FOOTBALL!

[Tommy BOO]

[discoRdance]

I did a quick search on who Larry is not so long ago, actually.
can't remember for the life of me what it said tho.

who's that, Tommy - Iggy Pop?



as for the football... yes, what a bad day to be a Liverpool fan

and I'm not talking about Heskey leaving...

[Tommy BOO]

[discoRdance]

[bc]

We had a bus driver in america called larry. nobody could express a mood without first checking on his because we were all as happy as he was.

But was he happy? Well he had a bag of speed and a big gun. Of course he was fucking happy.

mx

[John Mc]

The Crystal Palace game last night was brilliant. Felt sorry for McAteer, in our mid-90's team he was just about the only player who grown up supporting Liverpool. Crap penalty taker though.

Everyone in football seems to be vocal about passion and pride when it suits them. Last year Alan Smith was proclaiming how he could never sign for Man U as it would be betraying Leeds but today he's apparently in talks with them. I don't begrudge him the chance to further his career but why come out and say stuff that you blatantly don't mean in an attempt to win the hearts of the simple minded football fan. However I would also like to reaffirm that I would never sign for Man U.

The Thai deal is bad news. I presume anyone caught standing up during games at Anfield next season will be shot in an effort to clamp down on anti-social behaviour.

[Dave w.]

looks like the thai deal is stalling over the asian marketing rights. hopefully the bastard will ask for too much and go buy someone else (or try to) instead.

major moral dilemma as to what to do when my season ticket renewal comes through if the deal goes ahead. maybe the fact that they are considering this deal proves that the club are totally lacking in morals.

it was hard enough supporting the team after souness sold his sold to the sun and when ince advertised that rag, but you can ignore the manager to some extent, and it was only one player. if the whole club shows itself as a souless money-grabbing machine putting nothing before getting in the champions league i'm really going to be fighting my conscience.

"liverpool football club exists to win trophies and be a source of pride to its fans. it has no other purpose" david moores jan 1994. how hollow are those words now?

[John Mc]

Another problem is the finality of the whole thing. Once we've sold that 30% of the club off we're not going to be able to get it back. And I'm confused as to whether Thailand the country will actually own us or the bloke who's Prime Minister there. If its the country then decisions at Anfield could rest on the results of elections in Thailand.

The board must have known that people would object to the deal so either they 1) don't give a shit what the supporters think and don't care about who they do business with or 2) they assume that if Liverpool sign a couple of big names in the summer and start next season well then people will forget all about who provided the cash for the signings.

Its a problem for you with your season ticket because its not as though you can just flick a switch and suddenly not be bothered about Liverpool anymore. And like you said, its not as though they'll struggle to find someone to buy the ticket, my Dad and brother have been on the waiting list for 4 years now.

I used to laugh at Man U with the trouble Ferguson had with their shareholders but now I think being a PLC would be infinitely preferable to the situation we're about to be in.

[Dave w.]

from what i gather, they're setting up a company to buy the shares. the government will hold a 51% stake, with money raised from a one-off lottery, and 49% will be sold to investors in thailand. so it will mean the effective ownership could change depending on election results. not quite sure what the implications of that are.

i'm sure if enough fans kicked up a fuss, the board would have to pull out of the deal. they're relying on apathy to get it through, which i'm sorry to say will probably work. i wrote to moores and parry last week asking them to not sell. they haven't replied yet

if people are serious in their opposition, i don't think a few signings will change their mind. but if they manage to sack houllier just before the deal goes through it could distract attention. looks like that could happen, but i'm counting no chickens after the souness non-sacking after a week of stories that seemed to go way beyond speculation, and ended with a press conference appointing roy evans as assistant.

if i give up my season ticket it'll be like pissing in the wind. nothing will change and the only one who suffers is going to be me. i'll just have to see how things pan out...

in theory our situation should still be better than a plc. at least the shares aren't on the open market for any mass murderer to buy, and the board are at least partly answerable to the fans.

if morgan has the cash he should match the thai bid with no asian marketing strings and ask for one seat on the board, and really force moores' hand.

[John Mc]

Valencia beat Marseille 2-0 in the UEFA Cup final in a match which was mind numbingly dull.

[John Mc]

Dave W - which shares will the Thai Prime Minister be buying? Will he be buying some of Moores stake, therefore leaving him with less than 50% of the voting power?

[Dave w.]

apparently there are some unallocated shares, which are effectively spare at the moment. i've read that thaksin will be buying some of these, which would reduce everyone's existing share percentages in proportion. can't believe that there are 30% spare, so maybe he will buy others as well.

i think granada are supposed to be looking to get rid of some of their 9.9% holding, so maybe he'll buy some of that.

season ticket renewal arrived this morning. deadline is 17 june. do you think this deal will be sorted out one way or the other by then?

[John Mc]

I presumed the deal would be done by now, when they came out an announced it publicly it seemed like it was virtually sealed. They sound like they're a long way apart on the issue of merchanding though. I hope it all falls through and that Moores has got a back up plan if it does. I'm going to follow your lead and write to Moores about it, I was reading through that Human Rights Watch website today, I can't believe he wants to do business with that man.

They're definitely going to have to sort the manager situation out within the next few days. I can't understand why they're not either backing him or sacking him now, its not as though the Board haven't had time to judge him as a manager. If we're going to get a new manager in then we need to do it now to give him time to get new signings in and get rid of the players he doesn't want before the new season.

[Dave w.]

mr cynical here says they might want to sort out a replacement before giving houllier the boot. scottish cup final's at the weekend, don't suppose o'neill will be too keen to be deciding on his future before then.

the whole "well who are you going to replace him with" argument for keeping houllier this long surely can't be happening in the board room? anyone would be better.

it would be good to get someone in quickly to make signings, though if any thai cash is making up the bulk of the transfer cash that could be a problem anyway.

[John Mc]

On Sky this morning it said the deal might take another 8 weeks to finalise, that would take us to the beginning of August. Plus the Thai Prime Minister now wants two seats on the board instead of just the one. Hopefully Moores will get fed up and call the whole thing off.

Even more scary than the Thai Prime Minister owing 30% of the club is the thought of Steve McClaren taking over as manager. Putting someone who bought Michael Ricketts in charge is not the way forward.