By Nick Harris 27 October 2010 The death of an octopus called Paul in a German aquarium has triggered a global surge in news coverage that underlines the vacuity of celebrity culture, the power of anything football-related to attract coverage, and the relentless march of clever PR. Far from being a simple cephalopod that got […]

By Nick Harris 15 October 2010 With the sale of Liverpool to NESV complete and John W Henry, one of the world’s leading sports tycoons, promising ahead of this weekend’s Merseyside derby to restore the club to its former glories, sportingintelligence can reveal Tom Hicks and George Gillett’s legal battle for $1.6bn compensation is likely […]

By Nick Harris 13 October 2010 Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who lost their legal action today in London to stop the sale of Liverpool to New England Sports Ventures, have now taken legal action in Texas to attempt to block the sale. Accusing Liverpool’s “independent” board members (ie: the three English members), as well […]

By Nick Harris 11 October 2010 A High Court hearing scheduled for tomorrow that could shape the future ownership of Liverpool pits RBS bank against Tom Hicks “and others”, and is NOT Liverpool’s legal action Hicks and George Gillett, which could yet happen separately, sportingintelligence has learned. The case of ‘Royal Bank of Scotland v […]

6 October 2010 . Tom Hicks and George Gillett statement in response to the club’s statement on evening of 5 October Related story here “In April, we confirmed our agreement to sell Liverpool Football Club, and appointed a new chairman and advisers to oversee the process. “At that time we and Martin Broughton stated our […]

By Nick Harris 6 October 2010 The acrimonious battle for control of Liverpool is taking a series of extraordinary twists following two “credible” bids for the club which were rejected on Tuesday by owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who are now seeking to remove MD Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre from the […]

By Nick Harris 20 September 2010 The Spirit of Shankly fans group will lead a sit-in at Anfield after this weekend’s match with Sunderland to demonstrate “the growing anger and frustration towards the ongoing ownership saga” at the club. Further “direct action”, including a protest march, will take place around the following weekend’s game against […]

By Nick Harris 17 September 2010 Tom Hicks, the co-owner of Liverpool who is desperate to cling to ownership and control of the club despite being unwilling or unable to invest major resources in its future, is hoping he will find funding to refinance the club’s debt from the global investment firm Blackstone, and specifically […]

By Nick Harris 28 May 2010 Tom Hicks and George Gillett got off to a bad start as the owners of Liverpool. And then it got worse. Inside their first year they made – and then broke – a string of promises to supporters, as outlined in this piece written for The Independent in January […]

By Nick Harris 26 May 2010 Liverpool’s former owner David Moores says in a letter to The Times today: “I hugely regret selling the club to George Gillett and Tom Hicks.” The letter, more than 3,100 words of it (below), was written to The Times‘ football editor, Tony Evans, and is a stonking bona fide […]