Takeover talk doesn´t bother us: Hodgson

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson says renewed speculation over the club’s delicate financial situation will have no effect on him or his players.

Hodgson is aware that an October 6 deadline is looming when Reds co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are due to refinance or repay the 237 million pounds (286 million euros) loan they took out with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Hicks and Gillett have been keen to sell Liverpool for several months but are still to find a buyer as a number of interested parties failed to satisfy their demands.

It emerged on Thursday that RBS have placed the debt with its restructuring team and, with the club no nearer being taken over, the chances of Hicks and Gillett finding a solution that avoids a messy and potentially complicated forced sale appear unlikely.

That kind of off-field turmoil could dent morale in the dressing room, but Hodgson, whose side travel to Birmingham on Sunday, is confident no-one at Anfield will be distracted.

“The people dealing with it, who have a tough job on their hands, are kind enough to keep me informed if anything is happening,” Hodgson said on Friday.

“But I have a job to do here and frankly it doesn’t affect us that deeply in our day-to-day work; the players come and train, we work hard, we get paid.

“It is a major issue for the club, I know, but it is something we at Melwood (the training centre) can’t actually do anything about and I can only, like the rest of the club, wait and hope a solution is found which everyone finds satisfactory.

“I can’t say it is a distraction and I don’t think I’ve seen any distraction with any of the work on the field or the games we have played.

“It is an area where we at ground level can do nothing other than keep playing, keep doing our best and hoping the solution is found which everyone at the club finds acceptable.”