It is difficult to decide whether it is more pleasing or worrying. Sepp Blatter hasn’t got the best of reputations so his words in favour of Share Liverpool, the initiative by fans to generate enough money to buy their club, have to be received with caution.

That this initiative is still being spoken of a couple of months after it was announced, however, is an undoubted positive. Initially dismissed by many, the initiative has slowly been gaining momentum.

Rogan Taylor, perhaps the prime mover behind the idea, is certainly confident that it can be a success.

“I'm certain it can work - it works at clubs big and small,” he says. “It's been in my mind for a few years but the time never seemed right to ask the question before. The reaction has been tremendous: over 160 countries hit the website, nearly 40,000 fans responding positively.”

Indeed, such was the interest on the launch of the scheme that the website set up to answer fans’ queries crashed within minutes and stayed off-line for a couple of days. Yet the message that this sent out – and there were many cynics who were quick to pounce on this - didn’t particularly trouble Taylor.

“No. It didn't worry me. I knew the Liverpool fans wouldn't give up...and they'd come back when the website returned. The mistake we made was to leave a holding page up all day, saying, 'This site goes live at five'.....so tens of thousands of fans were hitting to site at 1 second past 5!”

“I noticed that the UK Government Inland Revenue site crashed the same day: they’re not very professional then, are they?”

One Member, One Vote
The whole scheme is based on the notion that any one member can only buy one share, thereby ensuring that everyone gets a say rather than simply the rich.

The value for each share has been set at £5,000 and although this might seem out of reach for some, there are ways around this.

“Group membership will be possible,” Taylor explains. “For example a group of workmates; a 5 a side team, a bunch of pub regulars, could all chip in an equal amount to make up the 5 grand - they would all appear on the Share Register as 'owners' but they would have to elect one of their group as the 'voting member'.”

Such schemes are widely popular in Spain which is why Real Madrid and Barcelona have been put forward as examples to explain how the whole operation would work.

Yet, despite being owned by the fans, those two clubs are effectively bigger entities than most other clubs in the world. When Real Madrid were facing financial difficulties, the local authority stepped in to buy their training grounds before selling them back to the club for a pittance thereby wiping out their debt.

Other clubs, like Real Sociedad are similarly owned yet they’re floundering in the Second Division. Whilst attractive, the scheme is no guarantee for success.

“Well, there's no guarantee of anything in this world - it all depends on how well the club is run. Are we wise enough to choose the right people to run our Club? Good question! Democracy has its weaknesses, we all know that, but at least you have the chance to get rid of the Board if they're no good.”

“Are these clubs carrying anything like the debt that LFC is now?”

An additional problem surrounds the funding of the club if Share Liverpool were to gain control.

“Same way most clubs do,” is Taylor’s reply. “How do we do it now? Who paid for Torres? They just borrowed the money and put it on the fans' tab (that is, more debt). What many fans don't realise is that a debt free Club is very rich. At the moment we're paying £30-40m a year to service Hicks and Gillet's debts. Fancy that in the transfer pot? The Club takes in £170m a year in income. As to the stadium you probably do what Arsenal has done: borrow the money, securing the debt over a long period on the increased revenue from the new stadium”

Apart from Blatter, a number of former players have been coming out in favour of Share Liverpool which pleases Taylor. “It's great to get some of the 'Legends' on board - it shows that people who know the inner workings of the Club (like Phil Thompson) recognise that's it is possible”

Yet, although Taylor remains confident that they can buy the club from Hicks and Gillett, recent reports claim that DIC are very close to buying at least 49% in the club.

Taylor insists that even if the club is sold completely, Share Liverpool will still maintain interest.

“We've started a fire and it won’t go out. We've proved there's a very significant constituency of Liverpool fans who'd like to take ownership of the Club and will put their money where their mouth is.”

“Owners come and go - the fans are here forever. If DIC bought the Club outright, we'd have to see how things developed from there. Who knows: they may come to us (if they're clever enough!), looking for a partnership with LFC fans.”

More information on Share Liverpool can be found here .