LIVERPOOL TAKEOVER
offer than DIC’s and, before you knew it, the two Americans
were striding on to the pitch promising to cherish Liverpool’s
traditions and honour its heritage.
Although Hicks has admitted he knew very little about
the club, or English football, the pair knew what supporters
wanted to hear: that they would respect the club, wanted the
best for it and were not buying it to make a quick buck. Soon
the new owners were taking their seats in the directors’ box
for a dazzling, passionate European night against Barcelona
in the Champions League first knockout round, and who
could believe they were
not captured by the
magic when Liverpool,
having dispatched
the Catalans and
then PSV, beat
Chelsea too to
reach the final?
Hicks has also
said that he and
Gillett learned
how not to do
thePRfromthe
Glazer family,
who chose to
say very little
even as their
2005 takeover of
Manchester United
was bitterly opposed
by the supporters
and the club’s board.
But the Glazers had
shown the duo the way
financially, awakening them to the fortunes English clubs
were making from the sale of TV rights, as the Premier
League has been taken to an expanding global audience.
Hicks said he “researched it” after Gillett came to him
with the proposal and realised that English soccer was
a very likely investment, that “Reds”, as he struggled
not to call Liverpool, were a very big name, which
he was struggling not to call a franchise.eHicksandGillettalsosaidtheywerenotgoingtodothe
dealthewaytheGlazershadwithUnited–namelyto
saddletheclubwiththecostofbeingtakenover...
Yet when the official documentation
cameoutitwasclearthatthey,too,
had borrowed to buy Liverpool