Thomas O. Hicks, and George N. Gillett, Jr.

I'm sure we must have heard of these two names before. My, just a year ago the names were music to my ears.

But one year on, are they really the same people we thought they were?

It seems, however, that the shit has seriously only just hit the fan.

Let's remain objective and check out the history of these two men where their sporting franchises (and club, of course) are concerned.

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George N. Gillett, Jr. is an American businessman, with a net worth of about £3 billion.

Forays in sports:

• 2 Jan, 2000: Buys Montreal Canadiens (hockey) for US$185 million.
  
• 2000: Attempted to buy NBA Denver Nuggets (basketball), NHL Colorado Avalanche and Pepsi Center with two other partners but failed.
• 6 Feb, 2007: Buys Liverpool Football Club with Tom Hicks for £435 million.
  

First comments at Liverpool: “Liverpool is a fantastic club with a remarkable history and a passionate fanbase. We fully acknowledge and appreciate the unique heritage and rich history of Liverpool and intend to respect this heritage in the future. The Hicks family and the Gillett family are extremely excited about continuing the Club’s legacy and tradition."

Interesting note: The Montreal Canadiens have never finished higher than third in a league of 30 under George Gillett. They are still the record league winners, with 24 championships under their belt. (I think I've heard that somewhere before.) They have not won a league title since 1993. (Very familiar.)

**

Now to good old Tommy.

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Thomas O. Hicks is an American businessman, with an estimated net worth of US$1.3 billion.

Forays in sports:

• 1995: Bought the Dallas Stars, a struggling NHL team, for US$82m, and transformed it into a team that won 7 Division Championships, 3 Western Conf. crowns, two President's Trophies and one Stanley Cup.
• 1998: Buys the Texas Rangers baseball club for US$250m with a consortium including George W. Bush. In 1998 and 1999, Texas Rangers were 1st in their division of four teams, but since then have not finished higher than 3rd. (Last year, in 2007, they were last.) Bought Alex Rodriguez, then the league's MVP, on a 10-year contract worth a record US$252m, but shipped him to New York Yankees after a disastrous 2003 season.
  
• 6 Feb, 2007: Purchases Liverpool Football Club.

Interestingly, there has been news of Hicks' group doing something related to the reason why Carlos Tevez is at Manchester United and Mascherano is playing for us.

Tom Hicks' investment company had previously invested in two Brazilian clubs - and no, they're not amateur clubs. (Quoted from http://www.playthegame.org/Knowledge%20Bank/Articles/The%20Magic%20in%20Brazil%20Soccer%20Corruption.as)

Corinthians, the second-most supported club in Brazil, and Cruzeiro, another huge club, were invested in by Hicks' company, and they immediately promised these things:

• Huge transfer funding; and
  
• New stadiums.

"These deals included promises of construction of new stadiums. Hicks also bought forty nine percent of the traffic television network and dreamed up its own ultimate football business: Hicks teams facing each other in matches broadcast, naturally, by Hicks. Hicks set up a cable channel in Latin America, PSN, acquired national basketball association rights, formula one races and football championships at overblown prices. Hicks invested about five hundred million dollars and in only two years filed for bankruptcy."

What, you mean Hicks from Corinthians equals Hicks from Liverpool? (This question was asked by the a reader to the writer.)

The reply?

"Of course that the Group Hicks of Corinthians is the same. They also wanted to manage argentine clubs. I remember some years ago I wrote an article called Hicks vs Hicks by Hicks TV. Because they also founded a latinoamerican TV channel called PSN (Panamerican Sports Network). Many people believed it was a great excuse for money laundering. The payed 3or 4 times more the rights for Libertadores Cup, Formula One, NBA and so on, a lot of money. Friends from ESPN told me that it was imposible to make a good business with such a lot of money. Just one year and a half later PSN went on bankrupt. Cheers."

Think about that one.