The recent news that Chinese businessman Kenny Huang is close to agreeing a deal with RBS to take a controlling stake in Liverpool Football Club has led to widespread optimism amongst supporters eager to see obscene amounts of money flowing into the Anfield coffers as soon as possible.
Huang is believed to be one of six bidders for the club, and has pledged to pay off all £237 million of the club's debt to the Royal Bank Of Scotland, as well as providing new boss Roy Hodgson with significant transfer funds to improve the squad with some top quality signings. Moreover, Huang has promised to kick start development of a new stadium, which would provide a massive boost to the club's matchday income.
Sound familiar?
Just over three years ago we heard the same promises from Messer’s Hicks and Gillett. They turned out to be barefaced, scandalous lies.
They promised development of a new stadium would start in 60 days. They lied. Stanley Park remains a park, and not a football stadium. There hasn't been the "spade in the ground" which the Americans so fervently guaranteed.
They promised they would support then manager Rafa Benitez with money to make Liverpool one of the world's best sides once again. They lied.
After originally being told he would be backed even if he wished to sign "snoogy doogy" Benitez was forced to continually break even in the transfer market. He was only allowed to spend what he made in player sales, and, towards the end of his tenure, wasn't even allowed to utilise those funds to develop the squad.
On top of that, for the first time in the club's history money spent on paying the wages of new players was detracted from the transfer kitty. What sort of insane idea is that? That's never been the way transfers have been handled at Anfield, and never should be either.
Most importantly, they ensured us that their takeover was not a Glazer-style leveraged buy-out and that they would not pile millions of pounds worth of debt on our club. They lied.
Liverpool are currently £351 million in debt, and are paying £40 million a year in interest payments on that debt. That £40 million could have bought at least two world-class players every year, but instead is used to pay off the gargantuan debt that the Yanks forced upon our club.
Moreover, the eye-watering levels of debt that the club are suffering under have put the very existence of the club at danger, so much so that Chairman Martin Broughton had to assure the Premier League that we would be able to fulfil our fixtures this season.
We've been lied to before and we cannot allow ourselves to be duped once again.
Yes, the news that a takeover is imminent and that the Americans will be leaving very soon is very positive, however it is crucial that we do not allow more charlatans to come in and destroy our club completely.
We can just about survive one calamitous ownership, but two terrible owners could spell disaster for Liverpool Football Club.
Let's be optimistic that there is light at the end of the tunnel, but let's not forget to carefully examine any claims made by Huang or any other potential new owner.
We've been fooled once, we cannot afford to be fooled again.
YNWA
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