(17-04-2010 02:10 )Mister Gummidge Wrote:  I'm in full agreement with colino and Doctoratthedock, here. Football is a bubble economy and the thing about bubble economies, the really important thing, is that sooner or later, they burst. I hope Liverpool are able to find a sensible new owner soon, because when the bubble bursts only clubs with sugar daddies willing to underwrite the horrendous losses are going to be able to ride out the storm. Look at Leeds Utd nearly going to the wall, Portsmouth still aren't out of the woods and more Football League clubs than I care to think about are in similar situations.

Fans of EPL clubs shouldn't be hoping for sugar daddies with big dreams and hopes of reflected glory, but sensible owners who are more concerned with making sure a club operates within its projected turnover and debts don't spiral out of control. Short term success may be harder to come by, but long term those clubs who do will be beter positioned than those who are leveraged to the hilt (which includes my own club!) to survive the inevitable crash. When a football club becomes a toy for someone, there's always the worry about what happens to the toy when the owner gets bored of it.

(17-04-2010 07:27 )tiger thomson Wrote:  

(16-04-2010 18:54 )colino Wrote:  whenever one wanted to do anything the other one made it his life's work to veto it!!

Neither Hicks nor Gillette had the power of veto. There have always been 6 members of the board, 2 representing the Hicks interest, 2 representing the Gillette interest and 2 others, the chairman and chief executive. If Hicks and Gillette disagreed on something the decision effectively rested with the charirman and chief executive. Nobody involved had the power of veto.

(17-04-2010 14:32 )colino Wrote:  Ahem......I think i'll take the award winning journalist's view as being correct, thanks.....This, taken from Jim White's (of the Daily Telegraph) Eurosport column a few days ago.....

"To add to that inertia, the two Americans couldn't stand each other and would block each other's ideas as a matter of course. Rick Parry, the former chief executive, was running the place for over a year in a state of limbo because one of them wanted him out and the other wouldn't agree to it. Nothing was done because neither would let the other do anything. If one wanted tea served at a meeting, the other would insist on coffee. More often than not, they ended up with neither."

(17-04-2010 15:14 )cosmonaut Wrote:  

(17-04-2010 14:32 )colino Wrote:  Ahem......I think i'll take the award winning journalist's view as being correct, thanks.....This, taken from Jim White's (of the Daily Telegraph) Eurosport column a few days ago.....

"To add to that inertia, the two Americans couldn't stand each other and would block each other's ideas as a matter of course. Rick Parry, the former chief executive, was running the place for over a year in a state of limbo because one of them wanted him out and the other wouldn't agree to it. Nothing was done because neither would let the other do anything. If one wanted tea served at a meeting, the other would insist on coffee. More often than not, they ended up with neither."

Award winning journalist or not, that article doesn't explain the position very clearly.

When Hicks wanted Parry out, he was outvoted by Gillette and the Liverpool chairman, so nothing was done. Gillette couldn't have blocked it by himself, he didn't have the power. What the article is trying to say is that Parry would have been dismissed if the two Americans had agreed, but because they didn't agree nothing could be done. That's quite different to saying that either of them had a veto.

The Liverpool board still has 6 members now, all with equal voting rights.

(17-04-2010 15:32 )colino Wrote:  You're getting into semantics now and i really can't see the point.

"To add to that inertia, the two Americans couldn't stand each other and would block each other's ideas as a matter of course."

Forgive me, but i can't see the part of that statement that isn't totally clear. Not much ambiguity there, is there?

It's pretty much exactly what i said in my first post on this thread, nothing more, nothing less.