Redray

s***. Didn't spot that was by Nick Harris.

Sorry, pasted the wrong quote. For Heaton read Rory Smith. Heaton is some bloke following him.

It's going to be cranked up a bit now. Serious s*** flying around for a little while.

"Huang deal most certainly not dead, been asked for radio silence until resolution, apologies to everyone who's added me in the last 48hrs from Andrew_Heaton Twitter" Explains statement from Huangs camp today.

This is the issue. If Board/Broughton is satisfied CIC are backers what else can they/he do?

They are now.

Very odd.

Probably completed a standardised 'Expression of Interest' (EOI) form where he would have to give specifics of of the proposal etc. This is what Broughton was probably referring to as the 'First Bid' stage last month.

The 'ITK' from Rawk has updated; Right, the inbox is groaning with PMs so, with respect and in the interests of sanity and practicality I’ve deleted the lot. I understand and share the clamour for info, and that’s what I’ve been trying to get all day. In a takeover process like this there will be lulls, there’ll be periods of frantic activity and today has been, in terms of solid-gold info, slow. Let’s recap… Sunday night, Huang decides the right way to proceed is to go public with his interest. (Let’s use the name ‘Huang’ as shorthand, here. Everyone now understands that he is the front man for a takeover group of, believe me, enormous wealth. If this comes down to Martin Broughton having the casting vote, he‘ll have to apologise to Abramovich and tell him they‘re worth a hundred of him). Paul McCarthy asked on SSN why Huang refused to sign a confidentiality clause, implying that this somehow made his bid less credible. Wrong. The opposite is true. Huang has driven this right out into the open so that the world can see how much is at stake and how it’s playing out. Nobody is suggesting that, behind closed doors, the Liverpool board might feel tempted to act in an underhand way. But with Huang taking his bid out into the open air, if the LFC board DOES subsequently decide to decline his offer they’re now obliged to tell us how they reached that decision. I get my info from six different people at differing times. Four of them I’d call friends. They’re all, in their field, very well placed, very influential. They’re people who, if anyone could know, would know what’s going on with these bids. I trust them. And after yesterday‘s board meeting, they were convinced that the Huang bid was the one being taken seriously by the board, by RBS and by Barcap. To put it another way, there is only one bid that has been referred to the Premier League by Liverpool F.C, and that’s the Huang bid. What happened between 11 last night and 6 this morning, when Alan Myers broke his Kirdi exclusive? The nature of the exclusive was that at 2 a.m he received an email from Kirdi announcing that he was in “advanced negotiations” with Gillet and Hicks. Nowhere in that statement were the names Barcap or Broughton mentioned, and nothing has appeared since to legitimise Kirdi‘s claims that a takeover is imminent. Only Myers knows why he just happened to be checking emails at 2 a.m - a scoundrel might suggest that the board meeting didn’t go quite as Gillett and Hicks were hoping, and long-established Hicks patsy Myers was contacted as a matter of urgency. Who knows. My own immediate reaction on seeing SSN’s latest sensational(ist) twist was a wry smile and a muttered: “Here we go then. Bit later than we thought, but here comes George’s fight back…” As an aside, two of my sources work at the highest level in the City. They both believe that Gillett is about to go bust. According to them, he really, really needs to walk away from this sale with some profit. The “rocket” I alluded to comes from these sources, and is in relation to Gillett’s financial wellbeing. So I’ll say again - Gillett is some poker player. I almost admire his nerve. But in his shoes I’d quit while the going is as good as it is. The only other thing I can say for sure is that Martin Broughton remains in talks with Kenneth Huang. And that Huang is still very much the front runner. But from a start point where I was sharing monumental information with a mature and generally reasonable forum this has got to a point where I now feel pressurised to provide updates and exclusives where, in reality, days can go by where not much happens. I’m just a fan, desperate to give you all good news but unless and until I can ascertain something conclusive, something that moves this thread significantly closer to the bit where we go out and celebrate, I won’t be posting for a while. And no more PM s please.

Well he hasn't said that he's perplexed just that the bid was not formal.

Sounds like Huang has responded to recent developments by adjusting his position. Think it's pedantics. A formal bid would probably require specifics of funding. What is most concerning is that he says his only agents are in Hong Kong. Who were Sqaure 1 talking about? They mentioned him by name.

un f***ing believable.

I recall Broughton saying in early July that it would be the best package for the club that would win not just just the highest bidder. Maybe (hopefully) it was to pre-empt such a situation as we have now. i.e We can ignore Kidri and just for Huangs' bid as it is better for the long term future of the club.

Is it? Hope so.

Statement from Kirdi now; A statement released overnight said: "Yahya Kirdi, who represents a select group of investors from the Middle East and Canada, confirmed today that his group is in advanced negotiations with Thomas Hicks and George Gillett, co-owners of Liverpool Football Club, to purchase 100% of the Club. "Agreement has been reached on all major terms including the purchase price, repayment of the existing bank debt ... and financing of a new stadium in Liverpool's Stanley Park. A formal purchase agreement between the parties is in the final stage of negotiation." Mr Kirdi said: "Liverpool is a massive football club with passionate and proud fans in Merseyside and in every part of the world. With additional money to improve the squad and financing in place to build the new stadium, LFC will be on a solid foundation to compete in the Premiership and in Europe for years to come." Syrian Yahya Kirdi aims to gazump Kenneth Huang in race for Liverpool http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/04/yahya-kirdi-liverpool-kenneth-huang

He approached them first yes. RBS said they were not in talks with him or anyone which was true because they referred him back to Barcap.

If he has it has nothing to with Ambani being involved in the bid.

Yep, it's obviously just guesswork but you get the feeling this is a carefully constructed proposal and negotiations must have been ongoing for some time. Perhaps at some point Huang felt the need to change tactics and go public because of some kind of resistance. Speculation I know but does cause concern. He also refused to sign the non-disclosure provision. What was the reason for that?

Wish I had more confidence in him rather than no confidence at all in that I would have no doubt he would do the right thing. It worries me that Huang felt the need to publically spell out the terms of his offer and put him firmly in the picture. "The new chairman was appointed by the bank as part of their agreement to extend the loan facility, but it has now emerged that the bank can call in part of that loan in October. If Liverpool do not accept this deal which is on the table, then the alternative could be dire, if they cannot find an alternative buyer. "The board are faced with a stark choice, they could be faced with a sharp dip in valuation of the company, top players leaving and little funds to buy new ones. What this takeover will provide is the funds to start construction on a new stadium which is long overdue. This is crucial. You are not in the game if you do not have a modern stadium.''

Keeps coming back to Broughton however you look at it. Wish I had more confidence in him to do the right thing.

May not even get to that stage. Kirdi's antics only need to muddy the waters until Huang's deadline expires next week.

Who made the bid? Or was there no bid? Don't like this.

Wasn't an official bid then?

Even Huang himself would agree with that.

Tentatively would say that it going to happen more likely than not now.