I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s hard enough claiming a cup of tea back on expenses where I work. Upon handing in the form to the boss, there’s a pregnant pause that seems to last an age before he finally signs off the £1.65 and sends to the accounts department.
One assumes that the process is a little more flexible at Anfield, where news greets us that Liverpool co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett ran up a princely sum of £1.4million in expenses last year. Must have been a lot of prawn sandwiches for their entourages! On a slightly more serious note, The Times reports that the club’s financial position is not looking at all good, with many fans protesting outside the ground yesterday.
More than 300 Liverpool fans spent yesterday posting eviction notices at Anfield, demanding repossession of the club, and the pressure on Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the warring American owners, will increase with the publication of their first set of accounts.
Kop Football (Holdings) Ltd, one of the club’s parent companies, made a £33 million loss in the year ending July 31, 2007, according to accounts submitted to Companies House last week. The club’s £350 million loans will also have to be refinanced as early as January and the club must pay interest on a £64 million loan from Kop Football Ltd, its immediate parent company.
The article also reports that the co-owners wrote off £10million when scrapping the club’s design for a new ground, hardly the sort of thing that will warm them to the fans, especially with Rafael Benitez having to raise cash for new players by flogging the dead wood in his squad for an inflated price. What do you make of this Liverpool fans?