Soccer Extreme : Liverpool's lawyers Slaughter & May could be in court as early as Friday as they seek to derail Tom Hicks and George Gillett's attempts to block the £300 million sale to the owners of the Boston Red Sox.Hicks and Gillett are plotting their own sale of the club to give them back their £144 million investment, and want the courts to block the takeover which has been agreed by Martin Broughton over their heads. One the most fascinating civil wars in football history needs to be aired ahead of the October 15 deadline when the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have the power to call in their £237 million debt. That is the point that Liverpool's lawyers will stress to the courts in expressing the urgency to bring the hearing forward to this Friday. Ordinarily the case would be heard next week.
Hicks' New York-based spokesman Mark Semer has said that Broughton's claim that the sale cannot be blocked is false.
"There were no such undertakings given to Broughton, the board has been legally reconstituted, and the new board does not approve of this proposed transaction,'' Semer told Bloomberg News.
An attemped coup, which would have seen Hicks' son Mack and Lori McCuthcheon, of Hicks Holdings, replace Purslow and Ayre, was rejected.
Broughton is confident he and the other two England-based members of the board have acted appropriately but they will not be able to have that confirmed until the issue is thrashed out in court.
The Premier League is also expected to approve the takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV) that will see John W Henry's company purchase Liverpool for £300 million - which will wipe out most of the club's debt - on Friday.
Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton is confident that Hicks and Gillett will not be successful in blocking the sale due to the written undertakings they made when handing over control of the club.
It is thought the deal will be fully completed by the time Liverpool cross Stanley Park for the Merseyside derby against Everton on October 17 and it is reported that even if Hicks and Gillett win the court case, RBS will call in the debt and immediately sell the club to Henry. (soccernet)