Two Great Reds Coming Together

       There is currently a story that is making the front and back pages of newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.  Liverpool, who are in trouble on and off the pitch, are to be sold to the owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.  But the takeover by the New England Sports Ventures requires resolution of a legal dispute with the Reds' American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.  The majority of the board of directors at Anfield have agreed in principle to the sale of Liverpool Football Club but the owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are unhappy with the bid, they are adamant that they have added commercial value to the club.   In an attempt to block the bid Hicks and Gillett tried to sack managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre in a last-ditch bid to keep control of the club.

       From what I have read in many different sport and business pages Hicks and Gillett are in a bad position here they feel that the New England Sports Ventures bid as well another undisclosed offer from Asia dramatically undervalued the club.  But they owe the bank, RBS,  £240m of loans and £40m of fees which have to be paid by October 15th or else a penalty fee of £60m will be due.

       The NESV bid is big enough to cover this amount which Hicks and Gillett cannot afford.  The legal action will have to be sorted before then otherwise RBS could actually force Liverpool into administration.
However, the Premier League says it is happy with the business plan of the NESV and has confirmed that the club would not suffer a nine-point penalty if it were to enter administration as the club would remain fully solvent.   So from what I have seen even if the owners win their legal battle to block the bid, NESV could still take the club over if RBS put Liverpool into administration.

       All of this gives me the perfect opportunity to talk to you all about one of my favourite sports, baseball.   At approximately 1830 BST this Tuesday, MLB starts the business end of the season.  The postseason starts, this is where the best teams from the year play-off against each other in best of five series to reach the illustrious World Series.  The MLB playoff system works the same as most of the other American sports the side are split into to categories, American League, AL, or National League, NL, these are determined historically.  The in the AL and NL teams are then split into three groups East, West and Central.  The winner those six groups and the team with the best record who didn't win a group qualify, one from AL and one from NL. 

       I am going to try and explain why I love baseball so much.  For me it is a wonderful sport which is a mixture of team and individual play which requires power and endurance.  The regular season lasts 6 months, just over 180 days and during that time they play 162 matches which requires and incredible amount of endurance to play at the top level for every game during thr season.  Like many sports baseball provides positions for many many different skills, the skill of pitchers nowadays is immense, they are throwing the ball 100mph consistently accurate it is just amazing.  The the hitters are following these pitches and swinging and hitting them out of the park on occasions.  It is just a brilliant mixture of tactics that brings the games to life.

      I know most people will think baseball is just a form of glorified rounders but if get a chance to watch a game on tv or if you are ever in America I implore you to go and enjoy yourself.