Liverpool fans are in a state of bother.
Firstly, earlier in the week the Chinese consortium which had lodged an official bid to takeover the club withdrew its offer. The representative and leader of the Chinese consortium cited various reasons but the main one was the fact that everything associated with the takeover was dragging along so slowly. The Liverpool owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks had seemingly passed on all matters concerning the sale of the club to an independent board headed by Martin Broughton, so as to ensure a smooth and swift transaction, provided the asking price was met. The reason for this transfer of responsibility was because for a long time any proposed sale, since the club was put up for sale, had always ended prematurely, without a deal being concluded, as the Liverpool co-owners could never agree on various details before finalising. This week it emerged that even though they had transferred this responsibility to the independent board the pair could still stall a proposed takeover. In this instance one of the Americans had objected to the takeover by the Chinese consortium because they believed there was a better offer on the table from Yahya Kirdi, a Syrian businessman. Financially Liverpool is still in a state of flux, up for sale, in debt, without owners in direct control and without a prospective buyer in place.
The second reason for the Liverpool fans to be in a state of bother is that Javier Mascherano is now apparently declining to play for the club. On Monday night against Manchester City Liverpool did not pick the Argentinian central midfielder because, officially, ‘he was not in the right state of mind’, affected by the transfer talk connecting him with Barcelona. Liverpool’s hand is being forced. Javier Mascherano wants to go and is not going to sit quietly hoping a deal happens. He is prepared to force it through, perhaps costing Liverpool millions of pounds as any transfer fee is now likely to be smaller. The reason it will be smaller is because the alternative is having an unhappy disruptive Javier Mascherano in the dressing room who might purposely under perform.
The third and final reason for Liverpool fans to be bothered on Tuesday morning is that the night before Liverpool lost 3-0 to Manchester City. Manchester City are spending hundreds of millions to join the top four. The same top four that Liverpool have now vacated which is directly contributing to their poor financial situation. Liverpool played well against Manchester City but were far from clinical in attack, wasteful with the chances they created, and they were never comfortable in defence. How you can still play well despite failing in two of the most important part of the games is a serious question in itself, but the truth is the 3-0 scoreline was harsh on Liverpool and they did deserve more. As it stands however, Liverpool are in triple trouble.
photo credit: Ben Sutherland
