Monday, October 11, 2010

Pepe Reina Wants An End To The Takeover 'Chaos' At Liverpool

Liverpool's goalkeeper Pepe Reina wants a quick end to takeover talk surrounding the club as he feels it is a distracting the club and players.

The takeover crisis involves New England Sport Ventures (NESV) bidding £300 million to take over the club from current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. However, the American executives are involving the high court to try to prevent the sale of the club, as they feel it is invalid and undervaluing the club.

But the Spaniard understandably just wants to do the talking on the pitch.

"The only thing we can do is play football and the things that are going on around the club, the ownership situation and all that is out of our hands," the 28-year-old told reporters.

"It’s still too soon to talk about the takeover because there is still some chaos down there.

"I am worried. I am worried because of the situation of the club but I am optimistic and I think we are going to bounce back and be our best in a few months. At least that’s what I hope."

What is more worrying for Reina and everyone involved at the club is if Hicks and Gillett manage to block the sale of the team going through.

This would mean that the Royal Bank of Scotland - who Kop Holdings owe £237 million - could chase after the debt as soon as Friday, meaning that Liverpool would be put into administration and incur a nine point penalty in the process.

And Reina admits that this would be a mighty blow in what has already proved to be a hard start to the season.

"It would be a tough setback and a very difficult situation but I am optimistic that everything will be sorted out before that," he added.

"All that we can do now is hope and pray for a good finish and a very good ending.

"We could do nothing [so far] apart from winning games and that hasn’t been the case unfortunately."

The Madrid born star still believes that if the club did go into administration and incur the nine-point penalty, they would still have enough quality to avoid relegation, but conceded that securing a place in Europe would be very unlikely.

"I still believe that even with nine less points we will be able to stay in the Premier League but of course it will be no other target possible for us because with nine points less it’s going to be a tough, tough year.

"I don’t even want to think about that because we won’t be that bad and it won’t be like this."

It has been a difficult start to the season for the reds, having played both halves of Manchester and Arsenal, so Reina feels that a few victories in the coming matches can lift the team spirits.

"The team is good enough to start winning games. It’s a difficult situation but we have to stick together and work hard to try to turn it around."

Reina, who signed a six-year contract with Liverpool in April denied any rumours linking to other clubs, particularly after reported interest from Arsenal.

"The only thing I can do is play football and focus on Liverpool because I just signed a six-year contract," Reina said.

"It’s just because of the press. I don’t know anything else."

The goalkeeper also felt that his fellow compatriot Fernando Torres, who has struggled with form and injuries recently, would be back to his best before too long.

"Fernando is one of the best strikers in the world. As soon as he is fit once again, and he’s working on that, he will be shining once again for us."

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