Roy Hodgson insists speculation over Liverpool FC’s future ownership will not affect his focus on football but admits the longer it takes the more difficult it makes his transfer options.
The 62-year-old Liverpool FC manager enjoyed a straightforward Anfield debut as his side beat Macedonians Rabotnicki 2-0 in their Europa League third qualifying round second leg, a David Ngog header and a Steven Gerrard penalty wrapped up a 4-0 aggregate victory before half-time on the night.
However, Liverpool FC is currently being dominated by issues off the pitch as various factions jostle for position in the race to take over from American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Rumours on Thursday suggested the Chinese government was behind a bid fronted by Hong Kong-based businessman Kenny Huang while Syrian Yahya Kirdi has claimed he is in pole position to become the new owner.
Hodgson admits he does not have any involvement in that side of Liverpool FC’s business but he is acutely aware what impact continued delays in a change of ownership could have.
"The interesting thing for me was the game, that has been my total focus," he said on Wednesday night.
"When and if a takeover takes place I’m sure I will be informed.
"We have made some signings so far and we hope to bring in at least a couple of other players.
"I think the danger would be in a late takeover that money would be made available but we wouldn’t have had a chance to research the players in this transfer window.
"We are doing our research in this window and targeting players that the club is capable and able to buy.
"If one day an enormous amount of money is made available like it was for Manchester City and Chelsea so be it, it would be nice.
"But we would still have to do a lot of research before we started splashing that money around.
"It is not a question of how much a player costs, it is how good he is."
Hodgson had praise for the impressive Joe Cole on his home debut after starting the former Chelsea midfielder in a central role behind striker Ngog.
"Joe is desperate to play. He came here because he thought he might get the opportunity to start more games than he did at Chelsea," added the Englishman.
"He is an enthusiastic and effervescent footballer and the more he plays the happier he is.
"His energy and enthusiasm tonight meant he had a really good home debut."
On the team performance as a whole Hodgson added: "I am perfectly satisfied; we played some very attractive football and created lots of chances, more than the scoreline suggests.
"We kept our discipline and that was important too because it is so easy in these games to lose your way and for people to start doing things you don’t want them doing."
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