Manchester: Liverpool's American owners confirmed on Friday that they want to sell the debt-ridden Premier League soccer club after three troubled years in charge.
Co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. have hired Barclays Capital to advise on the sale and announced that British Airways chairman Martin Broughton will take on the same role at Anfield to oversee the process.
"Owning Liverpool Football Club over these past three years has been a rewarding and exciting experience for us and our families," Hicks and Gillett said in a joint statement. "We have now decided together to look to sell the club to owners committed to take the club through its next level of growth and development."
Details of the plans were reported Saturday by The Associated Press, but the confirmation was delayed until after Thursday's 21st anniversary of the Hillsborough stadium disaster, which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans.
For more than two years, Hicks and Gillett have been trying to attract investors to reduce the debt resulting from their leveraged takeover in 2007, which stands at $364 million, and raise finances to build a new stadium to replace Anfield.
But that investment search has failed amid feuding between Hicks and Gillett, who have faced angry protests from Liverpool fans on their rare visits to northwest England.
Now the Americans hope Broughton, along with Barclays Capital, can succeed in finding a buyer — three years after buying the 18-time English champions for $268.9 million, while taking on $69.2 million in liabilities.
"There has been a long process of Hicks and Gillett looking for investors — the decision has now been made to exit," said Broughton, who is a fan of Premier League rival Chelsea. "This is not the ad hoc process that has been along so far."
Hicks had blocked Gillett's moves to sell his 50 per cent share to Dubai International Capital group in 2008 as the pair feuded over future plans for the club. And an outright $773 million takeover bid by the DIC group was also rebuffed.
The lack of funds to strengthen the squad has had an impact on Liverpool's performance on the field this season.
Runners-up last season, Liverpool is languishing in sixth place this season, six points out of fourth place and the final English berth in next season's Champions League.
While Liverpool is in the semifinals of the Europa League, it is in Europe's second-tier knockout competition because it was eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League, which it won in 2005.
"Liverpool is one of the world's greatest clubs and my aim is to try and ensure that we find new owners who are able to build on the club's recent improved financial performance in order to help deliver sporting success," Broughton said.
Hicks also has an agreement to sell baseball's Texas Rangers to Chuck Greenberg, though the transfer has been complicated by the significant debt owed by Hicks' financially strapped Hicks Sports Group.
Gillett sold the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, the Gillett Entertainment Group and the Bell Centre back to the Molson family for $580 million last year.
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