Yes, after months of interest from foreign consortiums the Liverpool board has finally agreed to the sale of the club with the New England Sports Ventures (NESV), parent company of the Boston Red Sox and worth £943million. Tom “just go already” Hicks and George “please, just go already” Gillett, who have owned the club since 2007, are distinctly unhappy about this proposed takeover by NESV. The bid will only cover the outstanding loan payment of £282million to the Royal Bank of Scotland (due by October 15), leaving nothing on the table for the hostile owners. Suffice to say the pair will pursue any legal option they can to block the deal going through. With the debt due in nine days time it is unlikely the pair will be able to make the payment themselves and might be forced to sell the club.
Cautious
It seems that half the stories that circulate about Premier League football clubs these days involve exorbitant takeover bids, transfer fund disputes between managers and board members and chasms between board members and owners. Case in point: Liverpool.
Fans have been particularly vociferous in their protests against the owners, who they deem to have no interest in the club beside their own investment. Whether this takeover bid is the dawn of a new era at Anfield is not clear yet, so supporters will be cautious about whether new owners will have the interests of the club at heart, invest money within the squad and push through a deal for a new stadium.
Plummet
Rafael Benitez’s departure was thought to mark a fresh start for the Merseyside club, but since Roy Hodgson’s arrival at the start of the season the club has plummeted into the deepest, darkest realms of Moria the relegation zone. Hodgson has achieved just one league win so far and Saturday’s defeat at home to newly promoted Blackpool had impatient fans in the Kop calling for the return of Kenny Dalglish. Surely the former Fulham man had no idea what he was getting himself into? He has adopted an uninspired team from Benitez, had no money to strengthen the group (with all due respect to on-the-cheap signings Paul Konchesky and Brad Jones) and has been caught in an off-the-field imbroglio, which has seemed interminable.
With the new owners on the verge of a swoop, will they have a new manager in mind? Will the fans be worried by more American owners? It’s clear that a major overhaul is needed to lift such a decorated club from its knees. With the takeover drama and forthcoming Merseyside derby at Goodison Park next weekend, Liverpool supporters are in for yet another anxious few weeks.
