Stadium Funding - Again
LIVERPOOL FC's board will meet today to hear updates on two issues vital to the future of the club - the search for a multi-million pound investor, and plans for a new stadium.
As the Daily Post reported earlier this week, directors are likely to be told about at least three potential bids to take over the club.
Steve Morgan, the lifelong Liverpool fan who made a fortune as founder of the housebuilding company Redrow, is understood to be making his fifth attempt to take over at Anfield.
Phil Adams, of Altium Capital, Manchester, is thought to be advising a second bidder, with Spanish businessman Juan Villalonga and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft thought to be among the interested parties.
Liverpool FC chief executive Rick Parry has confirmed that at the board meeting, "progress is expected on the search for multi-million pound investment" which the club has been seeking over the last three years as it attempts to compete with the financial muscle of Chelsea and Man Utd.
The search for new investment is also closely linked to the club's plans for a new £180m, 60,000-seater stadium at Stanley Park, seen as vital in generating extra income.
Unless the club proves within days that it has the money in place to pay for the stadium, it stands to lose £23m of public funding.
The absolute deadline will come next Thursday when the Objective 1 projects committee meets to make a final decision.
Objective 1 has offered £9m, other European funding pots have offered £5m, and the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has agreed to contribute £9.2m.
If the club fails to demonstrate it has raised the cash, public funding will be allocated to other Merseyside projects waiting in the wings.
The board is likely to be faced with several scenarios at the meeting, including the ownership of the club remaining unchanged, with David Moores as the majority shareholder, or accepting that a wealthy investor will have to be brought on board to guarantee the funding for the new ground.
Currently, Mr Moores, a member of the family that founded the Littlewoods empire, holds 51% of the shares, meaning his is the final decision.
He has been club chairman since 1992.
Granada, the television and media organisation, own 9.9%, and Mr Morgan owns 5.1%.
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With a thread running on http://www.ynwa.tv/forum/index.php?showtopic=116300
If you can't follow the YNWA thread, one of the posters (Ian Mc) sent Cllr Flo an email, and got the following response:
I sent Flo an email basically asking if she could clarify the position on the Objective One grant and also the deadline. This is the reply:-
Dear Mr McHale,
Thank you for your e mail and my apologies for not responding earlier, but I have been out of the city.
The LFC stadium is not receiving any EU funding. What is receiving money is the regeneration of Anfield/Breckfield, as you rightly say. The planning consent for the new stadium has, as part of its conditions, a requirement for this to be part of a regeneration of the area. Without that regeneration, the project falls.
The package is such that in order for it to be achievable a number of hurdles must be crossed. These are to do with building, demolitions etc, which are not within my control, but which will add to the time it will take to deliver the stadium and therefore the regeneration. The European money all has to be spent within the allocated time for the Merseyside pot, and it has to be claimed from Europe. That process must be completed by the end of 2008.
If any projects cannot deliver to that timescale, the money will be lost. It is imperative therefore that all of the available money is allocated to projects that can, and will, spend in the time allowed.
It is for that reason that, in July, the Programme Monitoring Committee for Merseyside - made up of representatives from the universities, private sector, local authorities, voluntary sector, further education and North West Region representatives, as well as government officials - took the decision to have as the day for decision the 28th September, when Projects Committee, which I Chair, meets.
By this date, we must have firm evidence that the project is able to proceed; that firm evidence must be strong enough to enable the next phase - due diligence - to be completed. If that evidence is not provided to Government Office and the Objective 1 Secretariat, the project will not even be considered.
The £9m is not a great deal of money in the great scheme of things, but it attracts a further £9.2m of NWDA cash, £1.7m city council money and possibly a further £5m of EU and NRF monies. These together, help to pay most of the cost of the regeneration of the area, rather than build the stadium. However, without that money, the community facilities and regeneration do not go ahead, and the stadium's planning consent falls.
Liverpool FC can, of course, put in for a fresh planning consent, but will need to start from scratch and may find it difficult to obtain planning consent without the necessary regeneration package.
We would all want the regeneration of this area to take place, but we are in the hands - or feet - of the club. We will do all that we can to make this a viable package, but if the club can't deliver, then it becomes very difficult indeed.
I hope this answers your questions, but, if not, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Yours sincerely,
Flo
Flo Clucas OBE
Executive Member, Economic Development and Europe,
First Vice President, Liberals and Democrats in Europe Group, European Committee of the Regions and Local Government
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