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Liverpool Soccer Fans Call for Bid Clarity as Yahya Kirdi Denies Gulf Link
Liverpool fans called for greater clarity on who is backing offers for the soccer team as one bidder denied he’s funded by a United Arab Emirates royal family.
Syrian businessman Yahya Kirdi, who says he’s had two bids for the 18-time English champion turned down, denied reports in the Guardian and elsewhere that his offer is financed by the Al- Qasimi family, rulers of Sharjah.
“I want to make it clear, and this is very important: Nobody in a Gulf royal family is with me,” he told Bloomberg News. “Not Sharjah, and not any other Gulf royal family.”
The former pizza-business operator, citing a confidentiality agreement, refused to reveal the names of the two associates he says are backing his plan to buy the Premier League club. He said they were “big names.”
Liverpool said Aug. 14 it reviewed a number of proposals but the outcome of the sales process remains “uncertain”. Kirdi refused to say whether his bid was under consideration.
On Aug. 2, Hong Kong businessman Kenny Huang became the first to publicly state his interest in the team through his company, QSL Sports Ltd. Kirdi declared his interest in the five-time European champion two days later. Rhone Group LLC and Kuwaiti businessman Rafed Al Kharafi have also been linked with a possible deal although they haven’t confirmed that.
As with the Kirdi group, it remains unclear who would back Huang.
Suspicion
The uncertainty has aroused suspicion among Reds supporters hoping to avoid a repeat of the problems associated with current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The Americans have been the subject of fan protests during their three-year tenure after delaying work on a promised stadium and financing their ownership of the team with debt.
“It raises a lot suspicions with fans and leaves us wondering who’s behind these bids,” said James McKenna, a spokesman for Spirit of Shankly, a group named after former coach Bill Shankly that opposes the current regime. “The reason is we don’t want a Tom Hicks and George Gillett situation all over again.”
Liverpool, whose parent company has debts of 351 million pounds ($549 million), has been looking for a buyer since April. Prospective investors must prove they’ll pay off the current owners’ 237 million-pound debt with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, fund a new stadium and pay for squad development.
The RBS debt matures Oct. 6. If the club isn’t sold by then and the owners can’t get an extension, the U.K. government- controlled bank could take over Liverpool. Whoever ends up buying the team will “probably” have a deal done before the deadline for the debt repayment, Kirdi said.
Fans’ Skepticism
Liverpool supporters have expressed skepticism that Kirdi’s group has the funds to buy the team. A supporter-run website, Anfield Road, reported that until 2008 Kirdi owned pizza outlets in Montreal.
Kirdi said he did once run pizza businesses in the city after emigrating to Canada in 2002.
“When I came to Canada I didn’t come to take welfare,” he said. “I came to start businesses.” Since then he says he’s developed a construction business specializing in sports stadia and has other investments in the Middle East.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tariq Panja in London at at tpanja@bloomberg.net
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