Liverpool In Fear As Hicks Almost Set To Recapture Club

Liverpool fear their star players
will ask to leave if Tom Hicks
wins his battle to wrest back control of club.
Hicks met Liverpool chairman
Martin Broughton in London for
talks last Wednesday to outline
his plan to refinance through the
American private equity firm
Blackstone/GSO Group to give
him a minimum of two more
years to find a buyer.
The refinancing deal, which Hicks
hopes he can conclude in
advance of the Royal Bank of
Scotland deadline of October 6,
does not include funds to buy
new players or to build a new
stadium, which would conflict
with the board's plea to their
star players to stay at Anfield and
await the arrival of new owners
who will invest in the team and a
£400 million new stadium.
A leading banking source close
to the inside track on events told
ESPNsoccernet: "If Hicks gets his
way, it would be a catastrophe
for Liverpool. Besides more debt,
higher interest payments and no
stadium, it won't be a question
of selling players but whether the
players will want to go.
"The players were told by the
board in the summer that there
would be new owners and a
new stadium, and that they
would not be sold.
"If the top players can see what
is happening, and if it happens,
they will want to go, rather than
the club wanting to sell them."
The likes of Fernando Torres and
Steven Gerrard had been assured
during the summer that new
owners were arriving and there
would be funds to invest in new
players. Pepe Reina recently
spoke out about the need for
new arrivals if the club are to
become challengers again.
However, Hicks' plan would leave
the Reds with far more severe
problems than previously
imagined.
The source added: "Up to last
week when Hicks turned up with
his plan, the worst-case scenario
was that Liverpool would end up
in mid-table without Champions
League football again, but in no
danger of going down, and
would struggle along until the
Americans went, sooner or later,
and new owners would come
along and rescue the club."
Liverpool's board are now
deciding whether to mount a
legal challenge to stop Hicks and
in what form it would take. The
board are short of time, with
Hicks suggesting he will be in a
position to refinance from the
start of October as he plans to
raise £281 million through GSO,
an offshoot of Blackstone that
specialises in lending to
distressed companies.
There is, however, the hope that
Hicks' plans will fall flat as the
source added: "He hasn't actually
raised the money yet."