Hicks - Parry reign a disaster

Liverpool co-owner hits out at chief executive's leadership

By James Dall   Last updated: 17th April 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hicks - Parry reign a disaster

Parry: Hicks blast

I am planning to make him (George Gillett) a very attractive offer. If I had a majority on it (ownership of Liverpool) I could put more capital in.

Tom Hicks
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Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks has slammed chief executive Rick Parry's tenure at Anfield, labelling it a 'disaster'.

Last week, Hicks issued a letter to Parry calling for him to step down as the boardroom wrangling went public.

And in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News, Hicks has blasted Liverpool's failure to compete commercially with their Premier League rivals.

"If you look at what has happened under Rick's leadership, it has been a disaster," he exclusively told Sky Sports News.

Time for a change

"We have fallen so far behind the other top clubs. The new stadium should have been built three or four years ago.

"We have two sponsors, maybe three. We should have 12 or 15. We are not doing anything in Asia the way Manchester United and Barcelona are.

"We have a tremendous number of fans in Asia. So we have got the top brand in the world of football, but we just don't know how to commercialise and get the money for it to use to buy great players.

"Rick needs to resign from Liverpool football club. He's put his heart into it, but it is time for a change.

"You have to be able to work with the manager and Rick has proved he can't do that."

Gillett relationship

Hicks and co-owner George Gillett Gillett took over the club in February 2007, but Hicks has admitted that their relationship has now completely broken down.

"At this point it is unworkable," he continued. "We started this as friends but 50-50 is a difficult business proposition because you cannot do anything without your partner's approval.

"We had a good honeymoon but, over a period of time, there have been issues, the stadium being the main one.

"If George doesn't sell - because I am not going to sell - I guess we stay in this position that we are in.

"It's complicated but it's going to happen (Hicks buying Gillett out) although I can't force George to accept.

"I am planning to make him a very attractive offer. If I had a majority on it (ownership of Liverpool) I could put more capital in.

"My goal is take all the debt off the club except the working capital needed and get the permanent financing totally in place for the stadium.

"I want the finances of the club to be secure. I want to be the majority owner of a group that buys the club and I have got a 25-year track record of being a very successful investor around the world.

"The fans don't like the fact that we borrowed a lot of money to buy the club but I will fix that."

Vision

Hicks went on to discuss the talks held with Dubai International Capital (DIC), who failed with a possible purchase of a minority stake in the club in March.

"DIC has no seat at the table. They are masters of the British tabloid spin. They want to stir the pot of Liverpool to create dissension," he added.

"I did talk to Dubai about being a 49 per cent partner but it just didn't work out. They didn't share the same vision I have and I didn't think they could become minority partners. I am not going to have any more 50-50 partners."