Liverpool’s Yankee Owners Seek Impossible Repair

Liverpool’s owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have made their intention to repair broken communication lines public. In an interview with Canada’s Fan590 on June 19, 2008, George Gillett was quoted saying,

It’s fair to say that communication between the Hicks and the Gilletts has been substantially improved and I believe that it will be for the benefit of the club.

Time is a healer and there were things that had happened previously. It took a while for both of us to realise that we weren’t communicating very well and the huge responsibility we have to the fans to do the right thing for the club.

I believe that the Hicks family are communicating better with us and we’re communicating better with them and I think that will be much better for the club.

Personally, I feel it’s a bit premature to say that this relationship is anything close to being repaired. These two loaded Yankees have too many conflicting financial beliefs regarding the future of the club. Liverpool FC is currently 4th on the world’s richest soccer club list. With that being said, it’s clear these two aren’t in it for the tradition. Nor are they in it for the purity of the game. They’re in it for a profit. Which, by the way, is a completely legitimate reason for getting involved. The problem with this situation is that it seems as though that balance of whole-hearted intentions for the club weigh too heavily on the side of fiscal matters. They say they work for the best interest of the fans, but we all know behind-the-scenes decisions aren’t necessarily made with the fans in mind.

What they need to do is try and become more sensitive to the fans’ desires. Ultimately, the fans decide how far the club can go, and determine to what degree of success the club achieves. They need to get out there and talk to these people, learn about their culture, and understand why they support Liverpool.

Peter Byrne/PA Wire

I’m all for American investment in overseas clubs. In fact, I believe it’s a necessity for putting a foot in the American door on behalf of soccer. However, I am even more against American owners looking at a soccer club and only seeing dollar signs. Soccer is so much more than that. It’s a way of life. A good example of an individual interested in owning a club for the right reason is NBA back-to-back MVP Steve Nash.

So far, the Yankee owners aren’t doing the proud supporters of Liverpool any favors.