Nationalisation of Northern Rock in the event that the takeover bids fail. On 12 January 2008, the Treasury recruited Ron Sandler, the former Lloyd's of London Chief Executive, to lead Northern Rock, in the event that the bank was nationalised. If the Bank was to be temporarily nationalised, the government would manage the Bank at "arm's length" on a commercial basis, where services for savers and borrowers would not be affected and the company would continue to operate as normal. However nationalisation would also address the future of the Northern Rock Foundation. Alistair Darling rejected the possibility of the Bank being put into administration.
Northern Rock price was £4.51908. It joined the stock exchange as a minor bank and was expected to be taken over by one of its larger rivals, but it remained independent. In 2000 Northern Rock gained promotion to the FTSE 100 Index, but was demoted back to the FTSE 250 in December 2007 and later suspended from the LSE on nationalisation. On 14 September 2007 the Bank sought and received a liquidity support facility from the Bank of England, following problems in the credit markets caused by the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The bank was more exposed than others to restrictions in