By Patrick McLoughlin.
Silly season is upon us, for those of you that don’t know what that is, it is an annual tradition in the footballing world that occurs once a year during the summertime. The transfer window opens and journalists quite bored in their offices see this as open season on ridiculous transfer stories; however, for Liverpool fans this summer is very different, as they will not only be hoping for new players, but new owners.
A story to emerge this week is of the little known Chinese business man Kenneth Huang. A former Wall Street stockbroker, Huang is allegedly the head of a consortium aiming to buy Liverpool Football Club for a reported £500 million.
If stories are to be believed Huang has already contacted Liverpool manager Benitez and asked him to continue as manager, perhaps aiming to keep as much stability as possible during complex buy-out procedures, what is known is that current owners Hicks and Gillett are desperate to sell-up and any speculation about potential buyers would be welcomed.
Huang has been quoted as saying:
“Back in 2008, I was at Singapore attending a F1 Grand Prix; the representatives from Liverpool contacted me to see if I was interested in taking over the football team, they were quoting $1billion US dollars. The price was totally unreasonable so I turned them down.”
“But last year, they came back again and their asking price has dropped significantly, at that point, I thought we could talk.”
Huang went on further to add: “Right now, my audit team is examining the books and my legal team is keeping close contact with theirs. But then we have a fierce competitor from Middle East.
“The negotiation has been going on for few months already. We are now at a crucial stage. It will be finalized in June.
“I really wish it turns out to be a successful bid but we will see.”
If these quotes are to be believed then it seems Liverpool fans have something to look forward to with new owners in the form of a Chinese consortium or even perhaps another bid from Dubai group DIC. How much truth there is in this is unknown but what makes this so difficult to judge is that there is so little information about the mysterious Chinese-born business man. Last year he was voted number one philanthropist in China and has also invested heavily in NBA franchise the Cleveland Cavaliers to promote his beer company, Tsingtao beer, but not a lot more can be found.
Liverpool fans watch this space.
