Thread by @dhayes_news

The fourth day of the Sheffield United ownership trial at the High Court in London gets underway at 10.30 this morning. Kevin McCabe’s evidence is expected to finish by early afternoon, by which time he will have been cross-examined for more than two days #sufc #twitterblades

A few people asking does that mean Prince Abdullah is up next. As I understand it that will take place next week and I’m not sure at this stage who will be called next. As soon as I find out I’ll let you know #sufc #twitterblades

Mr Gledhill begins by asking about the £3m loan again. Suggests emails between McCabe and Martin Green from October 2017 again show McCabe thought the Prince could make it go away ‘with a wave of the Royal wand’ #sufc #twitterblades

Now showing a document hand written by Scott McCabe which summarises the grievances they had with UTB. However, the allegation that the loan was a bribe is not in there. This only comes four monts later and McCabe says he can’t remember who came up with it #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe says he doesn’t know if the loan was a bribe of Prince Abdullah or not. Gledhill suggesting that his evidence about this is not true. Says McCabe knew the money had come from another source, namely a member of the Bin Laden family #sufc #twitterblades

Emails mentioned in which Jeremy Tutton says he would hate the headline in the Sheffield Star to be ‘Blades launder money for extremists’. McCabe says this was just banter but Gledhill says it means he knew where the money was coming from #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill: ‘You know that the Prince never said the loan would not have to be repaid’. McCabe: ‘He said exactly that’ #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill: ‘You made the allegations of bribery in the hope that Prince Abdullah as a member of the Saudi Royal family wouldn’t have the bottle to give evidence in an English court’. McCabe: ‘Not really, no. It was a difference of opinion’ #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill: ‘You say that Prince Abdullah has tarnished he reputation of the club but you have gone out of your way to publicise the allegations of bribery. The allegations were made in bad faith and you know them not to be true’ #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe objects strongly to Gledhill suggesting he said Prince Abdullah has bribed someone at a shareholders meeting in 2017. Says someone else may have said it #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill now talking about the discussions around whether to allow Stephen Bettis to fulfill his role as CEO on a part time basis, splitting his time between Sheffield and the United States #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill reads emails from McCabe that say if the investment doesn’t materialise then they will ‘dictate terms on a like it or not basis’. Says McCabe’s reading of the same email is ‘manifestly and obviously’ incorrect #sufc #TwitterBlades

To make it clear, Mr Gledhill was saying the previous email suggests McCabe hoped to take control of the club whether Prince Abdullah like it or not. McCabe says that wasn’t his reading of the email #sufc #twitterblades

Now taking about discussions around the appointment of a chief operating officer to work underneath Stephen Bettis. Gledhill says McCabe suggested Andy Burke to Mr Giansiracusa but failed to tell him he was a friend of his son #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill says McCabe’s claim he didn’t know Andy Burke wasn’t true. McCabe says that he may have met him on matchdays but meets so many people at home games that he is like a ‘blue arsed fly’ #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill says McCabe wasn’t truthful about Andy Burke being a long standing McCabe family contact because he was in fact part of his strategy to get rid of Stephen Bettis #sufc #twitterblades

Adds that McCabe once introduced Burke as CEO of the club to a third party. McCabe denies this saying he always introduced him as COO. McCabe says it was ‘impossible’ for Bettis to retain the role for any length of time from Los Angeles #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill says McCabe had two further attempts at getting rid of Bettis before finally succeeding at the third attempt. McCabe says it was just common sense but Gledhill says the board had agreed he would stay and it wasn’t McCabe’s decision alone #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe says he accepted that Bettis still has a role to play because of his great contribution the season before. Says he nominated him to the board because he deserved it. Gledhill says it was to encourage him to resign #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe accepts he asked Bettis to resign. Gledhill says McCabe then tried to persuade Prince Abdullah who didn’t agreed. McCabe justifies this by saying Bettis’ role was a facade and he simply couldn’t do the job from the US #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill says McCabe then stopped Bettis’ pay without telling him. McCabe says maybe the action was taken before the conversation took place. Gledhill accuses him of making things up in the witness box #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill says McCabe ‘behaved in a underhand, dishonourable and thoroughly dishonest way’. McCabe says it had been accepted that he would leave as CEO but acknowledges he could have gone about it in a better way and has apologised to Bettis for it #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill now saying that McCabe insisted that the new CFO should report to the SUFC board rather than UTB. McCabe says he was asked to give his input on this but Gledhill says he ‘knows perfectly well this isn’t true’ #sufc #twitterblades

Clarification: I think Gledhill is saying that McCabe actually insisted that the new CFO would report to Burke and not Bettis. Gledhill says McCabe’s evidence on this is a lie. McCabe says it is a mistake but that the change was for the betterment of SUFC #sufc #twitterblades

But Gledhill says McCabe kept the change from Mr Giansiracusa and told others to do so. Says it only came to light after Catherine Frost had the bravery to tell him. McCabe says this is not true #sufc #twitterblades

And that concludes the morning session. We will be resuming again at 2pm with more evidence from Kevin McCabe #sufc #twitterblades

A report by @newsgirl25 on a surprising revelation from this morning’s evidence session.

thestar.co.uk/sport/football…

Gledhill accuses McCabe of ‘shoddy’ behaviour and read emails between him and Giansiracusa in which he accuses him of ‘creating disputes’. But Gledhill says it was in fact McCabe who was causing problems. Again, McCabe says his proposals were common sense #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill says McCabe ‘wanted in inflame relations between you and Prince Abdullah to such a point that he would have no option but to buy you out’. McCabe says there was a breakdown in relations but he wanted to get back together #sufc #twitterblades

Discussion now about the appointment of Jan Van Winckel to the board of Sheffield United. Gledhill says McCabe lobbied for him to be appointed. McCabe says it was because he was ‘westernised’ and had contacts in the game #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill: ‘There was unanimous board agreement that Mr Van Winckel would be put on the technical board but you subsequently turned against him didn’t you?’ ‘No’, says McCabe #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill: ‘You took umbrage at the idea that Prince Abdullah would have someone at Bramall Lane asking questions and sticking his nose in. McCabe says he was welcome at the club but him turning up at first team coaching sessions ‘gave the wrong impression’ #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe says the team was successful under Chris Wilder at that time and the situation needed a ‘kid glove approach’. Gledhill says McCabe accused him of ‘rocking the boat’ but McCabe says Jan agreed to step back #sufc #twitterblades

The first sign of anger from McCabe. Says he was trying to give a comprehensive answer when Gledhill interrupted him. ‘Can I continue’, he asks. ‘Carry on’, the judge says #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe: ‘I made a common sense decision not to rock the boat by vetoing Van Winkel’s appointment to the technical committee’. Gledhill: ‘You wanted to deliberately provoke Prince Abdullah and being things to a head between the two of you’ #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe: ‘No, I made a decision that I thought would benefit Sheffield United Football Club. Football is played on grass not paper and I didn’t want to rock the boat’ #sufc #twitterblades

Now taking about the appointment of Deloitte’s to SUFC to do a benchmarking exercise. McCabe says he wanted to defer to February because of the transfer window out of common sense. Gledhill says he didn’t want it to go ahead at all. McCabe refutes this #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill: ‘You were saying one thing to Prince Abdullah and another to your colleagues on the SUL board’. McCabe: ‘I didn’t understand why it was necessary but had agreed to go ahead with it’ #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill says the real reason he didn’t want anyone poking around at the club at that time was that he was in fact trying to sell the club to third party, ALK Capital #sufc #twitterblades

The proposal was for a minority stake but ALK wanted 90%. The only way you could do that is to persuade Prince Abdullah to sell but he had told you he didn’t want to do that says Gledhill. ‘In July yes, this was November’, says McCabe #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill saying that McCabe was promising ALK something he couldn’t deliver without some of Prince Abdullah stake. McCabe says he thought the deal would be good business for SUFC if he could restart his relationship with Prince Abdullah #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill asking McCabe to confirm he doesn’t want to continue running the club if he wins the case. McCabe agrees that he wants to pass on the baton if he finds the right partner #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe confirms he reached a non legally binding agreement with ALK on April 1. Gledhill says this means if he gets UTB’s shares for £5m he can sell the club for £80m or even £140m. ‘I have not considered that at all’, says McCabe #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill: ‘You were working on a deal with ALK from October 2017 but you don’t mention this in your witness statement’. McCabe: ‘This was because we didn’t have a concluded agreement’ #sufc #twitterblades

Talking now about the decision by McCabe to call Prince Abdullah with a bid of £5m for his part of the club. Gledhill says they were worried that the Prince wouldn’t put the money in for the property options if he made a counter offer #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe said he was more optimistic because Prince Abdullah had 12 months to find the money. An email from Jeremy Tutton from this time warns of the possibility that McCabe might have to sue SUFC if he didn’t #sufc #twitterblades

Gledhill reads a message from the Prince in which he said he would exercise the property options if promotion was achieved. He asks McCabe why he didn’t agree. McCabe says he doesn’t think he is the right person to own 100% of the club #sufc #twitterblades

Mr Gledhill has now finished his questioning of Kevin McCabe after more than two days. His own counsel, Paul Downes QC, is now asking him about the previously mentioned disagreements about spending and rent #sufc #twitterblades

Downes asking McCabe about the transfer of John Brayford. McCabe says he simply didn’t understand the strategy of overpaying for players and worried about what would happen if it failed to gain them promotion #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe says some decisions at that time were ‘pushed through’. Mal and Jim were in harmony and would decide things on their own without consulting Scott McCabe. The spending on John Brayford should never have been agreed he says #sufc #twitterblades

McCabe says Prince Abdullah agreed that him spending more time at the club and taking more of an interest was in the best interests of the football club #sufc #twitterblades

Now taking about the fans’ forum at which McCabe allegedly leaked that Jim Phipps was leaving. Court is now being shown a mocked up ‘missing: have you see this man’ poster about him that was handed out by fans at the meeting #sufc #twitterblades

Downes now asking about a tweet from a fan at the forum that reported McCabe said that ‘it’s up to the Prince who takes over’. Can you remember the context for that answer? I presume I had been asked about the prospects for the season says McCabe #sufc #twitterblades

Downes asks did Phipps ever challenge you? McCabe says no but he had no background or experience in football or what to pay for players. Says his immaturity led to overspending #sufc #twitterblades

And that concludes the proceedings from day four of the trial. The judge told Mr McCabe he was almost there but would be called back for a short time in the morning to finish. We will resume at 10.30 tomorrow morning #sufc #twitterblades

M report from Day 4 of the Blades ownership trial at the High Court.

thestar.co.uk/business/blade…