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It was the deal that was supposed to herald a bright new future for Liverpool Football Club.

The spade would be plunged into the ground, a new stadium would be built and Rafa Benitez would be backed to the hilt in the transfer market.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett certainly talked a good game upon their arrival at Anfield as new owners on February 6 2007.

“We’re not here to milk the fans,” Gillett insisted. "Give us a little time and we are going to have some fun together.

“It is not about money. It is about our passion and our understanding of the fans of this club."

His partner-in-crime Hicks would add: "This is not a takeover like the Glazer deal at Manchester United.

"There is no debt involved. We believe that as custodians of this wonderful, storied club we have a duty of care to the tradition and legacies of Liverpool."

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Their words were nothing but hollow soundbites designed to mask the real intention of making a fast buck on the back of Liverpool's unrivalled history.

Reds fans were told bare-faced lies on this day 12 years ago and it only got worse.

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Much, much worse.

Within months of Hicks and Gillett's arrival, the club was riddled with debt and disunity and back-stabbing became the norm.

The bickering factions repeatedly fell out with each other and left a trail of broken promises in their wake.

In a just over three-and-a-half years, the detested Americans had somehow managed to drive one of world football's most successful institutions to the brink of administration.

Twelve years on, Liverpool are in rude health, a million miles away from the dark period of Hicks and Gillett's woefully inept stewardship. Anfield is much happier place in February 2019.

The Reds eventually traded one set of American owners for another when Fenway Sports Group took over after the drama of a High Court ruling in October 2010.

A bewildering storm of legal arguments whirled from London to Dallas to New York before mercifully, Hicks and Gillett were jettisoned from their lofty positions in one of the craziest weeks in the club's history.

FSG - or New England Sports Ventures (NESV), as they were then known - purchased the club for £300million as a jubilant Martin Broughton celebrated after masterminding the sale which essentially freed Liverpool from the poisonous vice grip of their previous owners.

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"As every Liverpool fan knows, the most nerve-racking way to win a match is by a penalty shoot-out," Broughton said. "But in the end, as long as you get the right result, it's worth the wait. We've got the right result."

Liverpool are unrecognisable from the mess they were left in by Hicks and Gillett.

The latest set of accounts, set to be published over the coming days, are expected to reveal the Reds to be the first club to post an annual profit close to £90million.

Leicester's remarkable Premier League win of 2016, and subsequent Champions League campaign, saw the Foxes record an £80m profit to put them top of the list, but the Reds' growth both on and off the pitch over the past year will see them smash that record, comfortably.

A hefty chunk of TV money, the £142m sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona and Champions League football - a competition Liverpool ended as runners-up last term - have all contributed to help the Reds create some expected financial history.

On the pitch, the club are closer than ever to ending a 29-year wait for their 19th league title, too.

They have one of the brightest coaches in world football at the helm in Jurgen Klopp and have several of their best players tied down to long-term contracts at Anfield.

(Image: Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

In the last year, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have all signed new deals with the club, while goalkeeper Alisson still has over four years left to run on his.

The £75million signing of Virgil van Dijk has had a transformative effect on a much-maligned defensive set-up.

The Dutch captain can lay claim to being one of the world's finest centre-backs and he still has just under four years left on a contract he signed in January 2018.

Whatever happens in the final few months of the Premier League campaign, Liverpool's long-term future is immensely positive.

(Image: OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images)

Off the field, Liverpool are now a financial powerhouse, striking commercial deals with a host of companies across the globe to help keep the Reds at the forefront of the game.

A new kit manufacturer deal is being discussed by club officials and any potential fresh contract will be the most lucrative in Anfield history.

The new Main Stand has increased the Anfield to over 54,000 and the matchday revenue earned from the club has been sizable since it opened in September 2016.

In 2019, Liverpool have the right owners, manager and players to become a mainstay at the pinnacle of European football for years to come.

Twelve years on, the nadir of the Hicks and Gillett era is merely a sour afterthought.