But they must also offer reassurances to Rafael Benítez in the light of renewed interest from Real Madrid.
It has not escaped Benítez's notice that Real appear to have identified him, along with José Mourinho, of Chelsea, and Bernd Schuster, of Getafe, as the leading candidates to replace Fabio Capello as coach at the end of the season. Despite his ambition to coach Real one day, Benítez is in no rush to return to his native Madrid, but their apparent interest has strengthened the Spaniard's bargaining position as he tries to persuade Gillett and Hicks of the need to offer him substantial backing in the transfer market this summer.
Benítez was happy enough with what he heard from the Americans when they met him upon buying 62 per cent of the club last month, but, with a compulsory buyout of all remaining shares on the cards now that they have secured 94.4 per cent of the club, the manager has urged them to talk again, something they intend to do when they return to Merseyside for their next planned visit, to coincide with the home match against Arsenal on March 31.
"There are always a lot of rumours in the newspapers and a lot of people have been talking about Madrid," Benítez said. "I have read in some papers I've had a meeting with people from Madrid. This is not true. I'm very happy at Liverpool. I couldn't have more support than I've had here, but now we have new people taking over and it's important I talk to the American owners.
"I have spoken to them once, but now I would like to see them again as soon as possible and talk about the future. As I've said before, I don't just want to talk about money to spend on players, I would like to hear about the plans which will improve the club. We need to do things which not only help for one or two years, but will help the club for the next 100 years."
The Americans' plans for the stadium should at least help to persuade Benítez that their ambitions are long term. Preparatory work began on Stanley Park at the start of this week, but it emerged yesterday that it has been put on hold while the club carry out an urgent review of their original plans. With the existing plan due to house 60,000 supporters, as opposed to 45,000 at Anfield, Gillett and Hicks feel that there is scope to build a bigger stadium to maximise the club's future revenue streams, although it is not clear whether they would be able to match the 76,000 figure that Manchester United can accommodate at Old Trafford, the biggest stadium in English club football.
A new planning application will have to be submitted if the original plan is changed substantially, but Liverpool are confident that the completion date of 2009 remains realistic and that any brief delay would be justified. "There is a total commitment to a new stadium, but the new owners are conducting a review of the proposals to see if there is any way they can be improved," a club spokesman said.
The £234 million cost of the new stadium will almost certainly rise as a result of any changes, but Gillett and Hicks are understood to have made provisions for this. Having borrowed £298 million to fund their initial investment in the club, they are preparing to borrow a further £200 million — and perhaps more — to finance the construction of the new stadium.
Unlike the Glazer family, in their takeover of Manchester United, Gillett and Hicks have not leveraged their takeover against the club, although it is understood that Liverpool may have to make regular payments towards the annual interest charges, which are estimated to be more than £20 million.