Hicks Talks To BBC Monday, 30 March 2007,

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Why did you want to buy Liverpool?

Well George Gillett, who I’ve known for a long time, called me before Christmas and said 'would you have an interest in buying an English premiership team?' I said, ‘I already own two teams, so I don’t think so' but he said 'this is a very interesting business, I think you should look at it.' So I did, I started doing research about Liverpool and reading about the 115 years, the 18 championships, the 5 European wins, the tragedies. I know enough about professional sports to be really impressed by that history and heritage. And the fans, reading about the Kop got me fascinated. I saw it for the first time and it was more than I ever thought it could be – so it’s special.

The contrast with Merseyside from your luxurious suite here at the top of this tower in Dallas, it’s chalk and cheese isn’t it?

Well I started with nothing but an education and became a professional investor. Life has been good to me and at this point in my life, I consider myself someone who makes smart investments. Professional sports are an area in which I’ve decided to invest for the long term. Having three teams, I view that as something my children will manage for the next 25-30 years. From a business point of view it’s very attractive, it’s branded media with incredible fan loyalty. The corporate sponsorships are very unique.

So you’re more excited about this project?

Well, it’s potentially a bigger business.

We have 92 league clubs, it’s a very small country. Liverpool is one of the big ones of course, but how can you grow that into a global brand?

Well there’s a reason they start all the Saturday games at 12.45pm. It’s because it’s prime time in Asia and China and India and Japan. That’s the future, the global growth of football or soccer. It’s all been driven by television and it’s a global TV market – people love Liverpool. There’s an 85% market share in Thailand, they discovered football in the 1970’s and Liverpool were dominant so they’re all Liverpool fans. We’ll have to work on those guys in China who saw Man-U win.

And of course, there’s the new stadium at Stanley Park. Having seen where your Texas Rangers team play, that’s an astonishing stadium, one of the most attractive I’ve ever seen. Is that the model for the new Anfield?

We’re working hard on that now. There’s been a plan that has been approved. We want to find ways to improve on what has been planned because it was done mostly 7 years ago and a lot has changed. We’re still early in that process, but our goal is to make the new stadium for Liverpool the finest football stadium in the world.

That will be finished when, do you think?

We want to get going in the next couple of months. We have architects from London and from here in Liverpool today or tomorrow I think.

Will the new stadium cater for a spread of interest?

One of things you do is have a broader menu of pricing: cheaper seats for people who are attracted to that, or need that to afford to go, and more amenities for people who are in a position to pay for it. There won’t be a bad seat in the house.

We have some very good ideas of ways to regenerate what will be called Anfield Park, where the existing Anfield is, and I think that could be an exciting part of the neighbourhood as well.

So you would incorporate the old Anfield into the new space?

Yes, that’s the plan that has been approved, to have the old Anfield be a park or regenerated area in a way that is great for the fans. People can live there, play there, have a beer or two and some food, maybe have a hotel. There’s a lot of people that are attracted to the idea of being close to the pitch there at the new Anfield.

We’re very comfortable that Rick Parry is the perfect guy to be the Chief Executive Officer at Liverpool, and everything we’ve seen of Rafa Benitez, we think we’ve got the right manager as well, so we look forward to meeting with him.

Have you set any goals? Is there a five year plan? Have you told Rafa ‘we’d like to win the Champions League and the FA Cup in year one please’.

Well if you’re a sports owner, you’re probably a sports fan, and if you’re a sports fan,  you gotta be an optimist. I am both. I want to win every year. The idea is to stay with a stable plan which is a smart plan, not for one year, but for multiple years. With the stadium, the fanbase and the media revenues we’ll have, Liverpool should be the dominant team.

Spending money in itself doesn’t win championships, you have to be smart. The key to us is Rafa, Rick Parry and the plan they’ll put together which will make us good.

So key players like Steven Gerrard for instance, will be locked in to long-term contracts?

That’s certainly my goal and I think that’s Rafa’s goal.

What we’re going to try to do is maintain as much of the tradition and unique history that Liverpool has, particularly the Kop. The Kop will be a key to the new stadium. The new stadium will be designed around it and it will be like the stage that performs to the rest of the stadium and the rest of the stadium will participate with the Kop.

Are you open to suggestions from people who use the Kop?

Absolutely, we are planning to have some kind of survey for Kop fans. There are lots of decisons to make, not just what it looks like. What we want, is to design the best football stadium in the world and be very unique. When people see it, we want them to say ‘that’s Liverpool’.

Liverpool will be owned by two of you. How will you and George split the roles?

Well George is 68, I’m 61, so he’s the senior guy. I’ll be respectful of his age! We get along very well and have done business together for the last 5 or 6 years. We know eachother, we’re comfortable and our philosophies are the same.