Liverpool FC owner Tom Hicks calls protest petition fan

Apr 17 2008

THE Liverpool FC fan behind a petition to oust club co-owner Tom Hicks got the shock of his life when the US tycoon called to discuss the campaign.

Reds supporter John McCaffrey launched his online protest against the Texan as controversy surrounding the multi-millionaire’s Anfield tenure grew.

The petition has been enthusiastically received by many fans with more than 2,000 people adding their signatures.

At 11.30pm on Monday, as 22-year-old John sat down to a pint of Guinness at his parents’ Skelmersdale home, his mobile phone rang.

The engineer said: “I just couldn’t believe it. I went as white as a sheet when I realised it was Tom Hicks Snr.

“I put him on loudspeaker so all my family could hear him and we chatted for around 30 minutes about the club.

“He asked me what I was playing at with the petition.

“But he was stuttering a little bit at first when he spoke.

“He said the work on the stadium was going to start in a couple of months and he mentioned Rick Parry a lot.

“I told him I was going to carry on with the petition which I don’t think he was too happy about.”

Mr McCaffrey today said he would present the completed petition to Mr Hicks. He hopes to attracts tens of thousands of signatures to his campaign which demands Mr Hicks sell his stake in Liverpool Football Club.

He added: “Liverpool FC is one big community, but the fans are genuinely hurting. These fans are the best in the world, but the way they are being treated is a joke.”

A spokesman for Tom Hicks said: “There was a wide-ranging conversation between Mr Hicks and Mr McCaffrey which was basically a chat.

“It’s not Mr Hicks’s way to demand things. He wanted to talk things through with Mr McCaffrey and understand where he was coming from.”

To visit the petition go to, www.ipetitions.com/petition/hicks_out