Steven Gerrard has put himself in direct conflict with his board of directors.
On Friday the company announced a loss of £11.3m for the first season of the Gerrard Revolution with Josh Windass the only player sold for a transfer fee.
Jermain Defoe and Steve Davis were added in January at a cost of close to £100,000 a week while Jordan Jones, Ryan Kent, Greg Stewart, Sheyi Ojo, Brandon Barker and Jake Hastie were signed in the summer to compete with Jamie Murphy and Eros Grezda for places on the wing.
This summer £200,000 was raised from the sale of Daniel Candeias but that wouldn’t have got close to offsetting the pay-offs made to Kyle Lafferty and Graham Dorrans.
Among the red flags in the accounts was a warning that £10m was needed to complete the season. With no allowance made for a pay out to Sports Direct of ‘many millions of pounds’ that figure could be doubled. The damages due to Sports Direct are expected to be announced on January 17.
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A January fire sale would seem to be the only way to keep the lights on but after today’s Betfred Cup semi-final win over Hearts Gerrard made it very clear that he wouldn’t sell his side’s only asset.
The Sun reports:
Earlier this week Morelos told a radio station in his homeland that he’d be open to a winter exit to a bigger league. But Ibrox boss Gerrard has made it clear that the 23-year-old will be staying put until at least the summer.
Asked about his future, Gerrard told BT Sport: “I’m not confident… I’m sure. I’m 100 per cent sure he’s not going anywhere.”
According to the Annual Report the first instalment of the £10m is needed this month.