Founded in 1892, Liverpool is one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in the world. Today its fans find themselves at the center of a story that weaves together globalization, sovereign wealth funds, and the world game -- football (or soccer in American parlance). Eleven months ago Liverpool was bought by Americans George Gillett, owner of the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team, and Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers baseball and Dallas Stars ice hockey teams.

English fans traditionally have not held foreigners in high regard but globalization is changing attitudes. The rosters of top English teams now read like a list of participants at a U.N. event. Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich bought the Chelsea club and with his millions came unprecedented success, so you will hear no complaints from the Chelsea fans.

Hard core English fans, though, support their clubs with religious devotion. This is more true of Liverpool fans than most, and in their view Gillett and Hicks are not worthy of the sacred trust that came to them – whether they realized it or not – with ownership. This is not just a matter of tribal traditions trampled upon. The modern fan's passion is paired with sophisticated financial understanding. Abramovich put money into Chelsea. Liverpool fans fear Gillett and Hicks are trying to take money out of their club.

The Americans are in the process of trying to restructure the financing of their purchase through a 350 million pound Sterling loan. This would enable them to start work on a new stadium. Less positively, it would shift debt to the club from the owners personally and leave it saddled with a 30 million pound Sterling ($59 million) annual interest payment, money that would not be available for getting key new players in the transfer market.

Enter Dubai International Capital, the investment arm of the Dubai government, a sovereign wealth fund in other words. DIC bid for the club last January and lost out to Gillett and Hicks. Now they are in the wings again ready with an offer should Gillett and Hicks decide to sell or should their finance restructure fall through.

Dubai, as last Friday's editorial noted, has become cautious in its approach to foreign investments after the Dubai Ports World debacle in 2006. The state-owned company purchased P&O, the fourth-largest port handling company in the world at the time, only to have the U.S. Congress nix the deal as regards the U.S. ports that P&O had operated, citing security concerns.

These days Dubai wants to be sure that they invest their money where it is wanted. Liverpool's fans made clear last Monday that they trust money from Dubai more than that of their current American owners. They are casting the DIC in the role of savior. Perhaps it helps that Sameer al-Ansari, head of the DIC, studied law at Liverpool and is a huge fan of the team. Either way these are signs of how rapidly the world is changing.