JULY 1
New blow for LFC stadium
as NWDA witholds £9m

By David Bartlett - Liverpool Daily Post

The Northwest Development Agency has refused to hand over a £9m grant for Liverpool FC’s new stadium project until the club proves it has got the money for the £350m scheme.

Steve Broomhead, chief executive of the NWDA, spoke to Kop Holdings – the owners of LFC – yesterday over the funding of the stadium.

The agency had previously agreed to provide a £9m grant for the scheme which includes regenerating the park and a community partnership centre.

While Mr Broomhead made clear the money is still available, the agency will not hand it over until “detailed evidence” that funding is in place to complete the project.

The revelation came as it emerged LFC co-owner Tom Hicks had agreed an unrelated $3.2bn (£1.6bn) deal with a plastic container company in the USA.

The Texan is understood to be keen for Liverpool fans to see that he still has the clout to pull off big financial packages, despite the credit crunch.

Last week, the club started preparatory enabling works on its 60,000-capacity stadium on Stanley Park.

The stadium will incorporate a club shop, conference and banqueting facilities, and parking for almost 1,000 vehicles.

Its design is ultimately capable of accommodating up to 73,000 spectators subject to further planning permission.

In January, the club’s owners refinanced the debt they took on when buying the club in 2007 in a £350m deal. It is understood that, included in that deal, was £60m to get work started on the stadium.

The Daily Post also understands that sum would be enough to cover costs of the build until around the end of the current year.

Last night, a club source said: “We are not planning on having the long term funding in place until the end of this year.

“We have sufficient funds currently to take us through the early stages of the project.”

Mr Broomhead said: “The NWDA is engaged in positive, on-going discussions with Liverpool Football Club regarding our investment in the regeneration aspects of the new Anfield development. The NWDA’s grant has always been dependent upon the club demonstrating that funding for the new stadium has been fully secured and we are currently awaiting detailed evidence that this is in place.

“Until this time, the agency will retain its £9m investment towards the project, but we remain optimistic about the outcome and are committed to working closely with Liverpool FC and other partners to bring the development and the regeneration of North Liverpool forward.”

JUNE 24
Enabling works start on new LFC stadium

LFC Official Website

Liverpool City Council granted full planning permission on
June 19 to Liverpool Football Club to build a 60,000 seater stadium and outline planning permission for a mixed use development on the existing Anfield stadium site.

The stadium will incorporate a club shop, conference and banqueting facilities, parking for almost 1,000 vehicles and a Community Partnership centre. Its design is ultimately capable of accommodating up to 73,000 people subject to further planning permission.

LFC has instructed Laing O'Rourke to commence enabling works under a licence issued by the Liverpool City Council. Works started on June 23.

Co-chairman George Gillett said: "This is a significant milestone for the club and I am delighted that the design received full planning consent and that we are now on site.

"We have been working very hard over the last six months to move the details of the design along but this is the first tangible evidence for fans that a New LFC Stadium will be built.

"The stadium design is unique and will be recognised across the world as the Liverpool FC Stadium. It incorporates a Kop stand that will hold 18,000 fans and we hope that the stadium will be as noisy and atmospheric on a matchday as Anfield."

Co-chairman Tom Hicks added: "We recognise the importance of a new LFC Stadium as part of the wider regeneration of the local area.

"We have watched the council transform Stanley Park over the last six months and the ongoing refurbishment of houses in the Anfield/ Breckfield area. I am pleased that now the club has received full planning permission it can join the regeneration process with the commencement of enabling works."

The stadium is on programme to open for the beginning of the 2011-12 season.

JUNE 23
Liverpool FC owners' £100m credit crunch

By David Prentice - Liverpool Echo

Liverpool’s American owners are facing a major credit crunch backlash over stalled plans to build a new stadium for the Reds.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett may need to put in as much as £100m of their own money if they want to borrow a further £200m.

And that casts massive doubt over their ability to go ahead with the ambition of building the 70,000 seat-plus super stadium, designed by Dallas based architects HKS and rolled out amid a fanfare of publicity last year.

Given the global credit crunch, banks are no longer prepared to allow 100 per cent borrowings and are currently asking for at least one third of the amount needed for major projects to be put up front by would-be borrowers.

Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool for £220m in February last year - most of it with borrowed cash - and have since refinanced their original loans with a further £350m loan deal, which leaves the club responsible for annual interest payments of around £39m a year.

The Americans, who have become estranged and embittered over recent months, are now on speaking terms again following Gillett’s admission on Friday that they needed to set aside their communications differences for the sake of the club.

But the worldwide clampdown on lending means they would still face huge problems raising the deposit now needed for what is effectively a mortgage to build a new Anfield.

The Dubaian government, headed by Sheik Mohammed al Rashid bin Maktoum, remain keen to buy out the Americans. And, as a sovereign wealth fund, it is claimed that unlike the Americans would to some degree be protected from the interest rates and pressures exerted by banks over private investors.

MAY 15
New doubt over Liverpool stadium

By Paul Walker - PA Sport

Fresh doubts have been raised over Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks' ability to fund the club's proposed new home in Stanley Park following a shock decision to delay the building of
a stadium in Texas.

Hicks has admitted he has been unable to secure financing for the Glorypark mixed-use development in Arlington, Texas that was scheduled to open in March 2010.

The $500million venture has been put on hold because of the credit squeeze and troubled retail market.

Hicks said in an interview with the Dallas Morning News: "We are in the most difficult credit crunch I have seen the last 20 years."

That revelation will give more hope to prospective buyers of Liverpool, Dubai International Capital, who have long believed Hicks - and his estranged co-owner George Gillett - have found it virtually impossible to raise further loans to facilitate the move from Anfield.

It is believed Hicks must find funding over the next few months to build the club's new £350million stadium.

But if his Hicks Holdings group have been unable to find the cash in the current market for their Arlington plans, critics in the UK will wonder how the money for the move will be raised in the current financial climate.

Hicks' announcement over the Arlington stadium comes a week after a Dallas hotel project in which he is also involved was delayed.

Construction was scheduled to start this spring on the Glorypark project adjacent to the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, and close to the Dallas Cowboys new 1.1 billion dollar stadium.

Hicks owns the Rangers baseball club as well as the Dallas Stars ice hockey team.

The completion of Glorypark, which would have included restaurants, retail, residential and office space, had been delayed at least twice previously.

Last week, Liverpool gained their third planning permission for the revised Stanley Park scheme.

Hicks said at the weekend: "Site work will start in September and actual construction in late October/early November, with completion in time for the season starting in August 2011."

Some money, around £60million, was set aside from the January re-financing of Hicks and Gillett's loans to buy Liverpool, to allow the stadium work to start.

But it is believed Hicks has been unsuccessful in raising further loans from the London and US financial markets in recent weeks.

DIC believe the financial pressures on Hicks will eventually lead to his return to the negotiating table after he pulled the plug on a planned buyout earlier in the year.

The impasse with Gillett is no nearer a solution.

But Gillett, having made it clear he will not sell his 50% stake in the club to his partner, significantly flew to London last week for informal talks with DIC.

It has emerged that are unlikely to test the validity in court of Hicks' veto over any move by Gillett to sell his stake. Problems over certain clauses in the original contracts have arisen which make such a move difficult.

However, few observers now expect the troubled ownership of Liverpool to be resolved this summer, with the saga likely to drag on into the autumn.

Under the current proposals, the stadium work should have started by then.

MAY 6
Liverpool FC's new stadium approved

By David Bartlett - Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool FC’s third stadium plan was approved today.

Councillors gave the go-ahead to the £350m proposal for a 60,000-seater ground in Stanley Park at Liverpool town hall.

It is the third time in five years the council has backed a stadium scheme from the Reds, but it is still unclear when work will start.

The club’s American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett ordered a massive redesign of the original proposal when they took over last year and their plan was approved last summer.

But it was shelved and redrawn a second time by Dallas-based architects HKS earlier this year when the tycoons decided it was too expensive.

Today, the council’s planning committee backed a scheme showing a number of crucial changes, notably a smaller underground car park beneath the stadium and a reduced height.

APRIL 25
Third time lucky for
new Liverpool FC stadium?

By Nick Coligan - Liverpool Echo

Liverpool FC’s third stadium plan is set to get the go-ahead
next week.

City planners have recommended the £350m proposal for a 60,000-seater ground is approved by councillors..

However, progress on the stadium is likely to remain in doubt as long as the ownership stand-off continues.

Liverpool’s original building plan for Stanley Park was backed by the council as far back as 2004.

American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett ordered a massive redesign when they took over the club last year and their plan was approved last summer.

But it was shelved and redrawn a second time by Dallas-based architects HKS earlier this year when the tycoons decided it was too expensive.

MARCH 16
Liverpool FC stadium:
Club looks for quick decision

Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool FC’s third stadium design is now being scrutinised
by town hall planners.

The proposal, revealed by the Liverpool Daily Post in January, was drawn up by Dallas-based architects HKS after the club’s American owners decided the previous idea was too expensive.

Because of a technicality, the Reds were allowed to submit an amended version of their second planning application, which was approved by councillors late last year.

In theory, it should take council officials less time to assess than an entirely new document, speeding up the planning process.

But no date has yet been set for the planning committee to meet and discuss the proposal for a 60,000-seater stadium at Stanley Park.

Liverpool are confident the scheme will be backed by councillors, as the previous two ideas were both given the green light.

A council spokesman said: “An amended application has been submitted because the decision notice from the previous one had not been formalised.”

Community leaders today called on city bosses to demand Liverpool draw up a full planning application.

Liberal councillor Steve Radford, who has campaigned for years against the principle of letting the club build on Stanley Park, said: “I believe it is unacceptable that this scheme is treated as an amended application.

“I am concerned we will not see the same level of consultation as we did previously.”

But the council today insisted more than 11,500 households would be asked for their views on the stadium proposal over a three-week period.

A spokesman also said objections raised when the previous plan was approved by councillors would be passed onto the planning committee again when it eventually meets.

The new design incorporates the 18,500-capacity stand-alone Kop, which Mr Hicks had insisted was crucial to his plans.

There is also room for extra seats to be added at a later date, although this would need council approval.

JANUARY 25
Reds appoint American architects

Ananova

Liverpool have announced that Dallas-based architects HKS have won the battle to build the club's new £300million Stanley Park stadium.

HKS produced the original designs for the 71,000-capacity arena which were rejected by co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett late last year when they ran £50million over budget, but after revising those plans - and beating off Manchester-based AFL's rival bid - the American company will get the contract for the new ground.

Hicks told www.liverpoolfc.tv: "HKS has developed a more efficient design that, at the same time, is just as stunning as its original design."

He added: "Liverpool supporters should have high expectations for the future: a premier sporting experience at their new stadium at Stanley Park and a winning club on the pitch for years to come."

Hicks, Gillett and chief executive Rick Parry met in New York earlier this month to study both new designs.

AFL produced the plans originally agreed before the American duo took over the club. They were dropped by Hicks and Gillett and they have again found their revised scheme rejected.

The announcement on Friday over the stadium's future comes ahead of confirmation that the refinancing of the club owners' loan deal has also been agreed.

The refinancing will mean the American duo have a firm stranglehold on the club, despite opposition from fans' groups, and they are likely to sanction the permanent transfer of on-loan Javier Mascherano as soon as the £9million transfer of Mohamed Sissoko to Juventus has been agreed.

Hicks and Gillett are trying to re-establish their fractured relationship with the Anfield support and, by allowing manager Rafael Benitez the funds to buy £17million-rated Mascherano they are also intimating the Spaniard has a long-term future at the club.

However, that situation will not be clear until the summer when this season's performance will be assessed. A top-four position is crucial, plus a decent FA Cup run.

JANUARY 8
No inquiry for Reds' new stadium

BBC Sport Online

Liverpool Football Club's proposed new stadium has moved a step closer with a government announcement that there will not be an inquiry into the plans.

The secretary of state Hazel Blears has decided after considering the £400m plans and objections to Stanley Park stadium, there is no need to intervene.

She said she was satisfied that the final decision should be made on a local basis.

This means that the club will wait for permission from city council planners.

Some local residents and councillors objected, calling it a "monstrous" development that was too big for the area.

The new £400m stadium will house 114 executive boxes, twice the number in the original design, and is planned to regenerate public land which stands between Anfield and Everton's ground, Goodison Park.

The latest plans for the 60,000-seater stadium include improved leisure and retail facilities.

The Reds' current home will be redeveloped as a car park, sports centre and hotel.

Thor Zakariassen ©