Hicks Quick To Calm Sales Talk At Liverpool

Tom Hicks selling up? The January sales, in soccer terms, are supposed to be about players - not clubs. So it’s amazing to read this evening that there’s reports flying around about Tom Hicks looking to sell his 50% stake in Liverpool, likely to DIC (Dubai) who had failed in an attempted purchase of the club this time last year.

So what’s the story then?

First off it looked like the fans (excluding myself from this one) were turning on Rafa after a string of mediocre results; then the fans back Rafa and tell the Americans to have faith; then the fans turn on the Americans and ask DIC to come in?

It’s also now understood that the American tycoons between them are refinancing the loan they used to buy Liverpool FC last year - maybe a step too far for them as it was known they would have to combine forces at the very least if they were going to buy out the club.

I can understand the fan’s frustration too, myself included in this one. I’ve no doubt that Rafa Benitez is the right man for the job at Anfield, none whatsoever. Ever since taking over from Gerard Houiller I think he’s been nothing short of magnificent. Some players have fully adapted to his ways, some still adapting, others he lets get on with the job.

Rafa can’t solely be blamed for the recent results which caused Hicks and Gillette to “explore” managerial options; you have to take everything into account, especially the media circus surrounding Rafa and the club’s owners and the impact it’s having on the team. Then again, last week we had the revealing of Hicks’ contract offer to Klinsmann before he took the Bayern post, “just in case” being the American’s paraphrased response.

DIC won’t deny they’re looking to make a bid for Hicks’ share, but they won’t confirm it either. For tonight, he’s adamant (or so says the spokesperson for the club’s owners) that there’s no sale whatsoever.

It would be pretty disastrous if there was.

Why can’t they just left Rafa and the team get along? You invest in the club, you invest in the squad, and now you want to go mucking it up by firing one of the most successful Liverpool managers in recent times mid season?

I still hope that the investment in the club was made for the good of the Liverpool. Liverpool Football Club isn’t something that can be passed around like a token or a dodgy pack of Merlin stickers. Andy Harvey makes a great post as well on Liverpool being in the wrong hands…

What do you reckon?

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