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George Gillett And Tom Hicks Put Liverpool FC Up For Sale

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George Gillett and Tom Hicks - who between them have had also had involvement with the Montreal Canadiens, Richard Petty Motorsports, Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars ended countless months of speculation as they confirmed their intention on Friday to sell Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League.


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Although it is just over three years since they bought the club, valued at the time around $330 million, their ownership has been clouded in almost constant controversy. Conflict between the pair which was played out in the media was just the start, there was also the long running issue of the promised new stadium which never materialized as well as a lack of transfer funds provided to manager Rafa Benitez. Over the last two years, when the cracks between Gillett and Hicks came to light there, have been many potential investors linked to Liverpool FC and the current one, a Syrian businessman Yahya Kirdi, is said to be in advanced talks to buy the club.

If the sale does go through then it may not be the only change at Liverpool before the start of next season. After being linked with a number of major European clubs during his six year tenure, Rafa Benitez has reportedly been offered a $25 million job at Italian side Juventus with the prospect of $100 million transfer fund.


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I think most soccer fans would say good riddance to Gillett and Hicks. They have saddled Liverpool with so much debt that it will take years for them to recover.

It is hard to argue with a Champions League win (and another final) but I have never been convinced by Benitez, either.
 
The win and the final in the CL was before Gillett & Hicks bought the club (well they bought the club in February and the final was in May so their influence was zero) so the success while they were at the club was pretty much nothing. As they arrived, Liverpool were in the CL final; as they bow out, Liverpool are in the Europa League and won't be in the Champions League next season. At a time where Arsenal financed and built a new stadium, Chelsea kept on spending and Manchester City spent even more the owners didn't move the club forward at all. The stadium is as far away as it was 3 years ago, the money wasn't given to upgrade the squad - they've left a mess, and you can't put the majority of the blame on the manager.