INSIGHT: Where did it all go wrong at Liverpool FC?

Feb 3 2008

Liverpool FC owners George Gillett (left) and Tom Hicks _320

THE STADIUM

“I’d rather be a lucky general than a good one,” was how Napoleon put it and in that sense Messrs Hicks and Gillett shouldn’t be looking to enter too many battlefields any time soon. When they took over, the Stanley Park stadium was costed at around £225m. But they thought the designs “obsolete” and new designs were commissioned by Dallas-based HKS.

Unveiled in July 2007 to almost universal approval, they offered the tantalising prospect of future expansion to beyond 76,000 seats, making the stadium larger than Old Trafford.

The new cost was £300m but that didn’t stand still for long. Just a few months later and a cost of £450m had developed, thanks to rising steel and construction costs worldwide. At the same time, the value of the dollar has plummeted by around 10% in a year against the European currencies in which Liverpool FC does most of its business, making the costs weigh even heavier on two men whose assets were also almost completely held in dollars.

On top of that, the global credit crunch has made borrowing money even more expensive. The first plans were scrapped and a revised plan for a straight 70,000 seat stadium by HKS was unveiled last month, costed at £400m. Work has not started properly yet and another huge loan will be needed to pay for it.

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