Martin Broughton: chuffed
Well well, common sense prevailed in the high court this morning, and it’s really a wonderful kernel of news to wake up to:
The club’s owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett asked a judge to delay the hearing of an application by creditors Royal Bank of Scotland for mandatory orders paving the way for a possible sale this week. But the plea was rejected by Mr Justice
At RBS’s request, the judge imposed injunctions on the two men requiring them to restore the original constitutions of the companies and managing directors.
To translate: H&G must sit quietly while Martin Broughton and the Royal Bank of Scotland finalize the sale of the club to New England Sports Ventures. They’re done. Toast. Finito. Washed up. Etc.
It’s a magic day for Liverpool FC, as they get to remove the last vestiges of the pair who’ve caused a lot of pain and problems over the last three years, replacing them with a company that’s surely looking to cash in on the soccer phenomenon but have clear evidence of knowing how to run sports teams.
Imagine that: the Reds have gone from Rafa and wretched owners to Woy (yeah, not great so far, I’ll grant you that) and NESV in the space of a few short months. The transition will take time, and it’ll still be a while until all this drama is well and truly brought to a close, but this is the best thing to happen to the club all season, and hopefully it’ll allow the team to focus and move forward.
Bye bye, Tom. Bye bye, George. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Time to celebrate, lads!
Congrats!
Thanks!
There is still the chance for them to appeal in the Court of appeal, but the judge has declined to grant it through his court. They’d have to really work hard in another court just to get back in with Mr. Justice and go through this again. Board meeting set for 8p tonight where the reconstituted board will discuss the sale to NESV and likely finalize things.
If the board decides to sell against the wishes of H&G, can H&G go to court to try to stop it? I saw in one of the stories that this was the first hearing of two expected. The first being to reconstitute the board. And then if the reconstituted board decides to sell, H&G go to court to try to stop it?
Bye bye, Dirk Kuyt. Congrats anyway, JT et al. By the way, is the judge’s last name Justice or is that just the way they refer to judges over in jolly ol’ England? Either way it’s awesome.
@Goat
It’s just how they refer to judges. He’s really Mr. Floyd, but I’d pick Mr. Justice over Mr. Floyd if I was him.
—
@Anonsters
From what I gleaned, this ruling lifted H&G’s injunction blocking the sale, and also formally confirmed that the board must be reconstituted as it was last week. H&G fired two members and brought in cronies, but the judge has invalidated all that. So now, I’m assuming the board that initially voted 3 to 2 to sell to NESV will be able to move forward, and H&G can’t protest it. They can appeal, I think, but only through circuit courts.
Judge isn’t here to say they must sell to NESV; he just lifted all of H&G’s red tape stopping them from blocking sales they didn’t like.
@Goat: “Mr Justice Floyd.” We used to roll like that here. Now we just tend to go with “Justice X.”
@JT: Yeah, it’s not totally clear to me, even from reading some of the Grauniad stories, because these two things are distinguishable: (1) Blocking H&G’s maneuvers to control the board–i.e., ordering the board reconstituted in the form it was in before H&G tried to install their puppets, and (2) Allowing a sale to go through against the wishes of the owners of the club, if that’s how the reconstituted board decides to vote (which it will). That is, it’s not clear, on the basis of the stories, what relief, if any, H&G may have if the board decides to sell over their protest.
Yeah, it’s not entirely clear to me either. The judge granted an injunction against H&G so RBS and the reconstituted board can do their business.
I have no idea about UK law, but is the company insolvent? Because if it is, it’s mostly irrelevant what the owners want to do – RBS holds all the cards.
Was the judge in the matter actually named Mr. Justice Foster? Or, were they just being nice and writing “Mr. Justice” instead of just “Justice”?
Good to see the economy of Liverpool is holding steady enough to allow a couple hundred Pool supporters to travel to London on a Tuesday morning and stand outside a court hearing singing and whatnot. I guess things are getting back to normal.
/congrats
Does Broughton just have that one suit for all Liverpool functions? I know the rich don’t get rich by wasting money on frivolous things, but either he’s got five of those puppies or an in-house dry-cleaning service.
@ Shane: He could be doing what an old college roommate of mine would do–at the end of the day, turn the pants inside out, spray them down with cologne, clean the coat’s lapels of any lipstick from the previous night’s shenanigans, make sure you have a somewhat clean white oxford for the next day, and Voila!
Up the Red Scouse! Congrats to you lot for being rid of these two chumps.
On a related note, be interesting to see how the “YANKS OUT” crowd responds to this, seeing as NESV are, you know, Yanks.
Congratulations on your loss.
You still start Lucas.
Nah nah na na, hey hey hey, goodbye. Great news to start my day with. Does this mean I have to stop hating the Red Sox? Nah…
phil, there have already been a few quotes basically saying “the new owners treat the team well, then we’ll treat them well.” Clarifying that the yanks in question were the current crappy owners.
Now for some victories