AMERICAN duo George Gillett and Tom Hicks vowed to make Liverpool the biggest club in the world after their £470million takeover was agreed. They plan to make Rafa Benitez as great as legendary Reds boss Bill Shankly by handing him £120million for new players. And they promised to leave Chelsea and Manchester United trailing.Gillett said: “This club is not far from being the best in the world — not very far from being truly a dominant side. That’s what we are looking to be. “We need to look at all the resources we possibly can to compete with Manchester United and Chelsea.”
Ice hockey tycoons Gillett and Hicks refused to be drawn on how much money they will make available for players — although the figure of £120m has been mentioned. But they promised to back Anfield boss Benitez with hard cash when the transfer market re-opens in the summer.
Gillett said: “There’s no reason to share our strategies with everyone else. We’d like to do things our way rather than trying to match what Manchester United are doing. “It’s wrong to say we want to match them in terms of spending. We want to match or exceed Chelsea in winning and there are many ways to do that — it’s not just about spending.
“Teams who try to spend their way to winning usually don’t. Spending helps but it has to be combined with other things. “If we have a chance to get a great player we will do. It is Rafa and Rick Parry’s job to bring us the ones they want and we will support them.
“We want to have high-quality, highly-committed players. But we’re not putting a budget on what we will do.” Hicks said: “The New York Yankees have the biggest payroll in baseball but haven’t won a championship by doing that.
“We have to develop good young players — they are the lifeblood. We’re here to build a winning tradition on what is already a winning tradition. “We are looking forward to bringing home many trophies from within the Premiership and Europe.”
The pair have vowed to build Liverpool a new stadium in Stanley Park — but will not be sharing it with deadly rivals Everton.
