Liverpool High Court case heads for extra time, result due tomorrow morning
The court case to decide the future ownership of Liverpool FC has run into extra time, with a judgement due to be delivered at 10.30 BST tomorrow morning.
After an afternoon of high drama at London’s High Court, several revelations about the troubled ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett came to light, as the Americans battled to prevent the remainder of the club’s board selling to New England Sports Ventures [NESV].
Five individual QCs spoke on behalf of the club, its’ independent chairman Martin Broughton, owners Hicks and Gillett, the Royal Bank of Scotland [RBS] – who are owed around £237million by the club – and prospective new owners NESV.
Lord Grabiner QC – acting on behalf of Liverpool – accused Hicks and Gillett, who were not present in court, of “slippery behaviour”, as it was revealed that Hicks had involved his son Mack – a non-board member – in board meetings.
RBS argued that they deserved to be paid the money owed to them by Friday – a deadline by which they can plunge the Reds into administration – and that Hicks and Gillett had contradicted the rules of the sales agreement set in place by attempting to oust two Reds board members – managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre. For their part, Hicks and Gillett’s representative insisted that Friday’s deadline doesn’t exist, despite widespread evidence to the contrary.
Earlier, the already murky waters had been muddied further with the revelation that Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim – who has made much of his fortune from a chain of Manchester United-themed bars in Asia – had tabled an offer for the club that was higher than NESV’s.
Lim has valued the club at £320million - £20million more than NESV – and earmarked £40million to be available for transfers in January. However, the club are still committed to selling to NESV, and a sale to Lim’s Meriton group would only go through if Hicks and Gillett are successful in the case.
Several Liverpool supporters gathered outside the courtroom to make their feelings known, and they and everyone else involved in this saga will now await tomorrow’s verdict with baited breath.
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