When Hicks and Gillett took over, money was cheap. Had that remained the case, I suspect the new stadium would be half built by now.

But the crunch hit and the cost of credit soared, leaving the club with debts that became much more difficult to service.

So the perception from fans is that Hicks and Gillett have not lived up to the promises they made when they took over the club.

This has made them the target for some dreadful personal abuse. It has also seen a 'Tom and George not welcome here' campaign started by Spirit of Shankly (SOS), a pressure group that has appointed itself as the voice of the Liverpool fans.

The ultimate aim of SOS is for the club to be owned by its supporters. That, to me, would be a nightmare scenario.

You only have to tune in to any post-match radio phone-in and hear the mad rantings of a million swivel-eyed loons. They all think they could pick a better team than the manager, they all know the best way to run the club.

Supporters are too close. It means too much to them. Running a multi-million pound business requires emotional intelligence and a cool detachment.

Fans running clubs don't have a great track record in this respect. They claim they won't interfere too much with the playing side but they always do. They just can't help it.

How many managers did Doug Ellis sack at Aston Villa? Or Peter Swales at Manchester City? There are few bigger Blues than Bill Kenwright but is he the best man to lead Everton onto the next level? Did Liverpool prosper commercially under David Moores?

"We believe it is possible to compete in the commercial sense whilst still maintaining the traditions many fans hold dear," says the SOS website.

Does anyone know what they mean by that? What are the traditions of Liverpool FC?

It used to be the tradition that the board picked the team every week but Bill Shankly, ironically a man who had little time for tradition, swiftly changed that one. And what traditions did Shankly himself establish?

Only one, as far as I can remember. Winning. And how did he achieve this? Great coaching, certainly, but money was the key factor.

Liverpool spent to buy the best players, just as the most successful clubs do now.

Through the glory years of the 1970s and 80s our success was very much founded on splashing the cash. The acquisitions of Kevin Keegan (£450,000), Kenny Dalglish (£750,000) and Peter Beardsley (£1.9m) all broke the British transfer record at the time.

It's never been about tradition, it's always been about money. What the club needs now is an owner who knows how to exploit the club's global commercial potential to the full.

Whether or not he or she is aware of the history and the glory years is irrelevant. All that matters is that they bring in the revenue and leave the manager alone to look after the playing side.

They shouldn't have to kiss the badge, wear the scarf or learn all the words to Scouser Tommy.

It's time for Liverpool fans to stop clinging to the myths of the past and accept that football is, and always was, a business.