David Moores, former Liverpool chairman and owner, dies aged 76

The former Liverpool chairman and owner David Moores has died at the age of 76.

Moores died on Friday, weeks after his wife of 39 years, Marge. He was Liverpool’s chairman for 16 years from 1991 until selling his stake to Tom Hicks and George Gillett in 2007, after which he became the honorary life president.

Sir Kenny Dalglish led the tributes to the lifelong Liverpool fan. The club legend said on Twitter: “Marina & I are both very saddened by the passing of David Moores. He was a loyal Liverpool fan whose dream came true when he was appointed chairman, & he did a tremendous amount to help the club. Our condolences go to his family. He’ll be greatly missed by all who knew him. RIP”

Moores was an heir to the Littlewoods retail empire, founded by his uncle Sir John Moores, Everton’s chairman in the 1960s and 1970s. The Moores family also held a majority stake in Liverpool for more than half a century and David Moores took over in September 1991.

He was chairman when Graeme Souness became the first Liverpool manager to be sacked since 1956 in January 1994 and, working closely alongside then chief executive, Rick Parry, oversaw the appointments of Roy Evans, Gérard Houllier and Rafael Benítez as manager. Although Liverpool did not win a Premier League title on Moores’ watch, they won 10 major honours that included the 2005 Champions League triumph in Istanbul.

Moores came under increasing pressure to bring external investment into Liverpool as Manchester United dominated the domestic scene and, two years after Istanbul, he made the ill-fated decision to sell his shareholding to the American duo Hicks and Gillett. He would always regret the decision and in 2010 publicly appealed to Hicks and Gillett to sell up with