Stopping Hicks....

[Flight]

If we can block or postpone the building of the new stadium, by any means, we will beat Hicks. On one hand, apart from anything else, this will be the thing that will least divide us, the fans. On the other, if Hicks can't build a new stadium his valuation of our club is halved.

 

 

 

 

 

We need the answers to a few questions :

 

 

i) Is planning permission in place for the new stadium;

 

 

ii) What is/will the planning permission be dependant upon (eg finances in place, agreement of locals, council approval, Government approval) ?

 

 

iii) Once planning permission has been granted, can it be rescinded ? If so on what basis ?

 

 

iv) Will petitions to Government or Council help before or after planning permission is granted ?

 

 

v) On what basis can planning permission be removed or denied ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've tried to start chasing this up via Peter Kilfoyle. He is the MP for Walton, which includes Anfield. He recently said :

 

 

The supporters were today given the backing of Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle, who called on Hicks and Gillett to sell up before they can do any more damage to the club.

 

Kilfoyle, whose constituency takes in Anfield, told the ECHO: “What we are seeing at Liverpool at the moment is a recipe for chaos unless they sell up.

 

 

 

 

I've tried to speak to Peter, but he won't deal directly with me unless I am one of his constituents. We need someone who lives in Walton or Anfield to start a dialogue with him.

 

 

He has open Surgerys twice a month, for constituents. Or you can phone him on : 0151 284 4150 or 0207 219 3000

 

http://www.peterkilfoyle.com/contact.html

 

 

Constituents and non-constituents can email him at : kilfoylep@parliament.uk or boothg@parliament.uk

 

 

I suggest we don't send him a load of separate emails.

 

 

 

 

So we need two things :

 

 

i) advice from people who know about the planning permission issues;

 

ii) a Walton / Anfield constituent to establish contact with Mr Kilfoyle and talk with him about the above.

 

 

 

 

 

In closing I want to say the next few weeks are make or break for the club. They will determine our future for many years. We've got this next few weeks only to make Hicks think twice.

Edited February 8, 2008 by Flight

[Hassony]

This is crazy, why don't we just burn Anfield down and force Hicks to sell!

 

We need the new stadium, stopping that will only hurt the progress of Liverpool Football Club.

[Flight]

We need the new stadium,

 

 

The new stadium is just a cash cow for Hicks.

 

 

He isn't going to make us winners.

 

 

 

We need a new stadium if we have owners who will use the money from it to make us winners, not to line the pockets of Hicks.

 

 

 

This is the only thing that will make him think twice.

[HL5]

Novel idea, and I understand your thinking here, but we also have to be very careful should we succeed in preventing Hicks from obtaining approval. Because once this precedence has been set it would then become very difficult for DIC to quickly gain permission to build our new stadium.

[Flight]

Whataver we do we need to wake up quickly. We haven't got months or years. We have got weeks to make Hicks reconsider.

 

 

I can't believe for a second he is going to sell to anyone, unless he is forced. If he sticks it out for 3-4 years he can value us at another $billion than we presently are.

 

 

 

All he wants is $$$$$

 

 

 

Singing nasty names at the match doesn't bother him one bit; he is pissing himself laughing because every individual singing about him has paid him 30 quid to get in.

Edited February 8, 2008 by Flight

[Bo Benn]

Boycotting match tickets, merchandise and that kind of stuff has a short term economical effect hopefully enlightens the owners of their lack of support and the seriousness among the fans (although the effect on the ownership of the club, I'm afraid, may be very limited).

 

The stadium not being built has a decremental effect on the club in a very long term perspective, and is an absolutely senseless idea.

[Flight]

The stadium not being built has a decremental effect on the club in a very long term perspective, and is an absolutely senseless idea.

 

 

No it doesn't.

 

 

It has a detrimental effect on Hicks profits that he will bleed out of the club as far as he is able for as long as he is able.

 

 

 

As an aside, it doesn't have to actually happen. It would be enough for Hicks to know that we are able to make it happen.

 

 

Doing nothing now confines the future of our club to mediocrity.

[Lanus]

I am totally against any idea to block or slow down the building of of new stadium.

[HL5]

Whataver we do we need to wake up quickly. We haven't got months or years. We have got weeks to make Hicks reconsider.

I can't believe for a second he is going to sell to anyone, unless he is forced. If he sticks it out for 3-4 years he can value us at another $billion than we presently are.

All he wants is $$$$$

Singing nasty names at the match doesn't bother him one bit; he is pissing himself laughing because every individual singing about him has paid him 30 quid to get in.

 

OK.. call me crazy, but I think we must consider all legitimate actions that we can think of. Has anyone considered a really direct approach to DIC? Perhaps an audience (face-to-face) with Al-Ansari or even with sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum? You can still call me crazy but if we can pull this off its worth the try...just thinking like.

[Bo Benn]

Well if you put it that way then I guess it all boils down to how much you are prepared to harm the club in getting the owners out (see Hassony's burning Anfield post)

 

The unbuilt stadium is a huge goodwill asset for the club, destroying that would mean a big drop in club value and could potentially force the owner to do very nasty things with the club in order to get their invested money back.

[Lanus]

Also, if we were to delay or stop the construction of the stadium then I think we mgiht well be cutting off our nose to spite our faces. Who knows how long it would take us to recover if things went south.

[Hassony]

OK.. call me crazy, but I think we must consider all legitimate actions that we can think of. Has anyone considered a really direct approach to DIC? Perhaps an audience (face-to-face) with Al-Ansari or even with sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum? You can still call me crazy but if we can pull this off its worth the try...just thinking like.

I'll get my people working on that

[smicer07]

Why will DIC be better?

[Poolfrog]

If we can block or postpone the building of the new stadium, by any means, we will beat Hicks. On one hand, apart from anything else, this will be the thing that will least divide us, the fans. On the other, if Hicks can't build a new stadium his valuation of our club is halved.

We need the answers to a few questions :

i) Is planning permission in place for the new stadium;

ii) What is/will the planning permission be dependant upon (eg finances in place, agreement of locals, council approval, Government approval) ?

iii) Once planning permission has been granted, can it be rescinded ? If so on what basis ?

iv) Will petitions to Government or Council help before or after planning permission is granted ?

v) On what basis can planning permission be removed or denied ?

I've tried to start chasing this up via Peter Kilfoyle. He is the MP for Walton, which includes Anfield. He recently said :

The supporters were today given the backing of Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle, who called on Hicks and Gillett to sell up before they can do any more damage to the club.

 

Kilfoyle, whose constituency takes in Anfield, told the ECHO: “What we are seeing at Liverpool at the moment is a recipe for chaos unless they sell up.

I've tried to speak to Peter, but he won't deal directly with me unless I am one of his constituents. We need someone who lives in Walton or Anfield to start a dialogue with him.

He has open Surgerys twice a month, for constituents. Or you can phone him on : 0151 284 4150 or 0207 219 3000

 

http://www.peterkilfoyle.com/contact.html

Constituents and non-constituents can email him at : kilfoylep@parliament.uk or boothg@parliament.uk

I suggest we don't send him a load of separate emails.

So we need two things :

i) advice from people who know about the planning permission issues;

 

ii) a Walton / Anfield constituent to establish contact with Mr Kilfoyle and talk with him about the above.

In closing I want to say the next few weeks are make or break for the club. They will determine our future for many years. We've got this next few weeks only to make Hicks think twice.

Aside from anything else I would take Kilfoyle's views with a pinch of salt as he's a lifelong bluenose

[HL5]

Why will DIC be better?

 

Oh, it's you again. Go on offer us another option.

[McBain]

Why will DIC be better?

 

We dont know whether they will be or not

 

But they haven't had a chance yet. Hicks has and he's shown us exactly what he is. I'd sooner gamble on making a change than staying as we are and knowing for certain we're owned by a shytehawk

Edited February 8, 2008 by Mcbain

[matty]

Aside from anything else I would take Kilfoyle's views with a pinch of salt as he's a lifelong bluenose

He is, but he's an honest and good guy, and anyway, half his constituents will be reds...

[lfc003]

this is getting ridiculous now!!

[uncle bob]

Enough is enough

 

Reduce revenue stream to Hicks and Co will only reduce money available for improving team

 

Continued upheaval will also deter quality players from joining club and may result in some senior players leaving in hope of winning medals elsewhere

 

Why will DIC be better - more guess work from the ignorant

 

Why buyout - will in all probability fail as will be run by bunch of fans without necesary financial clout or knowledge - then if successful in raising money 2-3 years down line will be forced to sell club and everyone loses ther 5 grand

 

Just get behind the team - stop this constant moaning - usually by fans more interested in sounding more important than they really are

 

The team is all that matters at the moment - put your soap boxes away and return to being supporters not would be directors

[Tones]

I would think the club would be more attractive for DIC or whoever if it had planning permission and possibly even work started on the new stadium. Having to start from scrath again would make us less attractive for buyers.

[Rimbeux]

No planning permission means no sale, means Hicks battling on for as long as it takes to get it, because nobody will buy the club if it cannot hugely expand capacity. We're also close to empty in terms of supporting the loans against the club and cash left for players, we actually need the stadium to get back to the level we were at pre-takeover. It's a nasty place to be, but Hicks would sooner let the playing side go unfunded until he got full permission, than sell a club stuck at 44k (or 60k) capacity at a personal loss in the short term.

 

Also, as far as I'm aware, there is permission to go to 60k, it's the extra 11k that will need further review and improved, potentially very expensive transport links. Even if we had to go back to the start, I cant see a way objections can be raised to stop the stadium, that could stand up to scrutiny and then be overcome with a change of ownership. I'm not sure if there is any place in the process to mount some kind of 'Filibuster' operation.

 

Probably more effective to miss out on CL football for two seasons tbh, and even then it would probably lead to player sales, two or more managerial changes, and years of rebuilding before it forced Hicks. It should be about the threat of things not being attractive for Hicks if he stays, rather than actually being made (maybe irrecoverably) unattractive to any potential buyer or money lending institution.

[Rimbeux]

Why will DIC be better?

 

 

Management style.

 

Why will they be worse?

[matty]

Enough is enough

 

Reduce revenue stream to Hicks and Co will only reduce money available for improving team

 

Continued upheaval will also deter quality players from joining club and may result in some senior players leaving in hope of winning medals elsewhere

 

Why will DIC be better - more guess work from the ignorant

 

Why buyout - will in all probability fail as will be run by bunch of fans without necesary financial clout or knowledge - then if successful in raising money 2-3 years down line will be forced to sell club and everyone loses ther 5 grand

 

Just get behind the team - stop this constant moaning - usually by fans more interested in sounding more important than they really are

 

The team is all that matters at the moment - put your soap boxes away and return to being supporters not would be directors

 

There are none so blind...

[uncle bob]

Management style.

 

Why will they be worse?

 

I dont know if will be worse or better - not sold to them originally as Moores and co thought they only in it for quick profit

 

I am just a supporter and realise niave to believe a few hundred fans are going to overide billionaires - get real

[uncle bob]

There are none so blind...

 

No just realist not delusional as to my place in the world - get real you a custumer/supporter and unless you have £500 million spare stop kidding yourself you are going to have an influence on club ownership