Morgan in ’Pool challenge

MILLIONAIRE building magnate Steve Morgan has come out fighting in his battle to buy his way into Liverpool.

And in a direct attack on the current board, who are negotiating a deal which would involve merchandising rights being handled by Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Morgan demands the club should retain those rights for Liverpool only.

With the club's chief executive in Bangkok closing a deal which would see Thaksin Shinawatra buy a 30% share in the club for £60m,

Jersey-based Morgan has slapped in a second bid of his own which he claims will bring the club £73m of capital.

And Morgan, Liverpool's third largest shareholder, has challenged the club to sell to "the people who love the club most".

He warned this week "to be prepared for round two," and his new shock offer has been tabled.

It is a challenge to chairman David Moores not to become involved with Thaksin, whose human rights record has been criticised by opponents of his move to buy into Anfield.

Morgan0020 has already had one rights issue deal, for around £50m, rejected this year by Moores and his board.

Now he has dramatically upped his offer as chief executive Rick Parry returns to Liverpool with proposals from the Thai PM to be considered by a board meeting later this week.

Morgan said: "The future of Liverpool FC is best served by the people who love the club the most, its supporters, of whom I am proud to be one. This proposal will not only keep ownership of the club with its supporters, where it rightfully belongs, it will also inject £73m of new capital to strengthen the playing squad and help finance the proposed new stadium."

His proposal comprises a rights issue, open to all shareholders, which would generate £61m of new money.

This would be backed by a new shares issue for club supporters which would raise a further £12m. Both would be underwritten by Morgan's company Bridgemere Investments Ltd.

Morgan, who wants a seat on the board and is an opponent of Moores, stressed the rights issue would be open to all shareholders, including the chairman, and, while the conditions of the proposal would require board representation for Bridgemere, this would only be proportional to the outcome of the rights issue.

He explained: "This proposal would keep the club under the control of its true supporters and enable the ordinary fans to participate in the fortunes of the club for the first time.

"The club's commercial rights to Asia and indeed any other part of the world would remain where they belong in the ownership of the club.

"This would enable Liverpool alone to benefit from the use of these rights, which is essential to generate future income."

Morgan has decided to fight Moores and the Thailand proposals and is inviting Liverpool's confused fans to back him against Moores, whose family have run Liverpool for many years.

Morgan proposes that the bulk of the new money would be spent on team-strengthening, with the rest for the new Stanley Park stadium.

The relocation could cost as much as £100m and will be funded by loans, a financial proposal he criticised at the club's AGM earlier this year.

Morgan's offer would allow Moores to buy some of the new shares, meaning the latter could stay in control at Anfield with Morgan gaining a seat on the board.

Exactly how far the Thai talks have gone is still open to debate.

Thaksin met with Liverpool representatives, led by Parry, earlier this week and yesterday Thai government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said an agreement had been reached with no details available ahead of a joint statement by Thaksin and Liverpool.

However, there remains confusion over whether the deal is a personal or government investment by Thaksin.

Jakrapob said: "We will buy it in the name of Thailand. We want Thai people to be part of the purchase.

"The Thai government is the one that negotiated the deal, not Thaksin, and most of the money will come from public funds."

This appears to contradict a statement at the weekend by Thailand's Deputy Minister of Commerce Pongsak Ruktapongpisal.

Ruktapongpisal said: "I want to assure you that the money comes from the Prime Minister himself not from public funds."

Shinawatra refused to clear up the confusion. He said: "Let's wait until Thailand buys the team before going into details whether we will spend Thais' money or the private sector's."