Liverpool's losses reveal £35m blown on botched new stadium plans... and £8m kicking out new England boss HodgsonBy Sportsmail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 10:01, 3 May 2012 | UPDATED: 10:23, 3 May 2012
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The true mess Liverpool's finances were left in after Tom Hicks and George Gillett's reign at the club was revealed on Thursday - with £35million wasted on the Americans' attempt to make a 'new Anfield'.
Fenway Sports Group, headed up by Tom Werner and John W Henry who stepped in to take over, wiped most of the club's debt away with a £200m investment - but even after that more money has been set aside to cover the stadium situation.
The £35m covers design fees, legal and administrative costs related to the stadium plan commissioned to Dallas-based architects HKS by Hicks and Gillett.
Ditched: The futuristic stadium plan submitted by the former owners has been scrapped by the current Liverpool board
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Defeat: The Reds lost to Fulham on Tuesday
'New Anfield'
In 2000 Liverpool announced plans to build a new 60,000 seat stadium on Stanley Park. Estimated costs were £150m with the possibility to expand to 70,000.
In 2006 the club secured a 999-year, £300,000 a-year lease on part of the park for their ground.
Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool in 2007 and promised 'a spade in the ground within 60 days', pledging £210m to build the 'new' Anfield.
Their plans, which they commissioned out to American architects HKS, would have cost £300m to follow through on, resulting in a 71,000 seater stadium. The Stanley Park project has been dumped and the club have labelled the costs involved with scrapping the project as 'significant wasted money'.
The £35m is a large chunk of Liverpool's £49.4m overall annual loss and is listed in the accounts as a major 'exceptional item'.
Liverpool still have one new stadium option in the pipeline, one commissioned previously from Manchester based architects AFL, although they are also considering redeveloping Anfield.
Fortunately for Liverpool, the money involved with writing off the stadium will not be counted against them with regards to European Financial Fair Play reguations, as UEFA do not include them in their calculations.
Another stand-out figure from Liverpool's accounts is the £8.4m spent removing Roy Hodgson and his backroom staff.
The manager, far from popular with Liverpool fans, was appointed the new England manager on Tuesday.
Out and in: England wanted the man ditched for £8.4m by Liverpool
Abandoned: Liverpool spent £35m for nothing
Current managing director Ian Ayre said the accounts highlighted a rescue operation by Liverpool's new owners.
He told the Liverpool Echo: 'The key message is that the new ownership has created stability, a long term opportunity for Liverpool and some good foundation work that hopefully we’ll all build upon.
'It’s really about everyone being together and shown unity. We have seen in the past what happens when you don’t have everyone working together.
'One of the key things of this ownership group is that they do want everyone to work together. They are very open and collaborative about the way they go about their business.
'They don’t create walls between people. They don’t do that in their own business in the US.
'Everybody has got a voice and gets a chance to say what they think. Everybody is involved and that’s the best way for it to be.
'We have a great team of people here who just need to build on what we have started.'
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