Liverpool will spend ‘big’ in the summer says Hicks

Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks Snr has told fans that the club will spend "big" in the summer and claims that their financial plight is not as bad as Manchester United's.

Hicks made the assertions on the day his son was forced to resign from the Liverpool board and the Reds' bitter rivals United announced a £500m bond issue to restructure their massive debts.

Ironically, Hicks Snr claims were contained in an email sent to a fan and emerged on the day that Tom Hicks Jnr stood down over an abusive email he sent to another supporter.

There has been disquiet among Liverpool fans over the club's decision not to hand Rafa Benitez a transfer kitty in January. But Hicks intimated that money would be freed up in the summer and that under fire boss Benitez would be the man to spend it. He wrote: "January is a poor quality market. The summer window will be big... We have an excellent management team and manager. We know we need more depth on the squad and will address it this summer."

Benitez has had little to work with since the transfer window opened. So far he has made £6.4m by selling Andriy Voronin to Dynamo Moscow and Andrea Dossena to Napoli, but the only deal he has lined up is a £1.5m deal for Maxi Rodriguez of Atletico Madrid. Even if he offloads Ryan Babel and Philipp Degen in January it is unlikely Benitez will be able to stretch to anything more than a loan signing.

The news that he will be able to invest in the summer will be welcomed by Liverpool fans, but it means that the club will have to try and turn their season around using the same personnel who have under-achieved so far this term.

Hicks Snr also stated that the club's debts were not out of control - he revealed that Liverpool was paying £16 million a year in interest on debts of around £200m. Yesterday it emerged that United paid £41.9 million in interest on their debts in the past financial year.

"Our debt is very manageable (see Man U) and we never use player sales for debt service," he claimed.

The Texan businessman also said the club was still aiming to get started on the much delayed new stadium at Stanley Park and stated what most Liverpool fans already know: "The new stadium will be the game changer."

Hicks and co-owner George Gillett remain deeply unpopular among Liverpool fans and the pair are hunting for new investment. They want to reduce their shareholdings in the club and new money can be used to fund work on the proposed new stadium. ·