London: New Liverpool owner John W. Henry was scheduled to travel to the club's Melwood training ground yesterday to meet Roy Hodgson and the playing squad less than 24 hours after he secured the keys to Anfield.
Henry planned to wish his employees luck before today's Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, a match he was not planning to attend, and is likely to receive thanks in return for delivering the club from the fractious and bitter tenure of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
The deal that finally brought down the curtain on the most unhappy period in Liverpool's recent history was finally sealed at 4pm on Friday in the London offices of Liverpool's solicitors Slaughter and May. Eleven days after New England Sports Ventures' (NESV's) first attempt to close a deal worth £300 million (Dh1.76 billion), and after three trips to the High Court in as many days, Henry assumed control when Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco finally released the club from the last of the loan agreements taken on by Hicks and Gillett.
Wells Fargo only agreed to sign after holding out for several million pounds in fees they claimed to be owed on top of the £50 million loan repayment. The delay, allied to the time difference at the west coast, pushed the deal close to the 5pm deadline for RBS's £200 million in loans to be repaid.
Despite the hitches, the new owner of England's most decorated club declared himself "proud and humbled", but in contrast to his predecessors' arrival in 2007, he was careful to offer no hostages to fortune.
He said it was too early to discuss his plans for the stadium development, player acquisitions or management. He did however make a commitment to a principle that will chime with supporters of a club that has not won a league title for 20 years, and never claimed the Premier League: winning.
"We are not going to say a lot, our actions will hopefully speak for themselves," Henry said. "But we are going to do a lot of listening. It's too early to say what we are going to do, but we are here to win, we have a history of winning and we will do whatever it takes to do that."
Funding details
Henry offered no insight as to how the deal will be funded, joking when asked that it will be "in pounds". He was quick to point out how it will not be funded: "I can guarantee you this is not a leveraged buyout," he said. Under the deal, NESV paid off the £200 million acquisition debt, £150 million to RBS and £50 million to Wells Fargo, and are understood to have used cash raised from their other business activities. Interest payments will fall from at least £25 million per year to £2 million. They will take on an existing RBS loan for working capital of £37 million and assume responsibility for a £60 million loan to fund player purchases and the stadium development.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett finally conceded defeat in their battle to secure a higher price for the club shortly before 2pm, but they declined to depart the stage with dignity. In a statement issued by their Dallas attorneys the pair threatened to wrap the club in litigation for years to come as they pursue more than £1 billion in damages for what they described as an "extraordinary swindle".
"They will be applying all of their energies toward securing at least $1.6 billion (Dh5.87 billion) in damages they expect will result from the illegal sale of Liverpool Football Club," the statement said.
Damages claim
On Friday night they said that in compliance with a High Court order issued on Thursday they had withdrawn a damages claim lodged in a Texas court on Wednesday, but said they would challenge the British ruling in order to pursue damages. Liverpool and RBS said they would resist such claims.
The final hours of the NESV deal were as dramatic and at times uncertain as the 11 days that preceded it. "John was very twitchy," said a source close to the negotiations.
"Given the twists and turns that have taken place I don't think anyone was ever 100 per cent certain that we would get it done." A day that had to end with the 5pm deadline imposed by RBS began with Henry tweeting his displeasure at a last-minute attempt to hijack his deal by Mill Financial, working in tandem with Hicks.
At 8.30am came news that Hicks and Gillett had withdrawn the Texas order imposed on Wednesday night preventing the sale from going ahead. The news freed Liverpool and NESV to proceed, but also raised concerns that Mill would try to step in.
Mill, controlled by Washington Redskins owner Dwight Shah, approached RBS to try to pay off some of the debt on Thursday and also requested that the Premier League subject them to its ownership tests. Both declined.
Legal barriers erected by RBS and club chairman Martin Broughton delivered the club to their preferred bidder.
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