Liverpool Owners dupe into paying £20million for Downing
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VIDEO: It's official, Liverpool's Downing really has bin rubbish!
Struggle: Stewart Downing has failed to live up to expectations at Liverpool
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For Liverpool fans wondering what, after a return of one goal in 26 games, the club saw in Stewart Downing, the secret is now out.
Owner John W Henry and chairman Tom Werner watched YouTube footage of him supposedly kicking five consecutive balls into five dustbins from 30 yards at Aston Villa’s training ground and were persuaded to complete a £20million move.
The only problem? The footage which shows Downing’s party piece was a fake. Villa’s audio-visual team edited the video to suggest Downing achieved the feat with five consecutive kicks.
When Kenny Dalglish’s interest in Downing was first communicated to the club’s paymasters, they logged on to YouTube. ‘There was some footage of Stewart where he is kicking footballs into five different trash cans,’ said Werner. ‘It was brilliant..‘John and I said, “Oh my god, this player is brilliant, we have to figure out a way to make a deal”.’
It will never be known for certain, but was this mock-up responsible for Liverpool increasing their offer from £18m to £20m when the two clubs were haggling over the fee last July?
As for Villa, it appears that Nick Finney, who works in the club’s media department, was the brains behind the wheeze.A Villa source said: ‘It was part of our 2010-11 season-ticket drive. ‘There is a message after it which reads, “Seeing is believing,” which we thought was a giveaway. Obviously, it wasn’t a big enough clue.’
The video Owner John W Henry and chairman Tom Werner watched on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HCvpk1QsaM&feature=youtu.be
‘John and I said, “Oh my god, this player is brilliant, we have to figure out a way to make a deal”.’
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wonder y
downing kicking is all fail when at liverpool -
i think nobody in the world can do that even once, let alone 5 times.
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downing will come good