It's an occupational hazard for members of the Forbes 100 to be bombarded with phone calls by folk demanding that you save their ailing football club.
The new President of America flirted with the idea of taking over Rangers when they fell into trouble in 2012. The Don was briefly interested in rescuing the famous club from his mother's homeland, not least because he needed the goodwill of the Scottish government when building his links course in Aberdeen. The closer Trump and his people got to the club, the more they winced at the state of its financial position.
Now we learn that the richest person in the world was approached to take over Liverpool in 2010. The club's despised American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, were eager to sell the club and asked Barclays to find a buyer.
The bank approached Gates on two occasions, but also Bob Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots.
The approach to (Gates) has been revealed in court papers from the ongoing legal battle between Mill Financial, former co-owner George Gillett and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Two separate approaches were made to Robert Kraft... and both were rebuffed.
The Liverpool chairman Sir Martin Broughton confirmed in the same documentation that both Gates and Kraft had been approached to take over.
Broughton was asked if “there was at least an attempt to contact Bill Gates and Bob Kraft in the US?”
Broughton replied “correct”, though he went on to say that the approach was part of a worldwide search for potential owners.
US saviours were eventually found in the shape of the Fenway Sports Group, the owners of the Boston Red Sox. The bought the club for £300 million.
On Eamon Dunphy's podcast yesterday, Didi Hamann, beloved Champions League victor from 2005, said history was the only thing the club had going for it. T'would have been different had they Gates's billions to play about with.
