FORMER Liverpool FC Chairman David Moores left £78.3million in his will – with his fortune passing to family.
Moores – nephew of the late John Moores, who founded the Littlewoods football pools in the 1920s then branched out into department stores – bequeathed the huge estate after dying aged 76 last July.
News Group Newspapers LtdFormer Liverpool FC chairman David Moores left over £78million in his will[/caption]
And paperwork released today showed he wanted his fortune held in trust for relatives, including his step-children David and Lisa.
Moores, who was from one of Britain’s wealthiest families and went into the Littlewoods business, married twice – first to former Miss England Kathy Anders in 1976.
But she died, aged 26, a year later in a tragic car crash when Moores’ Jaguar spun into a ditch.
He suffered serious head injuries but recovered and wed Marjorie Walmsley in 1983.
Marjorie died in February 2022, just months before Mr Moores – and left £14 million to him and her two children, David and Lisa.
The couple lived in a mansion in Halsall, 15 miles north of Liverpool.
Paperwork shows he left the home to his step-daughter, Lisa.
A football source said: “David Moores was an old-fashioned gent, who was a familiar face at Liverpool FC and also around the city.
“He was also a hugely successful businessman and it is no wonder he left such a huge estate and that family would benefit from it.”
Legendary footie figure Moores – known for Beatles-style “mop-top” and distinctive black moustache – was chairman of the club between 1991 and 2007.
His family had, for years, held stakes in both Liverpool and Everton and in 1991 David Moores acquired a controlling 51 per cent stake in the Reds.
In his 16 years at the helm, he steered Liverpool through the formation of the Premier League, and appointed the club’s first foreign manager – Gerard Houliier – in 1998.
Liverpool landed the League Cup, FA cup and UEFA Cup in 2001, before Moores hired Spanish coach Rafa Benitez in 2004.
Under Benitez, the club famously won the Champions League in 2005.
The Merseysiders came back from 3-0 down v AC Milan in Istanbul to win on penalties.
Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann later told how Moores visited the team’s victorious dressing room to congratulate the players after the game.
He said: “He never said anything, he had a tear running down his cheek and I pulled him into the showers and asked for a cigarette.
“We never said a word, we had a smoke and it was the most perfect end to the night, to share that moment of peace and quiet.”
Despite famous triumphs, Liverpool found themselves overshadowed domestically by clubs including Manchester United, Arsenal and then a Roman Abramovich-backed Chelsea.
Moores – worried his family’s resources would not be enough to compete with clubs like Chelsea – began looking for a buyer in 2007.
He eventually sold to US businessmen Thomas Hicks and George Gillett – a move he later admitted regretting.