BBC business editor Robert Peston think it’s on the cards that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), along with US bank Wachovia, will be in charge of Liverpool by mid-October.
BBC business editor Robert Peston think it’s on the cards that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), along with US bank Wachovia, will be in charge of Liverpool by mid-October.
Peston may deliver his reports in a curiously strangulated voice, but he know what he is talking about and there is a logic to his arguments. The current American owners would like to sell Liverpool at a nice profit. But why should a prospective owner give them one when a fire sale is in the offing? It’s unlikely that Hicks and Gillett can refinance their loans, so it looks as if RBS will take charge.
While that means the Americans will at last be sent packing, it poses a new set of problems. The last thing RBS wants is to acquire a football club. It gives them a high profile they don’t want and could expose them to considerable criticism if they get things wrong. They will want to offload it as quickly as possible, but without pushing the club into administration and a points penalty. One must also hope that they would find a good owner able to develop the club in the long run rather than the first buyer to turn up with a stash of cash.