Be like Mo and don’t miss Array . . the latest news from the LFC foreign breakup
It’s been 10 years since Liverpool FC took over through new England Sports Ventures.
This dramatic day at The High Court in London saw NESV, which would later become Fenway Sports Group, despite everything that freed Reds fan base from Tom Hicks and George Gillett, some other American-owned organization that had run the football club to the fullest. titled England on the brink of ruin.
FSG’s case for the club’s purchase was dealt with through London law firm Slaughter and May.
In 2019, ECHO Reds correspondent Paul Gorst spoke to two of the lawyers who worked on the deal to get FSG off the court as new owners of Liverpool Football Club.
This article was first published on October 15, 2019.
“We have known for nine years that every morning, when we wake up, what we do has an effect on the lives of millions of people.
John Henry might have talked about the Fortunes of the Boston Red Sox while sitting at Anfield’s Legends on October 16, 2010, but those words wouldn’t seem out of place if he repeated them this week as the main owner of Liverpool Football Club.
It’s been 10 years since Fenway Sports Group freed the Reds from the incapacity of the hated Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Ten years since a triumphant Martin Broughton and Christian Purslow stopped on the steps of the Supreme Court, celebrating a definitive cup win for the “home team,” the word they were called when they tried to get Hicks and Gillett out of a position they have never been allowed to live in.
“I’m very happy, exalted, ” said Purslow. ” [A] very, very day for our club, I am very happy. I’m very happy. “
It was one of the most tumultuous weeks in the club’s off-field history. The Royal Bank of Scotland had lent Hicks and Gillett three hundred million pounds to buy the 18 English champions in 2007 and were looking for the he abundant sum.
Broughton on board to locate a club client when the walls collapsed around U. S. owners.
FSG, then known as the New England Sports Ventures, investigated before a deal radically opposed to the will of Hicks and Gillett, who attempted to block the sale with attempts at precautionary measures in London and the United States and a $1 billion lawsuit.
“An epic scam, ” Hicks would say later.
Liverpool have been more valuable, he was right about that, but it was his disastrous control that reduced the value of one of the world’s largest football clubs. Today, Liverpool FC is valued at around 1. 77 billion pounds.
“All Liverpool enthusiasts know that the most challenging way to win a football match is to make shots at the door,” Broughton said. “But whenever you get the right result, it’s worth the wait. We knew we were right and now, we have justice. “
Justice; It’s not a word Liverpool enthusiasts use lightly. Here, it’s all yours.
But what was it like to be here this dizzying week of injunctions, threats, counterclaims and big sales?ECHO spoke to two of Slaughter and May’s legal experts who helped expel Hicks and Gillett and marked the beginning of the FSG era.
“It’s a bit like The Terminator 2 thing you’re staring at, and then come back to life and you come back from another angle,” says Mark Zerdin, a spouse who presided over the main points of a grueling week that ended with the sale of Liverpool Football Club.
“Hicks and Gillett continued to sue more and more and tried to obtain all sorts of precautionary measures and none of them had any merit. Once you beat one, they came back here and were very persistent, they wouldn’t let him go. they just kept looking for other tactics.
“There were days when we were in court and we were successful, we got the result we were looking for and went to bed, woke up and there was another one the next morning when we found out they had moved to Texas. So we gave orders to lawyers there and we got over it and the next day they had done something in London and it went on and on.
“Obviously they were going to do everything they could to verify and avoid the sale. “
Lawyer Efstathios Michael pleaded with the Reds about the wave of precautionary measures that came here as time went on for Hicks and Gillett. A 26-year-old worker at Slaughter and May admits that he has rarely experienced such a transaction.
He said to ECHO, “This week is in mind! We do a lot of ordinary and unusual things here, however, it has been an amazing week. By the time the deal was announced, Christian, Martin and John Henry were coming down the stairs and we let the press in. It’s not like you’re leaving the courtroom to bring in a lot of cheering fans, it was an amazing moment.
“I didn’t get much sleep at that time, on Friday, which would have been the 8th, we had asked for a court order in the English court, only so that [Hicks and Gillett] would not review anything. Otherwise, because what triggered everything they were about to vote on the agreement with the two gives on the table.
“The challenge of Hicks and Gillett’s attitude to the two that [offers] were enough to pay off the club’s debts, but he gave them nothing for their actions. They weren’t going to get anything out, and as always, when others have nothing to lose, it’s a detrimental position to put them on.
As Hicks and Gillett’s attempts to avoid the sale became tense and frantic, the depression appeared to have epped on owners who would soon be abandoned, but their brazen attempts to thwart the sale still had to be effectively treated.
Liverpool owners FSG, 10 years at the helm of the Reds.
And nowhere else will there be politics of his ten-year term in Liverpool than the echo.
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“Banks designated through RBS had conducted a comprehensive sales procedure around the world,” Mark adds in an exclusive discussion with ECHO. “Everyone knew this was going down and tons had expressed interest, so the concept of it being sold profitably was ridiculous because it would have sold more expensive if it were.
“I think they were desperate. They tried every single single thing they could. They went through 3 other law firms in 3 weeks and every day you’re dealing with someone else. There were board meetings in our offices. Every day because we had to know how to respond to other situations. We chose the offer because it was the maximum credible, they had the cash and could make a deal.
“Then there were decisions on how to respond to all other demands [of Hicks and Gillett]. So Martin and Christian camped here for a few smart weeks. We only treat them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
“They don’t want them to come home because at any time anything can happen and we’d love them. So they were with us here the whole time. It’s a very relentless moment when there’s not much sleep.
“It’s not a general week in the office, because of the importance of everything, it’s a big problem, but it’s not a big problem financially in terms of what we have to do. day after day. He’s got a huge reputation.
“We buy and sell business for billions every day of the week, however, they are not very publicized or glamorous, because of that: the hostility of enthusiasts towards previous owners, the fight they had to fight to save you. that thing happened, and Cut every day — it was very, very and I don’t think any of us have experienced it before or after. “
“I think the challenge for us was to know” how to fix this in a time frame that still allows us to do it on Friday night?”, Add Efstathios. ” The initial idea was that we had to move to Texas to deal with that, which would have been complicated. We thought we’d do it to get a court order against prosecution in England.
“It was desperate on the part of Hicks and Gillett, but at the time it was a pretty vital key to the job. The way we were handling it wasn’t easy. We were all relieved when we did. “
“What we had was the genuine feeling that Martin and Christian were looking to do the right thing, because I think it would have been easy for them to think that they were getting out of hand.
“They were threatened with all sorts of things and on Thursday morning with the board assembly the night before, even though the court order was in effect, we knew they could have been simply contempt of Texas court.
“So I think there’s a determination from the company, not some other explanation of why it’s the right thing to do. It would have been quite simple for them to be afraid of the flying threats and in fact what they did was I think they were very professional about it.
At 11 a. m. , rbS deadline on the discussions, an agreement was still confirmed. Hundreds of jubilant Liverpool enthusiasts celebrated outdoors in the High Court as a new dawn approached for their football club.
But if the excitement of the fan base lay bare on the streets of the capital, what was the inner feeling of the other people who had worked tirelessly to achieve the right result?
“It was an added emotion,” Says Mark. ” Normally, when you do business like this, the last few days are 24 hours a day and you have this added joy to do so, the relief that the adrenaline is over stops running and your frame stops because you’re exhausted.
“Here it is the same but all exaggerated. The highs were higher and the lower lows, so leaving once the final result was shown at the court hearing, getting out of there with all the enthusiasts who had come off the buses, was quite surprising indeed.
“Everyone was there to sing with their handkerchiefs and look to get Martin and Christian off the court was almost because there were so many people, so it was pretty impressive.
“So, despite everything, we took them to our workplace for a glass of champagne just to calm down, however, he took the road in front of the court with all the fans. So it was a top you don’t normally get. “at the end of the transaction, however, we were back to celebrate.
“And then, when the adrenaline and champagne dissipate, you happen to haven’t slept for about 10 days, so it was a normal time. “
Rarely has a festive glass of champagne been deserved.
Ask our editors about FSG’s mandate at Anfield by archiving it here
Efstathios adds: “We all felt it was a vital thing and we just want to do it. He was the right thing to do. When I got the house that night, I was probably disappointed but happy. I think it was probably the right thing to do.
The result has even noticed Liverpool climbing to their vast support.
“My son, who was 4 at the time, that’s why he was going to be a Liverpool fan!”Efstathios said. ” He still is, he kept that and gives me the opportunity to jokingly remind him that I saved his football club!”
“He told me no, but that it was a smart thing to be part of it. Partly because of my son and partly because of that, I was jumping into the room when they beat Barcelona and I was satisfied when they won the Champions League. ” League So I built an affinity for them.
“I need them to win the name this season. “