Liverpool’s new owner, John W Henry, was not asked for a written guarantee from chairman Martin Broughton and former managing director Christian Purslow that he would not land the club with his takeover costs.
Previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett said in their offer document, when they bought the club in 2007, which the interest payments on the £200 million they borrowed for the purchase did not “to any significant extent” depend on the business of Liverpool. But they went on to pay the massive interest costs from money the club earned.
This prompted a backlash from Liverpool supporters, who complained that the development of the team was suffering and that much-vaunted plans to relocate the club to a new stadium were being jeopardized.
Henry’s promise to free Liverpool of debt proved persuasive in winning over Broughton and Purslow as well as the fans. However, Henry was not pressed for a written guarantee on this because, according to sources close to the pair, they felt it was not legally enforceable.
Henry has subsequently paid off the previous owners’ acquisition debt, although Liverpool still owe £37 million to Royal Bank of Scotland for development work on the proposed new stadium. Henry’s company, New England Sports Ventures, has said it will review this.
The new owner paid another visit to Merseyside yesterday to meet manager Roy Hodgson as well as the players and staff. He did not elaborate on how NESV had acquired the finances to buy Liverpool, saying such disclosure would go against the company’s confidentiality policy.
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