l4chat

First things first, and even though he plays for Manchester United, I have to admit that Rio Ferdinand is a fantastic central defender. There’s no arguments from me there. 

But, when Fabio Capello’s regular leader John Terry is ruled out of action for his country, I find the decision to appoint Ferdinand - who is not even captain at Old Trafford on a regular basis - stand-in England skipper a strange one to say the least.

Many of you may now point to the fact that this is a Liverpool blog and that of course I will side with one of our own. But it’s not out of loyalty to Stevie that I’m questioning Capello’s choice of stand-in skipper.

My personal preference when it comes to picking a captain for any team is that the leader of the team should be someone who can drag the team forward when things aren’t going great. Can Ferdinand provide that type of inspiration? Well I can’t remember - off the top of my head anyway - too many occasions where the central defender has dug either his club or country out of the mire when needed. Solid yes, match-winner?  I don’t think so.

Which brings me onto Stevie. Has he proven for club and country throughout his career that he’s the man for the big occasion, or indeed the man who can dig you out of the preverbial s**t? The answer - yes. Anyone remember Olympiakos, Istanbul, West Ham in 2006…or even Middlesbrough on the opening day of this season? And for England, what about Trinidad & Tobago (2006 WC), Andorra (2007 ECQ) or Germany (5-1, 2002 WCQ.

On the contrary, I’m not saying that Ferdinand will do a bad job as skipper, I just think if things are going wrong on the pitch, Gerrard’s your man! Rant over! 

 Picture Taken from Google Images

Well …I couldn’t have said it better myself to be honest.

Okay, we’re all more than aware that the world is going through something of a financial crisis at the moment, but there are those (and it’s hard to disagree to be honest!) who will say, with ample justification, that Liverpool FC have been going through something of a financial crisis from the moment Thomas O. Hicks Sr. and George N. Gillett Jr. galloped in and high-fived the historic This Is Anfield sign as the new custodians of “the Liverpool Reds.”

And today, ShareLiverpool, the group who hope to fund a complete or part takeover of the club by selling shares to fans, in an FC Barcelona-style membership scheme, announced their growing concerns at the club’s ever-growing debts:  “Even if the current RBS loan is extended beyond Jan ‘09, under the current arrangement it will only be until July, 2009. With both American owners unable to raise money for the stadium, in today’s financial climate, can they raise more ‘real’, unleveraged money to restructure the loan and keep the club afloat?

“If the football bubble bursts, could the loans secured against LFC become sub prime and put the club at risk? Kop Football Ltd has to find £20m plus to service the debt of £245m. How will the debt be serviced?

“Can the owners assure us that Kop Football’s indebtedness is not to be serviced by the club? If it is, how can the club pay it?”

And Dr Rogan Taylor, founder of the ShareLiverpool scheme, said: “This is not a comfortable position to be in at a time when the game’s regulators are calling for a reduction in debt and foreign ownership - not to mention the effects of the global credit crunch.

SLFC board member, Barrie Baxter, added: “ShareLiverpoolFC already represents thousands of fans prepared to invest real money into the club. Raising the required funds won’t be the issue once we have a deal in prospect.

“We’re confident we’ll be able to succeed. We are prepared to consider a partnership with any incoming buyer with the right attitude to the development of LFC going forward. After the experience with the current owners, it will be important for any new owner to ensure that they have the confidence of Liverpool fans.

“We call on the current owners to inject cash as capital to reduce the club’s debt. If they are unwilling or unable to do this, then they should move over and let others that can better serve the club take control.”

 What happens next? Who knows? Will ShareLiverpool be able to attract enough funds to launch a takeover bid? Will you be supporting ShareLiverpool by buying a (£5,000) share? Let us know your thoughts on the Share Liverpool scheme and G&T’s ownership of the club thus far by clicking on the comments box below.

Source: www.liverpoolbanter.co.uk

Picture: Taken from Google Images