SL clubs £68.5 million in debt...Inside Out TV show tonight

Quote: NtW "I'm not fully up to speed on Saints' specific situation, but I would be surprised if the Directors have bank rolled this, and expect these are external loans - though I thought Tesco were involved, and paying for a large portion/funding was coming from sale of KR, so maybe Saints aren't carrying any debt re the new stadium? I'm pretty sure Warrington aren't, as Tesco paid for our ground Tesco didn't help to fund Langtree Park at all but I am quite sure the company contributed towards the cost of the site cleansing and the archeological/other scientific stuff that had to be done before building work could start, just as I'm sure Saints contributed, although the primary funders for that element of the work were the now defunct NWDA plus St Helens Council. The Council also landscaped the site and paid for the bridge linking the site to the town centre plus the lighting and pathway construction. Tesco paid for Tesco to be built; Saints paid for Langtree Park to be built - in part from the sale of Knowsley Road, perhaps with unknown investments also but definitely with the assistance of director loans. One loan alone was £3 million, but that was to pay for all the fit out. I think Saints ran out of money at the end! I get the impression the stadium turned out to be more expensive than it was scheduled to be.

Without Tesco, it is unlikely Saints could have built the stadium but the opposite also applies. Without both those developments taking place, it would not have been financially possible for the site to have been developed as the Council could not have justified the outlay and the NWDA would not have been attracted to the project.