One rule for the rich...

[pauld]

I don't think that will happen jonny they gave a written undertaking that only broughton could change the board, they wrote that into the articles of the two companies Kop Football and Kop Holdings.

They also gave a written undertaking to RBS that they would not frustrate any reasonable sale. I think they will avoid any trouble

Assuming by "they" you mean Hicks and Gillett, they've already announced they're taking legal action

[Power to people]

There was talk of the legal action being fast tracked to be heard next week before the RBS deadline

[Don Rogers Shop]

Assuming by "they" you mean Hicks and Gillett, they've already announced they're taking legal action

Yeah i know they have but it won't stand up will it.

[Summerof69]

Unless a deal is agreed by the 15th it's likely that RBS will put them in administration to force the sale through, with the points deduction seemingly guaranteed - no one else seems to be saying they can avoid it.

Not by the Premier League :

However, the Premier League says it is happy with the business plan of the NESV and has confirmed that the club would not suffer a nine-point penalty if it were to enter administration as the club would remain fully solvent.

"The aim of the regulations is primarily to capture clubs who have gone into insolvency. This is manifestly not the case with Liverpool Football Club," a Premier League source told PA Sport.

"For example, last year West Ham's Icelandic owners went into administration but that did not lead to any Premier League action as the club itself was solvent."


No disrespect, but the club is not solvent when RBS are owed £280m, and the holding companies are adjoined to the club.

Of course, the PL are going to use the same argument when the Glazers are chased for the £700m+ by the hedge funds and the banks a few years down the line.

[pauld]

Yeah i know they have but it won't stand up will it.

Doesn't matter, they could still delay the sale process for months by tangling it up in legal proceedings. Whether they ultimately win is almost immaterial, the damage they can do just by legal obstructions and delays is immense

[pauld]

Think the PL were misquoted slightly So69. Here's what they actually said:

"For example, last year West Ham's Icelandic owners went into administration but that did not lead to any Premier League action as the club is very popular among tabloid football journalists who might have started to ask difficult questions about our extreme "anything goes" approach to entirely failing to take our responsibilities as a regulatory body seriously. And there's no way we're taking points off Liverpool, far too big a club, you're having a giraffe aren't you? They might get relegated and think of the damage to the global brand then. Pfft. Anyone would think we're running a sporting competition instead of a multi-billion dollar global entertainment franchise the way some of you lot go on"

[jonny72]

a Premier League source told PA Sport.

No doubt the same source that was talking to the Liverpool Echo a few days ago. If there was anything official it would be said officially, it hasn't been so it is most likely bollocks. The West Ham thing was completely different and was a text book case of when a club shouldn't be deducted points when its parent / holding company goes in to administration - the FL would have come to the same conclussion as the PL.

Everything I've read suggest that administration will be followed by the points deduction, unless they can prove the club is a separate entity from the holding company which they can't, because it isn't. Liverpool = Southampton.

[jayohaitchenn]

I don't know much about the West Ham case. How did they get away without a points deduction?

[jonny72]

I think the difference is that it was an actual holding company that owned West Ham and that the club were just one of many assets they owned. The holding company got in to financial problems in other areas, nothing to do with West Ham, so there was no points penalty - which is what the rules say (in the FL at least).

Whereas with Liverpool (and Southampton before them) the holding company's only asset is the club and it's just a sham to avoid a points deduction or structured that way for financial reasons.

[pauld]

jonny's point is an extremely salient one and very well made. How come the entire sports/news/financial press covering this story haven't, that I've seen, managed to make it? The coverage of this story has been shockingly bad, and without the usual excuse of it being a fairly low-level club, they've all had their big guns on this. That kind of ignorance may well be what allows the PL to stitch up a deal over the points deduction, because they can get away with statements like the one jonny pulled apart because none of the media are questioning it and the public largely don't know they should be.

[Summerof69]

I think the difference is that it was an actual holding company that owned West Ham and that the club were just one of many assets they owned. The holding company got in to financial problems in other areas, nothing to do with West Ham, so there was no points penalty - which is what the rules say (in the FL at least).

Also, it was mostly caused by the Icalandic banks going bust. West Ham's holding company had borrowed money from Icelandic banks, and the liquidators wanted money back as soon as possible,

[Batch]

jonny's point is an extremely salient one and very well made. How come the entire sports/news/financial press covering this story haven't, that I've seen, managed to make it?

You can sort of see how they may not want to shoot themself in the foot, sales wise, by upsetting the Liverpool fans. Maybe. O its a weak argument.

But in that regard what have the Sun and the Times got to lose? The already hate the former and I can't believe many read the latter.

[Spencer_White]

A bank wouldnt even consider taking over a club like Swindon. But they will with Liverpool and thats what will avoid admin?

[Summerof69]

From TwoHundredPercent :

It seems all but impossible that Gillett and Hicks will actually be able to get the funding in place to pay off the bank by next Friday, at which the point the bank will effectively be able to “repossess” Liverpool Football Club. This repossession may be just the news that Liverpool supporters have been waiting for. This isn’t the same as entering into administration (which is a legal process entirely of its own), so Liverpool supporters don’t need to worry about someone coming into the club, selling all of its assets and straddling them with a nine point deduction. A move by RBS to take full control of Liverpool Football Club would entitle the bank to sell the bidder that it believes to be the most appropriate.

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=9286

[leefer]

Long way to go on this....multi millionaires generally get the best lawyers in.....Hicks and Gillette wont just sit on this...140 million reasons why they will do all they can to stop this takeover.