Coup under way at Liverpool FC

spockety

I think this is worthy of it's own thread for people who don't venture into the LFC Superthread. It's a massive piece of news in football imho.

If mods feel different then feel free to close.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/liverpool-fc-statement-3

Liverpool Football Club tonight issued the following press statement:

The Board of Directors have received two excellent financial offers to buy the Club that would repay all its long-term debt. A Board meeting was called today to review these bids and approve a sale. Shortly prior to the meeting, the owners - Tom Hicks and George Gillett - sought to remove Managing Director Christian Purslow and Commercial Director Ian Ayre from the Board, seeking to replace them with Mack Hicks and Lori Kay McCutcheon.

This matter is now subject to legal review and a further announcement will be made in due course.

Meanwhile Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre continue to explore every possible route to achieving a sale of the Club at the earliest opportunity.

To explain as briefly as possible, the board of Liverpool FC, or specifically a majority three of it's members (Christian Purslow, Martin Broughton, and Ian Ayres) are in open revolt against the owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. They are attempting to sell the club on terms which are not favourable to the owners, as it will see Hicks and Gillett walk away from Liverpool with a rather large financial loss (100+ million).

This looks to be possible because the board have the backing of Liverpool's financial backers, RBS, and all RBS want is their money back.

Hicks and Gillett, despite owning the club, may be powerless to do anything about this.

This is now an incredible week for Liverpool FC.

Is there only 5 people on the board?

spockety

Papa Smut wrote: »

Is there only 5 people on the board?

I think there are 6.

George Gillett, Tom Hicks, and Phillip Nash are also on the board.

However I presume Martin Broughton has any casting vote as Chairman..?

whatawaster

Yes

ynwa_17

From what i'm hearing, Henry's investment company is pretty fúcked. Any business buds out there know of anything on this?

whatawaster

I don't think nash has a vote

ynwa_17

Does Casey Coffman not have a vote? I know she was elected to the board when Hicks' son left

GBX

So 5 on the board, bring in Mack Hicks and create a majority and fup us up again :mad:

GSPfan

Its exciting news for Liverpool fans. Even as a United fan I hope it works out for them. Sick of this Debt issue that is dominating football.

Have to laugh at the fact that its another American who wants to buy. Yanks Out.

whatawaster

I'm sure if they were f*cked they wouldn't be throwing 300m at a football club. I'm sure the board and bank will be seeking warranties about stadium, debt levels etc

PFL

Chat under way again on 5live confirmed H&G can be out voted. 5 votes on the board, Broughton, Purslow & Ayre could out vote the other two eejits

NabyLadistheman

Twitter is where it's at! Sourse M Owen journo closely attached to club says a month ago a source close to Barcap told him that Victor Li kuoi was interested in buying LFC. Could be the Asian bid.

Also other reports not to rule-out another statement tonight, could be a long night!

edit - Oli Kay also sayin this could happen

PFL

It looks Broughton sanctioned the statement on the Club's website; Oliver Kay from the times tweeted they received the statement from pr firm regularly employed by Broughton

That bold #LFC statement has just (belatedly) been circulated by Broughton's favoured PR company. Maybe blue isn't the colour after all

bluefinger

fcuk football. takeover bids are much more exciting!

MUSEIST

i am not a liverpool fan and so i dont follow these things closely but ffs you have quite the soap opera going on there.

Liam O

whatawaster wrote: »

I'm sure if they were f*cked they wouldn't be throwing 300m at a football club. I'm sure the board and bank will be seeking warranties about stadium, debt levels etc

like the last time ye?

GEM_13

The night is always darkest just b4 the the dawn.............jesus,please let this be the beginning of the end for those 2 muppets.

Duiske

Amazing stuff. Just a pity this had not happened in early summer.
Just hope it goes the right way though.

applehunter

I can see the webmaster of the official website getting his P45 tomorrow.

spockety

applehunter wrote: »

I can see the webmaster of the official website getting his P45 tomorrow.

Who is going to fire him?

The Chairman and the Chief Executive are behind the statement...

GSPfan

GEM_13 wrote: »

The night is always darkest just b4 the the dawn.............jesus,please let this be the beginning of the end for those 2 muppets.

You watching Batman Begins on itv2 too? :pac:

Roy Hodgson must be loving the attention shift right now. And dare I say the eventual investment in January.

missingtime

torresistheman wrote: »

Twitter is where it's at! Sourse M Owen journo closely attached to club says a month ago a source close to Barcap told him that Victor Li kuoi was interested in buying LFC. Could be the Asian bid.

Also other reports not to rule-out another statement tonight, could be a long night!

edit - Oli Kay also sayin this could happen

Coincidence? I think not....

Wiki on Victor Li Kuoi -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Li_Tzar-kuoi

Born in Hong Kong, he attended the St. Paul's Co-educational College in Hong Kong, and holds a B.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering and a M.Sc. degree in Structural Engineering from Stanford University.

Victor Li was kidnapped in 1996 by notorious gangster "Big Spender" Cheung Chi Keung, and released after a reported ransom of HK$1 billion was paid.[1]

This is too much

spockety

GSPfan wrote: »

You watching Batman Begins on itv2 too? :pac:

Roy Hodgson must be loving the attention shift right now. And dare I say the eventual investment in January.

I predict that Roy Hodgson won't see a penny of any investment money.

DOC09UNAM

GSPfan wrote: »

You watching Batman Begins on itv2 too? :pac:

Roy Hodgson must be loving the attention shift right now. And dare I say the eventual investment in January.

IF he's still there.

Best of luck lads, hope it all goes how you want it to go.

Except money wise, hope you dont get too much, just enough to keep ye happy :pac:

mike65

applehunter wrote: »

I can see the webmaster of the official website getting his P45 tomorrow.

From who? The release was sanctioned by the majority of the board.

Kristopherus

On Sky News now

NabyLadistheman

missingtime wrote: »

Coincidence? I think not....

Michael Owen - Chief LFC Correspondent for the Sports Review

whatawaster

Someone posted this on RAWK. I think it's very apt

applehunter

mike65 wrote: »

From who? The release was sanctioned by the majority of the board.

Who are also being ousted.

Eire-Dearg

"Imminent statement from Hicks"

Drama!

LuckyLloyd

ONE TIME

8-10

New England Sports Ventures, the parent company of the Boston Red Sox led by Sox owners John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino, has placed a bid for the English soccer club Liverpool FC, according to multiple reports.

mike65

whatawaster

ashlingoc

#LFC imminent statement from hicks

PFL

Aisling O Connor - Times Journalist

#LFC imminent statement from hicks
Twitter for BlackBerry® • 06/10/2010 00:08

whatawaster

Baseball team pitches for Liverpool FC

Open warfare broke out at Liverpool FC after the club announced that plans for directors to discuss two “excellent” offers to buy the Premier League club, including one from the owners of the Boston Red Sox, were preceded by the current US owners’ efforts to remove two independent board members.

New England Sports Ventures, the holding company for the baseball team, tabled an offer to cover the £280m of debt owed by Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett to Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia. The offer on the table is believed to be £300m.

Another offer – from the Far East – believed to be of the same magnitude was also discussed by the board.

In a statement on the club’s website on Tuesday night, Liverpool FC said: “The board of directors have received two excellent financial offers to buy the club that would repay all its long-term debt.

“A board meeting was called today to review these bids and approve a sale. Shortly prior to the meeting, the owners – Tom Hicks and George Gillett – sought to remove managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre from the board, seeking to replace them with Mack Hicks and Lori Kay McCutcheon.”

Mack Hicks is a son of Tom Hicks and a vice-president of his father’s Hicks Holdings sports and real estate group. Ms McCutcheon is also a vice-president of Hicks Holdings.

The statement added that the matter was subject to legal review and that the three independent board directors – chairman Martin Broughton, Mr Purslow and Mr Ayre – would continue to explore the club’s sale at the earliest opportunity.

According to people with knowledge of the protracted and bitter sale process, the independent directors had planned to discuss the offers with the owners on a conference call, and hoped to move the discussion onto details about which of the two to accept.

But the owners, who have placed a much higher valuation on the club, were said to have rejected both offers, a response that was said by one person to have been expected by the independent board members.

Mr Hicks is believed to remain determined to refinance the debt, although he has had one proposal rejected by the independent board members in June after they took legal advice. The deadline for the repayment of the owners’ loan is Friday week.

“The owners are trying to block this sales process,” one person said.

According to another person with knowledge of the situation, NESV’s owner John Henry is in the UK with senior management figures with the intention of “closing the deal”.

While NESV has been interested in Liverpool for some weeks, the Far East interest is believed to have become known only in the past week. NESV’s thinking is that Liverpool would be another iconic sports brand to go with the Boston Red Sox and Roush Fenway Racing, one of the pre-eminent teams in Nascar racing.

But given the hostility of Liverpool fans to the Gillett-Hicks ownership, NESV is believed to be sensitive to any anti-US sentiment from supporters.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/650f57d0-d0cf-11df-a426-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss

Dr Galen

torresistheman wrote: »

Twitter is where it's at! Sourse M Owen journo closely attached to club says a month ago a source close to Barcap told him that Victor Li kuoi was interested in buying LFC. Could be the Asian bid.

Also other reports not to rule-out another statement tonight, could be a long night!

edit - Oli Kay also sayin this could happen

Rumour has it that hicks is making a statement in response tonight. Might be a late night

NabyLadistheman

Dr Galen wrote: »

Rumour has it that hicks is making a statement in response tonight. Might be a late night

This is a crazy night! Great stuff - let's hope Hicks statement is what we want to hear

whatawaster

I wonder will Hick's statement be released on liverpoolfc.tv?

GEM_13

GSPfan wrote: »

You watching Batman Begins on itv2 too? :pac:

Roy Hodgson must be loving the attention shift right now. And dare I say the eventual investment in January.

Its the Dark Knight actually:PBruce Wayne could be taking over now and i wouldn't give a ****e as long as dumb and dumber go.....with a big fukn hole in their pockets as well.

The club still needs a lot of work-but it would be a start.

8-10

whatawaster wrote: »

I wonder will Hick's statement be released on liverpoolfc.tv?

Was just on SSN. They're desperately trying to stop the bids being accepted as they see them as undervaluing the investment they have put into the club.

Hmm.

whatawaster

Summary of Hick's statement from another forum

Hicks statement on Sky Sports News now.

- Remain committed to selling club
- Offers don't value club highly enough

Nobody sacked.

Eire-Dearg

Nope.

mike65

Whatever he says it won't be an admission of defeat or anything like - expect it to be quite truculent and "Texan" (he probably has the Alamo playing in his head)

D'Agger

The only thing annoying about this for me is that I'm not working nights so I'm not getting paid to stay up and watch the drama unfold....still a happy camper though

redzerdrog

if hicks does release a statement i am quite sure it is going to make me want to punch my laptop

PFL

Dr Galen wrote: »

Rumour has it that hicks is making a statement in response tonight. Might be a late night

#LFC Hicks says will resist sale of club "without due process or agreement of the club"

Aisling O Connor on Twitter can't find the full statement yet

D'Agger

8-10 wrote: »

Was just on SSN. They're desperately trying to stop the bids being accepted as they see them as undervaluing the investment they have put into the club.

I used google translate from Texan to English and it came up saying

We want more profit....Purslow & Aire are wánkers

yom 1

redzerdrog wrote: »

if hicks does release a statement i am quite sure it is going to make me want to punch my laptop

Well they just read it out on SSN and its all I wanted to do........

Talking about undervaluing their investment in the club, seriously how could he keep a straight face saying that

baldbear

Just heard the statement on Sky. Typical Hicks rubbish. We remain commited to finding the right buyer bla bla bla.
Jesus does he think people are stupid.

Yanks out! Yanks in!

bluefinger

yom 1 wrote: »

Well they just read it out on SSN and its all I wanted to do........

Talking about underestimating their avarice regarding the club, seriously how could he keep a straight face saying that

reads a bit truer now.