Liverpool’s spending under Hicks and Gillett

According to former Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks, a man with a track record of telling lies (see here and here), Liverpool’s net spend under his and George Gillett’s reign was £150m.

Speaking to Sky Sports News on Friday, following the sale of the Club to NESV, Hicks told of an “epic swindle” and a conspiracy by Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre.

He also went on to blame Rafa Benitez and an “internet terrorism” campaign by the supporters.

Well, here’s the facts, Liverpool’s net spend was in fact £27m over the tenure of Hicks and Gillett’s reign. So the Texan was only £122m out with his claims.

Since Gillett and Hicks took charge in February 2007, Liverpool spent £172m on players, but recouped £144m. Hicks claims to have spent £300m in his interview.

As has been previously detailed, Liverpool’s net spend during the past four transfer windows has been negative.

Of course that didn’t stop Harry Redknapp recently questioning why Liverpool fans were so angry at Hicks and Gillett. Just how much exactly has Harry spent in that same time period? How would the almighty Englishman feel if he had less than £10m per season to spend on players (net)?

Let’s take the time to relive some memorable Hicks quotes:

  • “People are worried that I might take money away from the Rangers to go to Liverpool. But it is just the reverse. Liverpool is going to throw off lots of extra money which, if I choose to, I can use for the Rangers or the Stars.”
  • “When I was in the leverage buy-out business we bought Weetabix and we leveraged it up to make our return. You could say that anyone who was eating Weetabix was paying for our purchase of Weetabix. It was just business. It is the same for Liverpool.”
  • “We made a significant investment in the playing squad during the summer and desperately want this team to succeed.”

Here’s the stats, courtesy of lfchistory.net.

Players Bought

Lucas Leiva Gremio £5,000,000 11.05.2007
Krisztián Németh MTK Hungaria Undisclosed 25.05.2007
Mikel Domínguez Athletic Bilbao £270,000 28.06.2007
Sebastian Leto Club Atlético Lanús £1,800,000 01.07.2007
Fernando Torres Atletico Madrid £20,200,000 04.07.2007
Andriy Voronin Leverkusen Free* 06.07.2007
Yossi Benayoun West Ham £5,000,000 12.07.2007
Ryan Babel Ajax £11,500,000 13.07.2007
Charles Itandje Lens Undisclosed 09.08.2007
Emiliano Insúa Boca Juniors £1,300,000* 26.08.2007
Lauri Dalla Valle JIPPO £600,000* 08.11.2007
Martin Skrtel Zenit St Petersburg £6,500,000 11.01.2008
Javier Mascherano Media Sports Investment £18,600,000* 29.02.2008
Philipp Degen Dortmund Free* 03.07.2008
Andrea Dossena Udinese £7,000,000 04.07.2008
Diego Cavalieri Palmeiras £3,500,000 11.07.2008
David Ngog Paris St Germain £1,500,000 24.07.2008
Robbie Keane Tottenham £19,000,000 28.07.2008
Albert Riera Espanyol £8,000,000 31.08.2008
Glen Johnson Portsmouth £17,500,000 26.06.2009
Alberto Aquilani AS Roma £17,100,000* 07.08.2009
Sotirios Kyrgiakos AEK Athens £2,000,000 21.08.2009
Daniel Ayala Sevilla £160,000 17.09.2009
Maxi Rodriguez Atletico Madrid Free 12.01.2010
Jonjo Shelvey Charlton £1,700,000* 10.05.2010
Milan Jovanovi? Standard Liege Free* 08.07.2010
Joe Cole Free Transfer Free 21.07.2010
Danny Wilson Rangers £2,000,000* 21.07.2010
Fábio Aurélio Free Transfer Free 31.07.2010
Christian Poulsen Juventus £4,550,000* 11.08.2010
Brad Jones Middlesbrough £2,300,000 18.08.2010
Raul Meireles Porto £11,500,000 29.08.2010
Paul Konchesky Fulham £3,500,000* 31.08.2010

Total Spent on Players – £172,080,000

Players Sold

Florent S.-Pongolle Recreativo de Huelva £2,700,000 04.05.2007
Daniele Padelli Sampdoria Returns from loan 08.06.2007
Danny O’ Donnell Crewe £100,000 13.06.2007
Boudewijn Zenden Marseille Free* 01.07.2007
Jerzy Dudek Real Madrid Free* 01.07.2007
Robbie Fowler Cardiff Free* 01.07.2007
Luis Garcia Atletico Madrid £4,000,000 03.07.2007
Djibril Cissé Marseille £6,000,000 09.07.2007
Craig Bellamy West Ham £7,500,000 10.07.2007
Mark Gonzalez Real Betis £3,500,000 17.07.2007
Gabriel Paletta Boca Juniors £1,200,000* 26.08.2007
Chris Kirkland Wigan Ath. £3,500,000* 27.10.2007
James Smith Stockport Cou. Free 28.12.2007
Mohamed Sissoko Juventus £8,200,000 28.01.2008
Lee Peltier Yeovil Free* 31.01.2008
John Arne Riise AS Roma £4,000,000 01.07.2008
Harry Kewell Free Transfer Free 01.07.2008
Anthony Le Tallec Le Mans Undisclosed 02.07.2008
Peter Crouch Portsmouth £11,000,000* 11.07.2008
Danny Guthrie Newcastle £2,250,000 14.07.2008
Scott Carson WBA £3,250,000* 18.07.2008
Steve Finnan Espanyol Undisclosed* 31.08.2008
Robbie Keane Tottenham £16,000,000* 02.02.2009
Jack Hobbs Leicester Undisclosed 24.04.2009
Paul Anderson Nottm For £250,000 30.06.2009
Astrit Ajdarevic Leicester Free 30.06.2009
Sebastian Leto Panathinaikos £3,000,000 01.07.2009
Jermaine Pennant Real Zaragoza Free* 01.07.2009
Miki Roque Unknown Free 01.07.2009
Álvaro Arbeloa Real Madrid £3,500,000 30.07.2009
Xabi Alonso Real Madrid £30,000,000 05.08.2009
Andrea Dossena Napoli £4,700,000 08.01.2010
Andriy Voronin Dinamo Moscow £1,800,000 10.01.2010
Nikolay Mihaylov FC Twente £1,500,000 04.02.2010
Mikel Domínguez Athletic Bilbao £2,600,000 19.05.2010
Fábio Aurélio Unknown Free* 01.07.2010
David Martin MK Dons Free* 01.07.2010
Yossi Benayoun Chelsea £6,000,000 02.07.2010
Albert Riera Olympiacos £3,300,000* 23.07.2010
Diego Cavalieri Cesena £3,000,000 23.08.2010
Krisztián Németh Olympiacos £1,000,000 25.08.2010
Javier Mascherano Barcelona £17,250,000 30.08.2010
Lauri Dalla Valle Fulham £750,000* 31.08.2010
Alex Kacaniklic Fulham £750,000* 31.08.2010
Damien Plessis Panathinaikos Undisclosed 31.08.2010

Total recouped on players – £144,900,000

Total Net Spend under Gillett and Hicks – £27,180,000

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