Sheffield United in ownership talks But a series of disagreements on spending since 2017 have led to relations between Mr McCabe and Prince Abdullah to deteriorate. Although the judge said Giansiracusa did not have “a concerted plan to deceive [McCabe]”, they had been working on a “scheme” to avoid Abdullah owning 75% of the shares and having to buy the properties too. Abdullah’s “counternotice” was served the following day. But McCabe refuses to give in and lodged his argument last week for permission to appeal. Fancourt rejected areas of McCabe’s case in which he had claimed that Abdullah had engineered, in legal terms, a conspiracy, and the judge criticised McCabe’s side for making serious allegations of wrongdoing and giving a public airing to the fact that £3m had been loaned by the family of Osama bin Laden – who run a respected and very substantial Saudi construction company. In a 138-page judgment, Mr Justice Fancourt said the Premier League club was now worth “in the region of £100m”. When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Their long legal battle revolved around the controversial scheme hatched by the Prince’s legal team to avoid a property clause in the original co-ownership agreement. Sport Football Sheffield United Latest Blades News SHEFFIELD UNITED OWNERSHIP BATTLE: Prince Abdullah tells High Court his believes his £10m investment should have been spent 'more wisely' McCabe, who knew the prince would find it difficult to fund the purchase of the shares and the properties, therefore believed Abdullah would decide to sell his shares. McCabe set a low figure of £5m because he knew the property clause would earn him £50m. Both parties originally agreed to include a mechanism designed to end the joint shareholding should they no longer wish to work together. Kevin McCabe: a lifelong Sheffield United supporter and director since 1995, he had spent multimillions improving Bramall Lane and funding years of losses at the club. Lifelong fan McCabe, who invested £100m in the club prior to the team’s promotion, said he was “bitterly disappointed” and indicated he could appeal. decided by a high court judge in September, inspired managerial appointment of Chris Wilder. Prince Abdullah and Kevin McCabe tell their sides of the story after the prince gained another 50% of a Premier League club worth £104m for a mere £5m, Last modified on Tue 4 Feb 2020 08.31 GMT. The Sheffield Star reports that the “baton” is likely to be passed to investors from North America. When Abdullah served the counternotice to buy out McCabe, but without having the club buy the properties too, McCabe refused to go through with the sale, arguing that Abdullah was in fundamental breach of their agreement. McCabe issued the notice on 29 December 2017, with completion due by 6 February 2018. That is according to two expert witnesses acting on behalf of the Blades’ co-owners – as reported by the Sheffield Star. Uncapped Dean Henderson called up to England squad as... Act now or VAR will ruin the game! However, if they were to establish themselves as a top flight side that would jump to £182m. McCabe, speaking at his property company’s Mayfair offices, denies that. The current valuation was disputed by Mr McCabe’s expert witness, Nicholas Good of accountancy firm KPMG. McCabe met Prince Abdullah in 2013 while looking for fresh investment in the club, then in League One. It was Abdullah who then sued, arguing that McCabe should be forced to sell his 50% for the £5m set price and that he did not have to buy the properties as well. Mr Justice Fancourt, the judge in the case, was severely critical of McCabe as a witness and of the forceful way he went about reasserting control at Bramall Lane after becoming disillusioned with Abdullah as a partner, having realised he was not so mega-wealthy, as the original intermediary for the investment had led McCabe to believe. In December 2017, McCabe served this so-called “roulette notice” on Abdullah, which challenged the prince either to sell his half for a price McCabe set, £5m, or to buy McCabe out for the same price. How long they would have to be in the division to become “established” was not specified. And if anybody has to feel sorry, he should feel sorry.”, Kevin McCabe refused right to appeal in Sheffield United ownership saga, Sheffield United promoted to Championship, Sheffield United promoted to the Premier League, Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz al Saud and Kevin McCabe have been battling for control of Sheffield United Illustration: Guardian Design, The bitter battle for Sheffield United – ‘He tried to screw me, he got screwed’. Match Of The Day pundits say teams have worked Sheffield United. “The Premier League has changed since we were last there. It’s not good for the club,” he added.When asked for an example, Prince Abdullah cited what he described as Mr McCabe’s ‘emotional decision’ to re-sign Ched Evans for £1million in 2017, after his rape conviction was quashed at the conclusion of his re-trial.The court was told that when the Saudi prince invested in United he had a personal net worth of £200million, but by the 2015/16 he had to ‘cut into flesh’ to raise the funds to make up a £4million shortfall.The following season, Prince Abdullah had promised to raise £1million by August 2017, but struggled to locate the funds.He told the court that it was ‘one of the worst times for me, financially’.Under questioning from Mr Downes, Prince Abdullah said he had intended to sell shares or borrow from a bank to raise the funds.When asked where he had hoped to source other sums of money he had promised to the club, Prince Abdullah said: “I can’t remember’.SUL, a company controlled by Mr McCabe and his family, has alleged ‘conspiracy’ and ‘unfairly prejudicial conduct’ and wants damages.UTB LLC, a company controlled by Prince Abdullah, wants declarations in respect of its rights under an investment and shareholders' agreement.The case continues. The heated High Court battle for ownership of the club continued today, when Prince Abdullah Bin Mosaad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saudbegan his evidence.Prince Abdullah told the court that when he entered into a joint partnership with Sheffield-born Kevin McCabe, it was ‘important’ to himto have a ‘strong, local partner’ who could veto things when necessary and tell him when something was ‘massively wrong’.The prince described the first year of their partnership as being ‘very good’. He said that with hindsight he believes the £10million he invested in the club in 2013 could have been spent ‘more wisely’.“We ended up with a huge roster, of 35 players, I think,” said Prince Abdullah.Representing Mr McCabe, Paul Downes QC, told the prince he had ‘turned against’ Mr McCabe by the third year of their partnership, and wanted to ‘fundamentally change things’.Prince Abdullah replied: “His style of management, after three years, the facts speak for themselves.”“He was trying to interfere with technical decisions, and not allowing managers to do their work. It stated that if one party owned more than 75 per cent they must buy club properties including the stadium and training ground from McCabe at the market value, thought to be in the region of £50m. A Saudi prince has been granted full control of Sheffield United for just £5 million after winning a bitter High Court row with local co-owner Kevin … Prince Abdullah is worried. His son, Abdulraham Bin Abdullah, principal advisor James Phipps and Turkish businessman Selahattin Baki have all been installed as directors of Blades Leisure Ltd. Join the club: Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdullah now has a 50 per cent share of Sheffield United after Kevin McCabe, pictured, sold half of his stake, How Manchester has reacted to the Tier 3 restrictions, Dan Evans announces split from coach after ultimatum sees Mark Hilton choose LTA over British No 1, Hope for sea lion after surgery for epilepsy linked to global warming. If the Prince had accepted the property clause immediately, the club would have been his for £5m in December 2017 when McCabe triggered a ‘Russian Roulette’ buy-out clause.