The Definitive Guide To The Hicks And Gillett Era At Anfield

On 6th October Liverpool Football Club announced that the Board has agreed the sale of the club to John W. Henry and New England Sports Ventures (NESV) for £300m. The impending sale has been blocked temporarily by the bundling current owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who stand to lose 140m if the deal in its current format is completed.

The following article outlines the story behind Hicks and Gillett’s purchase of Liverpool FC which has directly resulted in the on-field demise of England’s most successful football club in recent seasons.

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The populace of Liverpool have always had an unsurpassed passion for football. Like so many families in Liverpool, the Moores’ family was split down the middle when it came to the game. Having lived in Liverpool during my University days, I could not tell you how many times I heard the immortal line of “Aaare ye a bluuuu or errredd la’?” being uttered. The difference between the Moores’ clan and your average Liverpool family was the multi-million pound Littlewoods football pools and betting empire they controlled. Vast earnings from Littlewoods operations enabled Sir John Moores to purchase his beloved Everton in 1961. Strangely, he also purchased a number of shares in Liverpool – possibly for his brother Cecil who was a Liverpool fan but could not hold any shares in the club as he was the Chairman of the Littlewoods Football Pools. On Sir John’s death in 1993, his nephew and Cecil’s son, David Moores acquired the family’s Liverpool shares giving him 51.6% ownership and overall control of the club. Overall, he had spent £12m in amassing this shareholding in Liverpool. Moore’s predecessor as the club’s Chairman, Sir John Smith, who helped to deliver the most successful period in Liverpool’s history said “David’s appointment will keep the predators at bay”. As the decades rolled on, with the inception and development of the Premier League, it became apparent to Moores that his millions would not be enough to compete with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and newcomers Chelsea both on and off the pitch. This was after Moores flatly turned down a £70m investment in 2004 from Redrow Founder and lifelong Liverpool fan Steve Morgan (now owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers) due to a personal spat with the home builder. To whom did Moores turn?

Liverpool had appointed former Premier League supremo, Rick Parry, as their new Chief Executive in July 1998. Parry, with his distinctively dour facade and questionable transfer negotiation record, was tasked along with Moores in finding the right investors to restore Liverpool Football Club to its former glories. In late 2006, it emerged that the club was in negotiations with Dubai International Capital (DIC) about the sale of the club. DIC is the international investment arm of the sovereign wealth fund of the government and ruling family of Dubai valued at £12.37bn. By the end of January 2007 the excitable British media was reporting that a deal was imminent. DIC had offered £4,500 per share valuing the equity of Liverpool at £156.7m. The potential deal also included wiping the club’s £44.9m debt. This £201.6m cash offer was sweetened by an Emirati promise to fund a new state of the art stadium on Stanley Park as well as backing Rafa Benitez in the transfer market. Behind a bid that would almost certainly return Liverpool to football’s elite was a small quandary for Moores and Parry. If DIC acquire Liverpool, they intended to employ their own internal management team and appoint new club chairman thus leaving our moustachioed and permed top brass out in the cold. Surely there had to be a better offer in the best interests of the club?(!)

Early February saw US sports tycoons Tom Hicks (a large contributor to George W. Bush’s political campaigns) and George Gillett ghost in with a bid for Liverpool. The American duo matched DIC’s promise of a new stadium on Stanley Park, substantial transfer budgets for Benitez and paying off the club’s £44.9m debt. On top of all of this they gazumped the Dubai offer by £500 a share which valued their bid at £218.9m, £17.3m higher than DIC. While all this was materialising, Moores and Parry shunned DIC who subsequently withdrew their bid due to the ungainly handling of the process.

Within a matter of days, Hicks and Gillett had passed the Premier League’s fit and proper test and were unveiled, with family members in tow, as the owners of England’s most successful football club. Chief Executive Rick Parry stated “This is great for Liverpool, our supporters and the shareholders – it is the beginning of a new era for the club”. Parry declined to mention the £0.5m bonus he pocketed for helping to sell the club or express his joy at keeping the job many thought he operated ineffectually for the previous nine years. He added that “they (Hicks and Gillett) have made clear their intention to move as quickly as practicable on the financing and construction of our proposed new stadium at Stanley Park and also to support investment in the playing squad”. Amongst a spate of awful “soccer” clichés George Gillett stated that “We have purchased the club with no debt on the club”. Liverpool chairman David Moores, who became an honorary life president, said: “This is a great step forward for its shareholders and its fans”. Moores profited to the tune of £77m on the sale of 17,923 shares as well getting to keep his VIP seat at Anfield.

Liverpool finished a successful 2006/07 campaign as runners-up to AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League (see my article on the value of European competition) and in third place in the Premier League thus guaranteeing Champions League football for the following season. With the transfer window poised to open George Gillett exclaimed “If Rafa said he wanted to buy Snoogy Doogy, we would back him” on the clubs transfer policy. Liverpool looked to be on the up as the club signed fourteen new players (see transfer records below), including Spanish goal machine Fernando Torres for £27m, in a £63m spending spree. The American owners were also publicly talking up the prospect of moving into a new Stanley Park home. Liverpool fans everywhere were ecstatic – could this finally be their year to take the title after a seventeen year wait?

Little did they know that behind the scenes, just like the Glazers at Manchester United, Hicks and Gillett were loading the club with debt that effectively financed “their” purchase of the club. Debt? Did George Gillett not specifically say there would be not debt involved in the club? I believe he did but in reality they did the exact opposite and borrowed £298m to underpin the deal. This money came from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). It was made up of £185m tranche to cover the outright purchase price of £174m and a further £11m in consultancy fees for Rothschild and Inner Circle which was followed by a further £113m that was used to cancel the £44.9m debt and pay for transfer spending. The 2008 Liverpool annual report shows that the club paid out £37.92m in interest payments to service these loans as well as overdrafts in 2007 (see interest payment tabled below). Despite all these underhand dealings, Liverpool started the 2007/08 season with a wave of optimism.

The new season saw the team’s on-field performance flat line in the league which was followed by a disappointing start to the European campaign. It was not long before Rafa Benitez was drawing up a list of targets for the January transfer window. When asked for their thoughts on the club making further signings Hicks and Gillett said Benitez should “concentrate on training and coaching the players he already has”. For the first time since the takeover the football public was beginning to suspect that all was not right behind the scenes at Anfield. Tabloid newspapers were speculating that Benitez’s tenure at Liverpool was coming to an end. Then in January 2008, it materialised that the Americans along with Rick Parry had spoken to Jurgen Klinsmann about taking over the manager’s job at the club behind Benitez’s back. A culture of honesty and trust between owners, management and the Liverpool boot-room that had taken decades to establish had been blown out of the window in thirty minutes. It was a sign of what was to come.

Soon after this incident two Liverpool supporters groups sprung up; the Spirit of Shankly (SoS) and Share Liverpool FC. The SoS group expressed its absolute support for Benitez and encouraged Hicks and Gillett to sell the club. The Share Liverpool FC assembly, led by the charismatic Dr Rogan Taylor, took this one step further proposing that Liverpool fans buy the club. Despite it being a great idea with huge interest from Reds worldwide, the group found it is not that easy to raise half a billion pounds. The next revelation to enter the public domain in April 2008 is that Hicks and Gillett were now barely on speaking terms. This was having a considerable effect on how the club was being run. Business functions were divided between the two owners and were conducted in two separate Liverpool based offices with little or no communication. No effective club or business can operate efficiently on these terms. Tom Hicks then gave Rick Parry a public dressing down by suggesting that the Chief Executive’s professional performance had not been up to standard since the takeover and he should be sacked. Whilst this is arguably true, one would suspect that Parry had sided with Gillett thus causing him to vent his anger publicly. At the same time media reports were circulating that DIC had come back in for Liverpool and were willing to pay £400 million for the club. This would have allowed Hicks and Gillett to have almost doubled their money in a year on top of the £2m a year in “expenses” they were taking out of the club. The 2007/08 season finished trophy-less for Liverpool with a fourth place finish just enabling the club to compete in the riches of the Champions League the following year.

Tensions were high in the close season with Benitez drawing up a large shortlist of players even though he was aware that the club was not prepared to back him fully in the window. His number one target, Gareth Barry, was ignored in favour of a forward. Liverpool signed Irish international Robbie Keane from Tottenham for £19m despite slight reservations from Benitez. Mascherano was also signed on a permenant deal having previously been on loan from West Ham (or in reality Kia Joorabchian). These two deals amounted to almost £40m alone. The club’s transfer deficit in this window was £23.2m (see transfer records below) following notable sales including Peter Crouch. Off the pitch, the 2009 annual report showed that in 2008 the club was haemorrhaging debt which now stood at £378.6m. This was not helped by the fact that Liverpool made a loss of almost £12m and had an interest bill amounting to £43m (see interest payment tabled below). The club’s financial position was precarious in what has become a worldwide financial crisis.

Xabi Alonso was the player that Benitez wanted to sell to accommodate Gareth Barry into his side. Luckily for him this never happened as Alonso was the heartbeat in Liverpool’s sideas the season started. Liverpool performed well domestically but it was evident that Chelsea was missing Mourinho’s discipline and Wenger’s young Arsenal was in transition. The infighting behind the scenes between Hicks and Gillett continued. In a farcical situation, Robbie Keane was sold back to Tottenham six months after Liverpool had signed him at a £7m loss. This eventually caused Chief Executive, Rick Parry to announce in March 2009, that he was leaving the club at the end of the season, having fallen out with Tom Hicks and Rafa Benitez (who at the same time was offered a new 5 year contract worth £4m annually). Liverpool finished second in 2008/09 – the closest the club has come to winning the Premier League title. Parry walked away with a £4.3m payout. He was replaced by the extremely capable Christian Purslow as Chief Executive. The American owners made it clear to Purslow that they wanted him to find potential investors in Liverpool that would not dilute their shareholding too much. They were finding it difficult to raise finance due to the credit crunch and ultimately the debt situation at the club.

Unlike previous transfer windows, Liverpool did not break the bank for big signings and the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid actually resulted in the club having a transfer surplus of nearly £6m. Hicks and Gillett managed to refinance the £350m debt with RBS and Wachovia that was due to be repaid in July 2009 on similar terms as the previous deal. This cost 3.5m in arrangement fees. George Gillett also sold his stake in the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team pocketing £332m, but it was unclear if Liverpool would see any of this money. Purslow and his Commercial Director Ian Ayre then delivered a new four year £80m shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered. It equalled what Manchester United received – a remarkable feat given the club’s predicament behind the scenes. They also signed up a new betting partner in the form of 188BET. This was the club’s fifth betting deal in five years having had previous deals with Ladbrokes 50£ in Free bets!, Paddy Power 50£ in Free bets!, Unibet 30€ Bonus! and Bet365.

The 2009/10 season was a poor one on the pitch for Liverpool given the turmoil within the club. The club’s owners were opening criticising Rafa Benitez and he wasn’t exactly fond of them either. The negative opinion Liverpool fans had of the Americans was exacerbated when Tom Hicks Jnr told a complaining supporter to “blow me f*** face. Go to hell. I’m sick of you” via email. By March 2010, Christian Purslow had managed to attract a potential investor into the club as Hicks and Gillett financial woes continued. The US Rhône Group offered £110m in exchange for 40% of Liverpool. Hicks and Gillett failed to meet the deadline for this deal to be done and the offer was consequently rescinded. It was April 2010 and it was evident that Liverpool was not going to qualify for the Champions League based on the club’s performances. Hicks and Gillett decide to bring in Martin Broughton (a Chelsea supporter) as acting Chairman to try and sell Liverpool Football Club along with Barclays Capital. The Americans believe they can get £800m for the club they bought for a little over a quarter of that figure three years previously. Broughton believes a deal can be done “within a matter of months”. Liverpool finish the 2009/10 season in 7th meaning the club will be without a spot in the lucrative UEFA Champions League the following season. Rafa Benitez is sacked as Liverpool manager accepting a £6m payoff rather than £16m he is entitled to.

Over the course of the summer a multitude of phantom bidders emerge as the saviour of Liverpool Football Club. These included Syrian-Canadian businessman Yahya Kirdi who from an external perspective seemed to be planted in the whole process to up the bidding for the club. By August 2010, Hicks and Gillett had dropped their asking price by £200m to £600m. A mystery Hong Kong bidder named Kenny Huang apparently back by the Chinese Government (why would they want to buy Liverpool?!) came on the scene. His name was all over the media. In a recent interview top football club broker and Executive Chairman of Seymour Pierce, Keith Harris had this to say “In any takeover situation, when people resort to announcing it to the media, you have to question the seriousness of the offer. If the name of the prospective buyer comes out before the deal is done then probably it is never going to be done”. This was exactly the case with Kenny Huang who had no real capital behind him according to my sources in Hong Kong.

Liverpool is now in a quandary as it looks more and more likely that the club will not be sold before next month’s RBS deadline for loan repayment (15th October). SoS has launched viral campaigns to prevent various financial institutions from lending the money required to cover these payments. It is believed that the debt has now been trimmed to £227m – possibly from some of Gillett’s Montreal Canadiens sale. Of this £180m is owed to RBS and £57m to US bank Wells Fargo. Some media sources are reporting that Hicks and Gillett will have to make a penalty payment of £60m if the RBS loan is not repaid in full. It is difficult to know the exact terms of the agreements in place as the most recent annual reports available relate to 2009. However, it seems that Liverpool as a club is not in as bad a position as most people envisage. Firstly, a proportion of the debt is Hicks and Gillett’s liability so they will be declared bankrupt before the club will. Depending on the collateral contract that is in place it might not be the worst thing for Liverpool if RBS assume short-term control of the club. It is the banks prerogative to get its £180m back. This would essentially mean that the club could be available for as little as £180m (presuming that the more recent Wells Fargo loan does not have club assets as collateral) which is bound to attract significant interest from the right type of individuals or consortia that could potentially bring the club to the next level. A new stadium is essential for the club’s development as Liverpool’s current match day revenue is only half the £3m+ that Arsenal and Manchester United take in for home fixtures. Based on the RBS assumption above, I estimate that it would take a minimum of £770m to return Liverpool to the pinnacle of the game; £180m for the club, £450m for the new stadium and £140m on squad strengthening. Of course, the best thing about this outcome is that Hick and Gillett would walk away penniless!

As football fans we have all witnessed the greed, contempt and blatant disregard for football that Hicks and Gillett have displayed during their time at Liverpool. They managed to destroy one hundred and fifteen years of tradition in a three year stint at the club. A similar situation has unfolded at Manchester United. But why has this been allowed to happen? Yes, we can blame the game’s regulators for allowing this to happen to one of the most iconic and cherished football clubs in the world. We can advocate utopian framework similar to that of the Bundesliga as the way forward but the truth is that we have come too far down the road for that now. The majority of the blame must be laid at the door of David Moores and Rick Parry. They were the custodians of England’s most successful football club and they considered their own interests first rather than those of key stakeholders when selling to Hicks and Gillette. Moores recently came out with an open letter criticising the American duo that lined his pockets with £77m. Do you think that Liverpool would be in this mess today had the club sold to DIC? The answer is no. Do you think DIC would have had a problem upping their bid by an immaterial £8m if the negotiations had been conducted in a proper manner? The answer is no. We have seen with Manchester City what can happen to a club in such a position, when it is effectively used as a plaything and marketing tool for a Middle Eastern state. Not exactly a bad place to be in this current economic situation. An even with the Dubai’s downturn, I doubt Liverpool would have been subjected to anything like the financial woes the club is currently facing. Let’s hope the next owners at Anfield actually have an interest in football rather than just profiteering.

Year	Debt (£)	Profit before Interest & Tax (£)	Interest (£)	Interest Cover
2009	378.6m	(11.92m)	42.94m	0 times
2008	320.4m	(2.98m)	37.92m	0 times
2007	248.3m	(24.77m)	8.56m	0 times

A History Debt at Liverpool FC: Hicks and Gillett Era

As was outlined in my previous article on debt (http://www.onebooker.com/en/2010/09/are-premier-league-clubs-stuck-between-northern-rock-and-a-hard-place-when-it-comes-to-debt/), debt is not necessarily the blight of modern football. It enables clubs to purchase large assets that they would otherwise not be able to afford such as stadiums (Arsenal) and training grounds (Stoke). UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play regulations advocate the use of debt financing for such strategic assets that will improve a football club. Sadly, the higher profile use of debt in the leveraged buy-outs of Liverpool and Manchester United, has shown us the other end of the spectrum. In both cases, US investors with no interest in football have used debt financing to purchase the clubs simply to line their own pockets. The difference between Manchester United and Liverpool thus far is that United has been able to service its gargantuan interest payments through revenue whilst Liverpool has not as is evident from the table above.

A History of Transfers at Liverpool FC: Hicks and Gillett Era

Liverpool Transfers 2007/08

Arrival	Club		Amount (£)		Departure	Club	Amount (£)
Fernando Torres	Atlético Madrid		27m		Mohamed Sissoko (Jan)	Juventus	8.2m
Ryan Babel	Ajax		11.5m		Craig Bellamy	West Ham	7.5m
Lucas	Grêmio		7m		Djibril Cissé	Marseille	6.5m
Martin Skrtel (Jan)	Zenit		7m		Mark González	Betis	4.2m
Yossi Benayoun	West Ham		5m		Luis García	Atlético Madrid	2.9m
Krisztián Németh	MTK Budapest		2.1m		Florent Sinama-Pongolle	Recreativo	2.7m
Sebastián Leto	Lanús		1.85m		Gabriel Paletta	Boca Juniors	1.2m
Charles Itandje	Lens		1m		Lee Peltier (Jan)	Yeovil Town FC	0.17m
Damien Plessis	Lyon		0.35m		Daniel O’Donnell	Crewe	0.1m
Nikolay Mihailov	Levski Sofia		0.1m		Jerzy Dudek	Real Madrid	-
Javier Mascherano* (Jan)	West Ham		-		Boudewijn Zenden	Marseille	-
Emiliano Insúa	Boca Juniors		-		Robbie Fowler	Cardiff	-
Andriy Voronin	Bayer Leverkusen		-		James Smith	Stockport	-
András Simon	MTK Budapest		-
Total Spent (£)			62.9m		Total Received (£)		33.47m
2007/08 Net Transfer Spend (£)			(29.43m)

This was a time of great expectation for Liverpool. The Torres signing sent out a signal that the club meant business of years in its desire to bring the Premier League title to Anfield. He replaced the troublesome but talented Craig Bellamy and misfiring extrovert Djibril Cissé. He was joined in attack by Ryan Babel who had previously been on Arsene Wenger’s radar. Benitez probably wishes he had stayed there! Midfield enforcer Mohamed Sissoko was replaced by the petulant Argentine international  Javier Mascherano in the Janurary transfer window. Grêmio’s Lucas had joined in a similar capacity in the previous window for £7m. He remains the least technical player Brazilian player I have ever witnessed. Slovak, Martin Skrtel, arrived from Zenit and has proved himself as Premiership class along with Yossi Benayoun who came from West Ham. Overall, a below average performance on the transfer front with the distinct exception of Fernando Torres who has proved himself to be one of the World’s top strikers at Anfield.

Liverpool Transfers 2008/09

Arrival	Club	Amount (£)		Departure	Club	Amount (£)
Robbie Keane	Tottenham	19m		Robbie Keane (Jan)	Tottenham	12m
Javier Mascherano	West Ham	18.6m		Peter Crouch	Portsmouth	11m
Albert Riera (Jan)	Espanyol	8m		John Arne Riise	Roma	4m
Andrea Dossena	Udinese	7m		Scott Carson	West Brom	3.25m
Diego Cavalieri	Palmeiras	3.5m		Danny Guthrie	Newcastle	2.25m
David N’Gog	Paris SG	1.5m		Sebastián Leto*	Olympiacos	0.5m
Philipp Degen	Dortmund	-		Anthony Le Tallec	Le Mans	1.1m
				Paul Anderson	Nottm Forest	0.3m
				Harry Kewell	Galatasaray	-
				Steve Finnan	Espanyol	-
Total Spent (£)		57.6m		Total Received (£)		34.4m
2008/09 Net Transfer Spend(£)		(23.2m)

The most talked about transfer of the summer from a Liverpool perspective, Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, never actually came to fruition. A permanent deal was agreed for Javier Mascherano following his complex loan move in the previous transfer window. The sale of Peter Crouch meant Liverpool was extremely light in striking options.  This lead to the signing of Robbie Keane for £19m from Tottenham. He was promptly returned to the place of purchase six months later for a £7m loss. The talented and Premier League proven Riera was seen as the answer to Liverpool’s wide problems but he endured an unsuccessful time at Anfield that ultimately ended with a public falling out with Rafa Benitez. It also meant he missed out on a World Cup winner’s medal with Spain. Andrea Dossena arrived to replace Riise at left back but it was soon evident that he was never a £7m despite scoring show stopping goals in the spectacular victories against Real Madrid and Manchester United.  Other signings such as Cavalieri, N’Gog and Degen have also proved short in Premier League class. Many Liverpool fans were glad to see the back of the incredibly disappointing Harry Kewell who only seemed to be fit for Champions League finals. The ever reliable Steve Finnan moved on for a stint in Barcelona at Espanyol. Overall, a loss of £23.2m is a very poor performance on the transfer front given the glaring lack of depth in the club’s full-back and forward departments.

Liverpool Transfers 2009/10

Arrival	Club	Amount (£)		Departure	Club	Amount (£)
Glen Johnson	Portsmouth	18m		Xabi Alonso	Real Madrid	30m
Alberto Aquilani	Roma	17m		Sebastián Leto	Panathinaikos	3.6m
Sotirios Kyrgiakos	AEK Athens	2m		Álvaro Arbeloa	Real Madrid	3.5m
Maxi Rodríguez (Jan)	Atlético Madrid	-		Andrea Dossena (Jan)	Napoli	3.4m
				Andriy Voronin (Jan)	Dinamo Moscow	1.8m
				Adam Hammill	Barnsley	0.33m
				Charles Itandje*	Kavala	0.2m
				Ryan Flynn	Falkirk	0.02m
				Sami Hyypiä	Bayer Leverkusen	-
				Jermaine Pennant	Real Zaragoza	-
				Astrit Ajdarevic	Leicester City	-
				Jack Hobbs Leicester City	Leicester City	-
Total Spent (£)		37m		Total Received (£)		42.85m
2009/10 Net Transfer Surplus (£)		5.85m

At this stage everyone was aware at the financial troubles at Liverpool. The club’s best player from the previous campaign, Xabi Alonso, was sold to Real Madrid for £30m (more than double the price that Benitez was happy to take for him in his quest to bring Barry to Anfield the previous season).He was allegedly replaced by Alberto Aquilani! Glen Johnson arrived for a massive £18m with a big chunk of this fee actually relating to money that Portsmouth owed Liverpool from the previous year. The experienced Kyrgiakos and Maxi Rodríguez came in to replace Hyypiä and Pennant. Serial full-back trader Benitez sold two more in the form of Arbeloa and Dossena (for less than half of what he had paid for him). Overall, the club made almost £6m on its limited transfer dealings leaving the club with an extremely depleted squad relying on a handful of top class performers. Liverpool ultimately finish 7^th in the table and Bentiez leaves (costing the club a further £6m which wiped out the transfer surplus).

Liverpool Transfers 2010/11

Arrival	Club	Amount (£)		Departure	Club	Amount (£)
Raúl Meireles	FC Porto	10.7m		Javier Mascherano	Barcelona	18m
Christian Poulsen	Juventus	4.5m		Yossi Benayoun	Chelsea	5.5m
Paul Konchesky	Fulham	3.6m		Albert Riera	Olympiakos	5m
Brad Jones	Middlesboro	2.3m		Diego Cavalieri	Cesena	1.2m
Danny Wilson	Rangers	2m		Krisztián Németh	Olympiakos	1m
Jonjo Shelvey	Charlton	1.7m		Emiliano Insúa*	Galatasaray	0.6m
Milan Jovanovic	Standard Liege	-		Damien Plessis	Panathinaikos	0.5m
Joe Cole	Chelsea	-		Nabil El Zhar *	PAOK	0.2m
				David Martin	MK Dons	-
				Robbie Threlfall	Bradford City	-
				Nikolay Mihailov	FC Twente	-
				Philipp Degen*	Stuttgart	-
				Alberto Aquilani*	Juventus	-
Total Spent (£)		24.8m		Total Received (£)		32m
2010/11 Net Transfer Surplus (£)		7.2m

New manager Roy Hodgson took over the reins on what was almost an impossible job last summer. Javier Mascherano forced through a summer move to Barcelona with Liverpool managing to recoup £18m for him. The injury prone Aqualani left for Juventus on loan. They were replaced by yet another holding midfielder in Poulson and the stylish Portuguese international  Raúl Meireles. England International, Joe Cole was the club’s highest profile signing coming on a Bosman from Chelsea. Yossi Benayoun travelled in the other direction resulting in a £5.5m profit for Liverpool in a great piece of business for the club. Hard working Paul Konchesky arrived from Hodgson’s previous employers, Fulham, to fill the problem left back berth. On top of this there were a number of low key entrances and exits at a time when the UEFA Champions League seems a very distant prospect indeed for one of the so called “Big Four”.

Total Hicks and Gillett Era Transfer Deficit (2007/08 – 2010/11)

£39.58m

Key:

* = Player on loan

^{(Jan) =} Player purchased during January transfer window

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