13 Ekim 2010-

The awaited High Court ruling on the future ownership of Liverpool Football Club will be announced by Mr Justice Floyd at 10.30 am BST in London tomorrow.

The judge will make his decision having heard arguments from both sides at a full court today which was crowded with media, barristers and Liverpool FC supporters. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the club's major creditor, is trying to force a sale that owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are objecting to. The Americans bought the club in 2007 but owe RBS £237m. Hicks and Gillett are blocking the £300m sale to New England Sports Ventures (NESV), saying it undervalues the club. Hicks and Gillett were accused of “breathtaking arrogance” by the Royal Bank of Scotland‟s counsel Richard Snowdon QC. He said that Hicks and Gillett had been responsible for “a calculated breach of contract” when they sought to reconstitute the board last Tuesday. The lawyer said: “The evidence shows breath taking arrogance on behalf Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett as Mr Hicks took it on himself to think that RBS would not be prejudiced [by such a move]. In short, what is occurring is that Mr Hicks and Gillett are seeking to profit from the confusion their actions have caused. Our application is very straightforward. RBS is entitled to have the board reconstituted. It would be quite wrong for Hicks and Gillett to profit from their breach with RBS.” The RBS, like the English members of the club argue the Americans acted illegally when they attempted to remove Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre from the Liverpool board last Tuesday. Mr Snowdon reminded the court of the strict articles of governance agreed at the last refinancing round in April, ruling that only chairman Martin Broughton was allowed to reconstitute the board, and Hicks attempting to place his son Mack and Kop Holding representative Lori McCutcheon in their place was unlawful. Paul Girolami QC, however, acting for Hicks and Gillett, stated it was his clients‟ belief that two further offers to buy Liverpool, other than the agreed New England Sports Ventures £300m offer, had largely been ignored by the chairman, Mr Broughton. The barrister outlined two rival bids – first from a company called Meriton, headed by Singapore businessman Peter Lim, and another from Mill Financial – which his client Hicks and Gillett were minded to favour over the Boston-based offer. Mill Financial are owed £75m by George Gillett which he invested in Liverpool FC. He is in default on the loan.Mr Girolami QC told the court: “This case is not about the owners maintaining their position as owners of the club. They accept the reality that in all probability their ownership will shortly come to an end.It is their case that the Liverpool board entered into an agreement with NESV without considering the alternatives. We say those alternatives still remain in place.” The American co-owners legal team made reference to the bid from Meriton which he said still remained on the table and had been the preferred bid of Martin Broughton and the board before a sudden and apparent change of heart swayed them towards NESV. Mr Girolami also went into detail about the offer from Mill Financial who had been due to meet with the Liverpool board, he said, but that meeting was cancelled. The Mill FInancial deal, he added, had a commitment to provide up to £100m to build a new stadium, a facility not part of the NESV package, he told the court. It was also argued in court by the legal team of Hicks and Gillett that the deadline for refinancing or repaying the £240m debt is not Friday, 15 October but Monday, 1 November. There were fears that, if the deadline was this Friday, RBS - which is 70% owned by the British public - could take control of Liverpool and place the club's holding company into administration. That would almost certainly result in a nine-point penalty and might prompt NESV to walk away from the deal - leaving the club and RBS with no potential buyers.

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