Liverpool's £50million loss

Liverpool have reported a loss of almost £50m for the last financial year due to failed new stadium costs and pay-offs to Roy Hodgson.

Despite owners Fenway Sports Group wiping out debts of £200m with their October 2010 purchase of the club, they had to write off a further £35m associated with the doomed HKS-designed Stanley Park project of predecessors Tom Hicks and George Gillett. And Hodgson's exit in January 2011, after just 191 days in charge, and the departure of former managing director Christian Purslow, contributed to a further £8.4m relating to contract terminations, accounts filed to Companies House show. Current managing director Ian Ayre insists the accounts, without that "extraordinary" expenditure, are in good shape. "I guess people will focus on the loss of £49.4m and there's no business - or people running any business - who are going to be pleased with any loss," he told the Liverpool Echo. "But I think the important indicator here is this £59m charge for exceptional items and as a business that's been in a transition, it's about moving from where we were to where we want to be. "We have written off a huge amount on the stadium project. A big chunk of that £50m loss relates to the HKS project - which is now defunct - and associated costs around that."