Keep Your Eyes on the Ball not the Trouble in the Crowd

There is one issue preventing our club moving on from the current mess, Hicks won't sell. We need to focus on making it impossible for him to maintain that position. Recrimination about Parry, Moores and the rest of it are merely a sideshow. Gillett wants to sell but not to Hicks and by thwarting Hicks he is acting as an ally. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" never was more apt than in this situation.

I guess that the sustained enmity of the majority of fans against Hicks is a factor in his inability to convince anyone to help him raise funds to offer to buy out Gillett. Proof of that lies in the obvious attempts of his useless PR people in infiltrating the various websites with pro-Hicks posts. This has backfired spectacularly and there are signs of desperation, as the days count down, in Hicks lashing out at Parry. The counter-coup is gathering strength and Hicks knows he is losing his grip on our club.

Those fans tiring of the whole business and wishing it would settle down should recall what this week means to us. What more contempt could be shown for our club, our history and our fans than to plunge the club into more controversy at the very time we wanted emphasis to be on our fallen fellow fans and their grieving families. 

Nineteenth Hillsborough memorial

Sobering to think that this was 19 years ago and yet those heartrending scenes are still fresh in the memory. Turbulent times right now for our club pale into insignificance at the scale of the loss of loved ones in such circumstances. In being at one with those grieving families I also remember the support and sympathies of those outside of and even of rival clubs, Evertonians in particular. The emotional occasion at Anfield this season when Z-cars theme was played and Rafa’s embrace of another grieving mother also attest to the spirit these tragedies should reinforce in us. RIP YNWA

Moores Hits the Right Notes

The interview in the Echo today was fascinating in that David Moores came down firmly on the side of both Rick Parry and Rafa whilst soundly castigating both the warring owners. It could be asked why he waited until his main ally in the club became embroiled in the morass before speaking out after all the fans have been suffering this circus since the Rafa/Klinsmann business came out last year.

I would also argue that to bleat about the old "Liverpool Way" is a bit pointless after months of all sides using the media to influence events. Surely David Moores isn't claiming it would have been better if all this nonsense had been kept behind closed doors. None of it would ever have happened had a proper due diligence been done on hicks and Gillett. According to Doug Ellis it only took him a phone call and a quick google search to establish that Gillett didn't have the finances for Villa. It appals me that Moores can say even now he knew little about Hicks even whilst handing the club he loves over to him. Did he take Gillett's word on Hicks? Was that the "Liverpool Way" to hand over our club to strangers?

Having had my moan I do say that with this frank interview David Moores is coming in from the cold. He covers the main issues openly yet behind his words I get the message, these two have to go asap and we should worry about who comes in once they are on the way out of the door. It is obvious to me from the way the order of battle is shaping up that most people at the club are desperate to see the back of both of them but that Hicks in particular has shocked them with his plans to bleed the club dry.

 

Time to put the Holy Trinity first Mr Moores

David Moores has agreed to talk to the Liverpool Echo in an interview to be published tomorrow. This is the opportunity fans have waited for and David Moores owes it to us to be frank and comprehensive in his answers to the questions put to him. The Echo need to be open and tell their readers whether any preconditions were imposed by David Moores in agreeing to talk. 

For David Moores it is a chance to put the record straight on so many issues and he knows our mettle, if he is straightforward he can regain a lot of respect. We want the facts as he sees them we don't seek to have him dress anything up in diplomatic doubletalk or evasive answers. He holds the chairmanship and this period of his tenure has been disastrous with only the ability of our manager and the efforts of our players have kept all the nonsensical behaviour of our owners from adversely affecting results.

Rick has grown a big pair

I watched the brief interview with Rick Parry this morning on SSN and I've got to say I was moved. I am going to start here with an apology to him for any post I have made which contained personal insinuation or attack. I can't recall having done so but if I have I am sorry. 

I stick to my opinion that Rick Parry has been a very poor CEO of our club and there is enough evidence (albeit anecdotal) of big signings missed, marketing potential unrealised etc, etc. to warrant him losing that job. BUT I admire Rick Parry the Liverpool fan which he undoubtedly is. It took a lot of bottle to go into work this morning in that calm frame of mind given that he had been told of the Hicks letter by his family who had seen it on the TV news.

At owner level George Gillett has today come out in support of Parry and also restated the Board of Directors voting position. (source; Daily Post article this morning)

It is also an indication that Rick Parry believes he has widespread support within the club as if not he would find it impossible to do his job under the cloud of  uncertainty. I hope we now hear from David Moores on this whole mess. Come on David it is time for good men to stand up and be counted.

Hicks asks Parry to do one

I wonder if the timing of this is due to the pressure coming from the need for substantial reinvestment in the team this summer. Rafa has stirred the pot in precisely the same terms as he did before christmas (One senior signing and two frees is what he lined up then but was slapped down by Hicks). This time Hicks knows he won’t be able to thwart Rafa so publicly. The money isn’t lying around in the club coffers and he famously doesn’t put his hand in his own pocket so more borrowing might be needed. Who would get in the way of more debt being loaded on the club? Rick Parry for one. Is David Moores the next in line for a letter from Hicks suggesting he might like to resign?

A day of developments

Hicks asks Parry to resign - Parry sticking to his guns - DIC decide to stand off until the warring parties sort themselves out one way or another and I get the following eMail from Rogan Taylor at ShareliverpoolFC.

Dear friend,

Work is continuing on our quest to bring fan ownership of Liverpool FC, and I wanted to give you a quick update, as well as ask for your help.

Our formal proposal to enable ShareLiverpoolFC to be an investment vehicle to enable us to bid for the club is on the verge of approval by the Financial Service Authority (FSA). This is a complex, yet necessary step in the practical requirements needed, and we thank our specialist lawyers, Cobbetts, for their work on our behalf.

The heart and soul of Liverpool FC rests in L4, but Liverpool FC would not be the global force it is today without the support we have attracted all over the world. So we continue to take the concept of the fans owning the club to our international fan-base around the world. Members of the ShareLiverpoolFC steering group have been meeting with key contacts from Norway, the US, Republic of Ireland and elsewhere, and I myself have just returned from Japan, where I was able to promote the concept on Japanese national TV and radio.

In the UK, we continue to attract national and local media coverage, though we need to keep our message in people's minds as the saga of Hicks and Gillett's ownership rumbles on, and DIC await in the wings. Only fan ownership can bring the club management run in the interests of the supporters and the community.

This is where you can come in. We'd like you to get on the websites and forums and talk about ShareLiverpoolFC, and the concept of fan ownership. Where people are discussing the ownership of the club on phone-ins, please get on the phone and talk about it.

We're serious about this project - that's why we're taking the time to get it done properly. You can help us keep the momentum going. Tell your friends, and get involved - let's do this together.

Best wishes

Rogan Taylor,

On behalf of the Share Liverpool Steering Group
www.shareliverpoolfc.com