Liverpool Reveals £50m Loss
Liverpool FC has reported a loss of nearly £50m for the last financial year, with the financial implications of a failed stadium plan and former manager Roy Hodgson’s compensation package revealed.
Owners Fenway Sports Group wiped out debts of £200m when they purchased the club in October 2010, but were also forced to write off a further £35m related to the abandoned HKS-designed Stanley Park project of predecessors Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
A further £8.4m was spent on contract terminations, including the pay-off to former boss Roy Hodgson.
Ayre told the Liverpool Echo: ‘I guess people will focus on the loss of £49.4m and there’s no business – or people running any business – who are going to be pleased with any loss.’
‘But I think the important indicator here is this £59m charge for exceptional items and as a business that’s been in a transition, it’s about moving from where we were to where we want to be.’
The ambitious glass and steel design was scrapped by FSG soon after taking over, but residual costs associated with the project – such as legal, planning and design fees – still required settling.
Ayre added: ‘With new ownership that was kind of milling around within the club’s accounts and there was a very definite need to move that out.’
‘It is a huge loss but that goes with a lot of other things that nobody was really happy with in that period. So rather than dwell on it, we’ve very smartly made the decision to remove it from the club’s accounts.’
‘It is a big write-off but it means that it’s gone forever now and we can move forward now without that around our neck. And it also means that we are in pretty good shape in being a sustainable business. It’s a positive step forward.’
