Ever heard of Andy Lynch? The former Celtic player from the 1970s? Neither had we, but he was actually involved in a takeover bid for Liverpool back in 2010.
But despite Hicks and Gillett agreeing a £400m price with a Dubai Sheikh, our odious former owners changed their minds at the last minute and the potential buyer pulled out.
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(Image) The one-off shirt Liverpool will wear v Manchester United
The 65-year-old takes up the story from here:
“Now I can’t say everything because I signed a confidentiality clause which is unfortunate because I could have said a lot more,” Lynch told the Glasgow Evening Times .
“I was in Australia when my agent, based in Montreal and a fly-man, told me he was representing a conglomerate that wanted to buy a football club. He didn’t know much about football, asked me to get involved and that there would be plenty of money in it. I was always dubious and wanted to know more.
“I asked what club it was and he told me Liverpool. He then said; ‘They’re good, aren’t they?’ This was all from a Sheik in Dubai who had serious money and things quickly developed.
“The bottom line is their greed – the agent and his partners – and Liverpool’s greed, they were owned by the Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks back then, is what scuppered the deal.
“Right at the end the Sheik’s representative didn’t trust anyone, and rightly so, although he quite liked me. He had the cheque for £400m, I was there, and he is about to put the cheque in and as this happening I’m thinking I’m going to be a big player at Liverpool Football Club, in fact I was already looking in Scotland for some professional people to help me.
“But then Hicks, Gillet and this agent guy decided they got the money too easily, there was no question about the original figure so they added on something extra and the Sheik told his guy to tear up the cheque and come home.”
FSG eventually bought the club in a deal which Hicks described as an ‘epic swindle’, but it was in fact our former owners who did their best to swindle everything they could out of Liverpool Football Club. They ran us so horrendously that at one point our future was in genuine jeopardy; a travesty, all things considered.
Whatever people think of our current owners, we have to remember they’ve expanded Anfield, appointed Jurgen Klopp and stabilised us financially. They’re not perfect, but they’re on a different planet to Hicks & Gillett.
Under Klopp, we don’t need billionaire owners, just a united club ethos and board members willing to trust his judgement.