The famous US scouse soccer team the Liverpool Redmen look like changing hands again as it is rumoured Middle Eastern investors Dubai International Capital (DIC) are looking at launching their tenth bid to buy the American club.
Chad Arlington the chief sportswriter for the Texan Post has the exclusive in his guest column in the Liverpool Echo.
- The Liverpool RedMen? they are quite simply THE number one franchise from "the chasing pack" of the EPL with a fantastic reputation to all those within the fan base as a franchise which is proficient only in the knockout series of tournaments such as The Champions League, The RedMen meet the criteria of qualification of this annual jamboree by regularly finalising their pre-season objective of finishing as sub-champions (without the big two).
It is not unknown for The RedMen to shock the footballing community and finish in the endzone of the Champions league series like they did in 2005. However promises of vast piles of petro dollars and the added excitement of becoming the EPLs second and poorest Middle East franchise has swayed many a Hicks hating RedMen devotee and in a bizarre twist considering world events they are looking at the men from the Middle East to rescue the franchise from Uncle Sam.
Liverpool University Football 'expert' rent-a-quote timewaster and RedMen fan Rogan Taylor admitted in a recent press conference that after seeing his consortium "unable to raise the coppers needed for that bond thing that would have seen us run like Barcelona" he has now like so many RedMen out there become a passionate DIC lover.
He said the prospect of playing in the all new futuristic 'Al Jazeera TV' stadium - built to face the Mecca bingo - could attract some of Saudi Arabia's top squad players and youth team prospects, although he did mention that "bacon butties were unlikely to be sold and fans could forget about putting a fiver on Gerrard to be first goal scorer before the game". He added that tapping into the Middle Eastern market could provide limitless funds for the franchise citing the lawless Helmand province in Afghanistan as a RedMen franchise supporting hotbed.
"Its my dream to see kids with guns wearing the famous red shirt in cities like Helmand not just in Liverpool" he noted.
Lucrative pre-season and even mid-season treks to play some of Asia's fourth best teams are also likely to be at the behest of the franchises new paymasters.
The happy marriage is not all a bed of poppies however, as we can report RedMen fans could find their first taste of DIC leaves a bad taste in their mouths with the shock news that the investors plan to replace Rafael 'Rafa' BenÃtez aka Rafa the Gaffer with recently retired Saudi Arabian superstar Sami Abdullah Al-Jaber.
The surprise move was greeted with disgust on Monday morning when we interviewed a very well oiled but never the less salt-of-the-earth RedMen fan in the Sandon public house, he said "If I wasnt on incapacity benefit for this chip on me shoulder I would work hard for me season ticket like, so 'am going to have me say! Rafa is the best manager the RedMen franchise 'as 'ad since Gerry Houllier and if DIC want to get rid of 'im with one of their own then we will give them and their families a typical Liverpool welcome"
So is the sand really sandier on the other side for this franchise?
