Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks has hit back at David Moores’ criticism of his ownership of the club, insisting that they are in better shape than when he took over three years ago.
“I’m disappointed because I think we’ve done everything we can to improve the club in so many ways over the past three years from the way it had been run before,” the American told Sky Sports News.
Hicks believes that he and co-owner George Gillet have assembled a good management team during their time at the club, streamlining the club’s commercial ventures and improving hugely on predecessor Moores’ running of the club.
“I think we have a great management team now led by Christian Purslow. The commercial director Ian Ayre has done a great job. We have a strong financial director in Philip Nash.
“We’ve grown our sponsorships from £40 million annually under the last year of Moores’ ownership, to this coming year we’ll do close to £100 million, so all those extra sponsorship revenues are resources for the club to use to support the wage bill to be competitive,” he added.
Hicks went on to reassure the club that Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard will not be leaving the club in the summer and that both he and George Gillet are committed to finding the right owners to move the club forward.
“We have no intention of selling any of our top players. We have a substantial transfer budget in place. There’s so much misinformation about transfer spending.
"It’s more than doubled under the ownership of George and myself from the past three years and we will make significant investment this summer, but it’s really about getting the right players.
“We will sell the club. We’re not going to sell it to the wrong group, we’re not going to sell it for the wrong price. We’re going to take our time and do it in a very thoughtful way and try to find the right steward to own Liverpool Football Club.
“We hope it gets done by the end of the calendar year. I don’t anticipate that it will be done necessarily before the beginning of the next season.
"I think £600-800 million is not an unrealistic value range but, you know, the market’s the market. We’ll see.
"We’re more concerned about finding the right next owner, somebody that can make the investment in the club to get the stadium built and let Liverpool Football Club be the best possible football club in the world.”
“I’m disappointed because I think we’ve done everything we can to improve the club in so many ways over the past three years from the way it had been run before,” the American told Sky Sports News.
Hicks believes that he and co-owner George Gillet have assembled a good management team during their time at the club, streamlining the club’s commercial ventures and improving hugely on predecessor Moores’ running of the club.
“I think we have a great management team now led by Christian Purslow. The commercial director Ian Ayre has done a great job. We have a strong financial director in Philip Nash.
“We’ve grown our sponsorships from £40 million annually under the last year of Moores’ ownership, to this coming year we’ll do close to £100 million, so all those extra sponsorship revenues are resources for the club to use to support the wage bill to be competitive,” he added.
Hicks went on to reassure the club that Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard will not be leaving the club in the summer and that both he and George Gillet are committed to finding the right owners to move the club forward.
“We have no intention of selling any of our top players. We have a substantial transfer budget in place. There’s so much misinformation about transfer spending.
"It’s more than doubled under the ownership of George and myself from the past three years and we will make significant investment this summer, but it’s really about getting the right players.
“We will sell the club. We’re not going to sell it to the wrong group, we’re not going to sell it for the wrong price. We’re going to take our time and do it in a very thoughtful way and try to find the right steward to own Liverpool Football Club.
“We hope it gets done by the end of the calendar year. I don’t anticipate that it will be done necessarily before the beginning of the next season.
"I think £600-800 million is not an unrealistic value range but, you know, the market’s the market. We’ll see.
"We’re more concerned about finding the right next owner, somebody that can make the investment in the club to get the stadium built and let Liverpool Football Club be the best possible football club in the world.”
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