Source: Daily_Mail
Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton attacks Tom Hicks and George Gillett over takeover block
Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton has launched a stinging attack on Tom Hicks and George Gillett over their attempts to block their sale of the club.[LNB] A £300million deal has been agreed with US company New England Sports Ventures despite the best efforts of co-owners Hicks and Gillett to scupper the plans. They attempted to sack managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre just minutes before Tuesday night's crunch talks over the takeover. [LNB]Hicks and Gillett are opposed to the sale but the three other board members - Broughton, Purslow and Ayre - are taking legal advice over whether they can force through the deal. [LNB] Outnumbered: George Gillett (left) and Tom Hicks are opposed to the sale, but the other Liverpool board members are in favour[LNB]Broughton expects the sale to be completed 'in about a week', confirming a deal which would clear the major part of the club's bank debts had been agreed with New England Sports Ventures, the owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, albeit delayed by the legal challenge from Hicks and Gillett.[LNB]The chairman said: 'It's likely to take about a week. I would hope we will get the judgement by the end of next week.'[LNB]And Broughton has now hit out over the pair's handling of the sale. He said: 'The court will ultimately decide whether the owners are successful. The reasoning behind it was that the owners felt we were reviewing two bids which they considered undervalued the club and therefore they wished to remove Christian and Ian and replace them with Mack Hicks, who is Tom's son, and Lori McCutcheon, who also works with him.[LNB] 'We don't think it was valid to do it. Essentially when I took the role they gave a couple of written undertakings to Royal Bank of Scotland. [LNB]'Those written undertakings included that I was the only person entitled to change the board and that was written into the articles of the covenants, and also that they would take no action to frustrate any reasonable sale. And I think they flagrantly abused both of those written undertakings.' [LNB]Broughton has also thrown his backing behind the new owners - John Henry and Tom Werner - and revealed that they are already mapping out plans for a bigger stadium. [LNB] Out: The majority of Liverpool fans want rid of Hicks and Gillett[LNB]He added: 'I think both of them would have been excellent new owners.[LNB] 'New England have a lot of experience in developing, investing in and taking Boston Red Sox - as the closest parallel - from being a club with a wonderful history, a wonderful tradition that had lost the winning way, and bringing it back to being a winner. [LNB]'Their commitment to winning is what it's all about there and they've extended it from Boston Red Sox to Nascar and other things, but Red Sox is the main one.[LNB] 'They don't want any hostages to fortune, very sensibly, so they're not going to make any comments about how much or anything like that. [LNB]'But this goes back to the winning mentality. I think the demonstration is: let's look at what they have done at Boston, what they said in Boston, what they have done in terms of investing in players - and I think you get a high degree of confidence of their willingness to do that. [LNB]'There's definitely a commitment to invest in a stadium and we will finish up with a 60,000-plus seater stadium. Where they haven't finalised their view is whether that should be the new stadium or whether there are still opportunities to build at Anfield itself. They have done both. [LNB] New men in charge: Henry (left) and Werner are behind the latest takeover[LNB]'The people involved have built the new stadium at Baltimore Orioles, for example, and at Fenway Park they looked at the two options and decided that actually redevelopment with all of the tradition was better than a new stadium.[LNB] 'So they have done both, they are committed to looking at both very professionally and seeing which is the best option, but there will be stadium development.' [LNB]Finally, Broughton delievered a message to Liverpool fans who are despairing at the mess the club are currently in. He said: 'Keep the faith. We said we would deliver the best buyers for the club and I think we have delivered exactly that. I know they've been frustrated by not getting a running commentary and I know a fan wants to know what's going on. [LNB]'I thank them for their patience because I do believe the only way you really get these things done is out of the media glare and it's difficult to do it out of the media glare, but we've found the right owners. I thank them for their patience, their support, keep the faith, this is going to work. They're with us.' [LNB] Deal! Liverpool board agree to sell up to New England Sports Ventures as Hicks and Gillett head for the exitLiverpool takeover timeline: Six tumultuous years behind the scenes at AnfieldLiverpool could escape points deduction if Tom Hicks and George Gillett's holding company goes into administrationLIVERPOOL FC
