Money shuffling

George Gillette and Tom Hicks, the American owners of Liverpool, haven't exactly showered themselves in glory in the year or so since they bought the club. The incessant rumors from this side of the Atlantic that they are ready to show Rafa the door, the unsettling feeling that they are not especially concerned with Liverpool's impressive heritage, and the general air of incompetence that has marked their tenure has lead to a growing feeling of unease amongst Scousers. So, in what must be regarded as inevitable given the intersection of football and haute finance, it appears that the Americans are in financial trouble. If this article in the Guardian is correct, Gillette and Hicks are having trouble refinancing the bridge loan they got from Royal Bank of Scotland when they first bought the team.

Not to intrude into my day job too much, but this kind of thing is happening all over the place given the unsettled nature of world financial markets (mortgage traders are surely the only people having a worse six months than Newcastle fans). The read from here is that the Yankees were overly ambitious about the amount of debt they could raise based on Liverpool's current revenue streams. Last year, banks were willing to take risks and fund dodgy deals. Now, not so much. So it appears that the blokes from Dubai, who are purported to actually know football, may swoop and in buy the club off the struggling Americans.

Question to Liverpool fans: Who makes a better ownership group, dumbass Americans or petrodollar investment consortiums?