Does the man who ‘saved the world’ need to save Liverpool FC?

Ok, slightly dramatic, but an interesting situation has cropped up here and if all the dominoes fall in a line could Gordon Brown end up running the Reds? I was reading the below press statement produced by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in response to questions over the club’s debt.

The bank seem to be letting it be known that everything is going smoothly and not to worry. However they are flagging if it does turn to shit then the club itself is ok and will be supported by the bank but it will be the holiday homes of George Gillett and Tom Hicks that will be under threat, not to mention their shares in the football club.

So, let’s imagine for a moment that Gillett & Hicks do crash and burn, this could then see the shareholdings in the club owned by RBS. Who said banking wasn’t sexy.

The statement goes on to remind us that things are not all that smooth in the bank’s house either. RBS have been deep in it themselves and saved from near bankruptcy by the British Government in late 2008, taxpayers own about 70% of the bank. Whilst the global markets at least have improved and people wax lyrical about green shoots, there is still a massive chance that the economy can get a whole lot worse.

Taxpayers could end up owning the whole of RBS who could own the whole of Liverpool FC. So Gordon, which players are you liking in the transfer market?

Thank you for your email expressing concern about RBS' banking arrangements with Liverpool FC and its current owners. We are aware of the strength of feeling of a number of fans on this matter and have corresponded with many during the course of the past year or so.

Perhaps I can start by putting RBS' relationship with Liverpool FC in context. RBS is the main banker to the Club including all of its operating accounts, cash management, online banking, automated payments, and credit card processing to facilitate ticket sales and retail merchandising. We also provide a credit facility to support the Club's working capital requirements and a letter of credit facility to facilitate the purchase of players from non-Premiership Clubs, along with a loan facility for design, planning and other preparatory work for the proposed new stadium at Stanley Park. We have set out to establish a long term relationship with the Club, and we look forward to this continuing for many years to come.

We also lent money to the Club's parent, Kop Football Limited, so that it could repay debt which was on the balance sheet of the Club at the time of its acquisition by George Gillett and Tom Hicks. This is the only portion of Kop Football's bank debt for which the Club is legally responsible. We took great care when making our original loan in early 2007 and when refinancing it last January to distinguish between obligations of the Club, primarily those outlined above, and obligations of its parent company, the latter being secured by personal guarantees and collateral from the owners and a pledge of the shares they own in the Club.

As a result the Club does not suffer the burden of debt implied by a lot of the recent press reports and, in our view and that of the executive management of the Club, it is financially healthy and able to service comfortably its debt obligations from cash flow generated by its playing and commercial activities. It is in our commercial interest to support the Club in the manner described above so that it can continue to perform successfully on and off the pitch.

As far as the Government is concerned, they have been very clear that they do not wish to exercise day to day control over RBS or make commercial decisions for us. Indeed they set up an independent body, UKFI, to oversee the Government's shareholding in RBS, so matters such as strategy and governance can be agreed, while they leave commercially related matters to us.

RBS attaches a great deal of value to being associated with Liverpool FC. I hope my comments reassure you as to the strength and depth of our relationship with the Club and that we will endeavour to contribute to its long term health and success.

Kind Regards,

Roger Lowry, Head of Group Public Affairs, Royal Bank of Scotland Group

Legends of the Lounge: Jesús Gil

In this series I take a look at some of the more interesting chairmen that have graced football.

Born: March 11, 1933
Died: May 14, 2004
Club: Atlético Madrid, Spain

Wow, where do you start? This guy was out there, a behemoth. The Rey de Reyes.

Making a living:
Jesús started out in the construction business. In his mid 30’s he did time in the can when one of his buildings collapsed killing 58 people.

So he thought he would try his hand at politics. He started his own Grupo Independiente Liberal (GIL) party. They campaigned in Marbella on a ticket to fight petty crime, possibly as this would tarnish the reputation of all the big time criminals freely residing in the area. He finished up in 2002, basically because the national tribunal banned him for 28 years from holding public office due to political corruption charges.

Chairmanship:
He became club president after his stretch in jail and a few years before his Mayoral run. He managed to juggle both roles for around 8 years.

He spent big and fired coaches for sport until success came in a big way when they won the Liga/Copa del Rey double in 1995/96 with that brilliant squad of theirs.

The club got relegated to Segunda after the 1999/2000 season right about the time Gil and his board got suspended, by the Government, pending investigation into the misuse of club funds.

On a positive note:
He did hate everyone equally, whether lefties, foreigners, gays or females.

Alvaro Arbeloa: taxes, currency and a sweet smile

Andy Hunter in the Guardian is reporting that the Liverpool right-back Alvaro Arbeloa is open to a return to Spain. I am sure he misses his mothers cooking, well probably any Spanish cooking, but what really seems to have him misty eyed is the new 50% tax rate being proposed by the British Government for high income earners. Someone has to pay for all the stimulus spending but Arbeloa is damned if it will be him “In the last few years the Premier League has been much better than the Spanish league, but now that may even out thanks to factors that could give the Premier League more problems than in previous years, like the fall of the pound and the raise in taxes. They will make a lot of players move to Spain. ….”. Wow, all that bench time has broadened the guys thinking. Word is Super Boss Florentino Pérez at Franco Madrid may be keen.

Though Arbeloa’s thinking does not end with currency and taxes, “..Mind you, Adidas told me that the Liverpool shirt is their best seller, more so even than Madrid, so that shows that the Premier League has reached every corner of the world.” Obviously his piece of the image rights pie is also at the forefront of his thinking. Well I suppose if the dreamboat Joey Barton can collect £675,000 a year from the Geordies for his image rights then Alvaro must be worth something…right?

I wonder if he even bothers paying an agent.

Oh and Alvaro, the pound is making a come back, but I am sure you already knew this.

Welcome

This is an idea that I have had for a while and I am finally doing it because I am amazingly bored. Some crazy people think football is about the players, managers or even the fans. It's time to recognise the true centre of the footballing universe, Chairmen. The more colourful the better I say, they allow us all to have a good whine and keep journalists jobs.

From time to time we may branch out to look at players and football finance but we will never stray too far from the vulgar and absurd.

Please contribute and enjoy.