Hodgson 'delighted' at planned Liverpool takeover despite court battle

A 300 million-pound bid from Red Sox owner New England Sports Ventures has been accepted by three members of Liverpool's board ahead of an Oct. 15 deadline. By that time the club must have repaid its debts, or be taken over by its main creditor Royal Bank of Scotland or seek bankruptcy protection.

"It's very positive and of course I'm delighted," Hodgson said Thursday. "It's been going on a long time and I know how hard the board have worked to set things up.

"I know it's not easy for them because the owners have other ideas in terms of the sale of the club and what is achievable."

American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. said the offer "dramatically undervalues" Liverpool, as the proposed sale would leave them with a loss of 140 million pounds on their investment in the club. They are challenging the legal authority of the board to approve the takeover.

Hicks and Gillett tried to fire managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre from the board on Tuesday and replace them with one of Hicks' sons and a vice-president from their Texas investment company.

That came just hours before Purslow and Ayre, plus chairman Martin Broughton, agreed a sale to the Red Sox group, while preparing a legal case to force Hicks and Gillett to sell.

Broughton insists that Hicks and Gillett had previously agreed that only Broughton had the legal authority to change the board — a fact the current owners contest.

"There were no such undertakings given to Broughton, the board has been legally reconstituted, and the new board does not approve of this proposed transaction," Hicks and Gillett responded in a statement.

But pressure on the Americans to sanction the sale was growing Thursday. England's World Cup bid team indicated it would welcome a change of ownership that led to the redevelopment of Anfield. The aging stadium or a potential replacement nearby would stage matches in 2018 if England's bid is successful.

"These latest developments would appear to bring greater stability at the club closer and therefore a greater certainty regarding either an expanded Anfield or a new stadium," England 2018 said in a statement. "That can only be positive for the England bid. Anfield is one of the iconic stadiums of world football and a planned new stadium would retain that aura but increase the capacity considerably in a fantastic state of the art design."

The Boston investors are pledging to wipe out all Liverpool's debts, which currently stand at 285 million pounds (C$460 million) and invest more money in revitalizing the team, which is languishing in the Premier League relegation zone.

Liverpool was bought for 174 million pounds, taking on 44.8 million pounds of liabilities. Liverpool's acquisition debt, which relates to loans from the takeover, is about 200 million pounds, with bank charges, penalty fees and debts to other groups since swelling that amount.

"This is not a good deal for the money — the owners lose on the investment," Broughton told The Associated Press. "But it's not all bad. If the club goes into administration, which is staring us in the face next week because of the liabilities which we can't meet, the owners owe personal guarantees of 110 million pounds.

"The sale route as opposed to administration saves them from those personal guarantees."

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher hopes the sale is completed quickly for the good of the team, which urgently needs an upturn in form.

"Everyone knows it'll be a good thing for the club," Carragher said. "Hopefully it will be sorted sooner rather than later and we can start looking forward on the pitch and start improving results, which is what we need to do."

Bruce Buck, chairman of Premier League rival Chelsea, believes that the Red Sox ownership group should be give time by fans to prove they are different from Hicks and Gillett.

"If they are in a position to recognize the history and traditions of what they are buying then I'd say let's welcome them with open arms," Buck said at the Leaders in Football conference in London. "You need to build up a relationship with the fan groups. I don't think they (Hicks and Gillett) listened to the fans. It wasn't just the leverage of debt."