It is fair to say that George Gillett isn't among the most liked men on Merseyside. Indeed, he'd probably struggle in a 'try to contain yourself when you see him' contest. So to see what the fans - or at least the journalists - in Montreal think of him now that he's decided to sell the Montreal Canadiens is something of an interesting exercise.

In particular, it sounds strange to hear just how well liked he is.

Unlike Liverpool, when he took over the Canadiens there was a fair bit of suspicion about his motives and not many were happy about an American taking over a Canadian sporting institution. At the time, and this will sound familiar, Gillett replied to that criticism by promising that he would protect the club's history and that he viewed himself purely as a custodian.

And, it would seem, he has kept his word.

"Fear and loathing had long given way to respect, even affection for a man with a self-deprecating sense of humour who had proven not to be Godzilla with an American passport," wrote Dave Stubbs in the National Post http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=1719820 earlier this week. "Gillett had not, in fact, invaded Montreal to stomp the Canadiens flat or use the club's long thread of history as dental floss."

Stubbs goes on to recall a conversation with Gillett about the initial reaction to his takeover. "My reaction was not to get angry [about the early criticism], but ask that we be judged on our record [with the Canadiens], not the past," Gillett said on a flight to Toronto for the awards ceremony. "I made a mistake years ago. I can only live with that so long. At some point, you have to look at what I've done more recently. To the benefit of Quebec and particularly Montreal, they have turned the page and allowed my family's actions to speak louder than words."

And Stubbs isn't the only one to talk about Gillett this way. In a piece entitled 'A Debt of Gratitude for Gillett', Jeff Blair write in the Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/a-debt-of-gratitude-for-george-gillett/article1191330/ that "while Montreal gets ready to celebrate the return of the Molson family to ownership of the NHL franchise – saving it from the cheesy clutches of the likes of Pierre Karl Péladeau and René Angelil – it is wise to give Gillett his due."

"He accorded the Canadiens’ history an enormous amount of respect (it is to his credit, and that of club president Pierre Boivin, that Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy was repatriated) and always seemed to err on the side of tradition, which was necessary from the start to keep at bay the fear he was a carpetbagger."

Words of praise that jarr when compared to the criticism that his time at Liverpool has been levelled at him. Not that this is unjustified.

Of course, the most telling statistic of this whole story is that Gillett bought the Canadiens for $270 million and has sold them on seven years later for $550 million which makes it one of the biggest deals in NHL history. A handsome profit but also an indication into how he operates. For the basic fact is that he sold the Canadiens because he sees Liverpool FC as a vehicle for even higher returns.

What will be interesting is to see what Gillett does next. Will he pay back some of the debt that has been saddled on the club? And will he use some of the money to kick-start the building of the new ground? If he does that, then perhaps by the time he decides to sell up there will be those willing to write as many positive things about him as there have been in Canada.