Martin Broughton is confident of winning a court battle to oust Tom Hicks and George Gillett from Anfield.
Chairman confident of winning court battle against Hicks and Gillett
Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton is confident of winning a court battle to oust American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett from Anfield.
His comments come after New England Sports Ventures (NESV), the parent company of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, have seen a £300million bid accepted by the Anfield board.
Current owners Hicks and Gillett, who wanted a higher price for the club, failed in a boardroom coup to foil the bid, trying to sack managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre, intending to replace them with Mack Hicks, Tom's son, and Lori McCutcheon.
But Broughton rebuffed this move and said the club would now apply for a court judgement, which he hoped would come in the next week, to resolve the issue to allow the sale to NESV to progress.
Broughton, who was parachuted in to the Liverpool board when the Americans announced their intention to sell in April, said: "In trying to remove Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre they made an astonishing move.
"I say that because, as part of my appointment, they gave specific undertakings to the (major creditors) Royal Bank of Scotland that said Martin Broughton was the only person authorised to make any board changes.
"They basically flagrantly abused those two undertakings to RBS and removed Christian and Ian from the board and sent us details just before the board meeting (to discuss the NESV deal) saying they had been removed and appointing two others.
"We took legal advice and I determined that the action was invalid. So I went back to Tom Hicks and George Gillett, reconvened the board meeting and said 'Look, your action is invalid.'
"I told them I was continuing to hold the meeting with Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre present. They objected, called for an adjournment - which I declined - and offered them the opportunity to take part.
"They chose not to, although George Gillett's lawyer was there."
Confident
Broughton added he was now confident of success in court.
"No one likes being in court - someone comes out winning and someone comes out losing," he told the
Liverpool Echo.
"We need to go to the court to get a declaratory judgement, which is for the court to declare that we did act validly in completing the sale agreement, and then the buyers can complete the sale.
"We have to get Premier League approval and I'm certain that's not going to be an issue. There are one or two minor things like that but the key issue is the court, which should meet I would think next week sometime.
"That is the most likely time, in short order. There is an appeal process but that is also very fast.
"If they (Hicks and Gillett) win the court case they can block the sale but then we may have one or two other thoughts in mind as well.
"I am confident. I wouldn't have taken the board through that process yesterday if I hadn't been confident.
"I wouldn't have exposed everybody to that risk if I hadn't been confident, but you can never be certain. These things are legal judgements. We have been properly advised and I am confident.
"If there is any justice we will win."
Right owners
Broughton also believes NESV, principally owned by John W Henry, are the right owners for the club.
He added: "This is a great day for Liverpool Football Club and the supporters.
"I can understand why there might be an instant reaction about them being American. But being American is not a problem, leveraged ownership of a football club is the problem.
"I just hope we can deliver what we have set out to do. We have found the right owners. There will be money to invest in the squad.
"It is all about winning, that is their philosophy. You have to look at what they have done. This is all going to be about not 'What we promise to do' but to see what 'We do actually do' on their part.
"If you look at the Boston Red Sox, they have taken a major traditional team, previously successful but not at their peak, and resuscitated it to be a winner.
"They understand winning on the field helps winning off the field and makes the investment an attractive investment and they have a track record to prove it."
"They have been the most successful team since acquiring the Red Sox in 2001 - there are parallels with Liverpool."
