 GORDON BROWN has been urged to topple the American owners of Liverpool Football Club, in an astonishing “coup bid” by six Merseyside MPs. The MPs, led by Walton’s Peter Kilfoyle, want the Government – through the part-nationalisation of the Royal Bank of Scotland – to pull the plug on a £350m loan to Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Their move came as Tom Hicks last night reiterated his desire not to sell Liverpool FC, despite suggestions investment bank Mer-rill Lynch has been instructed to find a buyer for the club. A source close to the Texan said the bank was merely providing expertise in refinancing the existing debts, adding: “Tom is not looking to get out of Liverpool. It is an asset he likes and he doesn’t plan an exit. “They have not engaged Merrill Lynch to sell the club. They have been an advisor of Tom’s for 12 months.” It is believed Hicks and co-owner George Gillett will exercise a six-month extension on loans due in January, but the Mersey MPs believe they can put pressure on RBS to prevent such a move. If RBS did stop an extension, the MPs – who are furious over the ongoing delay of plans for a new stadium – believe the pair would be forced to sell the club they took over 18 months ago. Hicks and Gillett announced earlier this month that the Stanley Park scheme was delayed for one year, but it is feared the real hold-up will be much longer. The city council and LFC are yet to sign an agreed 999-year lease on the ground. The extraordinary suggestion that ministers should decide whether a loan should be made – and, in consequence, who owns a football club – can only be made because of the unprecedented £37bn banking bail-out. The crisis involved pumping £20bn into RBS, securing a 60% stake in the bank and, it is argued, the right for ministers to call the shots on lending. Within hours of the rescue, Sir Fred Goodwin, the much-criticised RBS chief executive was forced out and ministers vowed to take places on the bank’s board to steer it through the crisis. Yesterday, Mr Kilfoyle called for that power to include “ensuring that the Royal Bank of Scotland does not renew that credit facility at the end of its current term”. The Labour backbencher tabled a Parliamentary motion, quickly signed by George Howarth (Knowsley North and Sefton East), Eddie O'Hara (Knowsley South), Louise Ellman (Riverside), Bob Wareing (West Derby) and Derek Twigg (Halton). It calls on the Government to act because “the American own-ers have failed to deliver a new stadium for Liverpool FC, thereby delaying indefinitely the regener-ation of one of the most needy areas of the country.” Mr Kilfoyle said: “The Govern-ment is not putting £20bn of tax-payers money into the RBS in order for two foreign nationals to use that money to buy a British institution without putting in any money of their own. Liverpool fans have already been putting pressure on RBS to call in the loan by threatening to boycott the bank if it does not. | 
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