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Liverpool: Judge in control of Reds’ destiny
THE opening shots in the battle for control of Liverpool will be fired today in Court 18 at the High Court.
The future of English football’s most decorated club is to be decided by Mr Justice Floyd, who will rule on whether co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett can block a proposed £300million takeover by New England Sports Ventures.
In another twist, the initial case to be listed is the Royal Bank of Scotland v Tom Hicks and others, relating to written undertakings the Americans gave the bank when securing a new refinancing deal last April.
The RBS will argue Hicks and Gillett acted outside their jurisdiction in sacking managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre before last Tuesday’s board meeting, when the NESV bid received the backing of the Anfield board.
The state-owned bank, who can call in debts and penalties of £282m from the Americans on Friday, gained an injunction last Friday preventing Hicks and Gillett from sacking Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton, Purslow and Ayre.
If RBS win, the Liverpool board is likely to seek a declaratory judgment that they have the power to sell the club to NESV.
Singapore businessman Peter Lim, who lost out to NESV after tabling a rival bid, claimed yesterday to still be interested in buying Liverpool, but if Hicks and Gillett lose in court the NESV deal will go ahead.