Hicks says he is as dedicated to the club as ever
Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks says claims he could sell his shares in the club are "absolute rubbish".
Hicks and co-owner George Gillett clashed with manager Rafa Benitez over his January transfer budget, but Hicks said he had no intention of selling up.

"I am not selling any of my shares to anybody. I've no idea why anyone would think that. It was rubbish," he said.

"It's a big misunderstanding blown very out of proportion. George and I are happy to see it's settled back down."

Benitez is keen to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window as Liverpool continue their quest for success in both domestic and European competition.

But having publicly stated his concerns, Hicks and Gillett issued a statement telling him to concentrate on trying to win with the players he already had at his disposal.

Fans made a point of demonstrating their support for Benitez at Wednesday's Champions League win over Porto, and afterwards the 47-year-old made it clear he wanted reconciliation with the club's owners.

"My relationship with them was good before and now we need to talk about what the problem was," he said.

"I don't have any personal problems with the owners. I'm sure we will talk and they will understand and I will understand their ideas.

"It's not my ego, it's my responsibility. I need to take care of my team, my squad and club because I need to do it."

Benitez guided Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2005

One of Benitez's concerns is thought to be that the Americans are not based in the UK.

They are due to visit Britain during December and Hicks said Gillett's son Foster was acting as their representative in the country.

"I guess we are absentee owners - there's no question about it," said Hicks.

"But Foster returned to Liverpool last week. He's our day-to-day person to help facilitate communication, and we come as often as we can."

He was also keen to deny reports of a falling-out with Gillett.

"George and I have never been closer. We both were very disappointed and confused as to where that inaccurate information came from," he said.

"Owning Liverpool has been great, we're still enjoying it."

Andrey Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen, free), Kristian Nemeth & Andras Simon (both MTK Hungariam, undisclosed), Nikolay Mihaylov (Levski Sofia, £3m), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid, £21.5m), Yossi Benayoun (West Ham, £5m), Ryan Babel (Ajax, £11.5m). Now I want you to order them into 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7. 1 for the best signing and 7 for the worst signing.

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