Offers On The Table In Battle For Liverpool FC Ownership

Liverpool Football Club has received a number of firm takeover proposals, Anfield officials have confirmed.

The club released a statement following a key board meeting in London which followed two weeks of intense speculation about potential bidders, including Chinese mogul Kenny Huang and the Syrian businessman Yahya Kirdi, as well as unnamed others.

Liverpool's statement read: "The Liverpool FC Board has reviewed a number of proposed bids for the club at a meeting held on Friday.

"The Board will continue to act in the best interests of Liverpool Football Club and its supporters, doing all that it can to ensure that the Club is ultimately sold to a buyer who has the resources and real commitment to give it a long-term, stable and secure funding position for its plans.

"The sale process is continuing. However, its timing and outcome remain uncertain.

"In the meantime, we will not comment on rumour and speculation."

The development is a positive sign that there is at last some formal substance to the Anfield sale process, with declared bids and letters of intent from several parties now vying to buy out Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks, now on the boardroom table. Anfield officials made it clear after news of interest from Huang and Kirdi emerged that they wanted to see potential investors "show them the money" and had grown weary that the process was being played out in the media.

However, the club’s senior executives, led by Chairman Martin Broughton, Managing Director Christian Purslow and Commercial Director Ian Ayre, will take all the time they need to evaluate each offer thoroughly.

Though the Reds are still hoping for a swift resolution to the process, it is being stressed that the greatest priority above all is to ensure the club moves into the right hands, given all the controversies and broken promises of the past three years.

There is a determination to ensure that not only do bidders have the money to back up their now formally declared interest – but that they will deal with Liverpool’s debt burden, commit to finally building a new stadium, and prove worthy and responsible owners of the five-times European champions.

All of those criteria mean that a decision on a preferred bidder – should one eventually emerge – is still a matter of days, possibly even weeks away.

All the while, pressure is continuing to mount on Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

The Royal Bank of Scotland will call in their debt of £237m on October 6, rather than facilitate another re-financing deal.

Hicks and Gillett could also be hit with a £20m fine in charges by the RBS if Liverpool is not sold before the end of August.