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German Liverpool fans' Anfield pilgrimage -Daily Post (Liverpool): 18 October 2008

'Get these crippling debts off our club' - Liverpool Echo (UK): 10 October 2008

Dubai may still buy - The Guardian: 09 September 2008

The Daily Telegraph London: 30 August 2008

Expert in blast at Anfield Owners - Daily Post (Liverpool): 30 August 2008 Stanley

Park lease fear for Liverpool FC - Daily Post (Liverpool): 30 August 2008

Minister shows support for fans to buy Liverpool - Daily Post (Liverpool): 28 August 2008

American dream fades amid debt and lost revenue Hicks and Gillett under fire over Stanley Park fiasco - Daily Post (Liverpool): 28 August 2008

2 more ex-Reds onside in fans' share bid - Liverpool Echo: 30 May 2008

BARNES BACKS FANS BUY-OUT - Liverpool Echo: 03 May 2008

Liverpool FC fans buyout target; Rally time - The Irish Times: 19 April 2008

How stalemate might be resolved - The Guardian: 18 April 2008

The fans are REVOLTING - The Mirror: 08 March 2008

RED ARMY - Liverpool Echo: 15 February 2008

Fans pledge almost pounds 60m to buy-out Anfield owners - Daily Post (Liverpool): 07 February 2008

MP gives his backing to Liverpool fans' buy-out plans - Daily Post (Liverpool): 04 February 2008

Fans launch campaign to buy the Reds - Liverpool Echo: 01 February 2008

European model for new Liverpool - Daily Post (Liverpool): 01 February 2008

Fans' group bids to raise £500m for Anfield buyout - Independent (UK): 01 February 2008

German Liverpool fans' Anfield pilgrimage
Daily Post (Liverpool): 18 October 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
THE First meeting of the German LFC Supporters Club will be held in the city today .
More than 60 "German Reds" (AIE) are expected in the city for the meeting following today's game against Wigan.
The fans from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Holland will spend the weekend in Liverpool and some of them will be visiting Anfield for the first time.
German Reds club secretary Graham Agg, who lives in Liverpool but speaks fluent German said he was excited the first official meeting was being held in Liverpool.
He said: "We were astonished at the response with over a third of members making the effort to come across.
"Quite a lot of the supporters already come over for games two or three times a year, many of them are fanatics."
"For a few it will be their first time at Anfield, but the supporters know so much about the club, the players and the history, it's incredible."
The branch meeting will be held tonight and will include guest speakers from the shareliverpoolfc campaign and Spirit of Shankly supporters campaign group.
The supporters club was formed in 2001 following the UEFA Cup Final in Dortmund, where Liverpool played Spanish club Alaves.
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., October 2008

'Get these crippling debts off our club'
EXCLUSIVE Fans buyout group says study shows it's time for 'real money'
Liverpool Echo (UK): 10 October 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
THE fans group which wants to buy Liverpool today challenged the club's American owners to put 'some real money' into Anfield and fend off potentially devastating debts over coming years.
The ShareLiverpoolFC group, which has announced ambitious plans foraBarcelona- style buyout at Anfield with supporters - or organised groups of them - each owning a stake in the club, has conducted its own analysis of Anfield's finances.
The study comes in the wake of the recent credit crunch - blamed by Tom Hicks and George Gillett for their halting of plans to build a new stadium - and the global banking crisis.
It also follows calls this week by UEFA president Sepp Blatter for controls on the foreign ownership of football clubs, and comments by the FA chairman Lord Triesman and UEFA's general secretary David Taylor, regarding the excessive debts held by Premier League clubs.
Share Liverpool's founder Rogan Taylor, a lifelong Liverpool fan, says the probe has raised serious questions about the Reds financial stability, given its dependency on borrowed cash - and the need to find over pounds 20m a year plus to service interest payments on loans lumped onto the books by the owners.
ShareLiverpoolFC is supported by Anfield legends including Phil Thompson, John Barnes and John Aldridge and also has established close working links with the fans union the Spirit of Shankly.
In a statement released today, it said: "Even if the current RBS loan is extended beyond Jan '09, under the current arrangement itwill only be until July, 2009.
"With both American owners unable to raise money for the stadium, in today's financial climate, can they raise more 'real', unleveraged money to restructure the loan and keep the club afloat?
"If the football bubble bursts, could the loans secured against LFC become sub prime and put the club at risk?
"Kop Football Ltd has to find pounds 20mplus to service the debt of pounds 245m.
"Howwill the debt be serviced?
"Can the owners assure us that Kop Football's indebtedness is not to be serviced by the club? If it is, howcan the club pay it?"
Said Dr Taylor: "This is not a comfortable position to be in at a time when the game's regulators are calling for a reduction in debt and foreign ownership - not to mention the effects of the global credit crunch.
SLFC board member, Barrie Baxter, added: "ShareLiverpoolFC already represents thousands of fans prepared to invest real money into the club.
"Raising the required funds won't be the issue once we have a deal in prospect.
"We're confident we'll be able to succeed. We are prepared to consider a partnership with any incoming buyer with the right attitude to the development of LFC going forward.
"After the experience with the current owners, it will be important for any new owner to ensure that they have the confidence of Liverpool fans.
"We call on the current owners to inject cash as capital to reduce the club's debt.
"If they are unwilling or unable to do this, then they should move over and let others that can better serve the club take control."
ShareLiverpoolFC's long term objective is to gain control of the club. However, in the medium term, its strategy is to work with suitable new investors to help achieve a change of ownership, stabilise the club's finances and represent the fans interests by acquiring a stake in the club.
ShareLiverpoolFC believes its participation in the future will assist with this.
It says its message to potential new owners of "their" club is: "Come and talk to us; you need the fans behind you and this is no ordinary club.
"We understand it and have the experience to help".
The group is still urging supporters who wish to get involved in taking a stake in its planned fans buyout to contact them via their website -www.shareliverpoolfc.co.uk.
© 2008 Acquire Media Corporation. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., October 2008

Dubai may still buy
The Guardian: 09 September 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
The purchase of Manchester City by Sheikh Mansour of the Abu Dhabi royal family has reinforced the ambition of neighbouring Dubai to take over Liverpool, according to sources. However, given the free spending required to compete with a rival oil-rich sheikh, the buyer may no longer be DIC, the private equity fund, but Dubai's ruler himself, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The sheikh will not pay the pounds 1bn valuation the current co-owner Tom Hicks has put on the club. Shareliverpool FC is a supporters' trust which registered 28,000 people interested in paying pounds 5,000 each for a stake in the club. Its director, Rogan Taylor, says the group, which aims for a 10% stake and seats on the board, wants close ties with the local community.
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., September 2008

The Daily Telegraph London: 30 August 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
YOU wonder what David Moores thought of it all. In April, after the breathless Champions League victory over Arsenal, the man who is still nominally Liverpool's chairman gave his first interview since selling the club to Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
It was emotional stuff from a man who is frequently emotional. Moores admitted to being "embarrassed and shell-shocked" by the infighting that had riven Anfield to its core. "I would have loved to have been still in charge," Moores said. "If I could have afforded to take the club forward, then I would have done but I didn't have the sort of money you need for a new stadium." And neither did the men to whom he sold the family silver.
Anfield is the most magically atmospheric stadium in England but even those traditionalists who touch
the statue of Bill Shankly like an icon realised it had to go.
When Hicks and Gillett announced there would be
"a spade in the ground" in Stanley Park 60 days after their takeover in February last year, there was, in the starkest possible contrast to Everton's decision to abandon Goodison Park for Kirkby, not a breath of opposition.
Dr Rogan Taylor, head of the Football Industry
Group at Liverpool University as well as the leader of ShareLiverpoolFC, an organisation who propose a fans' buy-out of their American owners, put the arguments bluntly.
"Every match-day, Arsenal and Manchester United take
in between pounds 2.5- pounds 3 million more than we do at Anfield. Multiply that by 19, and they take in pounds 50 million more than we do just by playing games. And that's before you add in the Champions League or domestic cups."
Executive boxes are a club's biggest source of audience revenue. A 10-seat box for each of Liverpool's games with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United costs pounds 6,270. Anfield has just 32 boxes where Old Trafford has 197 suites and boxes. When Arsenal moved from Highbury to the Emirates they raised the number of boxes from 48 to 150. A season-long lease costs pounds 65,000.
The American promise that there would be "a spade in the ground in 60 days"
proved hopelessly optimistic. Although work began on
June 25 with the fencing-off of the Anfield Road car park, no spade was due to go into action until next month.
Interviewed yesterday, Taylor claimed that even in the teeth of the credit crunch, raising the pounds 350 million for a stadium - roughly the same cost of the Emirates, which was delivered on time and on budget - should not have been a problem.
"The Americans could still have raised the money had the club not had a hod-load of debt placed on its shoulders by the takeover," he said. "Arsenal raised pounds 97 million by a 16-year naming-rights deal. But the Royal Bank of Scotland has loaned pounds 365 million to their company Kop Holdings, whose only asset is Liverpool FC. It's a sub-prime loan."
The impact is already
being felt. The North-West Development Agency have already withdrawn a pounds 9 million grant for redevelopment of Stanley Park "because there was no detailed evidence funds were in place".
Since Everton's move from Goodison to Kirkby is
already running into the sands, the most logical solution would be for the pair of them to fund a shared stadium. However, logic has seldom had anything to do with football.
© 2008 ProQuest Company; All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., August 2008

Expert in blast at Anfield Owners
Daily Post (Liverpool): 30 August 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
LIVERPOOL FC's financial position was last night compared to a house of cards, by a football expert and fan of the club.
Dr Rogan Taylor, who founded the fans' group ShareLiverpoolFC and heads Liverpool University's Football Research Unit, was leading outrage at the latest stadium delay.
"This club is more vulnerable now than it has been in my entire 47 years of watching the club. It is a house of cards and a puff of wind can blow it over," he said.
"I am embarrassed by what is going on at my club, certainly since the Americans' takeover.
"We have been saying this for a long time.
These guys are a broken record, they are the soap opera of Anfield Road. This just goes on and on and is just an excuse for not starting the stadium.
"This is about the owners breaking our trust over and over again. They do not have the confidence of anybody in the city, or the wherewithal.
"A new stadium is essential to the business structure of a modern, great club.
"The problem is the debt our owners carry, there is not really a significant problem in raising money to build a stadium if they did not have a major debt on their backs."
The Spirit of Shankly fans group, dedicated to removing the Americans from the club, are also angry.
Spokesman Jay McKenna said: "It is our firm belief that the owners have neither the resources nor the intention to deliver this project, and are using the current economic climate as a subterfuge while they attempt to drive the potential sale value of the football club up.
"The owners have no money, no credibility and no dignity, and are not fit custodians of the club. We demand their immediate resignation and the sale of the club."
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., August 2008

Stanley Park lease fear for Liverpool FC
Daily Post (Liverpool): 30 August 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
LIVERPOOL FC face losing the right to build their new stadium on Stanley Park, unless the club "sorts itself out", city council leader Warren Bradley warned last night.
The shock threat comes as the Daily Post can also reveal that the year delay to the pounds 350m scheme announced yesterday by the club is actually likely to be considerably longer.
Angry fans' groups hit out at co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks who took over the club 18 months ago promising work would start on a new stadium within 60 days. The club blamed the credit crunch for the decision and now claims that the new stadium will be open in time for the 2012/13 season.
Basic preparatory works for the new Stanley Park ground started some weeks ago, but the council and LFC are yet to sign an agreed 999-year lease on the park.
"I would not want the council to sign the lease until such a time as we know that Liverpool FC can deliver it 150%," said Cllr Bradley last night.
"I have always had my reservations about their ability to raise the funds.
"I just wish they would sort themselves out, the Anfield and Breckfield areas have waited too long for this."
The Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) is also to demand a meeting with Kop Holdings, the Gillett and Hicks company which owns LFC, within two weeks over pounds 9m the agency had previously agreed to give to the club.
The Daily Post understands the American co-owners "spoke to any bank that would listen" to raise the loan for the stadium but were turned away because they refused to put up 25% of the cost themselves, around pounds 100m.
The pounds 350m the Americans borrowed when they re-financed the debt taken out when they bought LFC is also "looming large in their minds" as the deal expires in January and can only be extended for an additional six months, if banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia agree.
One of the main drivers behind a new stadium is to increase Liverpool FC's revenues to help the club better compete on the pitch.
Last night Dr Rogan Taylor, who heads Liverpool University's Football Research Unit, said that because of the greater capacities at their stadiums, Manchester United and Arsenal were currently bringing in pounds 50m a year more than Liverpool by playing in a larger ground.
Meanwhile, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed still remains keen to buy the club, though is now operating in a more personal capacity rather than through his investment arm, Dubai International Capital.
Sources close to Dubai said the money to build the stadium is there, but the Sheikh is starting to lose patience as costs are rising on the ground while the ownership saga drags on.
Last night, Liverpool Football Club insisted the commitment to build a world-class stadium was undiminished.
"Like many other major development projects in the UK and overseas we are affected by global market conditions and, as such, work on the project will be delayed in the short term," said a spokesman. "We will use this period productively and revisit the plans for the stadium to increase its capacity to 73,000 seats."
But a source said the delay would be "at least a year" and possibly much longer.
Putting aside the financial issues, the club will have to resubmit a fourth planning application to increase capacity from the already approved 60,000 plan to 73,000. As part of that process, Liverpool FC will have to submit a transport plan and an environmental study.
The headache for the club will be explaining how 73,000 fans can get safely to the venue.
Talks have previously taken place about re-opening the Bootle line to passenger trains and it is likely a new station to handle the additional fans would form part of a new transport plan.
Dr Taylor, who also founded the fans' group ShareLiverpoolFC, who want to take the club into community ownership, hit out saying: "This has not come as a surprise. The Americans did not have any money for the stadium."
Liverpool Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle also condemned the latest delay. "I don't have a great deal of confidence in the American owners, I never have done.
"The real losers are the people of Anfield who have been waiting patiently for this to happen for years."
On Thursday night, the Daily Post contacted the club for confirmation or denial of rumours that the stadium was delayed but was told everything was proceeding to plan.
It is understood Gillett and Hicks had planned to make the announcement at the beginning of September but with the surfacing of speculation were forced to make it on the club's website yesterday morning.
Last night Steven Broomhead, NWDA chief executive, said: "Today's confirmation that the construction of Liverpool Football Club's stadium will be subject to delay is very disappointing news, particularly because of the potential impact this will have on the regeneration of North Liverpool. As such, we are very keen to meet with the club to assess the implications of this decision and understand their future plans.
"The agency's board will consider our proposed financial support in light of our discussions with the club."
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., August 2008

Minister shows support for fans to buy Liverpool
Daily Post (Liverpool): 28 August 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
A CABINET minister last night got behind a bid by fans to buy out Liverpool FC.
Andy Burnham, the Liverpool-born secretary of state for culture, media and sport, joined ex-Liverpool players John Barnes, Phil Thompson and John Aldridge to launch the next phase of ShareLiverpoolFC's bid to take over the club.
The aim of the campaign is for a consortium of fans to buy out current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett for pounds 500m.
Last night's meeting - held immediately prior to Liverpool's victory in its Champions League qualifier with Standard Liege - was attended by around 120 supporters.
They heard that the group's website had been relaunched, and that so far 7,500 individuals had re-registered their interest out of the 28,000 who had initially shown support.
To achieve its aim, the group needs 100,000 fans to buy one share for pounds 5,000 each.
Andy Burnham told the meeting that, despite being a lifelong Everton fan, he wanted to "show moral support for what you're trying to achieve," and for the principle of fans taking ownership of their clubs.
He added: "This would send a message of encouragement to people all over the country, who feel football is losing its way.
"If it carries on in this way and the Premiership becomes a league table of wealth, football will lose what's special - its community origins and its personal link with the fans.
"Whatever it is I can do to help ShareLiverpool, I will do.
"If you feel this is the best way to secure Liverpool FC, you've got to make it work."
Ex-players on the panel expressed disappointment at the low turn-out for the meeting, but added that they were behind the aims of the supporters' body.
John Barnes said: "There is a lot of scepticism surrounding this, because it's a scary thing that you as an individual will own the club." Share-LiverpoolFC was launched at the start of the year by Rogan Taylor, a Kop season ticket holder and a director of the Football Industry Group at the University of Liverpool.
Since then, the organisation has been formally approved as a cooperative society by the Financial Services Authority.
Dr Taylor said the next phase of the operation would see the organisation make a big effort towards increasing its membership.
He said: "We're on the road, but we've still got a long way to go."
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., August 2008

American dream fades amid debt and lost revenue Hicks and Gillett under fire over Stanley Park fiasco
Daily Post (Liverpool): 28 August 2008

2 more ex-Reds onside in fans' share bid
Liverpool Echo: 30 May 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
TWO more former Liverpool players today backed a pounds 500m"supporters" buy-out of the club from its American owners.
The Share Liverpool FC scheme is being unveiled in Ireland as part of a global publicity drive.
Ronnie Whelan and Jason McAteer are the latest names to declare their support for the project.
The pair, along with fellow former Ireland colleague John Aldridge, will speak at the launch at City West hotel in Dublin at noon today.
Co-ordinators are also being appointed in Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa and India.
Share Liverpool FC's website has had visitors from 211 different countries and is due to be modified to deal with the growing interest.
Today, Ronnie Whelan said: "I'm happy to join other former players like John Aldridge, Jason McAteer and John Barnes in expressing my full support for the Share Liverpool FC project.
"No-one who's played for Liverpool could ever forget the dedication and passion of the fans. If any football club should be owned by its fans, surely it's Liverpool FC. We've all seen what's happened. It's wrong for 'ownership' of such an historic football club to be traded like a commodity."
The Share Liverpool FC drive in Ireland is being spearheaded by Bernard O'Byrne, the former chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland.
For the project to stand a chance of succeeding, 100,000 fans must each invest pounds 5,000.
Around 15,000 have pledged that amount, while another 25,000 are said to be interested in investing jointly with friends or have requested more information about the scheme.
Rogan Taylor, director of the Football Industry Group at the University of Liverpool, and who is heading the scheme, said: "When you move out of the mainland, local knowledge is essential.
"Getting these big names and former players backing the scheme gives us a lot of credibility."
To find out more visit www.shareliverpoolfc.co.uk
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., May 2008

BARNES BACKS FANS BUY-OUT
Liverpool Echo: 03 May 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
LIVERPOOL legend John Barnes today lent his support to the fans group aiming to raise enough money to buy Liverpool FC and rescue it from its ongoing ownership crisis.
The Anfield and England legend's backing for the 'Share Liverpool' movement comes as organisers issue a renewed appeal for interest from fans, including older supporters and those who may not have internet access, to join them.
Barnes, a member of Liverpool's last title-winning team in 1990, now joins Anfield greats Phil Thompson and John Aldridge in backing Share Liverpool, founded recently by locally-based lifelong Reds supporter Rogan Taylor.
The Anfield off-field crisis shows no sign of a conclusive breakthrough, with American co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks still locked in a bitter civil war with each other, while the government of Dubai waits in the wings hoping to buy the club.
Throughout recent months the club has been rocked by repeated controversial headlines, with Hicks recently publicly describing Reds long-time chief executive Rick Parry as 'a disaster' and calling for his head.
Gillett retorted by insisting former Premier League chief Parry retained his full backing.
Said Barnes: "I've been saddened by what's been happening in the boardroom lately, and I think it's time for things to change.
"Liverpool Football Club is part of the community, and it's time our magnificent supporters had a say in howthe club is run.
"That's why I'm delighted to back Share LiverpoolFC.
"If democratic ownership works for clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich, why can't it work here?"
Barnes, Aldridge and Thompson are among nearly 40,000 people who have registered an interest through the group's websitewww.shareliverpoolfc.com The idea is for every fan to have the right to purchase one 'forever' share in the club, at a cost of pounds 5,000. The share, which can also be bought by groups of fans clubbing lesser amounts together, could never be traded or transferred, ensuring the fans collectively own the club outright, with supporters able to vote people on and off the Anfield board.
Share Liverpool are now establishing closer links with fans group The Spirit of Shankly, with SOS leading lights Peter Furmedge and Nicky Allt both now joining its steering group.
Said Rogan Taylor: "We have had people from 211 different nations visiting our website, which is three more countries than FIFA has on its website.
"We have been astounded by the interest.
"But we are also conscious there are a significant number of local fans who might not go online, perhaps people whose children have grown up and left home and who have no access to a computer.
"These fans have had no real opportunity to engage with us and we want to give them that.
"They are by no means forgotten, that's for sure.
"These supporters can simply fill in the coupon and return it to the address printed, ticking the relevant box to let us know their level of interest at this stage.
"We would be delighted to hear from them all."
Send the coupon to: Rogan Taylor, University of Liverpool Management School, Liverpool L69 7ZH.
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., May 2008

Liverpool FC fans buyout target; Rally time.
The Irish Times: 19 April 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
How the Anfield stalemate might be resolved
Tom Hicks buys out George Gillett . . .
The solution Hicks has been trumpeting for months and remains adamant will happen, despite his inability to secure funds to take majority control and finance a new stadium and Gillett's steadfast refusal to sell him even 1 per cent after receiving death threats.
George Gillett buys out Tom Hicks . . . .
A non-starter at the time of January's refinancing deal, when Gillett hesitated over the personal guarantees required for the GBP350 million loan, but is being actively explored since failing to agree a price for his stake with DIC and vowing to prevent Hicks gaining control at Anfield. Meeting the same problems as his rival, in that mystery backers are yet to come forth and Hicks is playing hardball over his 50 per cent.
DIC buys Gillett's 50 per cent stake . . .
Unless one of the Americans backs down this may be the only solution. But DIC has yet to reach agreement on a price with Gillett and a supposed 90-day limit on Hicks's power of veto over his business partner's proposed sale may be subject to legal challenge.
ShareLiverpool project succeeds . . .
A Utopian ideal whereby 100,000 fans commit GBP5,000 each and the GBP500 million is used to buy out Hicks and Gillett
Or . . .
Rafael Benitez walks out. Civil war erupts at Anfield and the newly formed AFC Liverpool begin next season in The Vodkat League Division Two with an average gate of 44,000
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., April 2008

How stalemate might be resolved
The Guardian: 18 April 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
Tom Hicks buys out George Gillett
The solution Hicks has been trumpeting for months and remains adamant will happen, despite his inability to secure funds to take majority control and finance a new stadium and Gillett's steadfast refusal to sell him even 1% after receiving death threats
George Gillett buys out Tom Hicks
A non-starter at the time of January's refinancing deal, when Gillett hesitated over the personal guarantees required for the pounds 350m loan, but is being actively explored since failing to agree a price for his stake with DIC and vowing to prevent Hicks gaining control at Anfield. Meeting the same problems as his rival, in that mystery backers are yet to come forth and Hicks is playing hardball over his 50%
DIC buys Gillett's 50% stake
Unless one of the Americans backs down this may be the only solution. But DIC has yet to reach agreement on a price with Gillett and a supposed 90-day limit on Hicks's power of veto over his business partner's proposed sale may be subject to legal challenge
ShareLiverpool project succeeds
A Utopian ideal whereby 100,000 fans commit pounds 5,000 each and the pounds 500m is used to buy out Hicks and Gillett
Or . . .
Rafael Benitez walks out. Civil war erupts at Anfield and the newly formed AFC Liverpool begin next season in The Vodkat League Division Two with an average gate of 44,000
Andy Hunter
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., April 2008

The fans are REVOLTING
The Mirror: 08 March 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
A FORTNIGHT ago something astonishing almost happened in Newcastle (insert gag of choice).
Before the game against Manchester United, fans of both teams agreed to lay aside their baseball bats and march through the streets together to demand standing areas at grounds. Police stopped the march, but not the movement.
The fans will rope in allies from other clubs and keep on protesting until they're listened to.
A week earlier, 600 Liverpool fans met to form a supporters union called The Spirit of Shankly (SOS), aimed at forcing out the club's owners.
On Wednesday representatives of Dubai Investment Capital held a meeting with SOS to discuss ways of grabbing power from George Bush's side-kick, Tom Hicks (or as he used to be called in Hollywood - Tom Mix, King of Cowboys).
Let me run that past you again. Representatives of Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, one of the world's richest men, swopped thoughts with a three-week-old fans' group on how to bring down a billionaire adviser to the most powerful man on earth.
This remarkable scenario came about when ordinary fans realised they'd been taken for patsies. That American speculators had spun lies to them about their passion for their club. That they planned to milk it for all they could without putting in a dime of their own. And the grass roots fury has spawned more Liverpudlian groups than Merseybeat. A fans collective called ShareLiverpool want to buy out the club, and a breakaway team called AFC Liverpool is being formed on the lines of FC United, the club set up by disillusioned Manchester United fans when the Glazers took over.
Also over the past few weeks, 10,000 fans have signed a Football Supporters Federation petition opposing Richard Scudamore's plans to play Premier League games abroad, helping to kill it at birth.
I've been going to football games for 40 years and I can't remember a time when fans' anger at the contempt shown to them, has been so high. Or so deserved. As a Virgin Money survey of 2,000 supporters showed this week, the average fan is paying pounds 1,331 every year to watch their team. Up nearly 10 per cent in two years.
It feels as though we're reaching a breaking point, when the exploited masses are refusing to take any more. Put it down to the internet, this era of mass communication, or simply the penny dropping that they've been pushed too far by greed. Football fans are waking up and smelling the Bovril.
They're beginning to realise that without them, these speculators, franchise-chasers, besuited rulers, TV companies, and obscenely overpaid players are nothing. There is a long way to go before football becomes in any way democratic but if fans want to see how unity and organisation can bring empowerment, they should look no further than MyFootballClub.
There has been much cynicism from the reactionary forces in the game, about fans owning their own club and taking democratic decisions on its future.
But more than 28,000 fans from 70 countries have coughed up pounds 35 each and now own Ebbsfleet United.
Big deal, mock the critics. It's a Fantasy League gimmick. Where will it get them? Well look where it is already getting them. After only owning the Blue Square Premier Division side for a few months they are already in today's FA Trophy semi-final against Aldershot. Win the two-legged tie and they face York City or Torquay United in the final. At Wembley.
Their club. Their players. Their profits. Their glory. Their day out at a stadium with the most historic name in the world, with a chance to see a team they own raise a trophy above their head.
Fans of all League clubs should get behind Ebbsfleet, just as they should form a supporters union along the Spirit of Shankly lines. Because if these models work, the ordinary, working people of this country, who gave the world its greatest game, may begin to get it back.
Can you think of a better cause to fight for?

RED ARMY
Liverpool Echo: 15 February 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
UP to 1,000 Liverpool FC fans are expected to attend a meeting to create the country's first football "trade union".
New movement The Sons of Shankly (SOS) is holding a mass gathering at The Olympia club in West Derby Road at noon tomorrow.
An annual subscription fee of pounds 10 is likely to be suggested, which could give signed up members a range of benefits.
Non-profit making development trust EDT approached the supporters union and offered to carry out administrative duties for the group.
A Paypal account will be set up, each member will get laminated cards and receive a newsletter.
Other SOS benefits for members could include cheap travel offers for Premiership away trips and flights to European fixtures abroad.
If the movements gathers pace, the group may have to register a business address, which could be at EDT's headquarters onGreatHomer Street. Supporters groups from Everton, Manchester United, Barcelona and German club Schalke 04 have expressed support.
SOS is set to meet Liverpool University professor Rogan Taylor, who is behind the recent ShareLiverpoolFC scheme, to see if the two groups canwork together.
They have called for ex-players and other Liverpool celebrities to get involved and follow the example of Peter Hooton, member of The Farm, who is already a leading voice in SOS.
SOS spokesman Nicky Alt said: "This will be a fully functioning fans' union to get involvedwith the club at the highest level.
"When we set up the union, we thought just 50 might turn up at the Sandon pub and we got around 400.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we reached the Olympia's 1,200 capacity at theweekend.
"Our main aim is to buy back the club, or at the very least have some form of representation on the board.
"This has really snowballed and everyone can see this has somuch potential."
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© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., February 2008

Fans pledge almost pounds 60m to buy-out Anfield owners
Daily Post (Liverpool): 07 February 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
NEARLY pounds 60m has been pledged towards a fans' buy-out of Liverpool FC during the first four days of canvassing for supporter opinion.
A total of 11,892 fans have indicated they will buy shares in the club on Share Liverpool FC's website - the group which has outlined proposals for 100,000 fans to buy the club by purchasing a single pounds 5,000 share each.
This amounts to pounds 59.46m towards the pounds 500m total needed for the proposed buy-out.
The first statistics show just under 50,000 people visited the site from 149 countries, between February 1 and 4.
Organisers say the website crashed within minutes of opening last Thursday, due to the sheer weight of numbers trying to reach the site, and reopened the next afternoon.
Analysis by Google reveals that during the weekend the site received 11,892 "count me in" responses, 5,394 responses praising the idea but saying they want more information, and 7,930 responders saying they could not afford the step.
The four biggest countries of origin were the UK, with 25,177 hits, Norway, with 6,138, the USA with 3,071 and Ireland with 2,053.
Only 128 fans ticked the "you've got no chance" option on the site.
Many Anfield fans are furious a pounds 350m loans package secured by US owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett will saddle the club with interest payments of up to pounds 30m a year - fuelling the desire for a supporter controlled club.
Rogan Taylor, Share Liverpool FC's spokesperson, said: "These are pretty impressive numbers for just a few days withwww.shareliverpoolfc.co.uk live on line and we're very encouraged.
"We undoubtedly lost a big spike when the site crashed on Thursday, but I think these numbers reveal that most fans were patient and came back when it returned.
"The stats also reveal we have a lot of work to do to present more detailed information, and also to address the affordability issue many fans flagged up.
"We will be underlining that group membership will be possible - even a group of pub regulars could get together - and we hope soon to be able to announce a loan scheme which would enable fans to spread the cost over a number of years."
"What they will be buying is something that lasts forever - a share in Liverpool Football Club which cannot be disturbed.
"The member shareholder will be able to pass it on, down through his or her family generations; to sons and daughters, and grandchildren.
You will sit in that new stadium and think: 'This belongs to us . . . and so does the club that plays here!'"
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© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., February 2008

MP gives his backing to Liverpool fans' buy-out plans
Daily Post (Liverpool): 04 February 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
AN EARLY-DAY motion has been tabled in the House of Commons welcoming Rogan Taylor's "Share Liverpool FC" concept.
MP John McDowell has signed the motion supporting the idea of 100,000 Liverpool fans putting in pounds 5,000 each to take over the club.
The Liverpool-born MP said: "The Share Liverpool FC initiative could be an absolutely huge development for football in this country, and if it succeeds will show that there is an alternative route to the corporate takeover of clubs with all the attendant dangers for the clubs and fans.
"Football is rightly the property of those who go every week, commit their life's savings and every second of their time and energy for the club they love."
In response, Rogan Taylor said: "It gives us a lot of heart to hear this kind of encouragement and backing for our proposal. The websitewww.shareliverpoolfc.co.uk is receiving a tremendous number of visits and in a few days we should be able to put some figures on just how many fans have signed: Count me in!"
Asked about Saturday's post-match Kop demonstration, Mr Taylor said: "I knew it was coming. I would not like it to be confused with the shareholder group proposal, but I understand how they feel.
"With our proposal, you can sort the issue out for ever and the club can never be sold again.
"At the moment, we are renting the club from the Americans, but with this idea fans can own the club themselves - like you own your own home and do not have to pay rent."
Hundreds of fans stayed behind on Saturday to call for the American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett to leave the club.
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., February 2008

Fans launch campaign to buy the Reds
Liverpool Echo: 01 February 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
LIVERPOOL FC fans behind a pioneering bid to buy the club have called on fellow Reds to start a revolution.
Share Liverpool FC went live yesterday at 5pm as the consortium unveiled groundbreaking proposals to purchase the club.
The group has asked 100,000 supporters to invest pounds 5,000 each in the club to try to buy it from American owners Tom Hicks andGeorgeGillett.
The idea is based on a continentalstyle model, similar to that used by Spanish giants Barcelona, with pounds 500m needed to buy the club and build a new stadium.
Fans who bought a pounds 5,000 share would be entitled to a vote on who should be appointed on to a board of directors, who would effectively run the club.
The key criteria of the scheme are: No one can own more than one "member share", which cannot be sold on.
Groups of fans will be given opportunities to combine to purchase one member share.
The first 20,000 people to respond could get special status, possibly leading to enhanced advantages for ticket purchases.
The share fee of pounds 5,000 could be lowered if initial take-up is very strong.
If the project only accrues pounds 100m(the equivalent of 20,000 fans signing up), for example, a fans' trust could be formed to buy a significant portion of the club's shares.
Shares cannot be sold at a later date.
Reds fans are still furious about the US owners' controversial pounds 350m re-financing deal, which puts pounds 30m-a-year interest payments on to the club.
Owning a share would not give fans a say on the team or manager, as the elected board would be responsible for running the club.
The plan is headed by Dr Rogan Taylor, director of the Football Industry Group at Liverpool university.
He insisted it was not a "pipe dream", but a "serious proposition to take ownership into the hands of the very large group of Liverpool fans all over the world".
There is no definite timeframe for the proposal, and Share Liverpool FC want feedback on the idea.
If opinion and reaction are positive, a more detailed framework will be drawn up to begin the donation process.
Stage two of the scheme, if the capital was raised, would involve a period of due diligence and setting up a legal constitution. A series of public meetings will be held about Share Liverpool FC in both the city and London.
Dr Taylor said he had taken a phone call from the Chicago branch of the Liverpool FC Supporters Club just one hour earlier,making him anoffer he "couldn't refuse".
He added he had received more than 180 emails from Liverpool fans since the schemewas announced 24 hours ago.
Dr Taylor said: "We want to put Liverpool FC into the hands of the fans.
"Become one of the 100,000 club owners and we guarantee that you'll never walk alone."
With a dig at Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett, Dr Taylor said: "Bill Shankly wouldn't have wanted a club owned by people incapable of grasping its importance or its history.
"This may, or may not, be a historic day. If you want to give the greatest gift you can give, nowis your chance.
"This is not a proposal for 100,000 fans to see if we want to go 4-4-2 on Saturday.
This is a serious proposal that sets up an appropriate executive body to run and manage the club.
"After a couple of years, they will have to stand before you and seek reelection. If they fail, they will have paid the penalty.
"Where is the downside? There is no downside, only an upside, so let's get on with it."
A packed audience at the School of Management on Myrtle Street greeted Dr Taylor's speechwith applause.
Share Liverpool FC said they would set up a partner bank where all money would be kept until a target is reached.
Share Liverpool FC stressed that if the pounds 500mtarget was not reached, or the projects failed, all moneywould be returned.
To register your interest, visit www.shareliverpoolfc.co.uk, or.com
Have your say liverpoolecho.co.uk/forums
© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., February 2008

European model for new Liverpool
Daily Post (Liverpool): 01 February 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
FANS last night unveiled their vision for the future ownership of Liverpool FC under a "one member, one vote" scheme.
Rogan Taylor, a Kop season ticket holder and a director of the Football Industry Group at the University of Liverpool, is leading the buy-out campaign and led a press conference last night.
He explained the details of how the possible pounds 500m buy-out of current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett would work.
The Share Liverpool FC plan is for 100,000 fans to each buy one share for pounds 5,000, with no one allowed to hold more than one share and which would not be ordinarily tradeable.
The membership would vote for a board of directors for a fixed term, but not for the manager as his appointment would be down to the board.
Shareholders would not have an automatic right to tickets but a scheme to give preferential treatment to the first 20,000 who sign up is proposed.
Last night a website - www.shareliverpoolfc.co.uk - was set up to gauge support for the plans before due diligence is carried out and a legal constitution set up.
If a constitution is set up, a bank would be sought as a partner where the pounds 5,000 contributions could be kept.
Dr Taylor said the group was hoping the two Bishops of Liverpool will agree to watch over the accounts to certify all the money is there.
The group is being advised by the Government-supported Supporters Direct, which helps set up supporters' trusts, and by Manchester-based legal experts Cobbetts.
Dr Taylor said: "This may or may not be a historic day, we don't know. It's the last day of the transfer window of January, 2008.
"Perhaps it's appropriate that we might talk about the greatest transfer of power of a football club to the fans who love it." The website will be the main mechanism to judge popularity for the idea but public meetings in Liverpool and in London are also planned soon.
Many Anfield fans are furious a pounds 350m loans package secured by Hicks and Gillett last week will saddle the club with massive interest payments of up to pounds 30m a year.
"Our argument is not with the current owners of the football club, it's with the structure," said Dr Rogan.
"Sometimes we feel that as a football club we are standing on a street corner in a short skirt waiting for a passing punter."
He said the idea was to replicate other European clubs like Barcelona and the majority of German teams which are owned by their fans.
"This is a serious proposal. There are a huge number of Liverpool fans, not just here but all over the world - this is not simply about a local issue.
"This story has been round the world five or six times already today."
He said that, in the space of six or seven hours, his email inbox had received 380 emails, and had been contacted by the Chicago supporters branch to offer their support.
"If you want to give, what to my mind is the greatest gift you could ever give to your football club, now is your chance."
He said together the fans could deliver a debt-free legally secure football club run democratically on a one member, one vote basis which could never be bought or sold ever again.
"This is not a pipe dream, this is not a bunch of fans in a pub corner saying why don't we?"
"But we will not know, as we dip our toe in the water this afternoon how warm the water is. It might be lukewarm, it might be pleasantly warm, it might be boiling hot, we just don't know.
"We are not asking for a penny at this stage."
"This will be done in an appropriate way, not a fly by night operation."
He was asked whether he thought Hicks and Gillett would sell.
He said if fans could come up with hard cash offered in good faith, "you can deny them, you can say no, but how successfully can you really hope to plan to go forward in the teeth of a bid that represents hundreds of thousands of football fans who want to own the club?"
The only way that question could be answered would be by "sitting down at the table" with the owners with the hard cash ready to negotiate.
Dave Boyle, deputy chief executive of Supporters Direct, said: "The question comes down to as a supporter are you so concerned about what has been happening at your club for the past few years that you are prepared to put your hand in your pocket?" Dr Taylor added: "I first had this idea around 12 months ago when the Dubai Investment Company and the American pair that wanted it were negotiating.
"At the moment I had the thought I wished I had that thought 12 months ago.
"I am sure it's the kind of thing that he former owner David Moores certainly would like to have looked closely at."
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© 2008 Financial Times Information 2008. All Rights Reserved. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., February 2008

Fans' group bids to raise £500m for Anfield buyout
Independent (UK): 01 February 2008

[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
A Liverpool fans' group, led by a leading academic and campaigner from the city's university, launched an ambitious plan yesterday to raise a £500m kitty from 100,000 supporters around the world to transform Liverpool into a Barcelona-style members-run club at some unspecified point in the future.
The Share Liverpool FC group was founded by Rogan Taylor, a fan of more than 40 years and the director of the Football Industry Group at the University of Liverpool. The impetus behind SLFC comes from the recent turmoil at Anfield caused by the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
The Americans bought Liverpool entirely with borrowed money, and last week extended their club-related loans to £350m and rising, all directly or indirectly to be repaid with money generated by the club.
"The time is right to offer a different solution to the rising concerns that football fans have about the patterns of ownership developing at our major football clubs," Taylor said.
The SLFC website (www.shareliverpoolfc.com) went live at 5pm yesterday and promptly fell victim to its own popularity, crashing. But in the spells when it was working, it was clear that SLFC is in its early stages of gauging fan support, not anywhere near fund-gathering.
The way in which cash will be raised is still up for debate. Taylor envisages it might involve 100,000 people paying £5,000 each to buy the club outright. Or it might not. Two questions on the website's main page appeal to fans via the club's heritage. "What would Bill Shankly have wanted?" asks one. "It certainly wouldn't have been to see Liverpool in the pawnshop window for passing trade to buy if it took their fancy."
"What would Bob Paisley have wanted?" asks the other. "It certainly wouldn't be a club owned by people incapable of grasping its importance or its history."
Fan-owned clubs, clubs in the truest sense, are common on the continent: Barcelona and Real Madrid are best examples, where fans elect presidents, have representatives on the board and vote on club decisions. In Germany's Bundesliga, every club is at least 51 per cent fan-owned, while AEK Athens in Greece has significant supporter involvement.
"In Germany and Spain, most top-level football clubs are simply not for sale. They are owned by many thousands of 'member fans'," Taylor said. "The Champions League has been won on six occasions in the last 15 years by clubs owned and run in such a way."
The ideology is no doubt sound. But practical measures will make fan-ownership at Liverpool an uphill battle. Huge sums will be needed for any bid, and Hicks and Gillett say they do not want to sell. As a spokesman for Hicks reiterated yesterday: "As we've previously indicated, Liverpool FC is not for sale to anyone, at any price." Such a stance puts Hicks at odds with any prior claims that he cares what the fans think. But then that, in itself, is one reason that SLFC and others want rid of him.
A spokesman for the Supporters' Trust said: "This [SLFC] is an exciting development and has enormous potential for supporters of Liverpool to become a part of their club." He added that the Trust would offer support and advice but was not involved in "any planned consortium bid or any takeover talks".
© 2008 Acquire Media Corporation. Published by OneSource Information Services, Inc., February 2008