AMERICAN duo George Gillett and Tom Hicks vowed to make
Liverpool the biggest club in the world after their £470million
takeover was agreed. They plan to make Rafa Benitez as great as
legendary Reds boss Bill Shankly by handing him £120million for new
players. And they promised to leave Chelsea and Manchester United
trailing.
Gillett said: This club is not far from being the best in the
world not very far from being truly a dominant side. Thats what
we are looking to be. We need to look at all the resources we
possibly can to compete with Manchester United and Chelsea.
Ice hockey tycoons Gillett and Hicks refused to be drawn on how
much money they will make available for players although the
figure of £120m has been mentioned. But they promised to back
Anfield boss Benitez with hard cash when the transfer market
re-opens in the summer.
Gillett said: Theres no reason to share our strategies with
everyone else. Wed like to do things our way rather than trying to
match what Manchester United are doing. Its wrong to say we want
to match them in terms of spending. We want to match or exceed
Chelsea in winning and there are many ways to do that its not
just about spending.
Teams who try to spend their way to winning usually dont.
Spending helps but it has to be combined with other things. If we
have a chance to get a great player we will do. It is Rafa and Rick
Parrys job to bring us the ones they want and we will support
them.
We want to have high-quality, highly-committed players. But were
not putting a budget on what we will do. Hicks said: The New York
Yankees have the biggest payroll in baseball but havent won a
championship by doing that.
We have to develop good young players they are the lifeblood.
Were here to build a winning tradition on what is already a
winning tradition. We are looking forward to bringing home many
trophies from within the Premiership and Europe.
The pair have vowed to build Liverpool a new stadium in Stanley
Park but will not be sharing it with deadly rivals
Everton.
