Times Online

The supporters group hoping to buy Liverpool Football Club has urged George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks to sell the club to them.

The ShareLiverpoolFC Group, who are attempting to recruit 100,000 shareholders to buy the club and take it into the ownership of the fans, has written an open letter to the club's American co-owners pleading with them to sell their respective stakes to the supporters.

Gillett and Hicks continue to deny that they are looking to sell Liverpool and that they have held negotiations with any potential buyer, however, last month The Times revealed they had engaged Merrill Lynch, the investment bank, to help to find a buyer.

While this development does not represent a concrete offer, it is a sign that the group, which is supported by John Aldridge among others, is serious in their intentions. However, despite their clear ambition it remains unlikely the group could raise the £600million needed to match the Americans' asking price.

“We understand you have decided to relinquish your ownership of Liverpool FC and are actively looking for a buyer," the letter reads. “Along with the vast majority of Liverpool fans, we agree with your decision to withdraw.

“We would like to buy the club on behalf of the fans, and invite you to sit down with us to agree a deal.We are confident that if you’re willing to sell to us for a fair price, we would have sufficient backing [either from the fans alone, or with a suitable partner].”

It continued: “We want the club we love run solely in the best interests of a successful team, the fans and the community.

“We believe we represent a real opportunity for both of you to bring to an end a troubled period of ownership; an ‘exit strategy’ which would lead to admiration and respect from many.

“Doing the honourable thing and selling the club to the fans would return it to the values that made it the most successful football club in England and one of the best supported in the world.

“We’d also like you to be able to leave with dignity. George, in an interview last March, you said, 'our goal from the beginning was to add … to the lustre [of Liverpool FC]', at this point you can only achieve this by doing the right thing – and that is to offer the club to the fans.”