Liverpool's new owners retained £45m in banking credit facilities in their takeover last month as part of a package of three loan agreements between Royal Bank of Scotland and the Tom Hicks-George Gillett era Liverpool.
The bulk of that package was the Hicks-Gillett acquisition debt, or "facility A", which was paid with £217.8m of share capital injected into NESV's UK subsidiary, UKSV Holdings. New England Sports Ventures' John W Henry told the Guardian this week that only £37m in stadium-related borrowings are now left in the club.
However, Digger can reveal that mortgage documents lodged with Companies House last week show two Hicks-Gillett era loan facilities were specifically renewed upon NESV's takeover of Liverpool on 15 October.
These "facilities B and C" remain undrawn; but neither have they been cancelled. It was revealed during the court action that delivered Liverpool to NESV last month that the first, £25m, facility B relates to player purchases. The other is a "revolving facility", essentially an overdraft, which also remains untapped.
Henry has said: "We removed all debt but the stadium debt. LFC is not servicing debt other than stadium debt." Which is, of course, true for now, and it should be stressed that clubs commonly use such facilities for working capital purposes.
Indeed if Henry is true to his word when he says "we borrow short term and pay back short term" then debt-averse Liverpool fans have nothing to fear. But these previously undisclosed loan facilities are certainly something they should keep an eye on.
Pragmatic John W Henry sees grounds for sharing
The £37m Tom Hicks and George Gillett borrowed from RBS for preparatory work on a Stanley Park stadium hangs like a millstone around Liverpool, and it could force the Reds into a groundshare with Everton. NESV's John W Henry (below) says he "admires Arsenal very much" for the profitability of their operation but with the Emirates Stadium thriving, Arsenal are at a different stage in their development to his new club.
The Gunners completed their £400m project using all their own cash. That involved forward selling their shirt sponsorship income at a heavy discount in return for £100m of cash up front, to Emirates and Nike. But Liverpool's £80m Standard Chartered deal will be needed to service the Premier League's third-highest player wage bill. There may be the opportunity to raise a big lump of cash up front when their Adidas kit deal ends at the end of next season but the consequent discount would seriously affect revenues at a time when Liverpool may still be out of the Champions League.
It is all a bit of a quandary for Henry, even if he significantly scales down the Hicks-Gillett scheme for an 80,000-seat stadium. The best way to ensure delivery of a revenue-enhancing stadium is by sharing the costs with Everton, who have still not ruled it out. Reds, do not forget: Henry is a pragmatist.
Roger Burden's big-name buddy at the FA
If, or more probably when, Roger Burden is appointed as full-time chairman of the Football Association, he will be able to formally renew an old friendship with Richard Scudamore. By all accounts the pair go back a long way, to when the Premier League chief executive was a grassroots referee in Gloucestershire, where Burden is also chairman of the county FA. Might it make for a more emollient relationship between Scudamore and the FA than under the acting chairman's predecessor, Lord Triesman?
Radio 5 Live hope to strike it lucky
Radio 5 Live is putting together an emergency schedule to cover the time when only a skeleton staff will be left, during the National Union of Journalists' strike on Friday and Saturday over BBC pension reforms. The corporation would not comment on what it intends but Digger suspects: 12am-3am: Phone-in. 3am-6am: Phone-in. 6am-9am: Phone-in.