Soccer:Liverpool fans face more uncertainty regarding their club's future after prospective new club owner Kenny Huang refused to comment on claims his approach is backed by the Chinese government. Reports suggested Huang is fronting a bid for China Investment Corporation (CIC), but this has been played down in many quarters today.
The Financial Timeswebsite, for instance, claims a source within CIC, a sovereign wealth fund which manages a €250 billion portfolio, has denied knowledge of any approach or, indeed, of Huang.
Officially, Huang has confirmed he has made an approach but today his representatives were tight-lipped on where their money is coming from.
“We will not confirm or deny any matter in relation to the Liverpool Football Club unless and until we and the representatives of Liverpool FC have chosen to do so jointly,” said a spokesman for the Hong Kong-based businessman.
However, another statement, reportedly unofficial, claims there is no tie between Huang and CIC.
It was claimed that CIC recently sold €423 million worth of shares - a figure equivalent to the debts currently held by Liverpool - in the global financial services firm Morgan Stanley, of which it acquired a 9.9 per cent stake three years ago.
However, www.nasdaq.comclaims this could be to keep its stake below 10 per cent "to avoid the closer regulatory scrutiny".
There are believed to be around five other groups involved in the bidding process but the only other to have gone public is Syrian businessman Yahya Kirdi, representing a group of investors from the Middle East and Canada.
But his claim yesterday that a price had been agreed with Liverpool co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and a formal purchase agreement “is in the final stage of negotiation” was greeted with some suspicion.
Reds chairman Martin Broughton is hopeful of concluding a sale by the end of the month but the break-up of Hicks’ sports empire has already begun in the United States.
His baseball franchise, the Texas Rangers, was auctioned off for €450 million in the early hours of this morning after Hicks’ ownership group defaulted on loans.
According to the team’s bankruptcy plan, creditors will only get about €56.5 million of the €398 million owed to them.
However, the judge said lenders can go after Hicks’ other companies, although it is not sure how this will affect Liverpool, if at all. The Texan is currently also looking to sell the Dallas Stars ice hockey team by the autumn as he moves out of sports ownership.
Roy Hodgson, meanwhile, has warned his players that the ongoing uncertainty of the club’s ownership will not represent an excuse for failure this season.
The Merseysiders missed out on a Champions League place as they finished seventh in the Premier League last season and were left facing a Europa League qualifier against Macedonian minnows FK Rabotnicki, the second leg of which is tonight.
Even at 2-0 up after the first leg, Hodgson is determined not to let the turmoil distract his team on the pitch.
“As a player you have a chance to change things around here," he said. “I won’t go down the ownership route other than to say we know the ones we have now are very unpopular. That’s well documented — they know it and that’s why they are prepared to sell.
“But if you don’t think that the team is doing as well as it should, then as a player you can do something about it.
“We want our big players doing well. If they are not, I shall be advising them to look in the mirror and not to constantly look for excuses elsewhere and blame the owners for not having spent £500million (€602million).
“I am sceptical about comments in which players are questioning the club’s ambition. I would tend to throw that back at them and say that the club’s ambitions rest in your hands, you’re the ones playing for us and you’re the ones people are paying to watch.
“If we look at Real Madrid last season, they spent an absolute fortune on two or three players and it still didn’t get them what they wanted. They didn’t win the Champions League. They didn’t get to the semi-finals and they didn’t win their league or the Spanish Cup. I rest my case.”
Hodgson is not concerned by the possibility his comments could upset the club’s big-name players, and continued: “I’d tell the players of the highest echelon to look in mirrors and analyse their performance. I am not fearful of doing that.
“We will push the players and some of them won’t like it, but my sympathy always lies with them and in my 36 years in management I have not been let down very often, so I must be right in my experience of trusting them.”