Norwegian billionaire Oystein Stray Spetalen has revealed that he came close to saving Liverpool FC from the clutches of reviled former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
In an interview last night on 'Skavlan', a Norwegian Talk show, Spetalan - who is reportedly worth $2.6bn, and admitted to being a Newcastle supporter - claimed that:
* Prior to the sale of the club to Hicks and Gillett, he was contacted by representatives of LFC, who offered him the chance to buy a 50% stake in the club.
* Several meetings took place, and after examining the club's accounts, he and his investment group were happy to proceed.
The deal was all set to go through, but then something happened that changed Spetalen's mind. He explained:
"Two days after I met with representatives of the Liverpool board, some Spanish guy called me, saying that he was owed 20-30 million for two Spanish players they had bought".
Spetalen also confirmed that the two players in question were Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia. It's not clear to what currency Spetalen refers, but it can't be pound sterling as there's no way those two cost £20m-£30m. Indeed, the club's accounts confirm that Liverpool paid just £13m for the two Spaniards:

Given the figures involved, it seems likely the currency in question can only realistically be Norwegian Krone. 20-30m Krone equates to £2m-£3m, which seems plausible.
If the sale had gone through then it's possible Liverpool would've avoided any association with Hicks and Gillett, but Spetalen may have been worse, and his avarice shines through in the following comments:
"I wanted to buy Liverpool for the simple reason that I saw an opportunity to make money. If I had gotten the club at the price that was agreed, I could've earned a lot of money"
With such a cash-obsessed mercenary attitude, it's debatable whether Spetalen and his group would've had the Liverpool's best interests at heart, so perhaps the club dodged a bullet there...and then turned straight into the path of massive IED in the form of Hicks and Gillett (!)
Not much of a choice, was it?
Jaimie Kanwar
In an interview last night on 'Skavlan', a Norwegian Talk show, Spetalan - who is reportedly worth $2.6bn, and admitted to being a Newcastle supporter - claimed that:
* Prior to the sale of the club to Hicks and Gillett, he was contacted by representatives of LFC, who offered him the chance to buy a 50% stake in the club.
* Several meetings took place, and after examining the club's accounts, he and his investment group were happy to proceed.
The deal was all set to go through, but then something happened that changed Spetalen's mind. He explained:
"Two days after I met with representatives of the Liverpool board, some Spanish guy called me, saying that he was owed 20-30 million for two Spanish players they had bought".
Spetalen also confirmed that the two players in question were Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia. It's not clear to what currency Spetalen refers, but it can't be pound sterling as there's no way those two cost £20m-£30m. Indeed, the club's accounts confirm that Liverpool paid just £13m for the two Spaniards:
Given the figures involved, it seems likely the currency in question can only realistically be Norwegian Krone. 20-30m Krone equates to £2m-£3m, which seems plausible.
If the sale had gone through then it's possible Liverpool would've avoided any association with Hicks and Gillett, but Spetalen may have been worse, and his avarice shines through in the following comments:
"I wanted to buy Liverpool for the simple reason that I saw an opportunity to make money. If I had gotten the club at the price that was agreed, I could've earned a lot of money"
With such a cash-obsessed mercenary attitude, it's debatable whether Spetalen and his group would've had the Liverpool's best interests at heart, so perhaps the club dodged a bullet there...and then turned straight into the path of massive IED in the form of Hicks and Gillett (!)
Not much of a choice, was it?
Jaimie Kanwar
Unbelievable bit of business back in 2004 to get Alonso and Garcia (and Nunez) for 13,000,000. Not sure how we pulled that off considering how close Alonso came to joining Real back then. Hopefully Rodgers can pull off some inspired signings to reignite the club next summer.
ReplyDeleteAs for this guy, if he was haggling over what equates to 13 mill then he probably didn't have the desire to invest.
some spanish guy? this man is full of s#*t he gose on to say that he would have made a lot of money so 2-3 million supposedly owed should not make a difference
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...to be honest most people want to make a return. However I'm glad we didn't end up with this guy...at least he's honest lol
ReplyDeleteThis fella is a weirdo!!!......................FSG will do for me!!!
ReplyDeleteNew owner of Liverpool fc now also too stingy.He affraid to break the bank for bring in high quality players like Gonzalo Higuin,Endisson Cavani and Radamel Falcao to Anfield.We needed dangerous and goal machine at LFC. very DANGEROUS LFC must depend suarez alone to score the goal.
ReplyDeleteBe sensible for crying out loud!!!
ReplyDeleteThe best thing would have been Mukesh Ambani buying our club. It was close enough and I dont know what went wrong. We live in the same city and he is one of the most successful businessman in the world. Richest man on earth back in 2008. I was dancing when I heard about it back then.
ReplyDeleteWell actually we tend to forget that this situation was started by moores and parry. It was they who put us on this mess. In 48 hrs we would have been sold to d.i.c.
ReplyDeleteWho cares Jamie. This is in the past . We have bigger issues at hand now. why don't we focus on the now?
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me, man? After what Venky's did to Blackburn. God forbid. I'm glad we got owners who are in the sporting business. Atleast, they will have a plan for the long term.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree there are bigger issues, but LFC's past history is still interesting to explore.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me,
ReplyDeleteWe have no regret about this
Thanks our heavenly father!
i take the fella with a pinch of salt.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the common factor between the Venkys and Ambani that irks you about having Ambani as owner of the club?
ReplyDeletethey spent big and were burned with kenny and commoli pissing cash away.
ReplyDeletedo you think falcao or higuain would actually sign for us right now?
did we pay for nunez?
ReplyDeletealways thought he ws part of the owen to madrid deal?
Moores got a better personal deal with the cowboys, circa £8-£9m, when we could of had the Rich Arab Kings to splash out thier money on our Great club. We still would of had Rafa, been in the top Top 4, could of won the league and probably a new stadium too.
ReplyDeleteEven Sheikh Mansoor enquired but was refused, why? We will never know!
Oh well he went down the road to buy Man City....
Cant believe we missed out not once but twice! These things do not come about that often and we blew it.
At least in FSG we do have some strong business minds to mend this great club, and some difficult decisions have been made already in the KD sacking. We have been left behind a million miles by the other clubs and even Spurs are now ahead of us. The club has been surviving on its past history for far too long now, and some really tough business and econmic decisions will be crucial to our future success.
You got no idea about Ambani, don't compare them with Venky's.
ReplyDeleteHmm? It has been well documented that DIC had stated up front that they had intended to shift some debt onto LFC. They weren't as well off as you think. That's why Moores rejected them. H+G 'lied' about their intentions (or maybe like the current incumbents, bit off more than they could chew). Selling to DIC would have had us in exactly the same position as H+G.
ReplyDeleteIf FSG actually gives a toss, they'll get their fingers out and try and tap up that guy trying to buy Man Utd., because they are obviously only in it for the profit and are struggling for dough themselves. Otherwise, I see us being back in the same mess we were in two years ago in the very near future.
dude,if u want to bring that type of players we might need a super rich sugar daddy like Abra or that Man.City Sheikh.
ReplyDeleteHe said 200-300 millions Norwegian Kroner, but that was obviously a show-off!
ReplyDeleteThe mess was started by Benitez and the fans who kept bleating on about how we couldn't compete and forced Moores to reluctantly sell. The same fans that would then hypocritically berate the likes of City and Chelsea's fortunes in actually getting owners willing to splash the cash., while wishing we'd sell out to random Kuwaiti's or whoever was willing to make an idle promise of how much they could spend.
ReplyDelete20-30 millions kroner?
ReplyDeleteHe said 200-300 mill in the interview, which you can depart on 10 to get it in punds.