Latest from the Daily Post LIVERPOOL FC has just days to prove it has £180m for a new stadium, or risk losing £23m of public funding, a leading Liverpool politician warned last night. The Anfield board is poised to meet this week as a deadline looms that will be critical for the fate of the Anfield project. Cllr Flo Clucas, chairman of the European Objective 1 projects committee, insisted that a strict timetable for funding is in place, with the next few days critical as part of the process. The dream of a 60,000-seat stadium will not automatically be doomed if the club misses the deadline to qualify for European and government cash. But it would mean the club itself having to fund millions of pounds worth of public realm work, on top of the cost of building a stadium. That would take the total the club needs to raise to over £200m. The Daily Post exclusively revealed yesterday that a crucial Anfield board meeting will see three individual bidders with major investment plans put before the club's board, with ownership of the club potentially changing. A bid by Liverpool fan and multi-millionaire businessman Steve Morgan is understood to be in the frame. Last night, he said: "I have no comment." Phil Adams of Altium Capital, Manchester, is advising a second bidder. Names in the frame include Spanish businessman Juan Villalonga and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Last night, Mr Adams said: "I cannot comment." A meeting of the LFC directors, originally called for today, will now take place tomorrow. By the weekend the club will have to demonstrate to government officials that the money it needs is in place to pay for the new stadium in Stanley Park. That will give civil servants just three days to carry out a due diligence exercise to confirm the club's funding package. The absolute deadline will come next Thursday when the Objective 1 projects committee meets to make a final decision. Objective 1 has offered £9m, other European funding pots have offered £5m, and the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has agreed to contribute £9.2m. If the club fails to demonstrate it has raised the cash, public funding will be allocated to other Merseyside projects waiting in the wings. That will only present a problem for the club if it is unable to fund the public elements of the scheme. Last night Cllr Clucas confirmed: "The rules have been laid down by the European monitoring committee. Our hands are tied because a deadline of next Thursday has been set, and we need a number of days in advance of that for due diligence work. "The club's chief executive, Rick Parry, assures the council that funding is in place and if that is the case then the scheme should proceed. I for one hope it does because the regeneration of a large area of North Liverpool is at stake. "The new ground is part of a regeneration package and if one bit falls, it all falls. If the board meets on Friday then I will expect at the weekend, or Monday at the very latest, to see the evidence. When we meet on Thursday it will be a case of everything is fine or the money is allocated to other schemes." Cllr Clucas said a number of "ready to go schemes" were in the wings to collect millions of pounds of Brussels cash currently reserved for the Anfield project. Liverpool FC chief executive Rick Parry is in daily contact with officials at Liverpool City Council about the Anfield project. He yesterday insisted the forthcoming board meeting was routine. But he did confirm that at the board meeting "progress is expected on the search for multi-million pound investment". "We are confident we are going to get funding and we're continuing to work hard to proceed with our plans," Mr Parry said. The club has said nothing to quell speculation of a bidding war for shares or ownership. With shares worth around £3,000 each, the book value of Liverpool FC is £105m.
