| Liverpool ownership set to be decided in court tomorrow • How the day at the high court unfolded in our blog• RBS accuses Hicks and Gillett of 'breathtaking arrogance'• Owners claim more time is needed to resolve issuesThe battle over the future ownership of Liverpool is set to be decided tomorrow by a high court judge. Mr Justice Floyd said he would adjourn his ruling after a day of courtroom clashes between the American owners, club directors and its major creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland. He is expected to offer his judgment at 10.30am.RBS lawyers accused the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, of changing the running of the club to "frustrate" its sale this Friday. Paul Girolami QC, representing the owners, said his clients "were not trying to throw a spanner in the works" of the proposed sale deal. He said there had been other offers for the club which potentially were better than the one approved by the board.Richard Snowden QC, representing RBS, said the owners now admitted "a calculated breach of contract" by seeking to change the constitution of the football companies controlling the club and the boards involved without the consent of the bank. He said this was "to frustrate the sale necessary to repay the bank £200m by this Friday".The bank secured an injunction on Friday to prevent the Americans sacking the independent chairman Martin Broughton or any other board members.Snowden said Hicks filed evidence that if RBS did not like what he was doing, then it could enforce its security rights. "This would derail the carefully planned process designed to achieve a sale of the club in a timely manner."He said that plan would not carry the risk of Liverpool losing the nine points deducted by the Premier League when a team goes into administration.The judge was asked to impose injunctions on the owners requiring them to restore the original constitutions of the companies and managing directors.This would remove the final stumbling block to a £300m takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), which will see the RBS recoup its original £237m loan to Hicks and Gillett when they bought the club in March 2007.The bank says that when the owners renegotiated an extension to the refinancing to allow a sale to be completed, they agreed that Broughton could come in alongside the managing director, Christian Purslow, and the commercial director, Ian Ayre. This gave them a three-to-two majority to prevent the owners blocking any sale they did not feel was in their interests.It was also made clear that Broughton was the only person who could change board members, so when Hicks tried to sack the English directors last week on the eve of the meeting to approve the NESV bid, the chairman rejected the move. Snowden said evidence filed to the court showed "breathtaking arrogance on the part of Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett".Girolami, opposing an immediate injunction, said all the issues involved needed more time to determine and "should not be rushed into"."What has happened is that the English directors have gone forward with the NESV bid without properly considering alternatives when those alternatives at least appear to give better prospects."Lord Grabiner QC, representing the Liverpool football club companies, said his clients were supporting the RBS application and wanted to see the issues resolved by the end of this week. He told the judge: "No court stops a board from acting as it sees fit in the best interests of the company."LiverpoolBusinessRoyal Bank of Scotlandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
England reach Under-21 European Championships after draw with Romania England hold nerve to qualify for Uefa Under-21 Championship finals after a 0-0 draw in their play-off second leg in Romania. telegraph.co.uk |
FIFA Must Postpone World Cup Vote - Former ExCo Member BERLIN (Reuters) - World soccer's governing body FIFA should postpone the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups after allegations of vote-selling, a former FIFA Executive Committee member said on Wednesday. feeds.nytimes.com |
Manchester United's Michael Owen out of action with new muscle injury • Owen injured again during recovery from hamstring problem• Striker says he 'will be out for the next few weeks'The Manchester United striker Michael Owen will be out of action for a few more weeks with a muscle injury sustained in training while recovering from a hamstring problem.The 30-year-old has started only three matches this season and has not played since 2 October. He trained for a week but then picked up the new problem, which ruled him out of Tuesday's League Cup win over Wolves.Owen says that he "will be out for the next few weeks".Owen also missed the final three months of last season with injury.Michael OwenManchester Unitedguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Whitecaps' Martin Nash retires Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Martin Nash is walking away from the game before getting the chance to play in Major League Soccer. cbc.ca |