Ex-Liverpool chairman Sir Martin Broughton has warned Fenway Sports Group in their search for outside investment
Former Liverpool chairman Sir Martin Broughton has warned Fenway Sports Group they are unlikely to secure the more than £4bn they are asking for to sell the club outright because it is not a London club. The £4.25bn sale of Chelsea last summer appeared to prompt other owners to test the market themselves, with Liverpool and Manchester United both publicly expressing an interest in seeking outside investment.
It appears that both FSG and the Glazers are open to the idea of selling a minority stake to raise more money for the club or an outright sale, depending on the offers made. The offers are not as forgiving as those that emerged at Chelsea last year when Todd Burley and his syndicate won the race to take over Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea's takeover was a little different, with Roman Abramovich putting the club up for sale a week after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol has now given an update on Liverpool's potential takeover bid from Qatar.
Speaking to Sky Sports today, the chief reporter said Qatar is looking to buy or invest in a Premier League club and the two teams they are considering are Liverpool and Manchester United, according to Football Daily.
🔴 The Qatari's want to buy or invest in a Premier League club, with Manchester United or Liverpool of interest. They are considering making a bid.
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 8, 2023
💰 "It's a possibility they may just buy a minority stake in a club."
[via @SkyKaveh] pic.twitter.com/Q1bUPN4a6e
"Well, the situation is that the Qataris feel that they put on the best ever World Cup in November and December last year and they want to capitalise on that," Solhekol said.
“They want to build on what they see as the success of the World Cup and one way of doing that is to buy a club in the Premier League or a stake in a club in the Premier League, because the Premier League is obviously the biggest most popular league in the world and the Qataris want a piece of that.
“Now, the good news for them is that they are spoilt for choice at the moment because there’s never been a time like this for anybody who wants to buy or invest in a Premier League club, because Liverpool and Manchester United are effectively for sale and there are lots of other clubs who are looking for investment.
“So, the Qataris want to buy or invest in a Premier League club. Liverpool, Manchester United are two of their targets. They are considering making a bid for a club
“But I still think there is also the possibility that they may just buy a minority stake in a club rather than by a club outright.”
Broughton, who helped oversee the sale of Liverpool to FSG in 2010 and was also involved in the investment group that tried to buy Chelsea last summer, believes that none of the North West clubs will get the price they need for their location in a full sale.
Broughton insisted that FSG would be better off focusing on smaller investments rather than an outright sale.
"I would question whether they'll [United and Liverpool] get the kind of prices they floated," he told The Telegraph.
"With Chelsea – and I think Arsenal and Tottenham would fall into the same category – the people we spoke to tended to be overseas billionaires who had a pad in London and the pad in London was in Knightsbridge or Kensington, Chelsea or something.
"So when they came to London, they went to Chelsea. They were football fans, and they were Chelsea fans... they're not going to be bidders for Liverpool or Manchester United because they've got a pad in London and they're not planning to move their pad to Manchester or Liverpool."
Broughton added: "Liverpool will be best off taking in co-investors to ensure the current owners can work alongside them and be satisfied that these are the right people.
"As I understand it, they [FSG] are interested to see what the market reaction is. They could be willing sellers. They could be willing to have investors, but if they carry on owning it, that's fine too. That's my understanding of their position.
"I personally think John Henry and Tom Werner are not just very good owners, but keen to have a good legacy and want to make sure that we're passing it to good owners.
"In a sense, they had the benefit of taking over from people that the fans hated. So they had everything in their favour as long as they did what they said they were going to do, which the did – they had the following wind. They're a difficult act to follow. To be a better owner than Fenway is quite difficult."
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