A lot has been made of our current ownership duo of Hicks and Gillette. First off, their Americans so they MUST be crap! Second, they called LFC the “Liverpool Reds” and then had the gall to say we were a franchise. The final nail in the coffin was signing Torres…
All joking aside, and these were all real criticisms of the ownership team (some more criticized than others), the American owners have had their ups and downs at the club. The economy in both Britain and in the United States has certainly harmed their ability to progress forward with their plans of building the new stadium, which is what they were brought in to do. Given that they were already coming in with a bit of debt, you have to say that things have not quite panned out for them financially, and it is admirable that they are taking their time to find the suitable replacement… or at least a suitable investor to help out.
The recent news is that Hicks and Gillette have had talks with an Indian billionaire. From the “News of the World,” Chris Bascombe (former Liverpool Echo reporter) writes:
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LIVERPOOL have held talks with the billionaire owners of an Indian Premier League cricket team.
And that could lead to a massive investment and an eventual buy-out.
Representatives of the GMR group, who run the Delhi Daredevils IPL side, were guests at last week’s clash with Arsenal.
GMR chairman Grandhi Mallikarjun Rao is worth an estimated £4.2billion and the senior official he sent to Liverpool in midweek is known to be a supporter of the club.
Talks were started by Hicks, initially with a view to securing a sponsorship deal, but Bangalore-based GMR have made no secret of their desire to branch out into other sports.
Rao, 58, made his millions in the airport and construction industry and recently formed a subsidiary company to invest in sport, with English football considered the most attractive.
A Kop source said: “The GMR group were invited by Hicks and their representative watched the Arsenal match in the directors’ box with Hicks’ son Tommy. It was quite clear the representative was a fan.
“When you look at the company’s commitment to sport they’re exactly the type of partner Tom would be looking for.”
Liverpool’s American owners have been scouring the globe for finance to stave off the threat of having to sell the club on the cheap in July.
Club officials have also discussed an agreement with shirt sponsors Carlsberg for £60-£80m. But the Danish brewers have baulked at the price.
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It is important to note in the article that Hicks is looking for a PARTNER (if you read the wordage carefully) rather than someone to completely sell the club to… unless of course you read other sources which suggest that Hicks (not Gillette) is looking to find an investor with the view to sell. Gillette is looking to sell altogether, and perhaps it will be to Mr. Rao.
Time will tell, but “perhaps” is the word of the day. Regardless, this seems less skeptical than the DIC group that has popped up from time to time. Watch this space!
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