Liverpool Football Club continues to be left in limbo tonight with it’s future still very much unclear.
Despite a second court victory for the Reds and the Royal Bank of Scotland against current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett today, the saga could still tip either way.
- The high court ruling in England made this afternoon says that Hicks and Gillett must remove the injunction they obtained from Dallas District Court in Texas on Wednesday night blocking the sale of the club. They must do this by 4pm UK time on Friday.
- If they choose not to, they will be in contempt of court as far as the UK justice system goes, and could be arrested if they are in, or enter, Britain.
- However, Dallas District Court will resume the case of Hicks & Gillett at 7am local time on Friday (that’s 1pm in the UK) to determine whether the injunction should be revoked or not. Hicks and Gillett are seeking to jail and fine club chairman Martin Broughton, according to the Reuters news agency.
- Liverpool, RBS and their QC at the high court, QC Grabiner, are said to have sent over full reports and transcripts from the proceedings in court in London. When Hicks’ injunction was made on Wednesday, it is thought the court did not know about events in London, or the court verdict.
- Liverpool FC will push through the sale of the club to New England Sports Ventures as soon as the injunction in Texas is lifted, either by the court, or by Hicks & Gillett withdrawing it themselves, under obligation from the English courts.
- Should the court in Texas keep the injunction in place, the situation would be deadlocked and if the club were to continue the sale to NESV despite the American injunction, Hicks could sue for damages.
- There is still the possibility that Hicks will come up with the money to pay back RBS – to whom he and Gillett, under the holding company Kop Holdings owe £240million, payable by tomorrow. An Australian banking giant were linked with helping out Hicks today.
- However this is unlikely. They could instead sell their shares to Mill Financial, who appear to be keeping close tabs on things. Mill Financial already own 50% of Gillett’s stake, and a 100% buyout of both shares would mean Liverpool Football Club would be owned by – and in debt to – this American hedge fund company.
- Another option, to the RBS’s choice, should Hicks and Gillett be successful in keeping the injunction in place tomorrow, would be to put Kop Holdings into administration. This would be the only way for RBS to regain control of the club, and sell to the highest bidder. NESV appear to be the only bidder now after Singapore billionaire Peter Lim withdrew his offer earlier today.
We hope that makes sense and expect many other twists and turns along the way. We’ll see you tomorrow for more live updates and reports as all eyes turn to Dallas District Court.
