RBS lawyers accused the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, of changing the running of the club to “frustrate” its sale this Friday. Paul Girolami QC, representing the owners, said his clients “were not trying to throw a spanner in the works” of the proposed sale deal. He said there had been other offers for the club which potentially were better than the one approved by the board.
Richard Snowden QC, representing RBS, said the owners now admitted “a calculated breach of contract” by seeking to change the constitution of the football companies controlling the club and the boards involved without the consent of the bank. He said this was “to frustrate the sale necessary to repay the bank £200m by this Friday”.
The bank secured an injunction on Friday to prevent the Americans sacking the independent chairman Martin Broughton or any other board members.
Snowden said Hicks filed evidence that if RBS did not like what he was doing, then it could enforce its security rights. “This would derail the carefully planned process designed to achieve a sale of the club in a timely manner.”
He said that plan would not carry the risk of Liverpool losing the nine points deducted by the Premier League when a team goes into administration.