Fans fear impact of Liverpool FC stadium costs rise

Dec 17 2007 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

Latest artist's impression of Liverpool's new stadium on Stanley Park (320)

FANS’ groups last night demanded answers from Liverpool FC, after it was reported the owners were in talks to load up the club with debt.

It came after Liverpool FC chief executive Rick Parry was forced to deny reports that they were going to have to scrap the plans for a new stadium because of the credit crunch.

It was claimed the volatile financial situation would force American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett into taking on a smaller loan and see them ditch the revised plans for a 70,000-seat arena in favour of the original 60,000-capacity project.

The reports also stated the project costs had soared from £400m to around £700m.

Last night, Les Lawson, secretary of Merseyside branch of the official supporters club, said: “The fans want somebody to come out officially and explain what is going on.

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“All we are getting at the moment is rumours and we want to know what the situation is.”

Liverpool FC last night declined to comment on reports in Sunday newspapers that the investment vehicle Gillett and Hicks used to buy the club wanted to secure the £350m debt against the club, instead of their own assets.

The club’s management was said to be keen to stop this from happening, having been given assurances when the pair took over that Liverpool’s finances would not be saddled with debt.

This guarantee had been sought because the club will have to take on hundreds of millions of debt to finance the new Anfield stadium.

On Saturday, Parry told the club website: “We remain absolutely committed to the building of a new stadium which will improve on the original design inherited by Tom Hicks and George Gillett when they came into the club.

“It will have a capacity of around 70,000, be higher quality and have a substantially increased Kop which will form the centrepiece of the new plans.

“Ever since the original designs were unveiled, we have been continuously revising and refining.

“The situation in the credit markets has not affected our design, programme, or implementation of building our new stadium. The priority has always been to build a winning team on the pitch and everything else we do is geared towards that.” Last night, Mr Lawson added: “Of course, this is all a worry to us, because we don’t want the club being millions and millions in debt for the new stadium. There is no good having the best stadium if you have not got the quality on the pitch.”

davidbartlett@dailypost.co.uk