Yes i've seen karius play for about 3 years at Mainz,he is quality and the RS got him for a steal at 4.7 million,ranked #2 after Neuer by the end of season Bundesliga players poll.
Debt for clubs is serviceable especially for the clubs in the top 9 turnovers,of the clubs in the top 9 which are in "debt" RS Chelsea United Real Barcelona all those clubs are still spending and their turnovers are consistantly rising year on year,the only clubs in that top 9 who are debt free are Arsenal PSG City and Bayern .When the Glazers bought United they saddled the club with £700 million pound of debt,to their credit they halved that debt and lowered the annual debt payments,but that debt figure has risen back to £700 million from the post fergie spending sprees that have totalled £600 million,their turnovers will hit over £500 million in the next books anyway so no hindrance to them.
Chelsea actually owe Abramovich over 1 billion pounds,but he has changed that debt into equity as you higlighted what FSG have done as well and both those clubs turnovers in 24 months will be over £400 million plus,,and another note of the ALL 5 clubs are expanding stadiums either now or in the forceable future "See the plans for the Nou Camp Bernabeu and Stamford Bridge" and United actually have plans to expand to 90000 so that is further proof these debts for those financial power clubs is no hindrance as servicing a "debt"annually at say 20%-30% of revenues is easily manageable for these financial powerhouse clubs.
Real and Barca have debt together totalling over 1 billion euros and have turnovers each in the £500 million bracket, these clubs with "debt"have massive fanbases,lucrative pre season tours as the international cup pays clubs £20 million each for these tours in the USA and Asia and with massive commercial and matchday revenues these clubs are printing money and easily spend lavishly on player fees/wages and stadium expansion without being handcuffed by "debt".
I always look at skyscraper city website which is fantastic for seeing what sports clubs are doing with stadiums especially NFL teams and football teams there is alot of people in the industry who post on that website like architects,designers,planners etc.From what i read there FSG sold out the corporate boxes within days of going on sale for the new main stand as well as adding season ticket holders from the waiting list and the new stand will be paid off within 3-5 seasons from corporate and the naming rights deal,and also read that the new Annie road end design is being modified to have corporate boxes added because there is demand for them,they have knocked all the houses on the road there so it looks like a new stand there is going up.
FFP is a joke and was supposed to stop clubs being in "debt",but clubs can still have massive "debts",still spend lavishly and easily service the "debt" and interest payments.
I'm sure Mainz are a mainstay on American television. And i'm sure you were an avid follower of all their games. Absolutely no scepticism on my part to either of those claims. Actually, I just lied... you just know that he came second in some daft poll don't you? Come on, we're all blues here, no need to pretend.
United's debt has never been £700m and is currently around £250m, so in effect not much greater than Liverpool despite having a far greater turnover.
FSG are bleeding Liverpool dry, Ian Ayre paid himself £1.2m last year lol. But stil, they've got the goalie who was the second best last year so it doesn't matter!
Chelsea, Madrid and Barcelona aren't owned by investors, that's the difference. Abramovich converted debt into equity as an FFP dodge. Which is also what Liverpool did, although it was also a covert way for FSG to bleed more money from Liverpool Plc. Which tends to go over most kopites heads.
Liverpool PLC are in the top 10 for debt. This is a massive cause for concern, the clubs 'ahead' of them can either cope more easily with the debt (united, arsenal) or they don't need to worry about it at all, like real Madrid, City and Chelsea).
I like your optimism re the new stand but there's been plenty of games with empty seats in recent years. They will struggle to sell it out most weeks.
Liverpool PLC made £59m in total from gate receipts last year. The new stadium is being funded with a £49m loan (at least) Even at a minimal interest rate it is difficult to see why you think it'll be paid off in 5 seasons.
FSG will be charging a higher interest rate than the bank (equity is dearer than debt remember), not sure how much they'll get for naming rights but it'll have to be quite a bit if they want to pay it off in 5 years.
In actuality it could take well over a decade, that's if they manage to sell it out.
If I was a kopite reading that I'd be worried. for a bit anyway, until i remembered we've bought a relegated midfielder for £25m and the second best German goalie of all time!!
