Former Celtic player Andy Lynch has sensationally claimed that the former owners of Liverpool, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, refused to sell the club to a Dubai Sheikh in 2010,
In the interview with theGlasgow Evening Times, Lynch explained how he was asked to provide advice on the potential takeover of Liverpool FC and that fundamentally, the former owners had little desire in selling up, despite it being in the best interests of the Reds.
Both Hicks and Gillett took control of Liverpool in 2006 and despite years of fans protests at their running of the club, it took until 2013 before the Fenway Sports Group bought the club from them after a long running court battle.
Despite admitting to signing a confidentiality clause, Lynch has lifted the lid on some of the details of the proposed takeover bid back in 2010.
He said:I was in Australia when my agent, based in Montreal and a fly-man, told me he was representing a conglomerate that wanted to buy a football club.He didn't know much about football, asked me to get involved and that there would be plenty of money in it. I was always dubious and wanted to know more."
"I asked what club it was and he told me Liverpool. He then said; ˜They're good, aren't they?This was all from a Sheikh in Dubai who had serious money and things quickly developed."
Whilst there appeared a serious offer on the table, Lynch believes that both Hicks and Gillett were never interested in selling to the Sheikh.
He addedThe bottom line is their greed “ the agent and his partners “ and Liverpool's greed, they were owned by the Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks back then, is what scuppered the deal."
This went on for months. I was flown first class everywhere, stayed in the top hotels in London, they put me up in a £1000 a night suite and I'm thinking ˜These guys are awfully generous.'
Liverpool takeover: How Hicks and Gillett 'greed' scuppered Dubai Sheikh's 400m bid (Liverpool Echo): In... https://t.co/qkQbURulzP #LFC
"The penny then dropped.They were using Liverpool's money and not their own. They ran up a huge debt at the club."
"The-then owners were only paying the interest on a bank loan. They put nothing into the club.
Right at the end the Sheik's representative didn't trust anyone, and rightly so, although he quite liked me."
"He had the cheque for £400m, I was there, and he is about to put the cheque in and as this happening I'm thinking I'm going to be a big player at Liverpool Football Club, in fact I was already looking in Scotland for some professional people to help me."
But then Hicks, Gillet and this agent guy decided they got the money too easily, there was no question about the original figure so they added on something extra and the Sheik told his guy to tear up the cheque and come home.�