万花筒2008-02-03:出售利物浦？

Fans of Liverpool look to buy the club amid uncertainty¹ about the future of its U.S. owners. CNN's Jim Boulden reports.

Liverpool fans welcomed the new American owners last year. Tom Hicks and George Gillett promised money for top players, money for a new stadium and promised they were in it for the long haul. Liverpool is getting a new ground and has signed a few players. The one of Europe’s premier² soccer teams is currently out of the top four. Fans are fed up with the growing debts and rumors³ the Americans want to replace popular coach Rafael Benitez. The solution: buy the club themselves.

At the upper level nobody has attempted a buyout like this, in fact anyone in the UK. And I think Liverpool people quite like doing things no one has done before.

A number of smaller England clubs are already fan-owned and one Ebbsfleet United was just bought for 1.7 million dollars by thousands of members of a football fan website. Each will soon be able to vote on team’s strategy through the Internet. Some big continental⁴ clubs like Barcelona are also owned by supporters, but the trend in England lately has been for wealthy businessmen to take over, Viet-American Malcolm Glazer⁵ at Manchester United, or, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at Manchester City, or, Englishman Briatore Ecclestone buying struggling QPR. Could Liverpool really go the other way?

I struggle to see how commercially it will work at the higher levels. It has been tried in the past with some of the administrations and some of the football league clubs. They have the supporters' power and the supporters' representative on the board. But when you get in the higher levels of, you know, 200 million a year, Manchester United and above, then it really would be a drop.

Liverpool’s American owners have denied they’re already to bail⁶ out, despite rumors that money from rich Gulf⁷ States is ready to come in, so why will they sell to the fans?

I think if it becomes a serious proposal, then they will look at it seriously.

When the Glazers took over United, there were protests in the streets of Manchester, especially given their dead heat on the club. But winning has quieted most fans for now. Liverpool's disgruntled 100,000 fans were around the world to follow the Ebbsfleet model and pitch in a billion dollars and take the club back.

Jim Boulden CNN, London

1 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

2 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

3 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

5 glazer   

n.上釉工人，加光工人

参考例句：

• There's no set figure from the Glazer family [for transfers]. 格拉泽家族没有设置限制。 来自互联网
• The Glazer family have insisted that Manchester United are not for sale. 格雷泽家族已经强调曼彻斯特联是非卖品。 来自互联网

6 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

7 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。