Boardroom crisis at Liverpool over 2 new bids
Liverpool have received 2 viable bids which have landed the club in another crisis; the 2 co-owners and the boardroom are split on a decision over the power struggle at Anfield.
There was a major board meeting held at Anfield on Tuesday following 2 bids made for the club. Both were described as excellent offers. Chairman of the board Martin Broughton, Commercial Director Ian Ayre and managing director
Christian Purslow were all present in the meeting.
One of the bids was from Asia, while the other one is from US sports group called New England Sports Ventures. The business group also owns US baseball team Boston Red Sox.
But there are bigger issues at hand at Liverpool, the co-owners tried to block the sale of the club and tried to get rid of Purslow and Ayre. The owners wanted to appoint Tom Hick’s son Mack Hicks as managing director who is also
vice president at Hicks Holdings.
Liverpool’s American owners later released an official statement which stated that, the bids "dramatically undervalue the club". The statement further added that the Liverpool board managing director was not acting in the interest
of the club and had a personal vendetta against them.
Now there is a legal war in the boardroom; the 3 English members of the board are actually seeking legal advice to see if they can stop the owners from replacing them and also sabotaging the sale of the club.
A statement from the club later stated that: "This matter is now subject to legal review and a further announcement will be made in due course. Meanwhile, Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre continue to explore every
possible route to achieving a sale of the club at the earliest opportunity."
The owners however insisted that they have the interest of the club at heart, and continue to search for the best possible buyer for the club. The American duo said that anyone who buys the club should be able to sustain the financial
requirements long term, and also that the bid has to be of a fair enough price otherwise it will not be a good deal. The statement went on to say that the owners will not allow the club to be sold until and unless they are also in total agreement.
Hicks and Gillette’s statement said: "They have invested more than $270m [£170m] in cash into the club, and during their tenure revenues have nearly doubled, investment in players has increased and the club is one of the most profitable
in the Premier League."
At present both bids that have come in are offering 300 million pounds for the club, which is actually just enough to pay the debts of 240m of loans and an added amount of 40 million that Liverpool has to pay to Royal Bank of Scotland.
The deadline for the debts to be paid is October 15th.
However the bid is well short of the evaluation that the owners have made; Hicks and Gillette have estimate the club to be worth 600 million pounds, and that is the reason the owners are still not satisfied with the current bids.
But all of the sell out talk will have to wait, as the boardroom and owners decide between them as to who actually has the right to accept a bid and sell the club. There is expected to be a long legal battle and it may be a while
before things actually start to take shape at Anfield.
All of that is actually a perfect representation of how things have been going for the team on the pitch, so there is a crisis on and off the pitch for Liverpool
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