Liverpool fans have had a history of problematic owners and even though FSG are doing a pretty decent job, there still are few fans that aren’t happy with the performance of John Henry and company.
The Reds couldn’t sign any new players in the winter window and that has given rise to many questions as to why the board of the club didn’t break the bank for the players that Jurgen Klopp wanted.
Things were far worse off under the older owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks as the club was in dire financial conditions and it has now been revealed that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was approached to buy the club out but there was no response from one of the richest men in the world.
The on-going legal tussle between the former owners, Mill Financial and the Royal Bank of Scotland revealed this information as back in 2010, Hicks and Gillett agreed to sell the club after having purchased the Reds in 2007.
Sir Martin Broughton was the Liverpool chairman at the time and was quoted by Sky Sports as he was asked if “there was at least an attempt to contact Bill Gates and Bob Kraft in the US?”
The former chairman did reply yes but he did open up and state that it was a worldwide search for potential owners for the club.
Bill Gates is reportedly worth £70bn and certainly would have turned things around for the Reds had he become the owner but Kraft is another owner that has a history of winning championships, something that he did recently with the New England Patriots.
The Patriots won the Super Bowl on Sunday but Kraft rebuffed both offers to buy out the Merseyside giants. The American was first contacted in 2005 and then in 2010 but his refusals opened the door for Fenway Sports Group and they did save the club from certain liquidation.
Gates might not have been too keen to invest in a sport but Liverpool have had a number of rumours of new owners even after the takeover from FSG. The royal family of Dubai had been linked with a big move for the Merseyside club in the past couple of years.
There were also rumours of a Singaporean consortium looking to purchase the Reds at the start of the season but there seems to be no better option at the moment than FSG but it is true that Gates would be in a better position to splurge more money than the current owners of the club.
