Kenny Huang ‘completely abandons’ Liverpool takeover bid, as the race goes on
After pulling out of the battle for Liverpool FC last Friday, Chinese tycoon Kenny Huang has reiterated his stance by claiming that he has now “completely abandoned” his plans to own the Merseyside giants, as the race to own the club turns into a marathon.
It had been suggested last week that Huang and his QSL Sports Ltd group would come back to the table with another offer, but his frustrations over the time that the deal was taking to happen has now seen him back away.
It was never truly established whether or not Huang was backed by the millions of the investment arm of the Chinese government – as had been widely reported when his bid first became public knowledge – but surely Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton would have snapped the tycoon’s hand off if he was. With a large fanbase already established in Asia, and a new shirt sponsor with a large presence on the continent – the British bank Standard Chartered – already in place, Liverpool and China would have been a match made in heaven.
Yet it didn’t happen, with some claiming that Huang’s empire wasn’t quite what he had promised it to be. So what now?
Broughton never promised that a deal would be in place before next Tuesday’s closure of the transfer window, he merely stated that he hoped it would be, yet a failure to secure funds for new signings has seen many Liverpool supporters turn on the chairman and chief executive Christian Purslow.
With the club unable to attract high-quality players to fill the obvious holes in Roy Hodgson’s squad – left-back, on the wings and upfront to name but three – supporters are still anxious to see some new arrivals before August 31st, however that is not the most important date on the Liverpool calendar.
On October 6th, the Royal Bank of Scotland can start to call in the debt owed to them by Liverpool Football Club.
At the latest count that debt stood at around £237million, part of the club’s £350million overall arrears, and so finding a buyer willing – and more importantly able – to help pay that off has to be the priority, followed by the long-delayed new stadium. In pure business terms, Liverpool have to find someone who is willing to initially take a substantial hit on their investment, someone who is in it for the long term.
Will they be able to find someone like that in the next six weeks, before RBS bailiffs start banging on the Shankly Gates? The signs say yes.
Huang’s associate Marc Ganis’s claim after they aborted their bid that “we had to get out of the line of fire” points to a desire to not be seen as the losers in the takeover battle.
There are suggestions that at many as four other bids are currently on the table, with Liverpool’s board – led by Broughton – carrying out due diligence on the offers.
Only this week, football powerbroker Keith Harris suggested that his firm Seymour Pierce were representing an as yet unnamed bidder, while the consortium headed by former Syrian international Yahya Kirdi still retain a strong interest, even if he has been uncharacteristically quiet recently.
The Kirdi bid is seen as the favourite of current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, enough to give Liverpool supporters a few nightmares, but at least they can rest safe in the knowledge that the two Americans surely won’t be around for much longer.
Amidst all the doom, gloom and uncertainty surrounding Liverpool at the moment, the one thing that does seem sure is that the Reds will be taken over.
The continual expressions of interest – however genuine or otherwise some may be – do at least indicate that Liverpool have enough of a worldwide presence, stature and fanbase to ensure that the club remains renowned across the globe.
It surely now won’t be completed in time to give Hodgson a wealth of funds to spend in the remaining days of the transfer window – which explains the club’s firm, but correct, stance over the wantaway Javier Mascherano – but it is October that is the real finishing line in this race.
It’s a finishing line that looks far off in the distance to many – and it’ll look even further away if the club fail in the Europa League tonight – but Liverpool continue to stagger up to it, slowly, and chastened by their experiences.
Tags: