Those funds, provided last January as "working capital" to run Liverpool and including £60m towards constructing a new stadium, were due to be repaid or refinanced by 25 January. But the banks - the government-owned Royal Bank of Scotland and the US investment bank Wachovia - have deferred the deadline.
That came following a written request from Liverpool's American co-owners and their holding company, Kop Football, with the new deadline now set at 24 July. "The loan does not mature on 24 January," said an insider involved in the deal.