[CaptainK]

In all of this, I think people are worrying a little bit too much on how long Hicks will be around.

It's highly likely that he will be gone eventually, but like al the preceding discussions, it is all supposition.

The more important thing is that we've seen that Gillett is desperate to sell and Hicks can't afford to buy Gillett's share.

We've also seen that with the current climate, Hicks has been unable to raise further finance through a proposed flotation of his sports "empire" which is highly leveraged anyway. We've also seen that the Amercican financial markets have suffered to an extent that means Hicks is highly unlikely to be able to find another player to buy Gillett's share. Gillett has also stated that he wouldn't sell his share to Hicks and I assume, that by extension, someone nominated by Hicks. Anyway, if you were looking to invest in the region of $250m, would you sit tight until the market conditions improve, or get into bed with a gobshite who has made quite a mess of various sporting "franchises" along the way?

The latest developments in the financial markets, would also mean that borrowing is slightly more difficult than 2-3 months ago, so any new investor that Hicks could find would probably have to have a lot of spare cash lying around.

The only buyer out there at the moment, appears to be DIC, and according to a number of people, Gillett has already agreed, in principle at least, to sell his share to them.

DIC appear to think that Hicks veto on the sale of Gillett's shares can be legally overturneed/challenged.

So where does that leave Hicks?