Liverpool follow United and Villa into American hands

MANCHESTER, England, Feb 6 (Reuters) Liverpool's takeover by US investors is further proof that American businessmen believe there is good money to be made from English Premier League football.

Two years after Malcolm Glazer took over Manchester United and just months after US tycoon Randy Lerner bought Aston Villa, George Gillett and Tom Hicks have made Liverpool the third top-flight club to come under American ownership.

Chelsea, famously bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003 and since transformed into champions, Portsmouth, Fulham and West Ham United, bought by an Icelandic consortium in November, also have wealthy foreign owners.

Such investments do not come cheap and the Glazer family had little change from 800 million pounds for a takeover that was contested by many fans.

Yet the returns for a successful club in English and Champions League football can be highly lucrative.

Global interest has boomed in an era of satellite television and though the huge potential of the United States still remains tantalisingly out of reach, vast new audiences and merchandisng opportunities are opening up in Asia.

The most recent takeovers are being made just before the start of a television rights deal for Premier League clubs worth 2.7 billion pounds for 2007-2010.

With nearby rivals United no longer available and Arsenal still in private ownership, the latest investors have bought England's only other truly great club in terms of honours and prestige.

Liverpool, who won the first of their record 18 league championships in 1901 and have also won five European Cups, seven FA Cups as well as a dozen other major honours, can sit comfortably at soccer's top table.

They were the first English club to win three trophies in one season when they lifted the European Cup, the League title and the League Cup in 1983-84.

They were the first to win three cup competitions in one season, with the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup in 2000-01 and they became the first English club to win five trophies in a calendar year in 2001 by adding the Charity Shield and the European Supercup to those honours.

Their supporters in full cry can make Anfield the most spine-tingling stadium in which to watch a game and their ''You'll Never Walk Alone'' anthem is one of soccer's most moving refrains.

Past managers such as Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley redefined standards, while Anfield has been graced for more than 40 years by some of the best players including Billy Liddell, Ian St John, Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush, Alan Hansen and Graeme Souness.

The only footballer on the cover of The Beatles Sgt Pepper's album was Albert Stubbins, Liverpool's centre-forward in the late 1940s and early fifties and John Lennon's favourite player.

DARKER PAST However, the club has also known terrible tragedies.

The stadium disasters at Heysel, before the 1985 European Cup final in Brussels when 39 fans died and at Hillsborough, before a 1989 FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield when 96 were killed, have left an indelible mark on Liverpool's history and the world game.

Thirty-nine mainly Italian Juventus fans died in Belgium after a wall collapsed following a charge by Liverpool supporters.

English clubs were banned from European competition for five years in the wake of the tragedy.

Four years later, a crush at Sheffield Wednesday's ground before the cup tie against Nottingham Forest killed 96 Liverpool supporters.

The US takeover will involve a big part of England's footballing heritage, stretching back to Liverpool's foundation in 1892 as a disgruntled offshoot of Everton.

Yet its backers are clearly looking to the future.

Liverpool want to press ahead with a new stadium at nearby Stanley Park and the team could be strengthened for next season.

Both should be good news for the red half of Merseyside who will be hoping the new owners will help end the long wait for their first league title since 1990.

REUTERS DH RAI2026