RedTillImDead

I dont know the inside story on why DIC and Moores didnt go ahead in the first place, would love to know what really happened there. I agree with your comment re DIC exerting their own pressure, it would be nice to hear from a direct source regarding the seriosness of their intent and understanding of our traditions. Might be asking for a bit much tho

For some reason it wont quote your reply but anyway "I don't think i've made any comments to that end. quite the opposite in fact. I've suggested repeatedly that the future is loaded with debt whoever is in charge. My own feeling is that it would be like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. The only saving grace DIC have is that they appear to some to represent some kind of 'good debt' or even a kind of sugar daddy ownership, dangerous fantasy if you ask me." "You assume that ridding the club of G&H would be the first step in clearing the path for DIC to take over." That to me sounds like you are confusing the timeline between the departure of H&G and the arrival of new ownership. I also dont see how we would be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire DIC is a highly reputable company with very strong economic roots all over the world. Last I checked Hicks couldnt get credit to refinance Liverpool, when have you ever heard of DIC not having the finance required? I agree that the club will continue to have debt under new ownership, of course, that is just business. Its a case of how that debt will be managed and whether that debt increases or decreases. I dont see DIC as a sugar daddy in anyway. I see them as vastly more efficient busniess people with a track record of success and a willingness to spend money to make money and how will that £800m be financed? I havent the fogiest, but I know DIC have a better credit rating than H&G Isn't Hicks in the same game? hasn't he already identified that the club doesn't have to be all that succesful to be worth the investment? This to me is only an admission of defeat and a demostration of his true character. When the boys where 3 nil down at the Ataturk did Rafa say "ok boys dont worry we made the final thats good enough" No he said give yourself a chance to be heroes, and they where. Why should the players, the fans anyone involved with LFC give there best when the atitude from the ownership is that top 4 is good enough. I know our players dont think that way, nor does Rafa. Second best is not good enough for Liverpool, end of discussion and H&G knew that when they came here and made grand promises of a new golden era and talked about our great Football tradition. With so many other clubs willing to sell their futures for a sniff of success, doesn't it up the anti with regard to the amount of debt that so many of the other clubs are prepared to take on? Wouldn't that just mean that we as a club would have to do the same? Your absolutely right, look at the money Tottenham and Portsmouth have spent and continuing to spend or even Man City for that matter to try to grab a top 4 spot. We cant afford to stand still and have these guys overtake us because we are prepared to go after the small fish. Arrogance is a terrible thing in sport, I rememeber one year Ferrari had the most dominate car(this is a wgile ago so the year is a bit shady) They where arrogant enough to think that the car they used was good enough that they didnt need to develope a new car for the folllowing year and that they would still dominate. They where beaten so badly they had to rush into developement of a new car mid season and it put them behind for years. And that was from a winning position. We are sitting fourth and Hicks thinks we can afford to be complacent.

I agree we have spent more than most clubs in the last 12 months, but we where starting behind to begin with, say our squad was worth 100mil and we spent 50mil then our squad is worth 150mil. Chelsea or Man U or Barca have squads worth 200mil so they can spend less than us and we still dont reach their level, if you get what I mean. So for mine we should be spending more than the others to catch up to where they are, or in fact we should be far more ambitious and be looking to surpass them. P.S random squad values for purpose of example Who wants to own a business that is standing still? Planning for the future means expenditure

Ridding the club of H&G means they sell to someone else, no path is being cleared, they sell, they leave end of story. You make it sound like we can kick H&G out and the club can be held in some magic holding facility until DIC or someone else decide they are ready to pick up the pieces. DIC or whoever it ends up being give say 800mil to H&G and they leave As to what methods they use to acheive there business aims who knows, nobody can be sure until the time comes. I would only say that DIC is a money making operation and the best way to make money with sporting franchises is to win. I am sure H&G want to win as bad as the rest of us do, they just dont seem to have the resources or the resolve to take Liverpool football club back to the heights it once enjoyed.

I wholeheartadly agree You would agree tho that making a success of LFC from a business standpoint means greater commitment to key acquisitions player and staff wise as well as stadium and training facilties etc? Maybe using successful is not the right word given we are one of the most succesful clubs of all time, perhaps competitive would be a better way to put it.

Again splitting hairs for mine, but I take your point. I am not suggesting that only a DIC buyout can make the improvements we need, what I am saying is that they have a proven track record for running and owning some very succesful multi national companies and have clearly defined stratergies to acheive that succes when applied to new acquisitions. Would you not agree? As to whther Godolphin is DIC Dubai Holding whatever, it doesnt matter at the end of the day the buck stops with the Sheik on all fronts given his 99+ % ownership stake so to me it shouldnt matter.

Splitting hairs aren't we He owns 99.67% of the company that is looking to make the purchase so I dont see how this would make a significant difference, please elaborate on how you beleive it will.

I take your point about him allowing DIC to handle the negotiations for sure, but for mine it shouldn't change the outcome he and DIC will be looking to acheive ie winnning and profit. Whats the best way to make a profit...win football games and trophies How do you win...spend money on the best players, staff and facilities Seems like a logical progression to me, as I am sure it does to most of you. Godolphin got to where it is by doing exactly that, I cant see them altering a winning stratergy that has made them mega bucks

Taken from Wikipedia "Dubai Holding" is a holding company that belongs to the Government of Dubai (Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as the Ruler of Dubai holds 99.67% of the company[1]). It manages and controls 20 companies, which operate in real estate, hospitality, finance, healthcare, energy, research, education, entertainment, media, internet, tourism and biotechnology DIC is the investment arm of Dubai Holdings, check there website

Um....in order for us to get rid of Hicks and Gillet there has to be another buyer for the club, they aint just gonna pack and leave. Checkout the Godolphin Stable website, it is the stable owned by DIC, it is the worlds biggest and most succesful horse racing stable and a good example of how DIC do business, professional staff, world class facilities and a winning tradition and mentatilty. At the end of the day that is all any of us want isnt it....to win Look at Hicks' record in sports ownership in comparison, he is not a winner.

Having just read the last 13 pages of pointless banter it is easy to see why we dont appear to be making any ground aginst H&G. I also find it amusing that people on here quickly jump to defend there right to respond and have an oppinion but are so quick to condemn SoS for there opinion. It feels like, in some cases anyway a deliberate attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill so that they can be the big man on the forum or whatever it may be. I myself think the first paragraph is indicitive of what alot of fans are feeling right now. I am not rubbishing Degen as I havent seen or heard of him before we announced we had signed him, but given I watch a fair bit of football, have cable tv which pumps out about 20 games a week from all around the world, plus the net forums etc etc and I havent heard of him definetly goes along way toward what the intial post said. Lets not forget that the person or persons who wrote this statement are fans(and humans) just like the rest of us, they have good days and bad. Days when they are frustrated,angry etc etc We are all binded by our love of LFC, lets maybe look at SoS in the spirit it was intended, to help to build a better future for the club, all these arguments amongst ourselves are just what our opposition love to see, divide and conquer....

Quaresma would be a great signing, he cut us up in the CL a couple of years back, was the only Porto player who looked in anyway dangerous. 15 mil seems a bit on the cheap side tho I reckon, more like 20+ for mine which may be too much for our budget. Quaresma is the kind of player we need to be actively pursuing tho, he can play either wing can beat defenders one on one, has excellent speed and excellent delivery. His addition would solve one of our major problems, give us a first choice left or right player who would give opposition fullbacks nightmares. Now we just need someone for the other wing...I'd settle for Ashley Young he and Babel could share the other wing with Yossi on the bench to help out as well. Imagine having Quaresma, Babel, Ashley Young and Yossi to choose from each week, how sweet it would be. We could sell Crouch, Riise and Pennant for alittle more than what we paid for them and get half or more of our costs back and have a substanially better team.

Barry is a solid professional, but I would prefer to keep Xabi, if we where getting a truly world class replacement then fair enough but it feels like we are trading down alittle for the sake of a few million here or there. My focus this summer would have been attacking flankers not more central midfielders, i know Barry can play on the left but I think we need more explosive pace and someone who can genuinely get in behind defences out wide.. I think we need to up our expectations when it comes to signing players, spend alittle more cash and get someone truly worldclass not another solid pro who trys hard but never quite gets there.