Liverpool takeover moving quickly

[Blue in the face]

According to SS news yellow ticker tape they want $1.6 billion. This is going to run and run. Ha Ha.

[Nigels Tackle]

Texas District Court takes on the High Court - yeeeeehaaa!!!

This is hilarious!

[craigmcfc]

That's fantastic news, long may the saga continue

[globalbollox]

http://www.scribd.com/doc/39284612/Liverpool-TRO

[bluej]

Apparently Kop Holdings is registered in Texas so they have got the jurisdiction as well, brilliant! Hahaha.

[brite blu sky]

you couldn't make this up.. they have a few days before they get put into admin and lose 9pts..

Kuyt - arguably their best player (thats not a joke) could be out for the season and they have got Everton on Sun.

They could beat Everton and still be bottom of the league on 0pts

Now that really is something to play for.

[bluelogic32]

this is a great day, liverpool are going no where soon

[ronk]

hmmm.

I'm now seeing two strategies for Hicks and Gilett, desperate exit strategy that sees them leave with something instead of taking all the downside and/or cause enough hassle and be enough of a risk to frighten off any investor who's not going to pay them, particularly by calling RBS bluff on administration. A lot of guys will walkaway when it gets messy enough, then RBS have a choice: they can force Liverpool into administration and find that the buyers they had lined up have suddenly lost interest. Then RBS might suddenly find that their chances of getting their money back has evaporated and they have to do a deal where they give up a chance of ever getting all their loan+fees.

Everything would point to RBS opting to delay if those are their only choices. Taking so much government money could bite them a little on this deal. While they're trying to get value for the taxpayer against "greedy evil" Americans, they're not being controversial, but how far are the government going to allow them go to run Liverpool into the ground for what's not a huge amount of money in the scheme of what banks have been squandering. A backlash doesn't look too likely at the moment, but could happen very quickly and be remembered for a long time in Liverpool.

[Beefymcfc]

Looks like H&G have neen shafted Royally on this one and have little option but to try and prolong the agony for the club and themselves. At the same time, it's their own greed that has got them into this boat and should they walk away losing their reported 140 mil outlay, then that's down to them.

[Socrates]

[youtube]YInWq7qt4PA[/youtube]

[JamieMCFC]

I went to a Redsox game at Fenway a few weeks ago when I was in the US with work. Have to say it was nice for the experience but I am not sure if I would ever go see a Baseball game live again... it's such a fucking drag... went on for over 3 hours I think and in the end the Redsox lost anyway... the crowd was fucking awful I thought, next to no atmosphere in comparison to a football match, no singing apart from the occasional "Let's go Red Sox" .... oh and they did the Mexican Wave like 3-4 times or so... wow...

Maybe it was because the Redsox had no chance of winning anything this season though.

Outside of the MLS we do not sing at sporting events over here.

[Mark (Blue Army)]

NESV complete Liverpool takeover

Liverpool have confirmed New England Sports Ventures have completed their £300million takeover of the club.

After a week of drama off the pitch John Henry's NESV have finally completed their takeover of the club after Tom Hicks and George Gillett accepted defeat in their bid to prevent a sale.

American duo Hicks and Gillett lifted the final obstacle standing in NESV's way by removing the restraining order they won in a Texas court to block the proposed sale.

However, Hicks and Gillett have announced they plan to sue for "at least $1.6billion" for "an extraordinary swindle".

Hicks, who believes the NESV sale undervalues Liverpool, had been trying to sell his stake to Mill Financial, a USA-based hedge fund, so they could pay the club's debt to the Royal Bank of Scotland and scupper the takeover.

Mill Financial had approached the Premier League to take the mandatory owner's test on Thursday, but were rejected when the league told the fund they could only take instruction from the Liverpool board, led by chairman Martin Broughton, who have already agreed to sell to NESV for £300m.

NESV's takeover means the Royal Bank of Scotland will be paid the £237million they are owed and the threat of administration is avoided.

Liverpool's board agreed to sell the club to NESV for £300million last week, but the deal was upheld as Hicks and Gillett opposed the deal.

The news ends Hick's and Gillett's turbulent ownership of the club after three-and-a-half years at the club but almost certainly not an end to the saga.

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson welcomed the takover by NESV at his press conference and the news is a major boost ahead of this weekend's Merseyside derby.

A club statement read: "New England Sports Ventures announces that it has completed the purchase of Liverpool Football Club. NESV wishes to extend its sincere gratitude to the Board of Liverpool FC for their diligence and their efforts on behalf of the Club and its supporters.

"The transaction values the Club at £300m and eliminates all of the acquisition debt placed on LFC by its previous owners, reducing the Club's debt servicing obligations from £25m-£30m a year to £2m-£3m.

"New England Sports Ventures is committed to winning and currently owns a portfolio of companies, including the Boston Red Sox, New England Sports Network, Fenway Sports Group and Roush Fenway Racing."

skysports.com

[The Man In Blue]

Fucking gutted.

[ronk]

Curious. Extraordinary to think that a shareholder was blocked from selling his shares because the board preferred another option for a sale, given that the board didn't own the company.

IANAL but wtf? Sounds a lot like a swindle.

[The Man In Blue]

Curious. Extraordinary to think that a shareholder was blocked from selling his shares because the board preferred another option for a sale, given that the board didn't own the company.

IANAL but wtf? Sounds a lot like a swindle.

Reckon we've heard the last of H&G?

[Beefymcfc]

They got a real steal there as I'm sure the club were valued at around 600 mil not too long ago. The thing I want to know is how NESV are funding this deal? I don't see them having a spare 300 mil lying around so can only assume that they have borrowed the money from somewhere.

I honsestly feel that they will do good by the club and rebuild what has been pulled down by previous owners/mangers over the years. The way they will do that is by pricing the current fanbase out of the game and raising much needed revenue from match day attendance. Then let's see how much the SoS complain about their new American owners.

[zuricity]

I'm very surprised it went through. I don't believe the saga is over. Quite how anyone can think this new owner can be better is a mystery to me.
However, i can only say that i would rather see Liverpool get relegated on their own , without a nine point deduction. New owners don't matter, the squad and "infrastructure" is stll the same

[JonnyAsh]

My view as a City fan is that I'd rather them be taken over by Yanks, than some Middle East buyer. American investors haven't a good track record in the Prem, ie Villa, Rags and the previous L'pool regime, and their investiments and portfolio is always linked to the volatile US economy, ie they seem more wary than the Middle Eastern investors, who never seem concerned with the global economy.
It maybe just my naive outlook, but I think there will be a steady improvement, but it would take a huge investment even to get them to where they were before, and although I do see them challenging, I don't see them being able to compete with us.

[dazby]

With the new rules it would be extremely difficult for Scouse 1 to invest in a squad good enough to challenge.

They'll be crap for a while now.

[john@staustell]

".............Despite the team’s enthusiasm over the Liverpool addition, Stanford University sports economist Roger Noll said he’s baffled by the purchase. He noted that English football is not the most attractive investment, given the Premier League’s record of high salaries, massive transfer fees and crippling club debts.

“Lots of these Premier League teams have been in and out of financial trouble, and I am perplexed why anyone would want to buy one, other than pure ego,” he said. “It’s a strange decision and Liverpool in particular is strange because it’s more problematic than many of the others.”................"

Seems they may be using the Dippers to enhance the advertising revenue of the Boston Red Sox:

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/socc ... to_europe/