Enemy at the gates
American businessmen George Gillett. Photo: Christopher Furlong, Getty Images
Friday September 12 2008
Liverpool co-owner George Gillett is expected at Anfield tomorrow for the Premier League lunchtime showdown with Manchester United, and it seems unlikely that he will be left in any doubt about the force of the club's fans antipathy towards him and Tom Hicks.
The Americans' inability to raise cash to progress the club's new stadium development -- integral to the Americans' financial model for Anfield -- allied to an acute sense from up the M62 of what Liverpool are missing without Arab investment of their own, has hardened opposition to Hicks and Gillett.
Thousands of fans are expected to stage a protest march against the two before the match.
It would appear that Gillett, who appears no closer to selling his 50pc share of the club to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the father-in-law of City's new owner Sheikh Mansour, will feel the full force of fans' feelings.
The Spirit of Shankly (SOS) union are organising the protest march, which will start at 11.0 and later converge on Anfield via the symbolic Shankly Gates.
"Saturday is a massive day," SOS said yesterday. "We are playing one of our biggest rivals, a team who are one behind us in league titles. Much of the talk at the moment, however, is about what's going on off the pitch -- what Hicks and Gillett are up to, the stadium and the club's finances."
Jamie Carragher's declaration, in his biography published yesterday, that "for richer or poorer, (we) sold Liverpool to two ruthless businessmen who saw us as a money-making opportunity," will certainly harden opinion yet further.
Rafael Benitez has hinted that new signing Albert Riera may make his debut against United and was remembering yesterday how the Spanish left-winger made his debut for Manchester City in a 3-1 victory over United at Eastlands a few years back.
The omens are good, he feels. Fernando Torres has made good progress from a hamstring tear sustained against Aston Villa on August 31 and is more likely to feature than Steven Gerrard.
Gerrard underwent minor groin surgery straight after the Villa game, and although his rehabilitation has gone well, he may be held back for the Champions League match in Marseille on Tuesday in what promises to be one of the season's first defining weeks for Benitez's side.
SOS are also urging a mass lobby of Royal Bank of Scotland in the hope that Hicks and Gillett's loan extension facility, due in January will not be granted.
- Ian Herbert
