Butch and Sundance they're not.
Liverpool finished last season in an uncontrollable downward spiral. If Fernando Torres wasn’t injured, then Steven Gerrard was and, more than once, it was both of them. There was no one on the bench capable of taking their places.
In the boardroom, it was a divided camp. The only thing on which Tom Hicks and George Gillette could agree was that everything had gone horribly wrong and they needed to get out. Each one had buyers in mind but the other refused to approve the deals. One by one, rumoured sales all fizzled out like damp firecrackers. There was no money for Benitez to purchase help in the January transfer window. Rafa’s promised place in the Champions League never materialised.
Benitez left Anfield for Mourinho's sloppy seconds in Milan.
In the end, the club finished seventh, forcing them to play early qualifications to make the Europa League group stages this season. After cutting a romantic figure, by fighting the good fight and then resisting the charms of Juventus to maintain his loyalties to the Kopp, Benitez dumped Liverpool like Brad Pitt did Jen Aniston, his Angeline Jolie suddenly having become available, in the form of UEFA champs, Inter Milan.
Now Anfield has a less dashing but still very capable manager, in Roy Hodgson. The former Fulham coach has managed to persuade both Gerard and Torres to stay, although he is having difficulties with Javier Mascherano. Unfortunately, Hicks and Gillette remain, casting a pall over the club’s uncertain future. An ugly end to the glory of Liverpool seems at hand.
But wait, cue the music,
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwS66EBUcY
Suddenly out of the burgeoning financial landscape of the East, rides a dashing young Chinese hero, rumoured to be worth billions, guns blazing. He lays down the gauntlet at the feet of Hicks and Gillette, telling them to get out of town. Calling their shares in the club “worthless,” he says he is going directly to the firm which holds the note on their roughly £300m debt, the Royal Bank of Scotland. He’ll buy that note and ride the Yanks out on a rail. After what they’ve done to the club, they don’t deserve a profit!
If Kenny does have backing, he'll be hunting for slightly bigger silverware.
Once they’re gone? Well then, he’ll take the money they wanted and use it to build the stadium that Liverpool so desperately needs, to compete in the upper echelons of Europe. The Kopp is atwitter with excitement. The media have latched onto the story like rabid dogs (yes, I do have a mirror, why do you ask?) and are ripping it to shreds in their enthusiasm. It seems like a dream that’s just too good to be true. And so it might well turn out to be.
If this report from Sporting Intelligence is accurate, and fact checking seems to be more than just an annoyance to these guys, then Mr. Huang might just be talking out of his hat. One would hope not. The last thing the Premier League needs is another Sulaiman al-Fahim muddying the waters in hopes of stirring up a little profit. The morass in Portsmouth hasn’t yet been settled, even if they’ve been denied Europe and swept under the rug, into the Championship, with a roster that you could count on both hands and one foot. Presumably, if you did so, you’d still have one more leg to stand on than the Fratton Park outfit.
The Kopp is willing to pay to see the back of their current owners.
Over in Spain, Real Mallorca’s administration has led to similar consequences to Pompey’s and it seems as though Barcelona are treading the same path as the Reds. It’s ironic, in a way, that this story comes to light just after our feature on the careful spending in MLS. Still, Michel Platini’s calls for financial reform and the few changes he has implemented, due to take effect over the next few seasons, may amount to too little, too late.
As for the Premier League, the fit and proper person’s test seems to be comprised solely of Richard Scudamore sitting down to lunch at the Dorchester with a prospective owner and asking, “Do you really have the money?”
It’s in desperate need of an upgrade. Something more, mind you, than good old Dick arching his brow and adding, “Are you sure?”
An effective procedure needs to be in place before the purchase of Liverpool FC infamously becomes the “Huang” choice.
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What do you think of the situation? Is Kenny Huang a knight in shining armour riding to the rescue of the Merseyside Kopp in distress or is he just another gold-digger panning the Premier League stream for one more shiny nugget of gold? Vote below and let your opinion be heard!
Roy waves the flag but needs more troops behind him when he leads the charge.
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