After 3 years and 8 months Liverpool FC finally exited the disastrous hands of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
October 15th 2010 will go down as a pivotal moment in the reds history.
Liverpool’s debt this morning included over £240M to RBS, over £144M to Tom Hicks and Mill Financial, and the possibility of a further £60M and a 9 points deduction if the club entered administration.
But NESV (New England Sports Ventures) have cleared the acquisition debt with RBS and Tom Hicks and Mill Financial (who took over George Gillett’s debt) both lose over £70M each.
Yesterday’s ruling in the high court, meant that Tom Hicks and George Gillett had to drop the restraining order by 4pm or face criminal charges in the UK.
They did this, but maintained a £1BN lawsuit against the board members, NESV and RBS.
At 4pm the Liverpool FC sale was pushed through and John W Henry, on behalf of NESV, gave a brief press conference.
“I am proud and humbled. I can’t tell you how happy I am. We’re here to win.”
“We regard our role as that of stewards for the club with a primary focus on returning the club to greatness on and off the field for the long-term.
“We are committed first and foremost to winning. We have a history of winning, and we want Liverpool supporters to know that this approach is what we intend to bring to this great club.”
A statement on the official website later said:
“The transaction values the club at £300m and eliminates all of the acquisition debt placed on LFC by its previous owners, reducing the club’s debt servicing obligations from £25m-£30m a year to £2m-£3m.”
Later in the evening Tom Hicks and Gillett dropped their lawsuit in Texas after RBS had warned they would fight them vigourously. Although they are considering fighting in England.
Anfield Online would like to thank all Liverpool supporters and fan groups who campaigned, raised awareness and fought back against the previous owners. Liverpool was in real danger of collapsing under almost £400M of debt, and £30M of annual payments.
We look forward now to getting back to the football, hopefully starting with all three points at Goodison on Sunday.
the season starts here !
Don’t forget Rafa is partly responsible for the mess LFC were in, after all he bought a lot of DUD buys for a high price. I hope Roy can spend and spend it on PROVEN QUALITY.
Good Luck to All involved in this remarkable takeover.
Thank you.
fantastic it could not have happend to a nicer pair then hicks and gillett who run liverpool on promises thet never materialised thankyou nesv
at least John seems to be humble. Quietly confident in his speech. Profit oriented maybe but hope they would bring back the glory of the past and establish our club as the best there ever was or is!
Please invest into more players to keep the club on. Richard@ Ghana
At least you’re still Reds! Congrats!