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Scottish football has been afflicted by financial problems since the collapse of the Setanta deal. Hibernian are one of the more successful clubs, but their financial position has deteriorated over the years and they have only just managed to stay in the black.
Dundee’s chances of survival are put by its adminstrator at 50-50. Bryan Jackson has been involved with football club administrations at Clydebank and Motherwell and says he would not have taken the job if he did not think there was a chance of success. But even with cuts in the squad and staff, he only has enough cash flow to keep going to Christmas.
With the completion of the takeover of Liverpool by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), it’s the dawn of a new era at Liverpool after a very difficult three years for the club and the fans.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett have backed down over the sale of Liverpool and withdrawn their restraining order in a Dallas court. This will permit the sale of the club to New England Sports Ventures to go ahead.
They are, however, going to pursue a claim for $1 billion in damages. It is not clear how this figure is arrived at given that their personal losses amount to £140m.
But it does look as if the long nightmare for Liverpool fans is over.
In July the Sensi family’s majority stake in AS Roma was transferred to the UniCredit bank as part of a debt settlement package. However, the club has not yet been sold.
The Dundee fan interviewed on Radio 5 this morning took a bleak view of the survival prospects of the club which has entered administration. The club had to deal with a much larger debt, some £23m, when it was last in adminstration, but that was not in the middle of a financial crisis.
The 160th District Court in Dallas, Texas will re-convene at 1 p.m. UK time today to consider the temporary restraing injunction issued to prevent the sale of Liverpool. Texas courts do not usually convene so early local time, but the matter needs to be resolved by 4 p.m. UK time.
Portsmouth are to stay in administration after the Football League decided not to return their golden share in the competition, which would have allowed the takeover by Balram Chainrai to go ahead. The league is not satisfied on four items, although it is not clear what those are at this stage. The club will not suffer any points deductions, but need to come out of administration by the end of the season or they will be thrown out of the competition.
Liverpool’s American owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, have lost their latest battle in the High Court. Mr Justice Floyd described their conduct as ‘unconscionable’ which is pretty strong language for a judge to use.
