Supporters group Spirit Of Shankly – ShareLiverpoolFC (SOS-SL) has urged Liverpool officials to ensure they find the right new owners for the club.
The battle for control at Anfield is hotting up with the disastrous three-and-a-half year reign of Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett coming to an end.
In a statement today SOS-SL insisted the interests of the club’s fans must be considered in the selling process.
It read: “SOS-SL in its commitment to the pursuit of the democratic ownership of Liverpool Football Club by its fans would welcome the prospect of the departure of the club’s present owners.
“However, amidst the current interest from various parties seeking to acquire the club, it is imperative that the club, the directors responsible for overseeing the sales process, as well as RBS and Wells Fargo banks, ensure that if the club is sold, it is sold to the most suitable consortium which has the interests of the club and its fans at heart. The interests of Liverpool Football Club’s supporters must be considered in this process.
“Any prospective new owner will be acutely aware that much of the commercial value of the club is directly derived from its global supporter base which drives the scale of the branding, merchandising and sponsorship opportunities that exist for the club.
“Any further fracture in the relationship between those who own the club and its supporters, will impact upon any owners’ ability to realize LFC’s commercial potential and therefore its ability to compete at the highest levels.
“Any sale that is not in the best interests of LFC supporters will ensure a further breakdown in this relationship, with dire implications for the club, its owners and supporters.
“Given the recent events in the history of the club, we can be sure that Reds fans will forensically examine the intentions and business plan of any new ownership regime.
“Therefore SOS-SL requires those responsible for overseeing the sale to ensure that, as a minimum, any incoming consortium has real equity to reduce the gearing on the club – eliminating the debt on the club – and providing the resources to undertake the capital expenditure necessary to rebuild the club.
“Most importantly, it must be able to fund the equity requirement for the stadium financing and be able to undertake player acquisition over the short and medium term to ensure that LFC are able to compete at the very highest levels of the Premier League and the Champions League.
“SOS-SL are fully aware that the increased revenues from the new stadium, once completed, will be sufficient to cover stadium construction costs, with interest and principal paid over a 15 to 25 year period, as well as provide the club with additional revenues to finance LFC operating activities, including player acquisitions.
“The instability that has blighted the club in recent years clearly demonstrates that financial models which continually drain resources from the club to cover acquisition debt payments or pay gross dividends to investors are unsustainable.
“Any new ownership regime must return the club to good governance built on sound long term business planning.
“SOS-SL understand that Hicks and Gillett's overriding objective will be to sell the club to the highest bidder in order to extract as large a profit as possible.
“This will not be in the best interest of the club or the fans if the new investor consortium has insufficient funds post acquisition or is highly leveraged and therefore with insufficient funds to achieve the club’s minimum expectations; investment in a stadium and funding for the team to enable LFC to compete at the highest level domestically and in Europe.
“In this regard, SOS-SL and LFC fans look towards Martin Broughton, Ian Ayre and Christian Purslow to do everything in their power to ensure that the club is sold to the “right” consortium.
“The same fans also look towards Stephen Hester at tax-payer owned RBS – and a coalition government in favour of supporter ownership - to ensure that the bank also applies sufficient pressure on the Board at LFC to select the most suitable investor consortium.”
An SOS-SL spokesperson added: “Given the financial dynamics of running a football club, and particularly the need for annual player acquisitions, SOS-SL believes that any genuine investor is more likely to seek a return on their investment at exit rather than seeking substantial annual dividend returns, and should be willing to partner with organized fans who wish to provide additional equity for the club.
"The long-term future of this football club, as well as any investment in it, is entirely dependent on the goodwill and support of the fans.
“The last decision regarding the ownership of Liverpool FC proved to be the most disastrous in the history of the Club. We cannot afford to get it wrong again.”
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