Watch Liverpool

Posts Tagged ‘george-gillett’

Nine years on from buying the Red Sox, Liverpool’s owners are seeking a radical change to English football’s finances

2002 New England Sports Ventures buys the Boston Red Sox for $700m (£480m). Theo Epstein is hired as general manager to oversee an overhaul in player recruitment

2004 The Red Sox, under the management of Terry Francona, win their first World Series title since 1918

Feb 2007 NESV buy a 50% stake in the Roush Racing Nascar team

Oct 2007 Red Sox win World Series

Oct 2010 NESV buys Liverpool for £300m following a high court battle during which the club’s existing owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, tried to block the sale

Dec 2010 Boston sign left-arm hitters Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez for wages of $140m and $154m over seven years respectively

Jan 2011 Roy Hodgson is sacked as Liverpool manager and replaced by Kenny Dalglish on a caretaker basis

Jan 2011 Liverpool sell Fernando Torres to Chelsea for £50m and, having already signed Luis Suárez from Ajax for £22m, buy Andy Carroll for £35m from Newcastle United

Mar 2011 NESV becomes Fenway Sports Group

May 2011 Dalglish signs three-year contract as Liverpool manager

Aug 2011 Liverpool begin the season having signed Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing for £20m each, Charlie Adam for £7.5m and José Enrique for £6m

Sept 2011 After a final‑month collapse, the Red Sox fail to qualify for the post‑season play‑offs

Oct 2011 Francona is let go as Red Sox manager

Oct 2011 Ian Ayre, Liverpool’s manager director, reveals the club’s desire to break away from the Premier League’s collective-selling model in relation to overseas TV rights

Boston Red SoxMLBUS sportLiverpoolBusinessSports rightsguardian.co.uk

• Former owners claiming hundreds of millions in damages
• Almost one year since Hicks and Gillett were ousted from club

Liverpool’s former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are still seeking damages from the club’s present owners, former directors and the Royal Bank of Scotlan, almost one year after New England Sports Ventures gained control of the Anfield club in the high court.

Hicks and Gillett lost control of Liverpool last October when NESV, now Fenway Sports Group, repaid a £237m loan the American businessmen had taken out with RBS and the US bank Wells Fargo. Hicks claimed he was the victim of an “epic swindle” but his appeal to have a $1bn damages claim heard in the US was dismissed at the high court in February.

Mr Justice Floyd’s ruling, however, permitted Hicks to sue for damages in this country and Liverpool’s former owners have served notice of their intention to proceed by filing papers to that effect. Hicks and Gillett are claiming hundreds of millions in damages from the RBS, NESV and former directors, believed to be Martin Broughton and Christian Purslow.

Hicks tried and failed to remove Purslow and Ian Ayre, who has since succeeded Purslow as the managing director at Liverpool, from the club’s board during his desperate attempts to retain control but was ultimately thwarted in the high court. The Americans’ latest legal challenge could take several months to come to court.

The Liverpool manager also revealed that Daniel Agger is ahead of schedule in his return from a fractured rib suffered in the defeat at Tottenham Hotspur less than two weeks ago. Both Agger and Glen Johnson, who is recovering from his second hamstring injury of the season, have taken part in light training this week although the Dane is unlikely to feature at Goodison.

LiverpoolTom HicksAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• ‘Barriers’ could force club to build Stanley Park stadium
• Liverpool ‘remain committed to finding best long-term solution’

Liverpool appear to be moving away from their preferred option of redeveloping Anfield because of the “barriers” they face in doing so.

The club’s managing director, Ian Ayre, admitted increasing the capacity of Anfield to 60,000 would come at a “significantly lower cost” than the other option of building a new stadium from scratch at nearby Stanley Park, but other bureaucratic issues are making it “increasingly unlikely” that the club will be able to move forward with a redevelopment.

Ayre told the club’s website: “In the nine months since the new ownership, an enormous amount of work has been undertaken in conjunction with leading architects, consultants, other industry experts and with Liverpool city council to explore the building of a new stadium as well as exploring a refurbishment solution that could deliver the necessary growth in capacity, while maintaining the heritage and atmosphere that make Anfield uniquely Liverpool FC.

“However, with land/property acquisition, environmental and statutory issues creating barriers to our ambition, it looks increasingly unlikely there is any way we can move forward on a refurbishment of Anfield unless there are significant changes in those areas.”

The club have long been looking at ways to increase capacity to compete better with the matchday revenues of Manchester United and Arsenal, with Ayre saying earlier this month that the failure of the previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett to deliver on their promise of a new stadium had “set the club back several years”.

However, it now looks as though the new owners will not be able to move quickly on a decision whether to stay at Anfield or start work at the Stanley Park site, and are determined not to make promises that cannot be kept.

Ayre said: “We are mindful that supporters have been promised a solution in the past and have been disappointed, and also that local residents would like to know what direction we are headed in.

“However, just like any other business, we can only proceed as and when we are clear on all elements and we will not be forced to make a decision that is not in the best long-term interests of our club and we will not make any promises to our fans that we cannot keep. We will continue to work diligently on this project and keep our fans informed of any progress.

“It’s disappointing that, based on where we are at the moment, we seem to be unable to press on with the more viable economic option of a refurbishment, but we remain committed to finding the best possible long-term solution.

“We already have a very healthy dialogue in place with several leading brands regarding naming rights for a new stadium, but like every major deal we have ever done, that just takes time to explore in full. We also have ongoing discussions with various parties around the financing of either facility.

“Our challenge now is to try to find a way to bring all of those elements together in a solution that is in the best interests of Liverpool Football Club and its fans.”

Liverpoolguardian.co.uk