Thread by @dhayes_news

At the High Court in London for the first day of a five week hearing into who owns Sheffield United. I’ll be here all week, live tweeting from court and filing reports at the end of each day #sufc #twitterblades

Proceedings are due to get underway at 10.30 this morning. Sky Sports News are already outside the court hoping to get a glimpse of Prince Abdullah.

For some good background on the main issues in the case, see my colleague @JamesShield1 report below #sufc #twitterblades

thestar.co.uk/sport/football…

Currently in court waiting for proceedings to start. Kevin McCabe is here but so sign of Prince Abdullah yet. Loads of lawyers milling about. At least five barristers and around 10 solicitors #sufc #twitterblades

Kevin McCabe’s barrister opening the case by saying the parties’ relationship started ‘optimistically’ but became ‘disfunctional and acrimonious’.

Judge Mr Justice Fancourt says he noted that Sheffield United have been promoted to the Premier League since the case began and asks whether that has caused peace to break out. Kevin McCabe’s barrister says it has not #sufc #twitterblades

The McCabe family put £70m into the club over the years and wanted to find a way of reducing the cash burden it was placing on them #sufc #twitterblades

Prince Abdullah was approached in 2012 on the assumption he was ‘minted’ #sufc #twitterblades

The club was first split from its property interests to make it more atttactive to investors. The idea was that the two parts would be reunified after the club had been promoted to the Premier League #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe trusted Prince Abdullah to honour these agreements when he first invested in good faith. ‘More fool us’ says his lawyer #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe’s lawyer says the agreement stated that the were Prince Abdullah to take his ownership of the club above 75 per cent, he would have to reunify the club with its property interests #sufc #twitterblades

Earlier, he had said that Prince Abdullah’s legal team will argue that they found a loophole that would allow them to avoid that obligation #sufc #twitterblades

The agreement also covered issues such as where further money that would be needed after Prince Abdullah’s initial investment ran out and how much rent could be charged on the club’s properties #sufc #twitterblades

There was a good faith agreement between the parties that the rent would be reviewed on promotion or relegation #sufc #twitterblades

Kevin McCabe’s barrister currently going through the agreement between his client and Prince Abdullah in detail #sufc #twitterblades

75 per cent was the key figure which would give the Prince full control of the football club but he needed the consent of his co-owner McCabe to get there #sufc #twitterblades

Court taking a short break. Any questions?

‘Once you have take the free kick you can’t move the goalposts’ says counsel for McCabe’s. Not the first footballing analogy today and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Counsel for McCabe arguing Prince Abdullah’s company UTB was in control of UTB 2018, the company the Prince created to avoid having to unify the club with its property interests #sufc #twitterblades

This means Prince Abdullah broke the terms of the agreement he agreed with McCabe in 2013, he claims #sufc #twitterblades

Counsel for McCabe: ‘Both sides came into the relationship believing that they had found a marriage that would work’. However, that marriage broke down after the parties developed different visions for the club #sufc #twitterblades

Prince Abdullah ended up arguing that Kevin McCabe was overstepping the mark in his influence of the club. But McCabe’s lawyer says the little things he did for the club and it’s family feel we’re what attracted him to him in the first place #sufc #twitterblades

Letters being read out from fans thanking Kevin McCabe for what he does for the club and it’s supporters. Says it proves his passion for the club and that is what the Prince wanted when he invested in the club #sufc #twitterblades

Counsel for McCabe: ‘If you don’t understand people you are never going to be able to survive in the footballing world’. Says Prince Abdullah’s fixer Mr Giansiracusa didn’t understand this #sufc #twitterblades

‘There is no way they would have ever done this deal if they had known Prince Abdullah was a man of straw’ #sufc #twitterblades

The court has now broken for lunch and will reconvene at 2pm.

Beginning again after lunch now. Counsel for McCabe continuing his opening of the case #sufc #twitterblades

Counsel for McCabe trying to make the point that Prince Abdullah didn’t mind him taking an interest in playing matters with reference to the appointment of Nigel Clough to the managers role in 2013 #sufc #twitterblades

What UTB (Prince Abdullah) will claim is that McCabe interfered in the club from the beginning of the co-ownership arrangement #sufc #twitterblades

UTB say the documents show that Kevin McCabe ‘finds it difficult to accept criticism’ and can respond by being ‘overbearing and aggressive’ #sufc #twitterblades

‘Everybody accepted on both sides that in a loss making business owners had a legitimate interest and a right to express their views’ #sufc #twitterblades

Representatives of Prince Abdullah told McCabe he was not interested in becoming his ‘retirement plan’. Said United only had a month and a half cash left and that without more money from McCabe the it could cause the club’s ‘permanent demise’ #sufc #twitterblades

In 2016, the Prince’s attitude towards Mr McCabe hardened and tension increased between the pair #sufc #twitterblades

Counsel for McCabe says Prince Abdullah later took the decision that he needed Mr McCabe ‘entirely out of the picture’ #sufc #twitterblades

Far from being ‘minted’, Prince Abdullah couldn’t even come up with a ‘piffling’ £500,000 to pay staff wages, counsel for McCabe claims #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe was paying his share of the money in one go whereas Prince Abdullah was struggling to keep up with his side of the bargain, counsel for McCabe claims. ‘He just didn’t have any money’ they say #sufc #twitterblades

As a result a large discrepancy between the amounts the supposedly equal partners were putting into the club developed with McCabe having to dip into his own pocket again to see the club through #sufc #twitterblades

Around this time a loan was sought from Saudi sports media firm Sela at a time when Prince Abdullah was Minister of Sport. Counsel for McCabe infer a link between the two but don’t accuse Mr Giansiracusa of any corruption #sufc #twitterblades

The role of chief executive office Stephen Bettis also caused disagreements between the pair. But counsel for McCabe say it is wrong for Prince Abdullah’s legal team to say he was ‘removed’ #sufc #twitterblades

These disagreements led to a worsening of the relationship in November and December 2017 at which point Mr McCabe was the recipient of a ‘disgraceful’ email from Prince Abdullah’s fixer Mr Giansiracusa #sufc #twitterblades

‘Is Mr McCabe perfect? No, because he is passionate about Sheffield United. But he never set out to force his partner out of the way like Prince Abdullah did. His approach was to try to work with them to reach agreement’ #sufc #twitterblades

The scheme Prince Abdullah came up to park some shares so they could say they hadn’t acquired 75% was ‘shabby and shameful’ he says #sufc #twitterblades

If he didn’t have enough money to buy McCabe out he should have gone to him and told him. Prince Abdullah instead decided to get the scheme through before anyone realised what was happening #sufc #twitterblades

And that concludes proceedings for today. The case will resume at 10am tomorrow. A report of the first day will be on thestar.co.uk this evening and in tomorrow’s print edition #sufc #twitterblades

My report from the first day of the Blades' ownership case at the High Court in London.

thestar.co.uk/news/latest/mi…