Liverpool fans concerned over £110m investment

It's another one of those make-or-break nights for Liverpool - which have been more break than make recently - when they take on Lille in the Europa League this evening. The Reds are trailing 1-0 from the first leg but desperately need to go through if they want to salvage anything from their season.

One player they will be without is Alberto Aquilani who, after finally showing what he can do against Portsmouth, has been hit by a bug and is unavailable.

Apart from the Lille game and the small matter of the Premier League clash with Manchester United on Sunday, there are more concerns among fans over the future of their club.

At the weekend it was reported that the hated American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett had found some new investment for the club that would go some way to sorting out Liverpool's debts of £237m.

The Rhone Group, made up of multi-million pound fund managers, is proposing to invest £110m in the club in return for a 40 per cent stake of the club, which will leave the Americans with 30 per cent each.

However, the Spirit of Shankly (SOS) supporters group, having clamoured for a change of ownership, is suddenly wary of the investors. They fear the financiers could be after a quick profit and are worried that it could be a case of 'out of the frying pan into the fire'.

The group has organised protests against Hicks and Gillett at games, put up posters in and around Liverpool and is said to be in talks with bitter rivals Manchester United about an anti-American demonstration before the weekend's big match at Old Trafford. But despite their dislike of the current owners, they are wary about selling to just anyone.

They have put a series of questions to Liverpool's managing director Christian Purslow demanding to know the details of the deal, who the Rhone Group are and their connection to the club and its current owners.

"There is genuine concern amongst fans, that whilst we need this new investment, it may not be for the greater good of the football club," SOS spokesman James McKenna told the Liverpool Echo.

"The club's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, made all the right noises and said all the right things when they took over and look how that has turned out.

"Fans have learnt from the past. Any new investors will come under closer scrutiny from those who genuinely care about the football club. We don’t want to be jumping from the frying pan, into the fire." ·