THE AMERICAN CO-OWNERS of Liverpool FC have secured a temporary injunction from the Texas District State Court to stop New England Sports Ventures (NESV) from taking over the club.
The drama on the other side of the Atlantic ocean came after NESV owner John W Henry had travelled to London to meet with the remainder of the club’s board – chairman Martin Broughton, managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre – to try and finalise the sale.
Their 8pm meeting had been convened to put an end to the ownership battle over the club, after Britain’s High Court had granted the club’s biggest debtor, the Royal Bank of Scotland, permission to restore the board to its original membership, undoing the changes of Hicks who had tried to gerrymander appointments in a bid to have the board vote against approving the NESV takeover – essentially paving the way for the approval of NESV’s acquisition.
The High Court had also refused to demand that the board meeting be delayed until today, and had told the American duo they could only pursue an appeal if Britain’s court of appeals decided to grant them that right.
As a result of the legal dead-end in Britain, the two returned to Texas – where Kop Investment, LLC, the pair’s investment vehicle, is based – and secured an injunction there from the District State Court. They are also reported to be suing for $1.6bn in damages from the other three directors, NESV and RBS.
Its injunction – published by the Guardian – puts the takeover on hold until the court holds a full hearing on October 25 – Monday week, a full ten days after its loans from RBS fall due, meaning that the club could now fall into administration before that date which would see it hit with a nine-point penalty from the Premier League.
The petition filed by Hicks and Gillett told the court that Broughton, Purslow and Ayre had acted as “pawns” of RBS in order to pull off an “epic swindle” in selling the club for less than the value of some of the other bids lodged.
A statement released by the remainder of Liverpool’s board in the aftermath of the injunction said that the “independent directors consider the restraining order to be unwarranted and damaging and will move as swiftly as possible to seek to have it removed.”
The ongoing saga over the club’s long-term stability will now extend at least for almost a fortnight – meaning it will greatly overshadow the Merseyside derby against Everton to be played this Sunday.
