Why Liverpool fans deserve to be told the truth by Broughton and Purslow

By David Maddock

Published 14:34 01/09/10

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For the fourth transfer window in succession, Liverpool have made a profit.

That is a worrying, depressing, statistic that puts into stark perspective the damage that is being done to this great club.

The financial reality at Anfield over the past two years is they have made a healthy operating profit, generated by an impressive performance from the excellent commercial team now in place at the club.

They are more than a match for any other club in world football when it comes to generating commercial revenue, which should guarantee healthy investment in playing staff.

It hasn’t, because that profit has been swallowed up by crippling debts placed on the club by owners who lied about their intentions, when they bought Liverpool.

They said they would pay for Liverpool with their own money. They didn’t.

They said they would invest in playing staff. For the past two years they haven’t.

They said they would invest in a new stadium. They didn’t.

Instead they have grown just one thing. Debt. To the extent that it will reach £300million by the end of the year. And rising.

Truly, this situation can’t be allowed to go on any longer. Roy Hodgson is a talented manager, but he is no messiah. He can not turn water into wine. He can not turn a seventh-placed team into a Champions’ League outfit, by selling some of his best players and replacing them with cut-price alternatives.

It is economic madness. If Liverpool don’t have the lifeblood of Champions’ League revenue consistently, they face collapse, and yet their debts mean the manager is not allowed to compete for the top four place that will bring it.

So what can be done? For a start, the fans have to make clear they have had enough of this nonsense. First and foremost to the American owners, by telling them they simply have to go now, and any plan to refinance will be met with passionate resistance.

And the fans have to make clear their feelings to chairman Martin Broughton too, who has a massive role to play in the future of Liverpool Football Club.

Broughton never speaks to the Merseyside media, he doesn’t think we are important enough. Neither does chief executive Christian Purslow. They both though, seem to have a regular dialogue with well-placed business journalists in London.

So the business world is told there are at least five bidders for Liverpool, and a deal can be done by the end of August, while you, the real fan, are told nothing.

Now, both are strangely silent when it seems there are no bids on the table after all. And a transfer window comes and goes without any investment in the team, even when the whole future of the club depends on it.

So the time has come to let the chairman and chief executive know that you the fan won’t put up with this any more. You want to know what is happening, and when it will happen.

There is an organisation called Kopfaithful - check out their website . They are dedicated to saving not just the football club, but the community areas around the stadium too, which are being devastated by the lack of promised investment in infrastructure.

Kopfaithful have mounted a campaign in recent weeks aimed at putting pressure on the RBS to stop bailing the Americans out with further loans that require greater and greater levels of repayment. The sort of repayments that prevent any investment in players during the transfer window.

They have also identified several banks who have been approached by the Americans over refinancing, and they are campaigning to ensure those banks know what a disaster it will be if their regime is extended at Anfield.

True Liverpool fans must add their voice to this campaign, must make clear to the Americans and to the banks that further refinancing is not an option.

The next round of refinancing comes up in October, and if RBS extend once more, then they should realise they will become a massive target for millions of Liverpool supporters around the globe.

And if Broughton continues to ignore the fans and their wishes, then he too must realise he will become a target.

To simply cut off all dialogue with the fans when things become a little difficult is never the answer – Broughton and Purslow have to tell us what’s really going on, and do it now.

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