Liverpool to be Owned by Chinese?

A Chinese tycoon is looking to purchase the Liverpool football club according to Chinese media reports this week.

Zhu Jun, chairman of Nasdaq-listed online game company The9 Limited, said the negotiations to buy Liverpool were "ongoing", but added that the outcome was hard to predict, the Beijing Times reported.

Chairman of debt-ridden Liverpool Martin Broughton is looking for a new buyer but the 800 million-pound price tag has managed to deter interested parties thus far.

Liverpool's loyal fan base has not been happy with current ownership and this has prompted a meeting between Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, and Liverpool fan's group Spirit of Shankly.  The discussion will center around the criteria for the fit-and-proper-person test that allowed Tom Hicks and George Gillett to buy the club and run up debts of £350m.  Hicks and Gillett are Americans.

James McKenna, a spokesperson for Spirit of Shankly, said: "The Premier League have a duty to run the game properly, to regulate it and make sure it is protected. However, they don't seem to take this duty seriously, allowing the debts at Liverpool to pile up, with owners who are far from fit and proper. Sadly we aren't the only club this is happening to, it is happening to many others, and the fans are the ones left to fight for their clubs.

"We would like to the Premier League to better protect clubs and put in place regulation that stops what has happened with Hicks and Gillett from happening all over again. It isn't right or proper that a club should pay for it's owners to actually own them, and it isn't proper for the future and the finances of a club to be put in jeopardy for the sake of business and making a profit. Those in charge need to act, and they need to act now, before it's all too late."

Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com