiculous speculation? "I absolutely agree - ignore all ridiculous speculation. Any serious owner would surely want to do it privately, which is how we want to do it. We anticipated a lot of interest, it's a great club. There's bound to be a lot of interest and there will continue to be lots of conjecture. Every media person wants to be the one who can go back and say, 'I told you back on such and such date that these people were interested'. Expect to see all sorts of names in there - ignore the whole lot." Last month Martin Broughton was appointed Chairman of Liverpool FC. In an exclusive interview with the official website and LFC TV, we ask the man tasked with overseeing the sale of the club to answer questions submitted by fans from all over the world. Hundreds of questions arrived by email, many more were posted on the forums of both the official and unofficial websites and the 22 eventually selected cover all of the main issues that supporters wanted us to raise with the new Chairman.. To watch the video interview for free in full now, click on the image or read the full transcript below. 1. What was the motivation for your appointment? Who appointed you? What is your role and your objective? "The two joint owners concluded that it's the right time to sell the entirety of the club and also concluded that that process would have more credibility with me in the Chair. So, the owners appointed me but with the full support of the bank - which is the principle creditor. So my role is as Chairman, a part-time Chairmanship, but the key part of the role is to oversee the sale process and find a new buyer for Liverpool - that's my objective." 2. Who is running the club on a day to day basis? "On a day to day basis, Christian Purslow is the Managing Director and he's supported by Phillip Nash and Ian Ayre. The day-to-day business is in good hands." 3. What role did the Club's bankers play in the sale decision and what conditions have they placed upon a sale relating to time and any terms? "They haven't placed any conditions on the time or the terms. They were obviously involved in the discussions because they were looking to play down some of their debt, so they are keen to have a resolution of the debt issue - but the decision to sell was actually the owners not the banks." 4. What criteria, other than the asking price, will you apply in accepting any bid? "I'm selling this on behalf of the owners but also on behalf of Liverpool Football Club - so yes, the bid is important but it's got to be the right owners. It's got to be someone who's going to look at the new stadium, investment for the future, who thinks about the culture, the ethos of Liverpool. It's got to be someone who can tune into that - they've got to be part of what Liverpool is all about." 5. What are the immediate implications for the team on the pitch and the urgent squad strengthening called for by the playing staff? "Well, I think it's business as usual, in that sense. We continue [as normal] during this process while we look for a buyer - not everything is coming to a full stop. The squad does need strengthening but we really need to sit down - and we have sat down - with Rafa to determine what is the strengthening that it needs, who are the right players, who needs to be sold - if anybody, etc etc. It's an on-going process and won't be held up for this." 6. Would you speak to supporters' representatives about a stake being taken in the Club by them? If not, why not? "We'd certainly speak to them but I think when the owners were looking for a new investor to come into the club alongside of them on a partial basis, that was actually more appropriate for a stake being held by supporters. We're now looking to sell the whole thing - a stake is more likely to be a complicating factor. If supporters now could come up with a bid to buy the whole thing, then I'd be interested in listening. A stake? It's difficult to see how that really fits in." 7. Would you broker meetings between the Union and any serious prospective purchasers prior to any sale being confirmed? "Any sale process has to be strictly confidential. It would be totally inappropriate I think to put prospective purchasers in touch with any group of fans." 8. How can you balance being chairman of BA with being chairman of LFC and still be effective in both roles? "Well, I'm part-time executive at BA and I'm part-time at Liverpool. I should say that when I first took on the British Airways role, I was also Chairman of the British Horseracing [board]. Subsequently, still as Chairman of British Airways, I was also President of CBI, so I'm used to doing two big roles at the same time. It works at British Airways and it'll work here." 9. How long do you expect to be Chairman of LFC? "Until we sell, so a matter of months." 10. Will you be staying on in any capacity once the club is sold? "No, I don't anticipate that." 11. Tom Hicks has recently said that he expects the club to go for £800m. Do you consider this statement realistic? Are such statements putting off potential buyers? "I'm not sure what has been said and by whom - there's been all sorts of things in the media but there is no price. There's no fixed price, there's no agreed price - it's a willing buyer / willing seller trade. We have willing sellers and I think there are willing buyers out there - that will determine the price." 12. Have you been informed of a specific price by the owners that they would be willing to accept for the sale of the club, and do you think that it is realistic? "No." 13. If the owners find the £100 million that they needed to find a few months ago, will that stop the sale of the club or has that option now gone? "I think that option has gone. They are looking to sell the whole Club." 9. How long do you expect to be Chairman of LFC? "Until we sell, so a matter of months." 5. What are the immediate implications for the team on the pitch and the urgent squad strengthening called for by the playing staff? "Well, I think it's business as usual, in that sense. We continue [as normal] during this process while we look for a buyer - not everything is coming to a full stop. The squad does need strengthening but we really need to sit down - and we have sat down - with Rafa to determine what is the strengthening that it needs, who are the right players, who needs to be sold - if anybody, etc etc. It's an on-going process and won't be held up for this."

Old article from FT in 2008...if only. Dubai ruler pulls the strings in Liverpool deal By Roger Blitz, Leisure Industries Correspondent Published: April 28 2008 19:22 | Last updated: April 28 2008 19:23 Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, is playing an active role in negotiations over Liverpool Football Club, underlining the prospect of a Premier League club being wholly owned and guaranteed for the first time by a sovereign state. Dubai’s attempt to buy Liverpool has for months been channelled through Dubai International Capital, Sheikh Mohammed’s investment arm. Sameer al-Ansari, DIC’s chief executive and a longstanding Liverpool fan, was regarded as the prime mover of the attempt to prise the club from its warring US owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. However, people close to the situation say the Liverpool takeover bid has become one in which Sheikh Mohammed has taken a close personal interest. He receives personal regular updates on developments by PCP Capital Partners, Dubai’s UK-based advisers, which co-invests with Dubai and its investment vehicles. In spite of Mr Hicks’s determination to block Dubai, Mr Gillett is equally adamant he will not sell his half share to his estranged business partner. But the club’s future may become clearer tomorrow night if the team fails to win the second leg of its Champions League semi-final at Chelsea. Though his sport of choice is horseracing, Sheikh Mohammed is a Liverpool supporter dating back to the early 1980s. Hamdan bin Mohammed, his 25-year-old son, who in February was named crown prince, is a fanatical supporter. Should the club be sold, Liverpool would end up being owned by a vehicle of the Dubai government – partly via PCP – rather than DIC. The upshot would be that Liverpool, in the hands of a sovereign state, would not be bound by the level of returns DIC, as a private equity business, would require. It would also suggest Dubai would hang on to the club for an indefinite period whereas DIC would have been expected to sell the club when it felt it had made a sufficient return from its investment.

London / financial district / heathrow

Agree and if they offerred that for him, we should take it. I know Ballague talks through the derriere but to come with £50M for 3 regulars but not the main 4 (Reina/ Masch/Gerrard/Torres) is hard to see. Thats why I included Johnson and if not Lucas , then the only other player that would generate a value near it, is Aquaman.

Ballague stated on his site (blog) when he was going about the Maddock article that "Rafa knows he can sell three of his regulars and bring in around £40-50million for them." Trying to figure this out.... he states regulars, so guessing this could be Benny @ £10M, Lucas @ £15M and Glen Johnson @ £25M. Included Johnson as he is the only regular that would command a large fee who is somewhat expendable and to make up the £50M.