Purslow- A Yank in disguise?

Christian Purslow's appointment as Managing Director at Liverpool Football Club, in June 2009, as successor to Rick Parry, was heralded as a positive move by most fans, as he's an intelligent businessman who attended Harvard Business School, and has been a season ticket holder for several seasons. Supporters were confident that he could support the club financially and help sort out the mess that Tom Hicks and George Gillett have put our great club in, while remaining true to the values of the common supporter.

This hope was later confirmed as Purslow sealed an £80 million shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered Bank. Purslow was seen as a vital component in guareenting a deal that has significantly increased this income stream for the Reds.

However, i'm starting to believe that he is becoming more and more like the Cowboys that employ him with every passing day. In a recent meeting with the Supporters group, "Spirit of Shankly", he used language like "We expect", "If we" and "There an no promises, just an expectation and hope."

He's being careful not to trap himself into any promises that he in unable to keep, but he's also lying to us by saying that they "expect" investment by April. So when there is no fresh investment by April he can say, oh, we only "expected" it. Essentially he's giving us spin to try and buy time, and support for the Yanks, when he, like all true supporters, knows that the Yanks have no future at our club. Purslow admitted, "The promises (by this he means lies) of Hicks and Gillett are unforgivable. Hicks and Gillett can't hang onto the club." Of that, we are in agreement Mr Purslow.

Purslow continues to spin propaganda and lies to us when talking about funds for new signings. However, if you can see through the spin, he admits what he is trying to deny. It is well known that Rafa Benitez has been forced to sell players in order to buy new recruits. In the January transfer window he even had a "sell not to buy" transfer policy imposed on him, as he made a profit.

Purslow claims that, "The reduction of debt does not effect player sales as there is a seperate player account and money does not come from this for anything else." At a first glance this looks like a perfectly reasonable statement that wins him the argument. However, he later goes on to say,"The nature of funding the player account is it must balance, no more can go out than has come in. If we have £30 million in the account, then we can only spend £30 million. The player account is funded by player sales and any profit. PRESENTLY PROFIT GOES PRIMARILY TOWARDS PAYING THE DEBT, SO REDUCING DEBT MEANS WE HAVE MORE MONEY TO SPEND."

Lets have a look at that then. The amount of money in the transfer kitty (player account) is determined by player sales and profit. This confirms the sell to buy policy that has yoked Rafa during his efforts to sign new, world class players. No team can expect success with this sort of transfer policy, thats a fact, as Rafa would say.

At the moment most of the profit goes towards paying debt instead of filling the transfer kitty. This proves that, whatever Purslow may claim, debt is hampering Liverpool's ability to compete in the transfer market.

The minutes published on the "Spirit of Shankly" site were seperated into two portions. "Spirit of Shankly's" minutes and Christian Purslow's. This is because they couldn't agree on whose minutes were the most accurate. At the end of Purslow's minutes he says that supporter protests against the American ownership are discouraging investors. He states, "It is tough to persuade new investors...if they think they will get hassled every time they visit." Classic propaganda.

Mr Purslow you are wrong. If we don't protest, argue, shout and scream demanding they sell up then they won't. At the very least, it will make their situation at the club all the more comfortable, meaning that their desire to leave will be less, causing their horrible reign to endure much longer than neccesary. If we continue to protest, shout and make life as difficult as possible for them then they won't want any more to do with the club, encouraging them to sell at whatever price they can get. Also, our fiery passion will show the next owners what our club, and supporters, are all about. We won't accept lies and spin, or debt being piled onto our club, making success even more difficult to obtain.

Christian Purslow has turned out to be an excellent appointment for Hicks and Gillett as his spin has covered over his failure to keep promises, and has helped the Yanks attempt to justify their lack of investment on the playing field. Anyone's better than Rick Parry, but we can only hope that Purslow can find an investor willing to plough cash into the club and buy out the American's, or we might be hurling head first into mid table mediocrity.

YNWA