According to ESPN Soccernet, owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks are trying to sell Liverpool FC.
This comes after a very disappointing season in the English Premier League, as well as European competition. The American owners have been under much scrutiny during their tenure with Liverpool. They have accrued a massive amount of debt which has subsequently hindered the team's chances to compete with the big spending likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal.
This is coming on the heels of fellow American owner Malcolm Glazer's refusal to sell Manchester United for less than £1.5 billion. He most recently refused an offer of £1 billion from a group of wealthy Red Devil supporters.
It seems as if the American venture into English football has become a failed one, as we watch two of the most successful clubs in England run their American owners out of town after only a few years.
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Probably for the best. English football is, among the powerhouse countries like Italy, Germany, France, a welcome respite from American soccer. I can't even watch MLS anymore because it has become so, for lack of a better word, boring. For the past forty odd years that American soccer has been even a passing fancy we've struggled to expand and gain our notoriety.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it was a slap in the face when America jumped on David Beckham's back in hopes he'd carry us into the spotlight. I was even more disgusted when all these supposed "fans" started popping up, selling out L.A. Galaxy games for a year plus just to be in the same building with Beckham because they saw the movie Bend It Like Beckham.
In Europe we're considered the place that footballers go to die. I'd love for America to be a respected part of football outside of the World Cup. Unfortunately, we're just not there yet. And until we can get to where we need to be here at home, we should keep our nose out of English football and let them do what they do best.
There's a level of Nationalism that goes deep into sports. We, as a country are a little over 200 years old. We are all babies! England on the other has great, indepth history. As does France (Gael), Germany (Holy Roman Empire), Italy, Spain. These countries didn't grow up with integration. Yes, racism does have a part in nationalism whether we'd like to admit it or not. Their roots run deeper. I'm not saying Europe is closed minded by any means, and I'm not saying America isn't racist at any level. I'd be naive to believe that, but when you grow up on your own as a country like most European nations have there's a lot of pride in that. America hasn't grown up on it's own we've had a lot of help from Europe.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, we don't have the Nationalism in sports like other countries do. Tim, your profile picture advocates Spain as well as the US. I'm a huge France supporter because my roots lead back there. Most Americans support where their roots lie before they support where they lay their head. Until the USA makes a powerhouse team that rivals all the European teams, no one will care in America about homeland soccer because we are a bunch of bandwagon jumpers.
We see what we like, get on that bandwagon and demand too much money for things. Ever wonder why everyone in the US only pulls for 4 EPL Clubs?? Bandwagon. We want to be good and we want to be good NOW! So when Newcastle gets relegated we sweep them under the rug as a team we like and pull for Chelsea this season.