David Moores has spoken recently of his “heartbreak” at how his beloved Liverpool is becoming a “laughing stock” and how he feels “let down” by the public spats currently shaming the club. No wonder he feels so bad – Liverpool’s Honorary Life President is partly to blame for the current fiasco and is probably feeling immense guilt over selling out to the mighty dollar.

That may sound harsh, but the reality is that if Moores and his boardroom cronies had not succumbed to greed 14 months ago, the shameful events that have transpired over the last year would never have happened.

In his interview, Mr Moores bemoaned the current state of affairs:

‘Moores says that he feels let down but I submit it it is he who has let everyone down. If he had just gone with the DIC deal, then the Gillett/Hicks debacle that has shamed the club would have been avoided.’


"It's heartbreaking. I'm almost lost for words about the damage that's being done to the club at the present time. As a fan, and as someone who loves the club, it is totally unacceptable to see this being played out in the public arena. When things are played out like they are at present it virtually makes the club a laughing stock.

"All I can say is I feel very sorry that it has come to this. I do feel let down. With everything that's going on, I have to feel let down. This is not how I foresaw it and I'm sure it's not how the fans foresaw it."

Moores says that he feels let down but I submit it it is he who has let everyone down. If he had just gone with the DIC deal, then the Gillett/Hicks debacle that has shamed the club would have been avoided.

So why exactly did Moores pull out of the deal with DIC? There was nothing ostensibly wrong with the deal, and – as DIC chief executive Sameer Al Ansari explained at the time – it would have offered the same benefits as the Hicks/Gillett deal.

On December 4th, 2006, Rick Parry stated the following:

"DIC is a potential investor with the resources and philosophy that we believe could make them an ideal partner. Already they have demonstrated a full understanding of, and respect for, the club's heritage and values.

"We also believe they share our passion for success. In particular, DIC believes in investing in the businesses it acquires. This is very important in terms of the proposed new stadium, which is key to plans for the regeneration of the local community."

A few months later, Parry had changed his tune, publicly stating that DIC tried to “bully” the club into accepting their offer:

"DIC gave the club 12 hours to make a decision but the chairman was not prepared to have Liverpool Football Club bullied like that."

DIC refuted the accusation that they had issued an ultimatum.

The bullying excuse was an insult to the intelligence of all Liverpool fans. It is clear that by the time Parry made that statement, Liverpool were in bed with George Gillett and were looking for any excuse to get out of the DIC deal.

Anyway, even if an ultimatum was issued, who could blame DIC after Liverpool stabbed them in the back and started negotiating a secret new deal with Gillett? DIC were understandably enraged at Liverpool’s unprofessional conduct, and they had every right to be, especially since the club did not even bother to keep the group informed about what was happening.

So again, I pose the question: Why did Moores back out of the DIC deal? Rick Parry offered another lame excuse:

"Clearly things with DIC took longer than we expected and we thought we would have things wrapped up before Christmas, but it was taking significantly longer than that."

So – the due diligence process took a few weeks to complete. Big deal! Due diligence is an important aspect of any big business deal; it should take a long time to complete, especially when hundreds of millions of pounds are at stake. Besides, why was it so important than things got wrapped up at Christmas anyway?

George Gillett breezed in and completed his due diligence in ... three days. Three days! What about Moores' due diligence? Rick Parry assured everyone that Moores was on the ball, while according to Moores:

"It was in total good faith. I believed these fellas, I believed everything they said to me. They talked about putting the money in and the new stadium and having no debt on the club”.

Why bother checking them out properly when everything is in “total good faith”? So what caused Moores to take his eye off the ball? After DIC withdrew their bid, Rick Parry stated:

"We have a duty as directors to consider a very interesting bid from George Gillett.”

Translation: The DIC bid was done and dusted but then Gillett came back with a deal that made us all more money, so we decided to go with that instead. There can be no other conclusion than this: David Moores and the Liverpool directors had dollar signs in their eyes, and instead of sticking to their deal with DIC, they saw an opportunity to make more money and took it. DIC were offering £4,500 a share and the deal was all but done. Gillett comes in at the eleventh hour with an offer of £5,000 a share, and suddenly it’s all change.

Quite simply, with Gillett’s offer, Moores stood to make £88million compared to £80million from DIC’s offer. So, for the sake of £8million, David Moores sold Liverpool FC out to a couple of cowboys.

Rick Parry et al can go on and on about needing to make the best deal for the club and satisfying the shareholders, but the question is this: Has the last year of hassle been worth the extra £8million that Moores received?

Moores is clearly sincere when he speaks of being “shell-shocked” over what has happened since he sold the club, and he has been a fine servant over the years. However, he should acknowledge the mistakes he made instead of just blaming everything on Hicks and Gillett. The fact is, if it wasn't for Moores, there would be no Hicks and Gillett!

To read the complete article, please visit: http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2008/04/david-moores-feels-let-down-by-hicks.html

Sports news, Sports coverage, Sports TV