Hicks - Liverpool is just business

by Taylor on May 22, 2007 9:44 AM CDT

http://football.guardian.co.uk/championsleague200607/story/0,,2085147,00.html

Interesting quote from our lovable owner, which I'm sure our friends across the pond will embrace:

"Hopefully the club will have extra cash flow so they can pay us a dividend to do that," Hicks said when asked how the cost of the loan would be met. "If they don't, then it will come from our pockets. But the club will have to have profits sufficient to pay those dividends."

"When I was in the leverage buy-out business we bought Weetabix and we leveraged it up to make our return. You could say that anyone who was eating Weetabix was paying for our purchase of Weetabix. It was just business. It is the same for Liverpool; revenues come in from whatever source and go out to whatever source and, if there is money left over, it is profit"

Translation - Financial Flexibility is on the way!

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when is he going to learn to shut his mouth

he is such a beating to loyal fans.

If you don't have fun it's your own damn fault.

by cgolden on May 22, 2007 9:49 AM CDT reply actions

LOL

If he keeps up with comments like that, he's going to get a beating from loyal fans.

We Liverpool fans walk a very fine line between passionate and completely insane.

That said, several of our star players are about to get new contracts, and the manager has been promised a good deal of money to spend this summer, so I'm not that worried about "financial flexibility" yet. Not to mention that Liverpool does a far better job of generating revenue than the Rangers. 18 league titles and 5 (hopefully soon to be 6) Champions League titles has a way of making your club attractive to potential advertisers and fans.

"Then I met some friends for a beer, went to a BoDeans's concert, and son of a vondruke, if I didn't leave him at the concert hall."

by RCCook on May 22, 2007 9:54 AM CDT up reply actions

So here's the question

Would you rather have Hicks running your world class English soccer club or a guy named Enos who looks like this: http://images.forbes.com/media/lists/54/2006/H6A2.jpg

At least his sports franchises seem to have success, I guess.

by Brett Perryman on May 22, 2007 12:37 PM CDT up reply actions

owning teams

to me, people buy sports franchises for one of 2 reasons.

to make money
ego purposes

i think hicks falls more under #1 than anything.
honestly i can't really fault him for looking at it as a business because it IS a business... but fan's don't need to hear about your bottom line and financial woes

"Pimps be damned, it's harder out here for a Rangers fan!" "If you don't throw strikes first, you're last."

by rentz on May 22, 2007 9:51 AM CDT reply actions

Hicks' comments

I just went over to the Liverpool FC message boards, and nobody there seemed to think what Hicks said was any big deal.

"Then I met some friends for a beer, went to a BoDeans's concert, and son of a vondruke, if I didn't leave him at the concert hall."

by RCCook on May 22, 2007 10:14 AM CDT reply actions

So what

If you ran a business, wouldn't you want it to make money? I don't want someone who isn't successful and smart enough to turn a profit to own my favorite team.

by t ball on May 22, 2007 10:17 AM CDT reply actions

I may be wrong

but I was under the impression that you make money on a sports franchise by increasing the value of the team, not on turning a profit every year.

by shallrelicme on May 22, 2007 10:38 AM CDT up reply actions

That seems to have worked well

For George Steinbrenner and Jerry Jones, both of whom have made much more from franchise appreciation than they made in annual cashflow.

Mitt Romney should "get out his small-varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn" -- Sen John McCain

by DJCahill on May 22, 2007 11:04 AM CDT up reply actions

yeah

i'm sure it was really hard to drum up support for the most popular teams in their respective sports.

Forget Johnny Bench, we got Gerry "the Jet" Laird

by ab03 on May 22, 2007 11:22 AM CDT up reply actions

When Steinbrenner bought the Yankees

he bought them for under $9 million because they were not doing well financially under CBS's ownership. I think CBS sold the Yankees at a loss.

You can mismanage franchises. Guys who run franchised for cash flow tend to have bad franchises that don't appreciate in value.

Mitt Romney should "get out his small-varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn" -- Sen John McCain

by DJCahill on May 22, 2007 11:31 AM CDT up reply actions

How much

did Hicks pay for the Rangers? I think they have appreciated some, but he could certainly do better. I think the Rangers have been a dramatic failure in marketing and are missing out on a lot of potential in this rapidly growing area.

by t ball on May 22, 2007 2:11 PM CDT up reply actions