The “Sell Liverpool Football Club” Soap Opera - a timeline of events
The Liverpool Football Club’s sale is not any less dramatic than a soap opera as it heads into the last day with the fate of the club hanging in the balance.
The drama started when Tom Hicks and George Gillet tried to remove Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre from Liverpool’s Board of Directors, only for the Royal Bank of Scotland to step in and challenge the decision in a court of law.
The drama headed to the courts with RBS winning the case and Ayre and Purslow retaining their positions. As a result, Liverpool’s sale to New England Sports Ventures was given the green light as the board had earlier approved the decision.
Peter Lim then jumps in with a 320 million pound bid to buy the club and promises to provide another 40 million pounds for the January transfer window to be spent on new players.
On the very next day, after being disappointed by Judge Lloyd, Hicks and Gillett get a stay order from a district court in Texas that stops Liverpool’s Board of Directors from going ahead with the sale of the club.
The Board of Directors, unsure of the legality of the stay order, stop only for judge Lloyed to announce the very next day that the stay order was invalid.
Today is the last day for Liverpool FC to pay RBS the 200 million pound instalment and if they fail to do so, LFC will go into administration and docked 9 points.
The drama is going into overdrive and there are no signs of it reaching the climax anytime soon.
Here is a timeline of events as they unfolded.
WEDNESDAY 13th of October, 2010
*Hicks and Gillet lose the case in a British High Court as the judge rules in favour of RBS, the sale looked likely to be concluded in the next few hours and in time from the loan instalment to be paid to RBS. The judge also denies Hicks and Gillett the
right to claim against the ruling.
*Speaking to the media Chairman Martin Broughton announces outside the court that Liverpool’s Board of Directors will be reconstituted the same day and the sale will go ahead as initially approved by the club to NESV.
*Prospective new owner John Henry welcomes the court decision and issues a press statement declaring that NESV will honour the agreement in place with the LFC and conclude the deal in no time.
*Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim jumps in with a bid to hijack the sale and offers 320 million pounds in return for unconditional ownership of LFC. Lim also requests the LFC board to reconsider their decision to sell the club to NSEV.
*The sale looks to be heading to a conclusion as John Henry arrives at Liverpool from Boston to appear in the board meeting at 8pm GMT.
*Hicks and Gillet drop a bombshell when they announce that a District Court in Texas has issued a restraining order against the British High court ruling, preventing the sale of the club to go through. The order also claims 1.6 million USD in damages for
the American duo.
*A disappointed John Henry barges out of Liverpool FC and refuses to speak to the media in attendance as the copy of Texas restraining order is made public.
*Liverpool FC issues a statement on their club website that confirmed that the Texas court ruling had prevented the sale of the club from going through. But the legality of the order could not be confirmed as it was around 1145 pm GMT and the board had to
wait until the next morning to approach the High court judge.
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