LIVERPOOL were facing financial
meltdown last night.
.
.
The club’s accountants issued a chilling statement admitting
there is ‘significant doubt’ whether the company which runs the
Merseysiders can ‘continue as a going concern’. Liverpool’s parent
company Kop Football (Holdings) Ltd, run by American duo George
Gillett and Tom Hicks, made a £42.6million loss last year.
Around £36.5m of that is interest payments on the whopping £350m
loan they took out to refinance the club. A top City analyst said:
“Unless the owners find more money, the club is facing financial
meltdown. Not only are the figures bleak, the future is gloomy
too.
“The more you read through the accounts, the more transparent it
is that the owners don’t have the resources to meet the targets
they’ve set for next year either. “Everyone associated with
Liverpool should be deeply concerned by this set of figures.”
The devastating news will intensify calls from fans for the US
pair to sell up. As things stand, any profits being made on the
pitch are being swallowed up by the crippling repayments on the
loan.
The disastrous figures not only place the club’s future in
jeopardy, they also have serious side-effects for boss Rafa
Benitez. The scale of the financial woes casts a huge question-mark
over whether Benitez will have any significant money to spend this
summer.
He has already been ‘blown out of the water’ by Manchester City
in the race for long-term target Gareth Barry this week. Other
big-money targets, like David Silva, Glen Johnson and even Carlos
Tevez, look unlikely to materialise this summer.
The club’s accountants, KPMG, outlined
their concerns by saying: “The group has credit facilities
amounting to £350m, which expire on 24 July 2009. “The directors
have initiated negotiations to secure the replacement finance
required by the group and these negotiations are ongoing.
“These conditions… indicate the existence of a material
uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the group’s and
parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
Sources close to Gillett and Hicks last night said they
re-mained confident of securing the refinancing deal and are also
still in talks with possible investors. But only in April the Hicks
Sports Group defaulted on repaying loans totalling £354m for his
other sports ventures in the States.
Before the Americans’ £219m takeover in 2007, Liverpool were
close to a deal with Arab investors Dubai International Capital.
Then, in January this year, Kuwaiti billionaire Nasser Al-Kharafi
offered £425m for overall control. But the Americans only want to
sell 50 per cent and hopes of a deal collapsed.