Nolan Ryan wants Your Texas Rangers, and word is Tom Hicks is this close to having a new partner in Liverpool FC: Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud. At least, that's what the Saudi's sayin': "We are looking forward to acquiring 50 percent of the club's stake." And the half he's buying belongs to George Gillett, with whom Hicks has had a rocky relationship since way back when, even though they patched it up long enough to rework their debt over the summer -- just enough time for the prince to ride to the rescue while Hicks actively looked for a minority investor.
Hicks doesn't think the deal's close to being done -- or, for that matter, real. Maybe, maybe not. But just moments ago, the prince's Saudi Arabia-based sports management firm -- F6 -- announced it had signed "an exclusive commercial collaboration" with Liverpool FC via high highness's handshake with Gillett. I've left messages with Hicks's PR peoples.
Update: Unfair Park received the following Tuesday morning from the offices of Lisa LeMaster: "The owners have jointly retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Rothschild to evaluate the possibility of new investors injecting equity into LFC. However, the process is at an early stage, there is no agreement with any party and reports to the contrary are wholly inaccurate."