Two bids tabled for Liverpool FC

give it a rest rubberdickman, you're so fucking boring!

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9067393.stm

Tom Hicks and George Gillett's legal bid to thwart the takeover of Liverpool is likely to end in failure according to an insolvency expert.

Hicks and Gillett argue Liverpool's directors have dramatically undervalued the club by agreeing a £300m sale to New England Sports Ventures.

But Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton says that he has the final say when it comes to the sale of the club.

"The directors have the momentum," Guy Thomas of SA Law told BBC Sport.

Hicks and Gillett tried to sack managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre in a last-ditch bid to keep control of the club on Tuesday night, looking to replace them with with Hicks's son, Mack Hicks, and Lori Kay McCutcheon, a vice president at Hicks Holdings.

And Purslow, Ayre and Broughton are now consulting lawyers over whether they can resist Hicks and Gillett's attempts to replace them and force through a sale to the owners of the Boston Red Sox.

Broughton claimed the American owners were going back on pledges made when major creditor Royal Bank of Scotland extended their finance arrangement until next week, with changes implemented to remove Hicks and Gillett's power to veto a sale.

"When I took the role they gave a couple of written undertakings to Royal Bank of Scotland - that I was the only person entitled to change the board and that they would take no action to frustrate any reasonable sale," Broughton said.

"I think they flagrantly abused both of those written undertakings. I have the casting vote."

It is because of this that Thomas, Head of Insolvency at SA Law LLP, believes that the power is resting with Liverpool's directors.

"It depends on the strength of that drafting but I'm imagining it was very, very carefully worded," stated Thomas.

"If the wording isn't strong enough then the default position is that you've got to go and get permission from the shareholders that says, yes you can sell this business.

"Now if Broughton found a way when he was appointed to overcome that and the drafting of his agreement with them gives them that power then the owners have a real problem in being able to block the sale because they have already in effect, if the chairman has things lined up properly, given him permission in place before he was appointed."

Thomas added: "Broughton says he had got Hicks and Gillett to agree to changes in the Kop's constitution before he took the role.

"Broughton wanted [and says he got] the ability to deliver a sale if it was a reasonable deal.

"The first part of this was the ability of the board to sell the club and the second was his ability as chairman of the board to control the board's membership. Broughton says this was backed up with the owners' undertakings not to frustrate a reasonable transaction."

Liverpool's three directors could though be forced to take Hicks and Gillett to court to force the sale through, something Broughton is confident will result in victory.

Thomas explains: "In essence, any application to the Court would be to authorise the sale of the club.

"Put another way the board is saying that not only did they try to authorise a "reasonable deal" - i.e. what they were authorised by the owners to do, but that now, those same owners are now trying to kill it."

The looming threat of administration, however unpalatable for most fans, also strengthens the directors' hand in Thomas' opinion

It is likely that if Liverpool is not sold before the 15 October deadline that RBS has set to pay back the £240m of loans and £40m of fees owed to them, the Reds could be placed in administration and Hicks and Gillett would lose control of the club.

"In simple terms, unless the owners and the directors come to an agreement or it is resolved that quickly over the next few days then the bank will make the decision for them," added Thomas.

"The sale has got to go ahead because without more funding the consequence of it not happening is administration."

Ultimately, Thomas believes that time is running out for Liverpool's owners.

"The board had a number of bids in front of them, they appear to have considered them carefully and chosen a preferred bid," he said.

"Broughton says he effectively obtained "pre approval" of a "reasonable transaction" before he took the job. He also says he obtained the power to hire and fire the board.

"This is what appears to have saved him and the commercial director last night. These "undertakings" as Broughton refers to them are also the basis for any application to the Court to enforce if Hicks and Gillett don't back down.

"There is another option: before the 15th, citing the impasse with shareholders and the cost of such an application to the court, the board could also consider inviting RBS to appoint an administrator or seek to appoint one themselves."

Hicks has been texting 5Live saying he's removed Ayres and Purslow from the board and the new board have rejected the sale. Broughton saying that he can't do that, Hicks said "i just did"..."that's what laws and courts are for"

In other words, he'll drag this on as long as he can to destroy this club.

One thing i can add to this is that if this vermin gets away with this, future protests won't be peaceful ones and Hicks should seriously be worried about his own safety.

which part? I heard the 5 live stuff on the radio, and it's now all over twitter as well.

as for the protests, it's just a feeling i have.

Fuck walking down streets with banners and wheeling out Jim Royle to have a cry up. You wanna start smashing shit up

Total dons.

baseball has a draft system but foreigners (latins, japanese, etc) are all signed usually at a young age in the case of the former. baseball also does not have a salary cap which is definitely one of the sports largest problems.

that said as a red sox fan, he is not afraid to spend money and definitely took a lot into account concerning the fan base when he first purchased the team. they won their first world series in nearly 90 years after he took over (granted he didnt really deserve credit since he didn't play). i disagree with whom he spends money on, but that can be attributed to the teams general manager
he and his wife that whose mother he could have babysat for enjoy ice cream

seems he is really populoor with the red soox foons

so could be very good for pool liver in there current sit u ation

Not seen that video yet but are the purchases of Degn, Skrtl, Lucas, Babel, Ngog, Johnson, Aurelio etc mentioned?

you're an idiot.

Is this the video made by the guy who made 'Goal'? Thought they were promising some big names ... Jimmy from Brookie?

mate of mine is in this vid, looking all nervous, at 3.45

the whole video reeks of geordies though

I haven't ready any posts in this thread, as I'm sure it's all mrdavid spamming.

Anyway, John Henry is a legend, all will be great for your club. Obviously different sport, different rules but he knows how to run clubs and is a definite peoples owner.

ARGH BUT HE'S AMERICAN FUCK THAT!*$(%@% Well get over it. He's completely unlike your previous scumbags.

Dark days at LOLVerpool lately but he won't let things get any worse!

So let me get this straight, this deal can not go through until any court case that may arise from the battle between Hicks/Gillett vs the rest of the board is resolved right?

And Liverpool have until next Friday to pay RBS £280 million and if you fail to make that payment (in full?) then RBS can place you into administration at which point the league will dock you 9 points?

Surely it's in everyone's best interest, Hicks & Gillett included for this matter to be resolved before next Friday, because surely it would be worse for Hicks/Gillett if the club is put into administration, so they are hoping a different buyer, with a larger bid surfaces within the next week?

Basically, Hicks believes he has removed Ayres and Purslow from the board replacing them with his own people and therefore has blocked the sale. Broughton believes Ayres and Purslow are still on the board because he is the only person who can change the board and that the sale as been agreed.

Next friday is the deadline for the debt to be repaid from Kop Football to RBS, Broughton has said he hopes this will be decided in the courts before then (he's mentioned this Friday as opposed to next). It's possible that if the court case isn't finished that RBS can call in the debt and as Hicks hasn't been able to get financing from any other bank yet that would mean Kop Football going into administration and not Liverpool FC, which would still mean that Hicks and Gillette get nothing out of it. It would leave Liverpool FC in the hands of RBS who would then probably sell the club to NESV anyway.

Basically no matter what happens in the next week or two, it's highly likely that we'll end up being owned by NESV because it's very unlikely that Hicks would get refinancing, it's already pretty clear that Gillett wants out so he's on his own.

From what i've read on official LFC papers, the chairman is the only person who can change the board of LFC and Kop Football, the sale is taking place at Kop Football level and not LFC level so it's the holding company which would change hands, Hicks reckons he's legally allowed to change the board. Broughton has proof in the form of written undertakings that Hicks agreed with RBS that only Broughton can change the board and that Hicks and Gillett wouldn't frustrate any reasonable sale.

Thats so shit, feel sorry for the supporters at the end of the day. If you were to be put into administration, then NESV wouldn't be able to get you for as cheap would they? Because there would still be the £280 million debt, but the way the administrators would look at it is they would wipe the debt, but would value the assets of the club as a lot higher, so the £300million they want to pay now would be a great price for them right?

I'm not sure how it'll work tbh because it's the holding company which will go into administration, apparently the Premier League have said we wouldn't be docked the 9 points because the club is still solvent and has money. I think RBS just want the debt paid up, as far as i know if RBS take control they'll be looking to sell as soon as possible, for roughly the same amount that was agreed the other day with the board.

according to journos on Twitter, the high court case is tomorrow.