Liverpool’s ownership war could drag on through the summer,
increasing the likelihood of manager Rafa Benitez walking out to
join Juventus or Real Madrid.
Co-owner Tom Hicks, who put Liverpool up for sale on Friday, has
claimed he and George Gillett expect close to £800million for the
Anfield club – nearly four times what they paid for it in 2007.
His sky-high demands for a club independent analysts value at
just over £300m indicate that he is going to use the full
six-months’ grace offered by the Royal Bank of Scotland to sell the
club, leaving a power vacuum until then, despite the arrival of new
chairman Martin Broughton.
Weighing up his options: The ongoing ownership
dispute at Liverpool may force Rafa Benitez to head for Italy or
Spain
The biggest casualty of Hicks’ bullish stance could be Benitez,
who has become increasingly impatient with the off-field
uncertainty. Unless a new owner is found quickly, it is unlikely
Benitez will be able to spend the £60m he said he needed to mount a
title challenge next term.
He is being courted by Madrid and Juventus but is reluctant to
leave Anfield without a pay-off worth up to £16m.
Hicks said he would not be forced into a quick firesale of
Liverpool despite hostile feelings from fans. He added: ‘Liverpool
Football Club has been a great investment.
‘There’s a strong business rationale. I should make four times
my money.
‘The club has probably tripled in value. Our EBITDA [Earnings
before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] has more
than doubled. Liverpool will be the
most profitable investment I’ve ever made.’
Hicks and Gillett paid about £220m to buy Liverpool from David
Moores, but put the club in debt as a result. They are under
pressure to sell, with about £237m owed to RBS and Wachovia.
Proposals to build a new stadium at Stanley Park have failed to
take off following the impact of the worldwide recession.
A search over months has failed to attract any new investors,
but Hicks is adamant he will not be forced out of the door in a
hurry.
He said: ‘We have doubled player spending both gross and net and
the new stadium is now fully designed and permitted.
‘With fresh capital from the new owner, the new stadium will be
operational from August 2014.
Up for sale: Tom Hicks and George Gillett have put
Liverpool on the market
‘Liverpool will be as profitable as any other club in the
Premier League and can compete financially on and off the
pitch.’
Sources close to Hicks threw out a proposal from New York-based
investment bank The Rhone Group, who offered to buy 40 per cent of
the club for £105m, saying, ‘We will not look at opportunistic
low-ball private equity firms.’
The saga will effect Benitez ahead of a big week in which his
side meet West Ham in the Premier League on Monday and then travel
to face Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-final, first leg
on Thursday.
To add to his problems, striker Fernando Torres is likely to
miss both games amid fears that a knee injury might require surgery
that would keep him out for the rest of the season.
His trip to Spain to see a specialist on Friday was cancelled
because of flights being suspended across Europe and Benitez said:
‘I honestly don’t know when Fernando will be back. At the moment
the knee is fine, but we need the opinion of the specialist, who
will decide on an operation.’
Hicks and Gillett put Liverpool up for sale as part of the deal
which saw the RBS extend July’s deadline for the Americans to pay
back £100m of their debt.
Yet West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady, appointed at Upton Park
when David Sullivan and David Gold bought half the club for £52.5m,
believes Liverpool are overpriced.
She said: ‘Some of the world’s biggest financial institutions
are floundering in their quest to cut the Gillett-Hicks demands for
Liverpool. It seems a lot of money to pay for a club in need of
costly changes on the playing side, restructuring and a new
stadium.