No business head myself i have therefore attempted to provide an update on the current situation...
New England Sports Ventures (NESV) are headed by John W Henry & Thomas C Werner. Current owners of baseball team "Boston Red Sox", as well as Fenway Park (Red Sox Stadium). Also under their financial wings are the New England Sports Network, 50% of Roush Fenway Racing (a NASCAR team) and Fenway Sports Group which owns a minor league baseball team.
The offer made by NESV was said to be £300million, meaning of course Liverpool's debt owed to the Royal Bank of Scotland would be paid off. Hicks and Gillett therefore stand to lose close to £150million... But please forgive me for not giving a toss.
The offer made by NESV was said to be £300million, meaning of course Liverpool's debt owed to the Royal Bank of Scotland would be paid off. Hicks and Gillett therefore stand to lose close to £150million... But please forgive me for not giving a toss.
The deadline day for the loans to be repaid to RBS is Friday 15th October. Here is where one of many problems lie. If Liverpool fail to complete the takeover then RBS will step in, with administration and a 9points deduction a real threat, Liverpool obviously will want to avoid this option.
Some experts claim Liverpool would avoid a points deduction because the administration of the holding company that owns Liverpool Football Club (Kop Football Holdings) would not affect the actual club.
However, we have differing examples of this from football already...
West Ham avoided a points deduction when they were sent into administration because it was the holding company said to be causing the problems and being "insolvent". But when Southampton tried to pull the same stunt, it was judged that their holding company was too linked as one economic entity.
So from what i could find...
If the football itself is insolvent meaning which we'd be unable to meet the day-to-day financial obligations, then the 9points will be deducted. If it's found only the holding company is insolvent (Kop Holdings) then we avoid the points deduction. In honesty i'm no legal advisor and the ins and outs of this are baffling but i have tried to do this post in Layman's terms.
After a football club such as ourselves have come this close to administration with it being a real possibility and after so many other clubs have already faced it, it does pose the question: Why are leveraged buy outs of football clubs still a legal process? With the problems Liverpool and Manchester United are currently facing is it not time the Premier League put their foot down?
So after Liverpool fans earlier in the week tried to come to terms with the possible takeover mixed in with possible administration, Hicks thought it was the perfect time to open his gob...
Hicks referred to us Liverpool fans as "Noise we're dealing with." (Just can't realise when it's time to shut up can he?). Forgive me for missing something out here but when have you ever tried to "deal" with us, you've never even had the common decency to speak the truth to the fans of the football club you own, so you "dealing" with our "noise" which clearly appears to be hitting a nerve... well i'll sit back and wait to see how exactly you "deal" with this mate.
Hicks referred to us Liverpool fans as "Noise we're dealing with." (Just can't realise when it's time to shut up can he?). Forgive me for missing something out here but when have you ever tried to "deal" with us, you've never even had the common decency to speak the truth to the fans of the football club you own, so you "dealing" with our "noise" which clearly appears to be hitting a nerve... well i'll sit back and wait to see how exactly you "deal" with this mate.
Hicks of course clearly annoyed at the increasing reaction from fans not only to their ownership but to his own recent stunt of causing a boardroom civil war...
The legal battle came about after a split decision from the board. Martin Broughton (Chairman), Christian Purslow (Managing Director) and Ian Ayre ( Commercial Director) all agreed that the sale to NESV was adequate and therefore voted for the club to change hands. Tom Hicks and George Gillett however voted against and both sides have sought legal action to either help a sale of the club go through or in H&G's case retain a stubborn hold of a financial abyss that they have created themselves. Nobody wants them here, their investment (leveraged might i add) was always a risk, after all this is business but their greed and anger filled plight means they still wish to desperately cling on to our once proud football club.
It's remarkably similar to that age old example of children and toys isn't it? For three years these two have been proud holders of their shiny new "football", knowing it is in their hands and nobody else wants to play with it well then that's all fine and dandy despite whether they are looking after it or letting it gather dust. The split second however that anybody even hints at wanting a kick, despite the fact they have neglected this football, not looked after it for years, well it's all systems change isn't it? Suddenly the football is wanted again.
It's petty, it's childish, it's pathetic and downright embarrassing. Two grownsuccessful business men who can't stand up to their mistakes and take a loss for the risk they took and the poor ownership they enforced.
So what does Hicks do? Try to sack two members of his own board and bring in Lori Kay McCutcheon (a colleague) and son Mack Hicks. Yeah... Cause the last time one of your family members tried to interact with the fans he was very tactful wasn't he? "Blow me f*** face." Ring any bells?
Of course Broughton & Co were shocked at Hick's attempted reshuffling of the board and also felt legally, he was not obliged to do so. Hence the High Court being in charge of our future this week as we patiently await an outcome.
The legal battle came about after a split decision from the board. Martin Broughton (Chairman), Christian Purslow (Managing Director) and Ian Ayre ( Commercial Director) all agreed that the sale to NESV was adequate and therefore voted for the club to change hands. Tom Hicks and George Gillett however voted against and both sides have sought legal action to either help a sale of the club go through or in H&G's case retain a stubborn hold of a financial abyss that they have created themselves. Nobody wants them here, their investment (leveraged might i add) was always a risk, after all this is business but their greed and anger filled plight means they still wish to desperately cling on to our once proud football club.
It's remarkably similar to that age old example of children and toys isn't it? For three years these two have been proud holders of their shiny new "football", knowing it is in their hands and nobody else wants to play with it well then that's all fine and dandy despite whether they are looking after it or letting it gather dust. The split second however that anybody even hints at wanting a kick, despite the fact they have neglected this football, not looked after it for years, well it's all systems change isn't it? Suddenly the football is wanted again.
It's petty, it's childish, it's pathetic and downright embarrassing. Two grown
So what does Hicks do? Try to sack two members of his own board and bring in Lori Kay McCutcheon (a colleague) and son Mack Hicks. Yeah... Cause the last time one of your family members tried to interact with the fans he was very tactful wasn't he? "Blow me f*** face." Ring any bells?
Of course Broughton & Co were shocked at Hick's attempted reshuffling of the board and also felt legally, he was not obliged to do so. Hence the High Court being in charge of our future this week as we patiently await an outcome.
With Liverpool all of a sudden so popular in the media it appears everybody is an expert, everybody wants a say. Some have been fantastic, articles from journalists who i usually constantly disagree with have written superb pieces and made fair comments on how and why Liverpool are currently in this situation, others however have just shown how naive and uneducated on our club and our problems they are.
Recent columns from the likes of Harry Redknapp (bearing in mind what paper he writes for, any regurgitated quotes from Sky Sports etc were read with caution) and Piers Morgan just make me laugh.
Perhaps they are literally that desperate for readers? How anyone who claims to be a "football fan" can sympathise with two Americans who have spiralled a great English footballing institution into such debt, who have blatantly lied to Liverpool fans, failed to follow through on such huge promises, brought shame upon Liverpool FC... Well it just baffles me.
Liverpool fan or not it's easy to see that Mr Tom Hicks and Mr George Gillett are as much to blame as the managers and the side. All i would say to Wheeler Dealer and Slimy Piers is that when you find yourselves with a problem, do you not when trying to solve it look for the root of the cause before you manage to fix it?
My fella's handbrake was pulling up too far the other day, the mechanic didn't check the wipers and the passenger airbag, he went straight to the handbrake cable and suggested me other half bought a new one to replace it.
In my eyes it's quite clear Liverpool need a new handbrake cable...
Recent columns from the likes of Harry Redknapp (bearing in mind what paper he writes for, any regurgitated quotes from Sky Sports etc were read with caution) and Piers Morgan just make me laugh.
Perhaps they are literally that desperate for readers? How anyone who claims to be a "football fan" can sympathise with two Americans who have spiralled a great English footballing institution into such debt, who have blatantly lied to Liverpool fans, failed to follow through on such huge promises, brought shame upon Liverpool FC... Well it just baffles me.
Liverpool fan or not it's easy to see that Mr Tom Hicks and Mr George Gillett are as much to blame as the managers and the side. All i would say to Wheeler Dealer and Slimy Piers is that when you find yourselves with a problem, do you not when trying to solve it look for the root of the cause before you manage to fix it?
My fella's handbrake was pulling up too far the other day, the mechanic didn't check the wipers and the passenger airbag, he went straight to the handbrake cable and suggested me other half bought a new one to replace it.
In my eyes it's quite clear Liverpool need a new handbrake cable...
So where does all this leave us?
Aside from the fact that it still leaves us nailed firmly down in the middle of a media storm, it means that within a week or so we should know our fate.
At this moment in time with NESV supposedly wanting to pull out of a deal if we go into administration it appears there are only two options...
By next week Liverpool could have completed a sale to New England Sports Ventures and fans will no doubt cautiously look forward to learning more about our new owners...
Or
We could still be mixing words at boardroom level with the two parasites, in administration and possibly facing a 9point deduction.
The only plus side we can really take from all of this is that one way or another Hicks and Gillett's reign is coming to an end, i don't think i've ever met or even seen two men similar to themselves, they clearly are ruthless characters with no emotion and if they had even an ounce of sympathy then surely they wouldn't of caused so much hassle in their final weeks at Liverpool FC.
It's been an extremely dark period for us as fans but i think it's safe to hope for that golden sky...