Hicks: Says there is interest in Reds
It has been a turbulent few years at Anfield since the American
buyers took over from David
Moores,
saddling the club with debts amounting up
over £350million and annual loan repayments of £40million.
Gillett and Hicks decided they were selling up in April
after a breakdown in relations with manager Rafa
Benitez and supporters alike, claiming a figure
between £600million to £800m to be enough to take their
ownership.
With the appointment of Martin Broughton as chairman, brought in
as a go-between for Gillett, Hicks and the buyers, it appears their
asking price is being met with little interest.
Moores has been the latest in a long line to demand a quick sale
of the club, but Hicks stood by the asking price, stating that
there were a lot of investors willing to purchase the Reds, though
it could take a year to 18 months to finalise the process.
"Liverpool has a really big universe of interested
buyers," said Hicks.
"There are a number of wealthy people all over the world,
particularly in the
Middle
East and Asia, who are enormous Liverpool
fans."
Hicks also admitted that he was finished with sports franchises
following the sale of Liverpool, with the former owner of the Texas
Rangers and the Dallas Stars stating he would go back to
concentrating on his private businesses.
"Sports has never been my primary business," Hicks told
Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
"We are systematically selling our sports assets to focus on our
core businesses like private equity and real estate.
"The lack of privacy in sports is something that my family and I
aren't willing to undertake any longer.
"We'll always be big fans but we want our privacy back."
Former Liverpool striker and ambassador at the club Kenny
Dalglish was also adamant that the club would not
go backwards, even with star players Fernando Torres and Steven
Gerrard rumoured to be seeking a move away from
the club.
"Liverpool FC is much more important than any one individual -
it always has been and always will be," said Dalglish.
"It will move forwards and move upwards.
"It is not the greatest time in the club's history at this time
but I don't think they will start to go backwards."