LIVERPOOL FANS TOLD STRAIGHT - 'YOU'RE PAYING FOR US TO OWN YOUR CLUB'

Liverpool's American owner Tom Hicks spelt out the absolute reality behind his takeover of the club to the Guardian. He and business partner George Gillett borrowed £178m to buy the club and there is no doubt in Hicks' mind about where the money will come from to fund this.

"Hopefully the club will have extra cash flow so they can pay us a dividend to do that. If they don't, then it will come from our pockets. But the club will have to have profits sufficient to pay those dividends.

"When I was in the leverage buy-out business we bought Weetabix and we leveraged it up to make our return. You could say that anyone who was eating Weetabix was paying for our purchase of Weetabix. It was just business. It is the same for Liverpool; revenues come in from whatever source and go out to whatever source and, if there is money left over, it is profit."

When the situation was compared to that at Old Trafford, Hicks said, "They were the first. There were fans who honestly believed that, if an American owner came in and borrowed some of the purchase price, it could be the end of the club's success. I think things changed when people saw that the Glazers didn't necessarily turn out to be the end of Manchester football."

Try telling that to the poor f*ckers struggling to find the extra money to keep their Season Tickets after another mammoth rise. Still at least these Americans are willing to be honest about what they're doing.