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Liverpool goes to Hollywood!

  • 25-09-2004 11:13am
    #1
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,972 ✭✭✭✭


    So then is a Scouse movie mogul a better bet than the PM of Thailand?

    Proberly if he's serious.
    MOVIE mogul Mike Jefferies last night insisted that a £100m deal to take over Liverpool is no publicity stunt.

    Liverpool-born Jefferies, chairman of Los Angeles-based Milkshake Films and a close friend of acclaimed Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino, said he has already held talks with Anfield chief executive Rick Parry and director Keith Clayton.

    "There's no question of this being a publicity stunt and I would find it disappointing if anyone was suggesting that," said Jefferies, head of a consortium which also includes Liverpool-born movie lawyer Stuart Ford.

    "These are early days but we've had conversations with Liverpool and we would like to help the club become the most successful in the world once more.

    "We are a couple of fans who want to help the club and I suppose Hollywood, films and Liverpool Football Club does make this incredibly exciting."

    Jefferies is currently working on a £100m production of a film entitled Goal!, which is being filmed at Newcastle United. The first instalment in a trilogy is due for release next August.

    Ford and Jefferies believe they have the financial power to help Liverpool compete on a commercial scale with Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. "It's essential that the club gets investment before January so that the manager can strengthen the squad," Jefferies said.

    "We are proposing a deal that could bring in up to £100m to be invested. Liverpool have a good manager but they are falling behind.

    "We have one of the best managers in the world and he needs some quivers on his arrows to get this club back where it belongs. It's tragic that the brand of Liverpool has slipped back so badly. In Los Angeles you see Manchester United shirts but no-one has heard of Liverpool. Whoever is responsible for that wants shooting.

    "Liverpool should not have been allowed to slip so badly behind in terms of their brand."

    Jefferies is the fourth major player to make a move for Liverpool but so far chairman David Moores - whose family owns 51.6 per cent of the club - has rejected all approaches.

    Local businessman Steve Morgan, Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his fellow countryman, media tycoon Paiboon Damrongchaitham, have all held discussions with the Liverpool board.

    Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is not under any pressure but top of the agenda for any new investor would be to help finance a new stadium away from Anfield to boost the club's gate receipts.

    Moores is unlikely to step down but is understood to be ready to accept new investment as long as he is promised a major role in the club's future.

    A source close to millionaire building tycoon Morgan, the club's third-largest shareholder, cast doubts on the new US-backed speculation.

    He said: "It seems rather a lot of money and from people nobody has heard of before.

    "It's interesting that the speculation comes when a film is being made on football by them."

    Moores currently owns 18,000 of Liverpool's 35,000 shares.

    Exactly how much the club is worth is open to debate. At the top level at £4,000 a share it is worth £140m, but shares have changed hands recently for £2,000 each, which would put the club's value at £70m.

    This year some shares have changed hands for as little as £1,800 while others have been sold for nearer £4,000.

    Movie men behind the takeover bid

    MIKE JEFFERIES: Born in Merseyside, he starts supporting Liverpool.

    - Is chairman of Milkshake Films, the company making Goal! - a movie about a South American footballer who comes to the Premiership.

    - Milkshake Films is a production company with offices in California and London. He founded European-based publishers the Mondiale Corporation Group in 1990.

    STUART FORD: Born in Liverpool, Ford is an entertainment lawyer and movie executive who enjoyed success at Miramax Films, makers of Kill Bill and Cold Mountain.

    Not to thrilled about all the talk of brand recognition, if the teams is successful the name will gain more lustre, it does'nt need PR tours and merchandising oppotunities.


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