Liverpool's US owners moved on Friday to end the crisis engulfing the club by offering strong backing to manager Rafael Benitez and announcing a refinancing that will release funds for new players and a 71,000-capacity stadium.
In a strong signal of their intention to remain at the helm of the five-times European champions, George Hicks and George Gillett announced that they had appointed Dallas-based architects HKS to build the new stadium at Stanley Park, close to Anfield, the club's current home.
The £350 million (US$693 million) refinancing package will enable Hicks and Gillett to repay loans they took out to buy the club last year, as well as providing seed funding for the new stadium, which Liverpool aim to complete by August 2011 at a cost of around £300 million.
The Americans will hope that the prospect of both a new stadium and a stronger squad will help draw a line under their public spat with Benitez and assuage mounting opposition to them among the club's supporters.
Many Reds fans have welcomed renewed interest from Dubai Investment Capital in a possible takeover.
Hicks and Gillett's standing with the Liverpool supporters has deteriorated sharply following the revelation earlier this month that they had talked to Jurgen Klinsmann about possibly taking over from Benitez.
The Spaniard remains hugely popular with the fans, having led Liverpool to two Champions League finals in his first three seasons in charge.
But his personal relationship with the owners has been strained since he publicly criticized their transfer policy at the end of last year.
Benitez has been particularly irked by the club's failure to secure the services of on-loan midfielder Javier Mascherano on a permanent basis.
But the Spaniard sounded upbeat about the future on Friday, saying he would like to still be in charge when Liverpool move into the new stadium and voicing confidence that a deal to buy Mascherano would be done once the planned sale of Momo Sissoko has been completed.
"We are working on Sissoko's future, and we are close to a final solution," he said. "And I am confident that Mascherano will stay with us -- the money from a transfer for Sissoko can certainly help. I talked with Mascherano this week and he wants to stay here. I believe he will."
Benitez added that his contacts with Gillett and Hicks this week had been positive.
"We want to bring fantastic players to this club in the future, that is the aim. I have seen the new stadium plans, I hope to be here when it opens," he said.
In a statement, Hicks said that all outstanding differences with Benitez had been resolved.
"Since the meeting with Rafa on Dec. 16, at which some widely reported communications issues were discussed, Rafa has been assured that he has continuing and enthusiastic support as the club's manager," Hicks wrote.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but