Company&Commercial, partner of law firm Bircham Dyson Bell, examines one of the biggest news stories to hit the media in the last week - the controversy over the proposed sale of Liverpool Football Club against the wishes of the current owners.
"With the gloves off, the fight between the Hicks and Gillett (now Mill Financial) camp and the current Liverpool FC board is set to go to the High Court in a battle for control of the club's future. This seems to be a last desperate attempt to gain time. But with days to go before the RBS loans need to be repaid it's difficult to see what they could achieve.
"We have a very unusual situation: we're looking at the sale of shares against the wishes of the current owners, and we have a huge community dimension which is generating pressure on the board and shareholders. In the background, there is the grinding machinery of the Royal Bank of Scotland on the brink of calling in loans and pushing the club into administration.. The added grim prospect of a substantial league points deduction if the club does go into administration means a double hit that could deprive the club of valuable revenue . My guess is that a club of Liverpool's stature should be able to absorb that over the season but it will inflict damage, incurring yet further displeasure among supporters.
"One focus of the court argument appears to be based around the club's constitution, which was rewritten in April of this year. The existing owners have been pressing to replace two senior board members with their own people in a bid to block the proposed £300m sale to New England Sports Ventures. But the new rules gave chairman Martin Broughton the right to hire and fire directors, with the exception of Hicks and Gillett.
"However, while those constitutional rules appear to be written in stone, the normal position would be that, as owners, Gillett and Hicks have the ability to rewrite that constitution, effectively putting control back in their own hands.
"But if they do succeed in the High Court, and, from the outside, it appears that if they've played their cards well they could do so, where does that leave them and the club? They might win control over the board but that will likely be a Pyrrhic victory.
"The Royal Bank of Scotland will call in the £237m debt - and the bank is in a difficult situation of damned by supporters if they do so by next week's deadline and by shareholders if they don't - and the club will go into administration
"Gillett and Hicks have the opportunity to walk away with a little grace and some money. It appears, though, that they just cannot bring themselves to do so. If they don't then it looks like everyone would be a loser: they won't get their money, the club will lose points and the RBS shareholders won't be fully repaid."
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