Source: Telegraph
Premier League chairmen give warm welcome to prospective new Liverpool owners
New England Sports Ventures, owners of the Boston Red Sox, have had a £300million offer accepted by the Liverpool board - though against the wishes of current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett who have launched legal action to try to stop it. [LNB]There have been some reservations expressed by Liverpool fans about replacing one set of American owners with another, but Buck said NESV should be given a chance to prove themselves. [LNB] Related ArticlesLiverpool suitors make debt pledgeBroughton: Liverpool sale could be done in a weekBroughton expects Liverpool takeover in a weekLiverpool takeover crisis: Q&ALiverpool board agree to sell clubNo answers, only questions, after Liverpool's night of long knivesChelsea chairman Bruce Buck said: ''It depends on what the objective of a foreign owner is - if they are in a position to recognise the history and traditions of what they are buying then I'd say let's welcome them with open arms. [LNB]''I think you need to build up a relationship with the fan groups. I don't think they .125Hicks and Gillett.375 listened to the fans. It wasn't just the leverage of debt.'' [LNB]Wolves chairman Steve Morgan, who made an unsuccessful bid for Liverpool five years ago, said he would welcome the takeover going through. [LNB]''I give a warm welcome to anything that resolves the issue, hopefully good for the club and fans,'' said Morgan at the Leaders in Football conference in London. [LNB]''I'm not a fan of leveraged debt in football, if it doesn't happen on the pitch, interest bills of £40-50million are a hell of a hurdle before you've kicked the ball. [LNB]''They all understand the passion that exists for football and see it as an investment and opportunity to both invest and exit and multiply their wealth. [LNB]''Yet most American sports owners think they are going to go and do a better job and be a big success and win many championships and sometimes that doesn't quite work out. See example A, Liverpool. [LNB]''I think, like anyone who's got a bit of Liverpool in their heart, I have been very saddened to see what's happened to the club over the past six months in particular, so I give a warm welcome to anything that improves the issue.'' [LNB]West Ham owner David Gold said that debt alone was not an issue - unless like Portsmouth you used it ''to cheat''. [LNB]Gold said: ''One of their [Hicks and Gillett] failures is they haven't delivered their promises. I think that's when the fans turned on them. Once that process started there was no stopping it. [LNB]''If you are using debt to cheat that's different. You can argue that Portsmouth built debt to cheat. They were buying players and spending extreme amounts of money and building debt. [LNB]''Portsmouth outbid people to buy those players. Is that not cheating? I see it as a form of cheating.'' [LNB]
