Speculation continued on Sunday morning in the newspapers about the future of Liverpool Football Club amid rumours that a Dubai-based group was prepared to launch another bid to the buy the club from American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
Dubai Investment Capital (DIC), the company beaten to the purchase of Liverpool by Hicks and Gillett are reported to be back in town with a £500m bid for the club.
Not only might this bid appeal to the Americans, rumoured to be increasingly concerned about their needs to refinance the debt they took on to buy the club in order to continue plans to build a new stadium, it might also appeal to the manager, Rafael Benitez.
The relationship between the Americans and the Spaniard have been publicly shown to be strained but if the Gillett and Hicks are leaving Liverpool, the Benitez's long term future at the club could be secure once again, with the Arabs keen to keep Benitez on board.
That was the argument Paul Hetherington of the Daily Star on Sunday made on the Sunday Supplement this week that Sunday morning's headlines will have pleased Benitez.
"It has got to be good news for him," said Hetherington, "because his relationship with the American owners is fraught to say the least.
"Gillett and Hicks don't understand the way that football works and the Jurgen Klinsmann situation was an example of that. I am not saying that clubs don't go around tapping up managers to replace the guy that they have got if they don't want him but they don't come out and admit it publicly.
"You can admire their honesty, they haven't told a lie, they haven't ducked. They have done it the American way, they Americans like being up front and bold about things. That's obviously the way they see things being done and should be done but it is not the way things are done in English football.
"It is good news for Benitez and I am certain that he will be delighted. DIC looked like taking control of the club before the Americans seemed to come from nowhere to pip them, and it has to be good news for Benitez if there is a changed of ownership.
"He is aware of what they (Gillett and Hicks) have been doing, they have been playing games and he has wanted to get his message across."
Dubai Investment Capital (DIC), the company beaten to the purchase of Liverpool by Hicks and Gillett are reported to be back in town with a £500m bid for the club.
Not only might this bid appeal to the Americans, rumoured to be increasingly concerned about their needs to refinance the debt they took on to buy the club in order to continue plans to build a new stadium, it might also appeal to the manager, Rafael Benitez.
The relationship between the Americans and the Spaniard have been publicly shown to be strained but if the Gillett and Hicks are leaving Liverpool, the Benitez's long term future at the club could be secure once again, with the Arabs keen to keep Benitez on board.
That was the argument Paul Hetherington of the Daily Star on Sunday made on the Sunday Supplement this week that Sunday morning's headlines will have pleased Benitez.
"It has got to be good news for him," said Hetherington, "because his relationship with the American owners is fraught to say the least.
"Gillett and Hicks don't understand the way that football works and the Jurgen Klinsmann situation was an example of that. I am not saying that clubs don't go around tapping up managers to replace the guy that they have got if they don't want him but they don't come out and admit it publicly.
"You can admire their honesty, they haven't told a lie, they haven't ducked. They have done it the American way, they Americans like being up front and bold about things. That's obviously the way they see things being done and should be done but it is not the way things are done in English football.
"It is good news for Benitez and I am certain that he will be delighted. DIC looked like taking control of the club before the Americans seemed to come from nowhere to pip them, and it has to be good news for Benitez if there is a changed of ownership.
"He is aware of what they (Gillett and Hicks) have been doing, they have been playing games and he has wanted to get his message across."
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