Sunday, September 12, 2010

Roy Hodgson Believes New Buyers Need To Move The Club If They Are To Succeed

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has called for any potential buyers to move the club to a new ground if they are to compete and win trophies.

The Royal Bank of Scotland have been rumoured to be ready to take control of the Merseyside club and Hodgson fears the bank will eventually sell to a bargain hunter, who will have no interest in moving away from Anfield.

Owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are obliged to pay debts of around £280 million to RBS in October, and if no buyer is found the bank may choose to take control of the club rather than allow the American owners refinance their loans.

RBS taking control of the club would see Liverpool sold for less than £300m and without a new stadium, as the bank would be only willing to recoup the money that they would have lost.

But although Hodgson has admitted his knowledge of finance "could be written on a postage stamp", he knows that it would be a disaster for the club as they need a bigger stadium to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal in the Premier League.

“I hope [chairman] Martin Broughton finds an owner who first and foremost backs the club’s desire to build a new stadium, which would be tremendous for our long-term future.” Hodgson told the Daily Mail.

“If we want to be up there with other big clubs, we need to have a capacity to rival theirs.”

Liverpool currently have a capacity of 45,000 and generate £42m from matchday revenue, £30m less than Chelsea, who pull similar crowds but have more corporate boxes.

However Manchester United, with a capacity of 76,000, and Arsenal, who stadium holds 60,000, earn double the amount Liverpool do from their home games.

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