Liverpool FC and Hollywood United

 

Image Copyright BBC

The latest twist in the Liverpool Takeover saga has seen top Hollywood film director Mike Jefferies join the fight against Tom Hicks. Jefferies, born in Liverpool has promised to make a film documenting the protest and will fly to Liverpool on Sunday 3rd October.

His motive is clear cut. To oust Tom Hicks from Liverpool by embarrassing him in front of his business peers In America Europe and indeed, worldwide. Jefferies is also rumoured to be joined by Samuel L. Jackson as well as Mike Myers, both lifelong Liverpool fans.

Jefferies is quoted by several major news sources as saying:“You won’t believe who’s involved. I’ve been stunned by terrific reaction of so many celebrity Reds, and many, many fans want to be involved in the film too,” Jefferies said.

“It is important to get the message across that the fans want Hicks and Gillett out. There are millions of supporters who can not accept their club being touted as a product like a soft drink.

“The viral is already building massive momentum and there is a real feeling now amongst the fanbase. But they don’t care, they don’t care about our club – except its valuation.

“They don’t care about the players or the fans. Or our history, or our heritage, and they don’t care about our future.

“By trying to refinance instead of showing some class and cutting a reasonable deal with someone and cutting his losses, Hicks is saying 'f**k you' to the fans.

“So what should we say in reply? ENOUGH! The only way we can get him to change his arrogant mindset is to give him a bloody nose and embarrass him in front of his family, friends, business associates, investors etc.

“Therefore, I flew up from Cape Town last night to come to Liverpool to make a short film here this weekend in which Liverpool fans and stakeholders will tell Tom Hicks – and the world – what they think of him. We are going to shame him and hit him where it hurts.”

The frustrated Reds pair will be in Liverpool on Sunday filming sections of the video they hope to have uploaded to YouTube by Tuesday.

“Our aim is to work night and day so that we can have the film uploaded onto YouTube by Tuesday, and we would then like fans to email the URL to their entire address books,” Jefferies added.

“Imagine if we could get a MILLION hits. If we can achieve that, then we can rest assured that everyone who counts will know that Tom Hicks is utterly despised. And more importantly, Tom Hicks will know.”

Liverpool fans everywhere will no doubt be astonished at this latest turn of events, as the campaign against Hicks goes truly viral. Jefferies brings true Hollywood muscle to the table with a long list of celebrity contacts and smash Hollywood hits to his name such as Goal and Bourne Ultimatum.

One thing is for sure, this will truly make RBS turn their heads as they also have celebrity account holders worth millions to their business.

The sh*tstorm has truly begun.

Hodgson - That's more like Torres

Fernando Torres almost caused a second minute upset against Sunderland at Anfield last Saturday when latched onto a free kick from Steven Gerrard, bringing the ball under control with his chest, and volleying the ball over Mignolet's despairing hands into the back of the net. Unluckily, the goal was disallowed for offside, even though it could only have been by a big toe.

Asked about this incident in an incident-ridden match, Hodgson said: "The Fernando Torres you saw today was much, much different to the Fernando Torres you saw in the opening couple of games. People wanted to see the very best of him from the moment he stepped back on the field after the World Cup but the point is he needs time, he needs games. He was very unlucky with the disallowed goal because that would have been one of the goals of the month with that magnificent chest control and volley."

This is still encouraging news for expectant Liverpool fans, who wanted to see this kind of performance from the get-go this season. Could Torres really be starting to get that engine going again? Are we about to see him explode back onto the scene with some of his trademark skill and blinding goals?

The Blackpool manager, Ian Holloway has been quoted as warning that: "Blackpool are gunning for Liverpool". This seems almost like he is laying the gauntlet at Liverpool's feet. This could be unwise after watching Torres dismantle the Sunderland defence to smash home a great goal and remind the fans what he is capable of.

Maybe Torres is gunning for Blackpool Mr Holloway. There's a warning for you.

Liverpool - Another Great Escape On The Horizon?

Any Liverpool fan can tell you. Liverpool are the pass masters of great escapes. Liverpool versus AC Milan, Istanbul 2005, Champions League final. Liverpool were 3-0 down at half time and looked like being sent packing with their tails between their legs.

The FA Cup Final 2006, Liverpool versus West Ham. 3-2 down with minutes remaining on the clock, then Steven Gerrard scored THAT goal from fully 40 yards out, to send the game into extra time, then penalties, and which Liverpool went on to win.

Today, the club faces a challenge about which even its most talismanic players can do nothing. No Stevie screamer, or Torres wonder goal, or Kuyt super strike can affect what is happening in the board room.

Instead, the duty of getting the club out of the mess it is currently in has fallen to two men and countless fans worldwide. Those two men are Martin Broughton and Christian Purslow. Both men are believed to be business purists. Broughton has said he does not want to sell the club to the wrong party, and stoutly maintains that his loyalty to Chelsea as a lifelong season ticket holder has no bearing at all on that decision.

Purslow meanwhile, has over 30 years business experience on his CV, namely buying and selling distressed companies. He however, is a Liverpool fan and insists that he looks forward to the day when Liverpool's considerable commercial revenue can be pumped back into the club instead of servicing ever increasing debts.

Despite looking so good, Purslow and Broughton have yet to deliver on the promise of "finding the right buyer, one that has Liverpool's interests at heart", as what many fans look upon as doomsday, draws near. October the 8th. This is when RBS will step in and take control of the club, forcing Hicks and Gillett out.

The question being asked here is: should Hicks fail to refinance and ultimately lose possession of the club to RBS, the bank who financed the buyout originally, what will happen to LFC? Will the club be sold to any old buyer displaying the credentials of "having enough money to buy the debt"? Or will Broughton and Purslow be allowed to continue their job of seeing Liverpool into the hands of responsible custodians, and not just a pair of cowboys out to turn a profit?

Fan pressure is being applied to any financial institution even remotely associated with LFC, in a bid to prevent the American owners pulling off a great escape of their own, and retaining control of the Anfield club.

With Liverpool maintaining that they have ample financial facilities to meet monetary requirements over the next season, and with Gillett and Hicks looking to be on their way out of the door, maybe the combination of those two men, and Liverpool's legendary 12th man, is a winning one.

With any luck, Liverpool will pull off a Great Escape of their own, come Doomsday.

Rallying Call for all Liverpool Fans -The Identity of LFC

In the midst of the media frenzy surrounding Liverpool's recent form and freakish bad luck, the press sharks are circling, waiting hungrily for Liverpool to drop more points, notepads in hands, licking the tips of their pencils with a predatory look in their eyes.

And yet there is a note of hope. A reminder to all those would-be journalists of what Liverpool was, is and still will be. A reminder that Liverpool is still the single most successful football club in the Premiership. Manchester Utd may well be drawing level with them on League titles, but Liverpool are still the number one English force in Europe.

They are still without doubt, the club that every other club seeks to model itself upon. A poeple's club. A bastion of days of glory that still echo through fortress Anfield, reflected in the voices and faces of it's ever-loyal fans.

The corporate greed of Americans will never stifle what Liverpool stands for. Nor will the slapdash paparazzi or the cash-driven scum that are known as the modern media. For Liverpool stands in the care of its custodians. And the custodians of the club are not the owners. The custodians of the club are not its board of directors. The true custodians of Liverpool Football Club are its fans.

They stand tall and ever proud, savagely defiant in the face of the tyrannical American greed machine that is stubbornly doing its best to bleed it dry. However, Liverpool is the peoples club, gifted to them by the greatest footballing figure ever known, and the media hyenas that are gleefully baying for the clubs downfall would do well to remember what is possible when the Anfield faithful sense a threat to their beloved club.

The media would do well to remember what happened to certain newspaper when disgusting allegations were printed for all to read. Liverpool fans will not sit idly by while the loathsome red top rags try to make an example of a club that made English football what it is today.

As 20,000 reds once proudly chanted: "You got your education from the Kop".

It is absolutely unacceptable that anyone should drag Liverpools name through the mud like some two-bit Burlesque whore, after all of its past glories, triumphs, and indeed its contribution to both the past and to the modern game. Liverpool is a proud, noble institution that deserves more respect, more humble recognition of what it stands for. It will not be tolerated.

Liverpool is far from finished. And this is far from over.

Liverpool Early Exit Highlights a Need For Change

Northampton fans will be singing and dancing all over the city for the next decade it seems, after shockingly dumping Liverpool FC out of the Carling Cup in the third round. It's a game that will live in the memories of the Cobblers for a long, long time to come, and will most certainly be a story told to grandchildren in front of a roaring fire.

However, footballing life goes on and Liverpool must now go about the task of reshaping and restructuring a new look squad, that so far hasn't really gelled, save for the game against Steua Bucharest, in which Liverpool hammered four in.

One big win against a Europa side however, simply isn't enough for the cup-hungry Anfield faithful. Already there are mutters of dissent over Rafael Benitez's departure and the appointment of his successor, Roy Hodgson.

Several comments were observed around Liverpool Forums during the Northampton game to the tune of: "hodgson won't last ten minutes" and "Should have given the job to King Kenny". Given Liverpool's poor start this season, such sentiment is almost understandable, however it is perhaps a little early to be judging a man who isn't used to dining at the top tables in Europe.

One thing is clear though, a change is needed, and a drastic one at that. Simply sitting 10 men behind a ball and playing cagey counter attacking football will no longer work in the top flight, as clubs spend more and more on outrageously overpriced players. The premiership has changed drastically over the last 5 years, with more mid-table teams than ever jostling for a place in Europe.

Money won't always be the deciding factor. Eventually, every club in the Premiership will have a foreign investor, and the likes of Chelsea and Man City will be averagely wealthy in the grand scheme of things.

In an exclusive interview with LFC TV, the club'f official TV channel, Christian Purslow confirmed that once Liverpool were eventually bought out, they would in fact be the most profitable club in the Premiership. He also said that current profits were being used to service debts loaded onto the club by it's American owners, and that he worked every single day towards one goal: ploughing those profits back into the pitch, the players and the facilities.

However rich a club is though, it needs a special person at the helm to make a difference, or indeed a very patient one who doesn't mind occasionally being used as a scapegoat. Avram Grant was a victim of such at Chelsea having lasted only a season before being sacked for failing to achieve the results desired by it's billionaire owner.

And so we swing back to Liverpool. If Liverpool are sold and are suddenly as cash rich as any other top flight club, will Roy be the man to take them forward? Or will he also face the axe (a 'la Rafa or Grant) for one bad season?

Or is Roy capable, or more more to the point, confident enough to ring the changes at Anfield and actually take some risks?