TOM HICKS remained bullish in the wake of his son’s resignation from Liverpool yesterday when he pledged a “big” summer in the transfer market at Anfield and replaced the outgoing director with another Dallas-based ally.

Hicks’s son, Tom Jr, bowed to pressure to relinquish his directorship of Liverpool and its parent company, Kop Holdings, following the furore over the obscene email he sent to a Liverpool supporter in a row over Rafael Benitez’s spending power.

His place on the board has been taken by Casey Coffman, vice-president of Hicks Holdings and the chief operating officer of Hicks Sports Group, while Liverpool confirmed Philip Nash and Ian Ayre, the club’s chief financial officer and commercial director respectively, have been appointed directors.

The departure of Hicks Jr was announced yesterday morning after he sent an abusive email to a supporter whom he told to “Blow me f*** face”.

It is understood the Liverpool director offered to resign when the controversy erupted on Saturday night, with the supporters’ union, Spirit of Shankly, demanding his resignation and describing his position as untenable, before the decision was ratified 24 hours later.

A statement issued on behalf of Hicks Jr read: “I have great respect for Liverpool Football Club, especially the club’s supporters. I apologise for my mistake and I am very sorry for my harmful words. I do not want my actions to take away from the club’s future; therefore I am resigning from the board. To the fans and to the club, please accept my sincerest apologies.”

Unsurprisingly, given their determination to remove Hicks and George Gillett as owners of Liverpool, the Spirit of Shankly group welcomed the American’s decision to step down. A spokesperson said: “This club has standards; on the field, off the field, on the terraces and in the boardroom. The standards we have seen exercised in the boardroom have been unbefitting of this great club since Hicks Jr, his father, George Gillett and other associates arrived at the Club with false promises.”

The dispute between Hicks Jr and the supporter, Stephen Horner, was prompted by last week’s revelations that Benitez will have little to spend in this transfer window even if the Liverpool manager raises more than €16.6 million through player sales.

The club has so far raised €7 million by selling Andriy Voronin and Andrea Dossena to Dynamo Moscow and Napoli respectively and are also hoping to offload Philipp Degen and Ryan Babel before the end of the month.

Benitez has resisted efforts to cut his losses with Babel, however, amid concerns his budget will stretch no further than the proposed €1.6 million signing of Maxi Rodriguez from Atletico Madrid and possibly one other loan deal.

Liverpool officials say Benitez’s budget is a sensible approach to the difficult January transfer market and revenue raised now will be reinvested in the squad in the summer. The Liverpool manager has already started preparations for next season, with the Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh a target on a free transfer.

That stance was echoed by Hicks himself yesterday when, shortly after the announcement of his son’s resignation, he responded to another supporter’s inquiry about transfer plans with the email that, in hindsight, Hicks Jr should have sent to Horner.

The Liverpool co-owner said: “Our debt is very managable (sic) [see Man U] and we never use player sales for debt service. Our interest on €221.7 million is about €17.7 million. The new stadium will be the game changer. Christian [Purslow] is working very hard on it. Jan is a poor-quality market. The summer window will be big.”

Purslow, Liverpool’s managing director, is engaged in a worldwide search for new investors in the club as Hicks and Gillett seek an equity raise that would reduce their shareholdings but enable work on the proposed stadium in Stanley Park finally to begin.

Purslow, Nash and Ayre have played increasingly important roles in the last few months as they work towards putting the club on a healthier financial footing. That has already led to the signing of a new shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered Bank worth around €88.7 million.

One of Purslow’s priorities since taking over from Rick Parry has been to find new investment as Liverpool seek to get the funding for a new stadium and talks continue to find someone willing to buy a minority share in the club.

Hicks Jr had no real input into decision-making at the club on a daily basis and so his departure will not affect ongoing plans.

Guardian Service